There are some defeats you can live with, if maybe it wasnt good enough on the day and the team ran themselves into the ground, if maybe you just came up against a much better team you never expected to beat anyway, but obviously a lot of defeats hurt and hurt bad for lot of reasons. It could be a mistake, a referee ripping you off or maybe the team just not turning up.
Liverpool's final with Man United in 1996, was exactly that, the team pretty much didnt turn up. It had all the makings of what should have been one of the best Fa Cup finals of all time, both teams played good football, United had just won the league championship with a predominantly young team blended well with some experienced players (though to hear people talk about Alan Hansen's comments earlier in the season you would think the whole team was under the age of 12).
Liverpool's team wasnt much different, I would argue their football was probably more entertaining to watch but perhaps a bit too flamboyant and maybe lacked the steel of a Scholes-Keane partnership in the middle. Here we had two teams though that had the potential to dominate English football for years to come (well one of them did I suppose), United had rebuilt their team in 1995, experienced heads like Paul Ince, Andrei Kanchelskis and Mark Hughes were sold and no one was bought, instead Alex Ferguson placed his trust in youth, through came the famous Fergie's Fledglings, all of whom had been carefully broken into the team and in 1995 it all started to blend together almost all at once, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Gary and Phil Neville, it wasnt like they all made their debut that season but it was their breakthrough season, they laid down their markers and they were here to stay, say what you want about Ferguson but Jesus this was one hell of a call and he was one hell of a manager. That season United hauled back a Newcastle side that looked like they had the league won in January, United overcame a 12 point deficit to win the title and now had an FA cup in their sights.
Roy Evans meanwhile carefully constructed an excellent team, a solid defence, stylish midfield and a lethal attack, Robbie Fowler, up through the ranks, had scored 36 goals, while new signing Stan Collymore (the most expensive player in England) had not only set a lot of them up but he also weighed in with 17 himself. Most of the recent meetings between the two had been dominated by Liverpool, the previous season each team won their home games 2-0 in the league, Liverpool perhaps a little unlucky at old Trafford having had the better chances at 0-0 before succumbing to defensive mistakes. The league fixtures that season saw Liverpool draw 2-2 at Old Trafford in a match where they were denied two blatant penalties whilst United were awarded a very dodgy one themselves (David Ellery you spineless c*nt) but at Anfield there was no referee to save them, Liverpool won 2-0, were it not for wasteful finishing and a brilliant United keeper it would have been 5 or 6 (ala last Thursday night). For David De Gea, read Peter Schmeichel, the great Dane was the best keeper I have ever seen full stop. Incidentally all 4 goals in the United games that season from Liverpool were scored by Robbie Fowler, all absolutely wonderful goals if I may say so. The guy was a predator, he was absolutely ruthless, he made finishing look easy.
So enough of the build-up, you get the picture, two great teams, it should be a great game right? And yeah unfortunately I can't write this without mentioning them suits, at the time I must admit part of me thought they were nice, but once you associate it with a defeat then they will always look shite, if Liverpool won that day every wedding for a Liverpool fan that summer would have had the groom trying desperately to rent one of these, but we lost, I cringe looking at them now, I'm sure the players do too (mind you I always thought United's suits on the day were shite too, that stupid oversized rosette and what was with those waistcoats that went all the way up to your neck?).
The suits looked bad, it gave off an aura that a lot of them players never shook off, they looked like the type of thing some dickhead best man decided on for a stag do that was so bad you couldnt look any more of a tosser if you tried but too much for me was made of it, maybe rich I say that given what I already said but I think it was overblown and I know over the years I've thought things looking back that were wrong, but the fact is Liverpool didnt lose the cup final because of David James ordering suits in from Armani, if Liverpool wore pink, blue, red or black suits that day it wouldnt have made a difference to how we played. It looked bad but maybe its exaggerated, Roy Evans and Ronnie Moran shouldnt have allowed it, then again I'm sure suits were the last thing on their mind in the run up to the game.
Things look bad, and this is why this final looked bad, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind the players after the match were gutted, to hear some talk you would think they walked back to the dressing room, went "oh well, never mind, let's get suited and head off into London for the night, bus will be here in 20 minutes, get the round in Gaffer"
I am sure they were gutted at the outcome, I am sure they would love to change it, turn the clock back 20 years, do things differently, wouldnt we all? Finals you see are big occasion and any player that remotely cares can be effected, it doesnt matter how good they are sometimes, it doesnt matter how much they are paid, sometimes a final comes up, it can be potentially the greatest final you could imagine but on the day, nerves can eat you up and things dont happen, both teams are afraid to make mistakes, you know sometimes one mistake and that could be it. Thats why classic finals are few and far between, both teams just afraid to make mistakes on a big occasion (I genuinely dont think I ever once saw a good world cup final in 26 years I follow football).
So anyway the game? Why did it hurt? Well life in general mixed in too, I was a fat wimpy 13 year old who got picked on in school a bit, never fought back and that just lets bullies feed off on their self- proclaimed machoism, my family decided to move home, away from all my friends, I stay in touch with them still but I was moved to an area where there was no one my age. The school was split between United and Liverpool fans with them probably shading it so you knew you would hear about the result for weeks to come. I seriously fucking hate everything about 1996.
It hurt also because united were there for the taking, they were only at about 60% on the day but that was more than enough. Jamie Redknapp had one shot from the edge of the area that he skied and I literally dont think we had one other shot on goal all game, at our end there were a couple of decent saves from David James. I looked back at the build up to the goal, a bottled tackle in midfield and I remember Phil Babb needlessly conceding a throw in I think it was, I remember on the day when that happened I felt this awful feeling in my gut, something bad was about to happen.
Sure enough United had a corner not long after, David James came for it unconvincingly as he usually did, ball falls to Eric Cantona and leaning back he somehow hits it through about 8 players and it's in. United beat us without being near their best, the players on the day never looked up for it, I'm sure they cared but they were poor, no one performed near their best apart from 2 or 3 players maybe (I seem to recall John Scales, Mark Wright and David James did alright) but the rest just poor.
So there, I said more about the back round and build up than the game, because the game was utter shite, about the only shred of honesty I ever got from the shower I went to school with was that even the most biased united fans agreed it was an awful game.
So there you go, its hurts because
1. shit life
2. shit game
3. shit performance
4. we lost to them!
5. them that didnt even play well!
6. we looked like we bottled it, against them for fucks sake, a team we should have been determined to wallop, it didnt look that way at all.
7. And the fact that the team never won a thing for years and never reached its potential.
Fuck the suits, if they went out there naked or in jumpsuits nothing would have changed.
