It could have been a day long remembered.
A day when we finally nailed the myth that Man Utd are a good
football team.
A day that heralded a glorious new era for Liverpool Football
Club ...
9.30 am. Alarm clock buzzes.
The ridiculous kick-off time of today's game meant sacrificing my traditional Saturday morning lie-in for an early start. Not that the time made any difference to the turn-out at the local pub. 45 minutes before kick-off and the place was already packed full, standing room only. There must have been several hundred people. And unless you're Tony Adams there was only one reason why you'd be in a pub at this hour ... to see The Championship Decider.
When the team line-ups were announced you could see at once
whether the people standing next to you were Man U or not. If
they were followers of The Dark Side they were nodding their
heads in agreement with Fergie's selection. If however they
followed The True Way they could be seen shaking their heads as
Colly and Berger were left out and we packed the midfield
instead. We were at home. We should have been playing to our
strengths. Not trying to cover up the deficiencies of our own
midfield.
It was not a good sign.
At 11.15, the lights went down and the chatter was replaced by the "Ooooh"'s and "Aaaah"'s that provide the background atmosphere to a pub footy match.
It took us about 5 minutes to get into the game, by which time United had already had a couple of half-chances. Then, a mistake by an United defender and a lay-off by Fowler puts Macca through - only to shoot wide. A chorus of gasps - then applause. Game on. Come on you Reds !
About 5 minutes later a terrible attempted clearance by Harko fell to Andy Cole, no worries we thought as his attempted shot went into the Kop. But no, ref says corner. We all say "Bollocks". But a corner it is.
Beckham takes, Pallister heads home.
For the next 20 seconds it was impossible to hear yourself
speak as half the fans erupted into wild cheering. We Liverpool
fans just shook our heads in disbelief, another goal lost from a
corner. When will we learn ? At least David James was blameless.
Play restarted to spontaneous shouts of "Colly".
About 5 minutes later we eventually force our first corner.
It's taken short to McAteer, whose best cross for ages finds
Barnes unmarked.
And it's a Rare Headed Goal !!!
Now it's our turn to go crazy and yell our lungs out.
And we make even more noise than the Man U crowd did, but they're
only a bunch of fair-weather glory-hunters after all.
For the next 20 minutes we had most of the possession, but Utd had the best chances. Some quite abysmal defending led to a couple of chances for Andy Cole, including a moment of high mirth when James fumbled the ball and he missed an open net. I dread to think what the score might have been if a decent striker like Solskjaer had been playing.
Our attempted attacks lacked imagination, but most of all they lacked manpower. Man U's counter-attacking tactics were perfect, flood the midfield and get men behind the ball. Not much God and Macca could do.
After 40 minutes, Utd won their second corner. Apprehensive murmurs spread amongst the Reds fans. With good reason, a bullet header was magnificantly saved by James - at the expense of another corner. Sighs of relief, Jamo looks on-form today.
Beckham retakes, Pallister heads home.
A massive din assaults my ears, but I choose to cover my eyes
instead.
Once again our defending is astonishingly naive. Although James
came for the ball, it was Mark Wright who was at fault for
letting Pallister get in front of him.
Bugger.
Half-time.
And 15 minutes of having to listen to nearby Man U fans sing :
"Champions, Champions, Ole Ole Ole" very badly indeed.
Much to my disappointment Evvo didn't make any changes at
half-time.
5 minutes of stolid, going nowhere football later and Colly is
seen taking off his tracksuit. That gets the second biggest cheer
of the day. But who comes off ? The totally unnecesary Harkness,
or the virtually anonymous Barnes or Thomas ? ( who were both
playing the same role rather badly )
No - it was Jason McAteer. Huh ?
The change was welcome though. Collymore looked fired up, but he soon became frustrated by ridiculous offside decisions every time he broke clear of the United defence.
Then a rare Man U break, and a deep cross from Beckham. Earlier James had come for a similar cross and caught it - to ironic cheers from fans of both sides. This time, he missed it, and even the utterly inept Andy Cole couldn't miss from a header 2 yards out.
And that moment, amid a deafening din of cheering, was when I
finally realised that our chances of winning the Championship had
ended.
It was ironic that Evvo's response was to substitute Barnes for
Berger.
It was as if he had conceded the game was up, and the sacrifice
of Barnes was his attempt to placate the fans.
I stayed to the bitter end, hoping against hope that the game would turn into another 4-3 thriller. But we were reduced to long shots as United smothered the game. When the final whistle went the Reds fans just stood in silence. Glancing around the pub I saw the same expressions I'd seen on the faces of the Newcastle fans last season. It was made even worse by the fact that our rivals were singing and dancing all around us.
Minutes later I filed out of the pub in silence along with my
fellow fans, leaving the Mancs to celebrate. There were so many
of us that we were reduced to the pace of a funeral procession.
And it felt like one too.
1996-7 F.A. Premiership Season.
Rest in Peace.
Walk On ...