Liverpool - 1 Newcastle - 1: England's rising compensation culture extends to Premiership football. One only had to look at the faces in the Anfield directors' box on Saturday to see the evidence of this. On the final whistle the Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd made a gesture with his hands and eyes that spoke of true relief, if not unfettered joy.
A couple of seats behind him Gerard Houllier's wife Isabelle smiled as the Liverpool manager took part in a lap of honour by his team. Madame Houllier offered a reminder of the personal toll managers suffer in today's unrelenting coverage of the game. She has a marriage and a husband to think about. Professional football does not devote much sympathy to the wounded, however. Houllier, his opposite number Bobby Robson, and Shepherd and Steve Morgan know compensation claims are preceded by a fall. They are all in recovery mode.
In Liverpool and Newcastle's case the damage concerns the final table. Liverpool may have finished fourth and earned a Champions League qualifier, while Newcastle sneaked into Europe and the UEFA Cup, but on points won both clubs ended closer to Wolves than to Arsenal.
Liverpool have not been challengers to Arsenal since November. By then the three clubs that finished above them had each won 2-1 at Anfield. The gap between Liverpool and third place was 15 points. Last season, in coming fifth, they were only five points off third. This season's total of 60 points is their lowest for six seasons.
Newcastle were never title contenders after collecting only three points from their first six matches. Their 56 points is the lowest in three seasons.
Whereas Liverpool can mull over investment from Morgan or Thailand, Newcastle are not in a good situation economically. The UEFA Cup has a group stage next season for the first time but the rewards cannot compare with the Champions League.
The decision to remove a reserve side from the Pontins League next season is understood to have a financial aspect to it, a small matter which may say something about the larger picture.
Yesterday morning Shepherd's smiling release of Saturday had mutated into a different mood. On Radio 5 he was given the opportunity to state clearly Robson would be the manager in August as well as next May. He replied: "All I can say is that Bobby's got 12 months left on his contract. That's a fact." Pushed further, Shepherd confronted the crunch issue. "I don't think you sack Sir Bobby Robson," he said.
Robson was in fine form, waxing lyrical about Shola Ameobi and his first-half goal, and about Steven Gerrard's role in Michael Owen's 67th-minute equaliser. "We need to tie him up," Robson said of Ameobi's contract. Had Liverpool had something to play for they would have been more inventive. Emile Heskey, playing his last game in red, missed two chances and, though Jamie Carragher cleared a weak Darren Ambrose header off the line, at the last Newcastle were indebted to a block from the substitute Steve Caldwell.
LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise, Murphy, Hamann, Gerrard, Kewell, Heskey, Owen. Subs Not Used: Henchoz, Baros, Sinama Pongolle, Cheyrou, Harrison. Booked: Kewell. Goals: Owen 67.
NEWCASTLE: Given, Griffin (Caldwell 79), O'Brien, Bramble, Hughes, Ambrose (Robert 82), Bowyer, Speed, Dyer, Shearer, Ameobi (Bellamy 40). Subs Not Used: Harper, Viana. Booked: Ambrose. Goals: Ameobi 25.
Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire).
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