After having a cup of coffee I am now thinking that was a League Cup final. Let this be a warning to you youngsters, every pint kills a thousand brain cells!
shilton was meant to have a blinder in the european game too.
as for the Everton game I was in florence for this. was 2 days after i had done best man for my brother there.
was a small wedding being in italy and there was only about 25 at it.
we had met up for a meal the night before but unfortunately my stomach just wasnt the best. was nothing to do with a hangover. we didnt drink much at the wedding because it was simply too dear, (was actually the same wedding venue used by David Bowie). it was 9 euro for a bottle of peroni (the same peroni that cost 70 cent in an off licence the night before). anyway i hadnt slept well as I left the meal early to go to bed early. unfortunately this was ruined by my sister returning with a bottle of wine and my Dad's snoring which would measure about 10 on the richter scale. so much for an early night.
as we were moving hotels due to some of the party heading home and off to other holidays places we kinda start moving in to each others hotel rooms to cut down on bills. whilst trying to find a spot to watch the match. as usual being on holiday i attempted to sniff out places where you would see an irish bar or a big blackboard outside with "games on here".
we eventually found this little tiny pizza place beside the bus station which was actually a lot bigger on the inside than it looked.
my brother and his new wife joined us while some of the others like my mam, my mrs and my sisters and neices went shopping. though we feared not being able to see the game when they returned 5 mins into the game having missed a train to wherever they were going. a few early chunks of pizza and few early peronis settled the nerves as we waited to see whether torres and keane could click.
after an uneventful first half we came to life in the second when a good run and cross by keane found torres free at the back post for 1-0. it was 2-0 just minutes later when torres thrashed in a second from close range when the ball broke loose. needless to say with it being the derby we gave it loads much to the bemusement of the locals. before we kinda nervously and perhaps more embarrassed than anything just sat down red faced. we almost did it again minutes later when torres was denied a hattrick by an offside flag or a foul by kuyt i cant remember which.
the game ended easily enough for us when everton gave up after cahill was sent off for a foul on alonso. 2-0 briefly put us top as we attempted to bribe a few of the wags by buying a couple of slices of pizza. was really so we could see chelsea on after us. i cant remember who they were playing but it was when phil scolari managed them. and in the early part of that season rafas red and big phils blues often traded the lead. possibly against wigan but who knows. the season had been up and running superbly well.
i cant quite remember much of the afternoon, we had been taken it easy i think i remember setting up a dvd for the youngsters to watch. as we were in florence my brother had been looking up fixtures so in serie a that night fiorentina were hosting genoa.
the ticketing procedures were quite strict so when he tried for 6 tickets at the ticket office a few days before he was asked for 6 passports? however the game was unlikely to sell out so we decided to chance it on the day. my mrs wasnt interested in going and i dont think she was part of the original 6. my dad and brother in law on the trip also decided to leave it so my brother and his new wife headed out with her brother and me to watch it.
the security seemed very strict around the ground with passports often produced along with tickets. as we entered the ground we thought it was cool to see your name flash up when your ticket was scanned. but what really surprised us was after all the security checks, once we got in , we could sit where we wanted! bit strange after all the security.
the match itself was really crap. genoa hardly came out of their own half all game and the first half ended with us watching it from up in the gods. the second half we decided to go on the move seen as we were up in the gods and we thought we would head down where there was a bit of atmosphere. the fiorentina fans didnt bother us and we had a pretty decent view of Gilardino scoring the games only goal after about an hour. Gilardino promptly did his knee celebrating, the twonk.
i dont remember much else although the most notable players were montilivio and adrian mutu. i think per kroldrup might have played too and possibly sebastien frey. genoa however never looked like scoring and it ended 1-0. it was a good experience to see serie a first hand.
we finished the night off with a couple of quick pints in a little street bar which was largely empty and retreated to bed for the night. it was something different i suppose ,,,,,,but Liverpool beating everton is nothing new, and its nothing to get tired of either.
it was a nice end to a period i will always remember as being the time my brother allowed me to be his best man. this time of the year will always remind me of that.
