A lot of Liverpool fans are terribly precious.
Backing your club is, of course, a way of life. And defending from detractors your unknown new signing from, say Trabzonspor, is par for the course.
Until you realise he couldn't kick a ball down a hill.
Liverpool fans are
different. They foster a pseudo-religious fanaticism about the club and the team. Stranger still, they are proud of this.
But it makes them blinkered and disposed to the worship of false idols.
One season ticket holder I know would fight to the death to protect the names of Vladimir Smicer and Igor Biscan. They were woeful players and just two from a long list in recent years - but no amount of reasoning could convince them of this.
That's not support; it's teen-girl/boy-band obsession.
And just as most women in their 30s laugh about how they loved New Kids on the Block, Liverpool fans do the same about Smicer, Biscan et al - but only now they've gone from Anfield.
If Liverpool are to be genuine title contenders they need players who earn adulation because of what they do on the park, not because they put pen to paper.
Finally, it looks like the fans may have an idol who is not false.
Fernando Torres looks like the real deal.
Yes, he's big, strong, fast etc but what was most impressive about his debut was his touch, imagination and movement off the ball.
It's only one game, but there was enough to suggest he could become a kop hero and a pleasure for neutral footy fans to watch, like Berbatov at Tottenham.
It's churlish but necessary to ask whether Liverpool need someone else to become genuine title contenders. Torres' goal-scoring record isn't great and he missed one sitter in the win against Aston Villa.
Liverpool might find they still need a Didier Drogba or a Ruud van Nistelrooy.
But at least with Torres the fans have a reason to cheer that isn't just the colour of his shirt.
