Liverpool 2 Coventry City 0 - League (h) (18th Dec 99)  ...  SHANKLYDAY
   JJP's comments: LET'S ALL SAY THANKS TO THE SHANKS ... You would have had to be a right miserable get and a cert. to get the part of Scrooge in any local adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol' if that didn't move you. We paid our respects to the great man and Anfield resounded to the most memorable version of 'YNWA' that there has been in a long time. There was a fear that it could be another Norwich '94 but thankfully the current team has more about them than previous ones of this inglorious decade. We didn't play all that well but we played well enough and afterwards Gerard did admit that the emotions of the day touched the team a bit, well they wouldn't be human if it didn't. Each game and each win, despite the fact that results are being ground out mean another step on the long hard road to a full recovery of the most successful side of the century, which we are, despite the fact that they keep trying to rewrite the record books to suit whichever team they want the record books to suit. Look chaps, eighteen titles are eighteen titles and no matter how you count up the pots we've won more than the rest. And being as it is the season of goodwill, and I'm in a good mood, Merseyside will close the century as being the most successful Football City in England.  We saw two good goals, one of them spectacular and one of them a typical goal from the twenty-year old Michael Owen! Just thought I'd get that one in  first. Michael, shorn of the massive weight of the 1998 Sports Personality  Award burdening him, looked sharper than he has for a while and in anybody's book that's a great thing to have witnessed as we come to the end of a strange year in the life of a Liverpool fan. Titi's goal was also typical but typical of Titi. Most around me don't know what he's going to do next, and we sometimes wonder if Titi knows what he is going to do next? We go into Christmas fifth and with a little gap developing between the likes of Chelsea and us. We are winning at home but we still need to win games on the road. As you know, we have lost only once in nine games - but   six of those games [all wins] were at home and of the three away matches we have just the one win. So with a few travelling days on the horizon we need to maintain the current form and it will be a bit of a blow not having the  suspended Henchoz against Newcastle.  Against Coventry I thought that nobody was outstanding but everybody had a  decent game. It was a memorable and emotional occasion and I think that if   Shanks was looking down and running his eye over the team he wouldn't have been too disappointed by the men in red.  No doubt that Strachan will have a moan, he usually does. But I thought  Coventry played okay and were always a potential banana skin. However, we got by and we all went from Anfield to our Shankly celebrations with a smile   on our faces and that'll do me for now.  On the Shankly celebrations we should take time out to thank the BBC and MOTD for the extended coverage of the event although some of you may have  blinked and therefore missed it. Adding insult to injury the Beeb showed far  more advertising the fact that they would be showing Manchester Uniteds games from Brazil which, outside of the Manc support and only the real ones   at that, will interest just about nobody. But of course, Greg Dyke apart,   they are all Liverpool fans at the BBC aren't they?  If you added all the lines in the national press together their coverage of the Shankly Day wouldn't have amounted to very much either. Then again our own Echo and Post didn't exactly do it a great service, but there you go, we certainly stand alone on these things or am I being a bit too bitter.

  Shareholders' AGM (06th Dec 99)  
   RAOTL does not own shares in L.F.C. - at £6,318 each (last July's share issue price) we can't afford them   - nor were we invited by any of our "mates in the club" (as our critics would have you believe). We were present thanks to the generosity of one of our subscribers, Kathy, who's family were able to arrange for me to attend via a proxy arrangement. What you'll read here is my eye-witness account of what went on during the meeting.
   About a week before the AGM Kath had sent me the Annual Report: a full-colour, glossy brochure featuring a smiling, gap-toothed, toussle-haired blonde youth on the cover. He was covered in mud, presumably after an exciting game of 'football' ®™. The image was straight out of a cosy, Oxo-family-type commercial. The subtext here seemed to be either that Liverpool FC were a friendly, family orientated club or that the future of Liverpool FC lay in it's youth development policy. A quote from Chairman Kopite, extolling the status of The Academy, was also featured on the cover and served to underline the latter. Either way, the club's philosophy seemed to be neatly summed up here: we create and nurture our own talent, and we market ourselves properly to the spare-income, middle-class families. I can live with (in fact, I heartly endorse) the former and, as long as we're not pushed out sideways, I could just about bear the latter. Just.
  The meeting itself was held in the Bill Shankly suite on the first floor of the Centernary Stand. The directors, auditors and club secretary, Bryce Morrison, were seated along a long row of tables down one side of the room. Gerard Houllier sat at the far end, close to the press. Rows of chairs were laid out in curved rows facing the board - David Moores, Rick Parry, Peter Robinson, Tom Saunders etc. In these 200 or so chairs sat the shareholders, their invited 'guests' (myself included), various interlopers (Hello Sulli!) and other staff from the club.
