Reaching Athens

[£440,000]

Been out tonight with two Scouse mates who live here who are both bluenoses and who always give me grief about being a Red but not being from Liverpool. Tonight, the first time I'd seen them since we made the final, they were unusually muted when it came to the usual pisstaking. I think that this was because they knew they were on shaky ground with any attempt to put us down right now. Even their habitual "Benitez is a great cup manager, but that's all" didn't get much of an airing. Everyone seems to be writing us off for the final and, maybe, if I were a neutral I'd be doing the same, but they're a lot less vocal about doing so than they were before 2005. I think they all recognise that if there's one team that is always in with a chance, one team that you should never write off, it's Liverpool. A lot of people had Istanbul down as a fluke, a freak result that wasn't likely to be repeated. Not just because of the way we came back, but also because of the fact that we were even in the final at all.

 

Making the final again only two years later has made our rivals and our critics think again, no matter what they might say publicly. I've been a Liverpool fan for 33 years now and in that time we've been the most successful team in Europe, winning the Champions League/European Cup 5 times and the UEFA Cup twice. We've also won 6 FA Cups, 7 League (by whatever name) Cups, ten League titles and won outright (9 times) or shared (3 times) the Charity Shield. We can add 3 European Super Cups to that as well.

 

Our glory years in the league may be behind us for the moment, but in Europe we're starting to prove ourselves to be as much of a force as we were in the late seventies and early eighties. I don't think any of us could've realistically imagined at the end of the 2004 season that we'd be European Champions a year later. We might have wanted it, but we wouldn't have put money on it. And to have believed that within three calendar years we'd be in our second Champions League final in three seasons, we'd have stretched even the most optimistic amongst us.

 

The team that plays in Athens will be the last team of the Moores era and they've set quite a standard for the teams that are to come. For far too long we've had to survive on the memory of what came before, but now we're at last starting to match the achievements of the past. We've done enough this season to prove that 2005 was no fluke. We got to Istanbul on merit and won on merit and because of sheer character. We've reached Athens on merit too, beating the acknowledged best team in Europe on the way and the English champions of the previous two seasons. No matter what happens in Athens we've shown ourselves to be back. If Rafa signs the right players this summer and gets them to bed in quicker than he has in previous seasons, then we'll hopefully be challenging for the League that we all want just under a year from now.

 

Supporting Liverpool is a more traumatic experience than it was twenty to thirty years ago, but we've had times to remember in the last few years that equal any of the highlights of the past. Sometimes I think we all expect too much from the club. We act like we think trophies are ours by right, when they're not. If those trophies didn't need to be won, they wouldn't bring the pleasure that they do. Athens will be a night to remember come what may and in August we get to start all over again in at least four competitions. That's part of the beauty of football. It never stands still. There's always tomorrow. Another game. Something else to aim for. After Athens comes Moscow, after Moscow Rome.

 

Before all that though we have Athens. Just being there sets a marker for ourselves and for our rivals. This is where we all want Liverpool Football Club to be. For the next twelve days the prospect of the final will consume our thoughts, mark our days. Just being in that position, switching between near=-arrogant confidence one moment and panicked nervousness the next, is one of the joys of supporting this club. It's what many of us grew up with and what we've hankered for in the lean years of the nineties. Just being there is a victory in itself. It feels good. It feels right. It's where we feel we belong. The run-up to the final is a time to be savoured. Anticipation isn't as sweet as victory, but it still feels f***ing good.

[Shirohana]

Great post.

[Guest jjasonuk]

Excellent post that mate, love the bit about the anticipation, it's true this build up is wonderful and excrutiating at the same time god know what we'll be like by the time the match comes round, oh hold on just cast our minds back to 2005.

[quibs]

 

Great post mate.. The part of being confident then when u realise the reality you just become nervous again..

 

But we got to Believe as always.. We are Liverpool Football Club...

[Redwire]

Great post but not nearly as funny as this:

 

Liverpool's disgusting cowards are no match for Carlo Ancelotti's AC Milan world beaters

[Hodgson for Chelsea]

Great stuff... and you are correct - at this moment in time we should savour every minute - we are in a 2nd European Cup final in 3 years, fantasic time to be a LFC fan...I was watching a clip on Youtube of the last game on the Kop a 1-0 home defeat to Norwich...my how we've progressed!

[RedMarauder]

Loved reading that, put very well.

 

Thanks

[Snookie]

Brilliant post Tim. Particularly love the last two paragraphs. They capture what it means to be a Liverpool fan (at least for me!).

[Redwire]

Brilliant post Tim. Particularly love the last two paragraphs. They capture what it means to be a Liverpool fan (at least for me!).

 

Agreed. This line sums it up for me: "Just being in that position, switching between near-arrogant confidence one moment and panicked nervousness the next, is one of the joys of supporting this club."

[Gunga Din]

great post Tim. best post on here in a while!!!

[Redkop]

Well written post, probably echoing everyone's thoughts....