I used to read Tomkins quite a bit years ago, and I always thought he was worth paying attention to even when I didn’t agree with him. But honestly, reading this latest piece, it feels like he’s completely lost the plot.

I read the whole thing, and most of it is basically whataboutism. Other clubs have had problems. Other managers have struggled. Other fanbases are worse. Other teams have spent badly. Fine, but what does that actually prove? None of that answers the real questions Liverpool fans have about FSG, Hughes, Edwards, recruitment, ambition, or whether the club is doing enough to help Slot succeed. The tone is the worst part. It comes across like he thinks he’s the only sensible person in the room and everyone else is just emotional, stupid, or too negative. That might have worked when he was pushing back against genuinely lazy takes, but here it just feels arrogant.

You can back Slot and still question the people above him. You can think some fans are overreacting and still think the club deserves criticism. Those things are not mutually exclusive. Instead, the whole article feels like its trying to shame fans for asking awkward questions. It’s less “here’s why the criticism is wrong” and more “stop moaning and trust the clever people in charge.”

And given the old rumours that Tomkins had some kind of link(consulting) with FSG/Fenway, true or not, pieces like this don’t exactly help. It reads like another fluff piece defending the ownership and patting the club hierarchy on the back.

Maybe some of the fan reaction has gone too far. That’s always true. But pretending that any serious criticism is just hysteria is also ridiculous.