the times | Monday June 29 2020 1GG 9thegame
I dreamt of my grandad for the first
time in several years on Thursday
night. We hugged and there was
so much love that I awoke tearful.
Why had I dreamt about him, I
wondered, and then, as I glanced at
the giant Liverpool flag flying from
my bedroom window, I smiled. I am a
Liverpool supporter because of him.
Grandad was a staunch Evertonian
and I would always profess to like
what he did not like simply because
his spluttering indignation was so
comical.
Grandad imbued me with the sense
that football is a terribly serious
business, that to attend a game is a
weighty affair, that you have to check
and recheck your season-ticket folder
before setting off, place a few striped
Everton mints into your jacket pocket,
leave plenty of time for traffic and
prepare yourself for the possibility
of great disappointment.
He was so grave about the whole
thing that for several years I thought
he was a club director. Being a fan,
he showed me, was not just about
singing or bragging rights or the pub
or the cheering of a goal, but also
about a relationship that seeps into
your soul. My grandmother’s funeral
was on the morning of May 14, 1966,
and I am told my grandad dashed
home to West Derby afterwards to be
able to watch Everton win the FA
Cup final. Fellow mourners did not
know if he was intensely introspective
because of the sudden death of his
wife or because Sheffield Wednesday
had taken a two-goal lead.
I am, then, not a giddy sort of
Liverpool fan. Looking back, most of
my childhood was spent obsessing
about them in a not very healthy
fashion. I believed no one else loved
them the way I did. I defied my
parents over only two rules as a child.
The first was I hid my cat under my
bedclothes when they popped in to
kiss me goodnight, so Swizzy could
spend the night with me. The second
was I would also hide a radio under
my sheets so I could listen to
commentary of whatever European
game Liverpool were involved in.
It was a very crowded bed.
It was all about Europe. I never
once cried about a domestic result but
if we conceded to Red Star Belgrade,
I would sob into my pillow, certain no
one else connected to the club was as
distraught. The domestic league was
about petty jealousies rather than the
end product of a title. My first game
at Anfield was the 7-0 demolition ofDijk on road to greatness
My Evertonian
grandad instilled
love of Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur in 1978 and how
I hated Spurs for bothering to turn up
so underprepared and overhyped
thanks to their new signings Ricky
Villa and Osvaldo Ardiles.
Anyway, league titles were pretty
commonplace, the very least such a
magnificent club should be winning.
I never wept with joy at the winning
of them just as I never cried with
happiness at finding presents under
the Christmas tree. It was the natural
order of things.
Then came the unravelling, the
start of the 30-year drought, and not
once did I put a resumption of
domestic prowess at the top of my
wishlist. What do you want to win
most this season, I would be asked,
and the answer would always be,
when applicable, a European title.
Now, I feel like the miller’s daughter
in Rumpelstiltskin. Perhaps if I had
said the words “Premier League title”
sooner, then we would not have had
to wait 30 years — for this is the first
season where I was, martyr-like,
prepared to sacrifice continental glory
for domestic reward.
This is not so surprising. The
season has been plotted to ensure an
overwhelming desire to see Jürgen
Klopp’s side win the first title since- Winning the Champions League
last June was, let’s face it, pleasant
rather than gripping. It assuaged the
pain of the previous year’s defeat, but
to meet Spurs in Madrid was like that
moment in Love Island when a new
chap enters the villa and one of the
contestants mutters that she dated
him six months ago.
Yes, it was just reward for that
remarkable comeback against
Barcelona in the semi-final, but you
cannot watch one game while reliving
another. The 2019 final was a drab
spectacle indeed and felt slightly
perfunctory, a prelude, not to another
spell of European domination but to
converting all that panache abroad to
domestic glory.
There has been a compelling
trajectory to needing to win the title.
After that Champions League loss in
2018, Klopp made sure the team were
invigorated to go one step farther
and so, having lost by one point last
season to Manchester City, it seemed
entirely plausible and correct for him
to rally the side to overtake Pep
Guardiola’s team this time around.
City are worth beating and to steal
their crown feels like 31 cup finals and
counting. Heck, it feels so satisfying
that I forgot for a while about the
Atlético Madrid counterattacks that
knocked us out of the Champions
League just before lockdown.
There is absolutely no asterisk
attached to the satisfaction and joy of
this Premier League title. It was the
enormous parade for the winning of
the 1974 FA Cup that first alerted me
to the impact of silverware, and the
eventual parade for this title will be
just as awe-inspiring.
Alyson Rudd on the
man who taught her
that supporting a
club is a deeply
serious passion
stay at home after title celebrations
the next one, as football is set to
continue behind closed doors.
On Thursday night, thousands
of fans ignored warnings from
Liverpool and Merseyside Police to
celebrate Jürgen Klopp’s side being
crowned champions, for the first time
since 1990.
A second gathering the following
night at the Pier Head waterfront
led to a huge clean-up operation on
Saturday morning, with beer bottles,
broken glass and litter strewn
everywhere.
A firework was aimed at the Liver
Building, with firefighters forced toput out a small fire on the balcony
of the landmark.
Matthew Egglesden, 19, will appear
at Liverpool Magistrates Court on
Monday, charged with causing
criminal damage and firing fireworks
in a public place.
Andy Cooke, chief constable of
Merseyside Police, revealed a number
of officers had been subjected to
violent confrontations.
Liverpool described the actions
of those supporters as “wholly
unacceptable” and, along with the
police, city council and supporters’
groups, will reiterate that socialdistancing measures are still in place.
Public health officials are concerned
about a second spike of Covid-19 in
the city, which has already been badly
affected by the virus.
The argument of moving matches
to neutral grounds to avoid fans
congregating was shown to be flawed
when Manchester City’s defeat by
Chelsea on Thursday night, which
gave Klopp’s side the title, prompted
some Liverpool fans to head to
Anfield to mark the milestone.
Liverpool have been granted safety
certificates from the city council for
all of their remaining home games.I drea
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