I know some take the piss, take it too far, but I admire certain things about the Scouse fans... they do have some sort of shared values w/r/t their own club. I reckon, for the most part, they're more supportive of their own players and management than we are, unlike arsenal and some others, I can't ever recall an instance where they booed their own team or player. When I've spoken to fans about their team, the worst I can get out of them is usually that this or that player is 'average'. Maybe I'm speaking to the wrong ones ;)
But they do talk about 'the liverpool way', and as much as it might be sentimental bullshit, we do know what they mean. they do have some core values as a club. maybe that comes from periods of success, maybe it's self-promoting, maybe it's mostly bullshit, but it would be nice for us to be able to talk about the city way, and genuinely feel proud. 'typical city' started off as a way to handle the ups and downs, mostly the downs. laughing in the face of adversity is great, but there can be a slightly negative edge to it. you only have to read the Colin Schindler stuff to understand that it can be ugly, self-indulgent, an excuse to mock ourselves and look for the bad in everything. that's why I always agreed with Cook when he said he wanted us to leave it, why disagreed with people who assumed he didn't understand what it meant. I think he knew exactly what it meant.
But arrogance, ehhh, dunno. I reckon that's always been there too. We are the club of Big Mal, after all. And bragging, running down everyone else, is pretty much universal in football. I think it's funny, very 'City', when it's done tongue in cheek. Start taking these comments seriously though, and it looks ugly. Not to mention, it can come back to bite you on the arse. If they finish above us this year (let's not forget they finished second a year or two ago), or get a good buyer. C'mon, who would want to see them fucked for life? I don't. I don't want the rags fucked either. In thirty years time I want us to say we beat the best English teams, at their peak, to get to the top. If the likes of Utd and Liverpool are handicapped by off the pitch stuff, they will always have that as an excuse, a way of belittling our achievements.