As a young child it used to make me cry myself to sleep. As an adult I manage to exercise a bit more restraint, but I'm not sure that I feel any less miserable about it.
I am of course talking about football and seeing Liverpool defeated in a crucial game. In my book every match is a crunch match, but today's was especially so - our first defence of the FA Cup since we beat West Ham in a thrilling final last May. Today saw us soundly beaten 3-1 by Arsenal - and at Anfield to make matters worse.
Two years ago en route to winning the European Cup for the fifth time, there was a Liverpool fans' banner that read 'Make Us Dream'. We dreamt of winning then, but without any great expectation. We simply wanted our team to perform in a way that filled us with hope.
On that occasion they didn't disappoint us and won in unprecedented style in Istanbul. Today a dream was shattered for another season.
The legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly was one of my boyhood heroes. He is commemorated with a statue - based on this photo - at the entrance to Anfield.
It bears the simple inscription 'He made the people happy'.
You can't ask for more than that.
No comments:
Post a Comment