Firstly, my apologies for the really emotional post, I was obviously pretty drunk
To qualify, I am now as well.
Everything was true though, including the match winner in the 'San Plastico'
Oh and my massive respect for Peter Evo (Timbo, fantastic you know him! He's sorted me a few spares previously, and I normally say hello to him if I see him in the away end around the country, but it's clear every time he has no idea who I am haha)
Evo's post before the Semi Final was one that really had me going and it is interesting to note the caliber of the people on this forum who have replied since I bumped it. Maggie May (fantastic anecdote my lovely) and Timbo and Geoff who are brilliant, passionate reds and veterans of this supporting Liverpool Football Club lark. Would expect nothing less from you top reds
Part of supporting this great football club (for me at least) is experiencing nights like the one on Tuesday whatever happens. I've had disagreements on here recently about what we should 'expect' from the team we support. Maybe it's something in me or others due to tribalism etc but I realise that the actual progress, performance or 'expectation' of the team is mainly out of my hands, and all I can do is hope we win if watching from afar, or cheer them on as loud as I can if I'm in the ground.
I certainly can't wait for Tuesday, like I said, it could be our last one in the Champions League again for a while, why not give it everything we can? (Please don't reply "of course we will" I don't mean it like that, this isn't an attack on anyone, just a gee up I guess).
There are threads on here where we want to do everything we can to support the team through a bad patch. What better than a night under the floodlights at Anfield where we need to win to qualify? I sincerely hope the traction towards this game picks up as we get nearer to it.
Look at the coefficient points here
http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/ . We will lose the 15+ points that we got in 10/11 next season (we have just over 8 this season so far), and will drop (again) down the rankings if we drop into the Europa and more if we don't qualify for the Champions League next season. We certainly do not want to sacrifice this game to 'focus on the league', because if we somehow manage to get back in (and I haven't worked it out exactly) we could be facing pot four next time like City did when they funneled money into their team. We need a win to solidify our position in Europe (4 points if we qualify for the last 16), we need a win for confidence, and we need a win to show the rest of the league that we won't take anything lying down.
Maybe I wrote my post too soon after the drab Sunderland draw. Perhaps. Maybe I'm not as eloquent or as inspiring as others (this is definitely the case
) But no matter what the team is like, if you can't look forward to a game like Basel on Tuesday, what's the point?
I was 16 when we played Olympiakos. I know people off here who were on the Kop that day but I was unfortunately at home. Rivaldo knocked in the free kick just before half time. We went from needing 2 goals, to needing 3, without reply. My mates left to go and get food from down the road (Arsenal supporters). I could hear the laughter outside as they left, they had been unbeaten the season before and were arrogant for a lot of reasons, although two Scousers in Wayne Rooney and Neil Mellor had put paid to that in the weeks previous. I put on Gerry and the Pacemakers (you know the song) and sang it out on my own, just hoping and praying we could do it, then cracked open another can of beer. Sinama Pongolle, Neil Mellor, Steven fucking Gerrard. I can't imagine what it was like in the ground, but I've experienced my own since, Inter Milan, Arsenal, Barcelona and more.
Olympiakos was the start of something I couldn't have ever imagined, culminating in me bawling my eyes out at half time in Istanbul, and then again at full time. Of course before anyone says it I don't expect us to repeat that this season, it's one game at a time but getting into the knock outs would be a massive step forwards. We have the benefit of being at home for this decider. The team are trying their hardest, and it's not quite clicking. Away fans in Europe have come to Anfield this season and for the large part out sung us. This is true because I've been there, perhaps in fairness because we've been shite. This cannot happen on Tuesday no matter how we leave the dressing room. It cannot. Put your 'expectation' in the bin before you enter, and reassess at full time. From before the game starts, to the final whistle, we need to give them unconditional support and as loud as possible.
We're made of these nights. They're written in our history. They are referred to by the TV pundits across various countries and more importantly on the flags that will be out waving defiantly in the bitterly cold December night that Tuesday the 9th of December promises to be. Maybe I'm a drunken sentimental. Maybe I am? Definitely I am! But I'll be a drunken red and white Kopite come 7:45 in Kop 202, and I'm glad I'm not working on Wednesday because I won't be able to speak the day after. And with any luck, and it's an odd hope, but an honest one... after the long drive home, on the Wednesday morning, I'll reach down to my knees and my legs and feel the cuts and bruises from jumping up and down manically on the Kop.
Because if those cuts and bruises are there, we'll have given it a right fucking good go.
Come on you mighty reds.