Paul B

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

Sheeesh. Sorry for using the word "rue"! I just thought it was responsible for diluting our support today and wonder if it might steal a bit of gloss off the final and the run up to it. You're probably right (you usually are you chimp) but I wonder if this might dilute the passion some of the most passionate feel and it might carry a knock-on effect into next season? Like I say, me and you, we're alright, we did what was required and got our tickets but I really feel sorry for those who miss out when they have every right to feel they should be in with a fair chance of them.

Melodramatic? Moi? I'm only trying to address the issue over the apparent sneakiness over the ballot. Someone somewhere's hiding something and it needs saying. Like I've said, in Athens, nowt will happen but the issue should not be allowed to go away. We only needed 6 credits for Istanbul and some got in with 5 and we were playing the same team. How come loads of lads on 6 missed out? There's too many in too many groups who have all missed out collectively. If it was a fair draw, one out of three should have qualified but everyone in the pub today and everyone who sits near me on 6 had ALL missed out. I never spoke to asingle person who'd got in on six. Surely that can't be right?

Don't agree with that. There's loads who would be prepared to go to the final who wouldn't travel to other European aways.

And they gave the youth team a good reception during their presentation too. This despite the divs in the main stand nearest them singing that witty ditty, "going down going down going down" at them as if to emphasise their superiority.

Good post from which I have selected the above paras. I too am a season ticket holder and this isn't sour grapes that I haven't got tickets because I have but I am in total agreement with you on this first point. I also believe that my continued loyalty over many (believe me) years entitles me to a greater weight of priority than those who attend certain cup stages in any given season only. As for your second point, I think the numbers and the composition of fans in attendance in Athens will render this unworkable. I for one will just be so in awe of the fact that I am there to bear witness to Europe's most prestigious event that any thoughts of protest will be the furthest thing from my mind. So how do we address this issue? I haven't got a clue but firmly believe the club will live to rue the day they made the decisions they have made over this particular game.

I think the atmosphere today, considering it was our last home game of the season and a 3 0'clocker AND we've made the Champs League final was very subdued. That must all be down to the disillusionment most must feel about missing out. Of the 8 lads we drink with who were on 6, not one had qualified. The lad who sits next to me told me he knew a group of 23 lads all on 6 and again, not one had qualified! When you commit to something and pay what you think is the asking price and then you don't get what you think is rightfully yours, then there's going to be problems. As the old song goes, "There may be trouble ahead" and I certainly don't think we've heard the last of this. Also, as anyone who collected tickets today will confirm, they are so simple that they will be very easy to forge and there will be problems with counterfeits for the actual match itself given the numbers of committed and desperate fans travelling over there.

Are you sure you're 38? There's no way you're old enough to remember some of the things you have clearly experienced! When did you start going the match? When you were 4 or sommat?

"Who's up Tina's ass I said who's up Tina's ass?" from the same label!

Because he's a caaaaaaahnnnt.

This content is not viewable to guests.

who's in the FA cup final. Seeing that, A) Liverpool are in the European Cup Final and B) Present FA Cup holders, that must make us the best team in Europe even by his deluded thinking. I wonder if he'd think the same if they were in our position?

Ha! Yeah, that was spontaneous and well funny. What about when we played Grimsby in the cup? We made up names for all our players based on a fishy theme. There was "Jimmy Plaice." "Kenny Dogfish." "Phil Seal." Terry McHaddock." "Sting-Ray Keneddy". What about the time Kenny messed up a pass and the entire Kop starts, "What a waste of money." Immediately follwed by "We're only f***ing messing." Dalglish laughed as he heard the words. Anyone remember the night we beat Man City and Joe Corrigan got that fantastic reception? He said he'd never been cheered that much by his own fans. It was the night poor Tommy Caton scored an OG for us and we were singing, "We all agree, Tommy Caton's a Scouser." Then it was "We all agree, Corrigan's better than Shilton." "Corrigan for England." Joe Joe Joe Joe Corrigan."

Sometimes, when there was no opposing fans to speak of, the Kop would divide itself into sides. The chant would go up, "The Right Side. The Right Side." The lefties would feel left out and start giving it, "The Left Side. The Left Side." Then they would gang up on the centreists and sing, "Middle, middle give us a song, middle, give us a song." Then "Ssssssshhhhhhhhhh..............AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!" if the middle didn't respond. There was also a Pannini-type sticker book out in the mid 70s called the football handbook and the advert was on TV. They had the football chant of, "We all agree, Football handbook is magic." and the Kop latched on to that and sand it the way it was in the advert. Funny. Then there was the horrific abuse, which even as a young lad, I felt was well out of order, of the opposition black players. Some gruesome comments from Kopites about the supposed odours of these players being particularly sickening. The one I always felt sorry for was Viv Anderson. As full back for some teams we truly hated, especially when he was at Forest, he was always going to come in for some fearsome abuse and of course he alwys got it. Who remembers Bob Paisley complaining about swearing from the Kop in the Echo and saying he didn't like it? Following day we're home to someone or other and the Kop start singing "We're not allowed to swear, we're not allowed to swear, we're not allowed to swear." A few minutes later, the opposition get a goal and their fans start taking the piss. Paisley's comments are immediately forgotten as the fans start up, "You're gonna get your fecking heads kicked in."

This content is not viewable to guests.

My mate Will's a Mancunian but together with his mate Pete (who's father actually played for Man Utd!) they've both supported Liverpool all their lives. Will and Pete live in Daveyhulme and I'll defy any person on here to say they love Liverpool more than this pair. They go everywhere, and I mean EVERYwhere following OUR team. Anyway, Will's lad Shaun rang Terry Christian on his phone-in saying Chelsea had no right to complain about the ticket allocation for the Champ's League final when they couldn't fill Cardiff for the Charity Shield and had to send loads of tickets back for their FA Cup semi. The g******* Christian assumed Shaun was a Manc due to his accent and thought he was on safe ground and tried to have a go at Liverpool and how worried we'd be at the prospect of facing them in the final when Shaun cut him short and told him WE weren't worried in the slightest. Christian goes, "Where are you driving home to?" and Shaun went, "Daveyhulme." so Christian says, "Who do you support?" and Shaun proudly says, "Liverpool." Christian cut him off, knowing he'd lost the argument with the words "Strange lad."

I wouldn't bother with it mate. If it's supposed to be an appreciation for our new American owners, it stinks of sucking up to them. If it's supposed to be a moral-boosting speech, there's loads of speeches from our own shores more inspiring, emotional and uplifting. Al Pacino! What's he got to say that will make us any better? A waste of time in my opinion.