I guess we are all feeling a little bit better after United?s exit, stage fright (right?) last night. Now they really did look to be affected by a marvellous home crowd atmosphere - or was it just a case of being totally outclassed by a team that was superior in every department of the game? The latter, I think, and the Media were forced to admit the difference in class, as they had nowhere else to go, except down the ?freezing on the night due to intimidating crowd? route, but this would have been disrespectful to the legendary Anfield choir, a sacrosanct phenomenon in football and, as such, incomparable.
It?s common knowledge, in more ways than one, that Scousers get very touchy when it comes to support and how others perceive their supporters. Witness Rob on here recently and his knee jerk response to news of the Reina burglary and to the, albeit scant, consolation it gave us when opening old wounds in this respect. Why jump to the conclusion it?s a Scouser what done it? - was his instant retort. He would have had a point if the incident had occurred in any other community, because elsewhere ?community? generally infers a spirit within which folk thrive on helping each other out rather than nicking each others stuff. I?m sorry to say that innocent until proved guilty arguments, like a lot of unattended cars in the Liverpool community, do not stand up - unless, of course, bricks are involved.
Little wonder, then, that we go on about Liverpool fans ?history?, or ?previous? if you prefer, in this respect. In fact, that last word says it all for most outside observers - Liverpool fans command little or no respect in game other than through an inflated, jingoistic Media coverage. Thompson, Aldridge, St John, Smith (T) and super-sub Fairclough all get wheeled out to tell us how special the atmosphere is and how special the fans are and how special it was to play in front of them and how it?s worth a goal at least. If all this were true, it wouldn?t need to be repeated so often, by so many, for the moral support of so few. Even Rafa gets a giggle out of it and scores some brownie points by referring to them being the real ?special ones? - he isn?t stupid enough to actually believe this, but he knows that, if you?ve got a myth, there?s no harm in perpetuating it.
The same can be said of his ?Rafa Revolution?, which somewhat ironically, has a truer historical connotation than he probably realises. Two hundred odd years ago, when Liverpool FC had no history to speak endlessly of, another revolution was going on, backed by passionate followers hell bent on bringing down the aristocrats of the day. Tuesday?s game had a similar impassioned crowd feel to it and even the female followers looked threatening. I couldn?t believe the high number of them in the crowd, as evidenced by several pictures in the newspapers, and their presence resembled Madame Defarges of yesteryear, witnessing the dropping of aristo heads into the basket at guillotine (or penalty shootout) time. A strange assortment, then, of knitters, shifty-gitters, nutters and head butters, all special in a sort of Sky packaged way.
Off to Athens now, with Uncle Tom Hicks and George, and good luck to them, they deserved it, just as Milan did last night. The Italians didn?t ?arf play good football whereas, and I hope Rob won?t take inferential offence here, we was mugged. That said, it?s Rafa?s revolutionaries who are on the march and I wouldn?t bet against them witnessing another cold hearted, much vaunted, sudden death guillotining. Another performance courtesy of Chief Executioner Pepe Reina might be the postscript of a dull final, but even more galling would be the thought that the low life who torched his car will probably be watching from the terraces.
It?s common knowledge, in more ways than one, that Scousers get very touchy when it comes to support and how others perceive their supporters. Witness Rob on here recently and his knee jerk response to news of the Reina burglary and to the, albeit scant, consolation it gave us when opening old wounds in this respect. Why jump to the conclusion it?s a Scouser what done it? - was his instant retort. He would have had a point if the incident had occurred in any other community, because elsewhere ?community? generally infers a spirit within which folk thrive on helping each other out rather than nicking each others stuff. I?m sorry to say that innocent until proved guilty arguments, like a lot of unattended cars in the Liverpool community, do not stand up - unless, of course, bricks are involved.
Little wonder, then, that we go on about Liverpool fans ?history?, or ?previous? if you prefer, in this respect. In fact, that last word says it all for most outside observers - Liverpool fans command little or no respect in game other than through an inflated, jingoistic Media coverage. Thompson, Aldridge, St John, Smith (T) and super-sub Fairclough all get wheeled out to tell us how special the atmosphere is and how special the fans are and how special it was to play in front of them and how it?s worth a goal at least. If all this were true, it wouldn?t need to be repeated so often, by so many, for the moral support of so few. Even Rafa gets a giggle out of it and scores some brownie points by referring to them being the real ?special ones? - he isn?t stupid enough to actually believe this, but he knows that, if you?ve got a myth, there?s no harm in perpetuating it.
The same can be said of his ?Rafa Revolution?, which somewhat ironically, has a truer historical connotation than he probably realises. Two hundred odd years ago, when Liverpool FC had no history to speak endlessly of, another revolution was going on, backed by passionate followers hell bent on bringing down the aristocrats of the day. Tuesday?s game had a similar impassioned crowd feel to it and even the female followers looked threatening. I couldn?t believe the high number of them in the crowd, as evidenced by several pictures in the newspapers, and their presence resembled Madame Defarges of yesteryear, witnessing the dropping of aristo heads into the basket at guillotine (or penalty shootout) time. A strange assortment, then, of knitters, shifty-gitters, nutters and head butters, all special in a sort of Sky packaged way.
Off to Athens now, with Uncle Tom Hicks and George, and good luck to them, they deserved it, just as Milan did last night. The Italians didn?t ?arf play good football whereas, and I hope Rob won?t take inferential offence here, we was mugged. That said, it?s Rafa?s revolutionaries who are on the march and I wouldn?t bet against them witnessing another cold hearted, much vaunted, sudden death guillotining. Another performance courtesy of Chief Executioner Pepe Reina might be the postscript of a dull final, but even more galling would be the thought that the low life who torched his car will probably be watching from the terraces.
