I felt out of love with football, somewhere between Heysel and Hillsborough, between my youth and the edge of adulthood, I became cynical and jaded, disgusted and demoralised. By the time we won the league for the (second) last time, I had moved onto music, girls, careers, away from from the game.
Of course I always checked the results, read match reports, managed the very occasional trip to Anfield. But the love was gone, the passion and the romance had been replaced by parenthood and grown up concerns. I didn’t really believe in football anymore. It had lost the magic, too much had happened in my life and in the game to make it matter as much as it had. At the time, it didn’t make me sad, it was a conscious decision to stop letting eleven men affect my emotional wellbeing (look at me now - I'm writing this the morning after the draw with Fulham and I am still pissed off). So for a decade or so through the 90’s I was largely disconnected from Liverpool Football Club.
Then Ged arrived.
He had me at Bonjour. [/size]I remember the awkward press conference, Roy Evans discomforted, Gerard being gracious, with a glint of ambition. He ticked an awful lot of boxes: I was still watching at a distance, but I
was watching. I was watching and slowly being drawn back in, by the way we played. By Michael Owen. By youth and vitally and by Ged’s infectious enthusiasm, and by his slow burning ambition.
Life changed and I started travelling to see the Reds. Round trips from Edinburgh, midweeks, late nights, meeting people from here, and there and everywhere, including Glasgow. The Reds were winning and we were in Cardiff and foreign cities and things were passionate and romantic and my cynicism and my jaded outlook had disappeared. The Mighty Reds were back and I was part of it. Gerard Houllier made that happen for me, and I suspect thousands more of us who remembered why we loved football, loved Liverpool Football Club.
My stand out memory is from the Roma game, when he returned to the dug out after his heart troubles. I wrote about it
here way back in the day. That was one of the greatest experiences of my life, Anfield as one, as one with the team and the manager, mutual adoration and respect. That red scarf. That emoji.
I use it a lot and always think of Ged when I do.
He gave the game back to me. Twenty plus years now. Emotional highs, desperate lows, Istanbul, Internet Terrorism, this website, countless trips to Anfield. Homebaked pies. His passion gave me my game back, and gave me a range of friendships founded through football and through RAWK that I know will be with me for the rest of my life. Thank you, Ged.
Rest In Peace Gerard Houllier, You'll Never Walk Alone.
