“They can have more enjoyable moments in a week of football than we’ve had in 30 years. Everton are the most miserable club to support in this country. A combination of us being unable to have any high whatsoever compounded by them getting football miracles on a weekly basis season after season.”
– Anonymous Evertonian
This outstanding insight from a Bitter Blue feels far more true today than it did when I put it in the Season Preview nine months ago.
Friends, we are living through a miraculous season in a miraculous era of Liverpool football, and we need to savor every moment.
As fans of sport, we dream of these moments. We hope for these moments. We anticipate these moments. But for most of us — those of us who are doing this right — we don’t expect them. We don’t feel any entitlement to this. Indeed, for many of us, the emotional journey takes us on the opposite path — we expect the worst. In our hearts, we KNOW that our team is the least lucky, the most put-upon, and the most ill-treated franchise in sports history.
From doubters to believers
And then along comes Jürgen Klopp, who tells us we must change from doubters to believers.
I was fortunate enough to be watching from the Kop during Klopp’s first season, when the Reds faced West Bromwich Albion in December. A month earlier, Klopp had chastised Anfield’s denizens for abandoning the team after Crystal Palace scored a go-ahead goal in the 82nd minute of the match. “I felt pretty alone when Liverpool fans were leaving.” But this time, Anfield had stuck with the team, as they fought back from a 2-1 deficit to earn a draw in the sixth minute of stoppage time. With the crowd not only sticking around but roaring to urge their team on, the team had responded. The man for the big occasion, Divock Origi, had again been in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing. His strike from 25 yards was deflected past a helpless keeper, and the Reds equalized in the 96th minute. From there, Anfield raised its voice even higher, pushing for for a winner. For a couple of minutes, 50,000 of us believed that it was going to happen. In just a month’s time, he had already transformed the attitudes of many of the faithful.
Then Jürgen Klopp seized that moment, alchemizing that crowd’s energy into a bonding agent that cemented the fans’ relationship with manager and team. Immediately after the match, Klopp led the team over to the Kop, where they joined hands to face the supporters in thanks. This was extraordinary. After all, the Reds had “only” earned a single point by drawing with a mid-table opponent. But the moment was magic. Klopp and the team had acknowledged with gratitude the crowd’s role in bringing them back.
From then on, not only did doubters start to become believers, but we felt like we were part of that team. And the team felt like they were part of us.
What a 24 hours!
Yesterday, five and a half years after that transformative moment in Klopp’s opening season, he and his team did it yet again. They brought us the miracle. They won an FA Cup for the first time in 16 years. And they showed us, as they have done over and over again, that the fans are part of them, and they are part of us.
When Kostas Tsimikas knocked the winning penalty into the bottom corner, they showed us. Of course, Klopp came with the fist pumps. Thiago ran around shirtless, with tears of joy, embracing everyone in his path. The heroic Tsimikas, already a fan favorite, told reporters he was no longer the “Greek scouser,” but is now a “scouser who is Greek.” In the locker room, the team sang songs and danced.
And in Wembley, in Liverpool, and across the Red Diaspora all the way to my home in Texas, we sang, danced, pumped our fists, laughed, and cried right along with them.
What a day.
How much would you pay now? Wait, don’t answer… there’s more!
For more than a week, the Premier League title has felt like a remote possibility. But this morning (at least it was morning here in Texas), West Ham managed to rekindle our hope and leave possibilities alive.
For 45 minutes, the world was VERY exciting, as the Hammers swept out to a 2-0 lead by halftime. Jarrod Bowen may not have signed for Liverpool after being linked in the last few transfer windows, but for 45 minutes Jarrod Bowen was a Red nonetheless. He scored two gorgeous breakaway goals, and for a few glorious minutes, my fantasies came to life in technicolor. I furiously looked at the table to calculate exactly what score we would need against Southampton on Tuesday in order to overtake Manchester City, if the Hammers 2-0 halftime lead over City had held up. Of course, it did not. Nonetheless, by earning a draw against mighty City, West Ham still left us with hope. Maybe next Sunday Steven Gerrard can finally win a title for Liverpool, this time while working for Aston Villa instead. …
And, oh yes, in two weeks we’ll have the Champions League Final as well.
Now is the time Reds. Savor it. Swirl it around, stuff your nose in the glass, and take a big old snout full of the aroma. Then sip it slowly, let it linger on your tongue, and taste it in all of its bold, bright fullness.
Thanks for the journey.
Up the trophy-winning Reds!
Comments
These are great! Thank you for posting these!
Thanks for the kind words. Tell your friends!