THERE I was, nodding along smugly to a couple of contestants on Radio 5 Live's 'Fighting Talk', who were talking about what everyone should do in order to be allowed to offer opinions in life.
1) Work in a factory - check, even if stacking plastic yoghurt pots and the like at Wilsanco was rather more salubrious than the summer job of many of my friends, who had to deal with raw chickens at Moy Park;
2) Wait tables - check, although I mostly did bar work at 'Otter Lodge', I did carry a few plates in and out when it was really busy - and I did table service.
Yet then comedian Bob Mills started on a rant with which I did not agree, basically summed up by this:
'There's one rule for 'them' and another rule for 'us'.'
That is clearly true as regards the UK's Conservative ruling elite, but Mills wasn't getting all not-so-subtly political, like Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville on Sky Sports, but rather having a go against Liverpool FC for getting the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final postponed.
Mills was annoyed, of course, because his own club Leyton Orient had been kicked out of the competition last season, forced to forfeit their third round tie against Tottenham in September 2020 after the game was called off due to a number of Covid cases at the south London club.
Mills was quite right, though, that 'There's one rule for 'them' and another rule for 'us' - the proviso being, however, that the 'us' includes all the clubs which don't reach the last four, while the 'them' applies to the semi-finalists.
The detail is that any postponed game has to be played before the next round is scheduled, so there's obviously much more leeway around the semi-finals, given that the final isn't due to take place until Sunday February 27.
The rule wasn't concocted to protect Liverpool FC. Indeed it was actually utilised in last year's competition too, when the then holders Manchester City had an outbreak of Covid-19 cases and got their (one-off) semi-final against Manchester rivals United postponed. Then won it.
Football fans have long memories. Sometimes. When it suits them.
Liverpool were trolled about their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg postponement by Aston Villa, who recalled having to field a team of youngsters against the Reds in last season's FA Cup, due to a Covid outbreak.
Yet Villa didn't seem to remember that they had progressed to the, er, Carabao Cup Final in 2020 partly due to playing a quarter-final against a team of youngsters…representing Liverpool, whose senior squad were all away at the Club World Cup in Qatar.
Hypocrisy, how are you?
Still, the tinfoil hat brigade were out in full force, shouting their conspiracy theory that 'them Scousers' were 'up to their tricks', trying to pull a fast one - or a slow one? - so that Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane could play in the re-scheduled games on their return from the African Cup of Nations.
Even when it was quickly announced that Liverpool and Arsenal would meet last Thursday, with the second leg tomorrow night, some were still spouting that nonsense about Salah and Mane. While ignoring poor old Naby Keita.
And ignoring the fact that Arsenal would also be able to have FOUR players back from Cameroon, if that were actually true. OK, one of those is their errant former captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. And another is Nicolas Pepe. And the third is Mohamed Elneny. But there's Thomas Partey!
Joking aside, the fury from Arsenal fans - and those of other clubs - when Liverpool secured the postponement was truly bizarre.
The Reds' training ground was closed by the local health authority due to the suspected outbreak.
There's legitimate debate over how LFC had what turned out to be so many false positive cases, but if that's what the lateral flow tests indicated then the club had to respect those results.
It's not as if Liverpool were pulling strokes on a regular basis. The Anfield outfit were the 14th Premier League club to have a match postponed from mid-December onwards - and that was only because Leeds United requested that St Stephen's Day game be put back. The Reds might have wondered why Leeds had fielded weakened sides against Manchester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal - losing all of those.
Leicester City got their scheduled game on December 16 postponed (against poor old Tottenham, who'd earlier been denied their request) because of Covid cases, but were then able to send a very strong side to Anfield in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on December 22 - only to lose on penalties to a Reds B/C team.
The only clubs which haven't had a Premier League match postponed over the last month or so are the two with the largest, best squads - champions Manchester City and European champions Chelsea, and even then there's an element of chance regarding who their opponents were over that period.
Liverpool might have sought the postponement of tricky away league games over the holiday period, at Tottenham, Leicester, and Chelsea, but they didn't, despite having some Covid-caused absentees - and they took only two points from those three matches.
Yet when they did secure one postponement, all fume broke lose, especially from fans of Arsenal.
Ah, Arsenal.
The Gunners had no problem with taking on an under-strength Leeds on December 18, winning 4-1 at Elland Road against a team missing 10 players due to injuries.
However, when Arsenal were similarly depleted at the weekend, they sought, and secured, the postponement of the north London derby at Tottenham.
If that had been solely due to a Covid outbreak - or even a suspected Covid outbreak - that would have been absolutely fine. Yet there was only one confirmed Covid case.
However, Arsenal took advantage of the dubious Premier League rule, altered last month, which allowed acceptable absentees to include players injured or at the African Cup of Nations.
Funnily enough, Gooners had no problem with that postponement. Go figure.
Go figure also why Arsenal sent out two players on loan within a week of the postponement of that Carabao Cup first leg - first the versatile and fairly experienced 24-year-old Ainsley Maitland-Niles going to Roma, then 20-year-old striker Folarin Balogun joining Middlesbrough.
What's more - or less - despite fears that they may not be able to fulfil tomorrow night's scheduled semi-final second leg against Liverpool, Arsenal have now also loaned 28-year-old defender Pablo Mari to Udinese.
The mind truly boggles.
Arsenal felt hard done by when they weren't granted postponements for their first two League games, despite having Covid cases, but they've pushed the rule to its limits this time.
Remember that Liverpool, without their top three centre halves for much of last season, among many other absentees, were repeatedly told 'Everyone has injuries, just get on with it'.
As for the Carabao Cup postponement, how did Liverpool actually benefit by getting the semi-final first leg put back a week? They've lost the chance to have potential extra time on their home ground if the second leg ends in a draw after 90 minutes.
Yes, the Reds have no league match this midweek, but that would have been the re-arranged game at home to Leeds, who are still weakened and are surely happy enough to have a free midweek ahead of hosting Newcastle United.
Reaching the Carabao Cup Final would clearly be more important for this up-and-coming Arsenal team than for Liverpool.
Besides, Liverpool are still set to play a game this midweek, against Arsenal - assuming the latter don't send any more players out on loan, that is.