  After a frankly confusing opening 20 minutes of accountancy-speak ("Amortising of players' registrations" and "reconciliation of operating loss of net cash inflow") from one of our pin-striped directors who had all the charm and forced humour of a Harley Street gyneacologist, we settled down to hear something that we could all understand. Rick Parry addressed the shareholders about the club's commercial outlook and plans for the near future. He was at pains to point out the growing financial gap between the top clubs and the rest. The gap between the bottom of the Premiership and the top of the First Divison is already described as insurmountable. Well, the gap between the top three clubs in the Premiership and the rest of the division is even wider. Winning the Champions League earned MUPLC almost £30 million last season. So where does that leave seventh placed Liverpool FC? Desperately clinging to the coat-tails (financially) of the top three and hoping to catch up some the ground quickly. The Granada deal was presented in glowing terms and, really, no matter how cynical I try to be I can't see the 'darkside' of this arrangement. Marketing, catering, publishing and the web were all areas that Liverpool FC lagged woefully behind in: we now have the expertise of one of the world's biggest and best media and catering groups to help us sort this out. If it means that we eat into that market that the Glams have so shamelessly mined in the 90s then so be it. We have to compete. I only hope we do it with a bit of style and dignity. Mr Parry also outlined the desire of the club to up the capacity by around 10,000, which given the proximity of the local housing and roads is about the maximum that can realistically be achieved. I was disappointed to hear this: it brings our capacity to about what it was in 1976. I was hoping for a 65,000 seater new Anfield. Maybe the mythical new Kop upper tier and a new Road End might achieve this?   
  Gerard Houllier then addressed the meeting (sometimes veering into a marvellous form of Closeau-speak) with a very funny, realistic and eloquent account of the problems he faced this year. He took the opportunity to have a swipe at some of the ex-Reds now employed in the media who seem to take great delight in belittling his efforts and doubting his suitability for the job. Given that the speech was hurredly prepared due to a 'serious family matter' (?) it was a superb address. He was warmly applauded by press, directors, shareholders and 'observers' alike. I wanted to get up and shout "Allez Les Fucking Rouges, Gerard!", but thought better of it. Houllier was also at pains to stress what Rick Parry had earlier told the meeting: Liverpool FC must become a top three club AT THE VERY MINIMUM and we must become that club NOW! Monsieur Houllier is under no illusions as to what the board require of him. We have to qualify for the Champions League within 2 years.  
  The meeting was then thrown open to questions from the floor ('Any Other Business' I believe it's called and if the minutes of last years' meeting are anything to go by - this next issue won't even be mentioned) and this is where things took a sinister turn. Sheila Coleman and Kevin Robinson from the Hillsborough Justice Campaign had been invited to the meeting by a shareholder (on a proxy arrangement similar to my own) with the intention that they address the shareholders and directors about Liverpool F.C.'s continuing refusal to enter into any meaningful sort of dialogue with the HJC. I'm led to believe that LFC refused to allow them to speak at the meeting which led to one of the sympathetic shareholders, Mrs xxxxx, travelling up from the south to address the meeting on their behalf. Mrs xxxxx spoke with amazing calm (despite her obvious anger) and outlined how the club refuses to talk to the HJC - and the bereaved families, survivors and ordinary supporters therein - whilst heaping assistance and 'official' approval on the HFSG. Despite their many requests the HJC have never been allowed to address the fans via the matchday programme, whilst the HFSG have enjoyed this privilege on several occasions. One of these full-page proclamations was disgracefully used by Trevor Hicks in an unsuccesful attempt to 'call off' last season's boycott at Hillsborough). Neither will the club discuss with the HJC, on any official level, any of the other issues that the bereaved families in the HJC feel that Liverpool F.C. should be aware of. The HJC claim that letters simply go unanswered. In a brazen act of contempt Peter Robinson replied (and he wouldn't - or couldn't - bring himself to look at the members of the HJC present)   that the club had a perfectly good arrangement with the HFSG and simply couldn't support any group that sprang up "willy-nilly" (His words). The relationship, he went on, between LFC and the HFSG worked perfectly well for both sides so he couldn't see what the HJC were on about. Why couldn't they work with the HFSG? he asked, displaying either amazing stupidity or crass insensitivity. He finished by saying that this wasn't the place to bring this matter up and that as far as he and the club were concerned the matter was now closed.  
  Mrs xxxxx wasn't about to be fobbed off so easily, and replied to Mr Robinson that this was exactly the time and place to raise such an issue. She said that the reason the HFSG and HJC couldn't 'work together' was that the HJC existed primarily because certain bereaved families had been expelled from the HFSG after a disagreement on policy and were now forbidden to attend HFSG meetings. Mr Robinson again rose to fob her off with his excuse that the club has a perfectly relationship with the HFSG and saw no reason to do anything else. He reiterated that he felt that this was neither the time nor the place to raise this issue.   
  The meeting then fizzled out with a series of banal points including (a) a request that shareholders who don't sit in the Main Stand (and, thus, who don't get to use the shareholders' lounge) being given a free programme!!  and (b) the fact that some people who sit in the Lower Kemmy get wet when it rains. A young, and extremely nervous shareholder rose to ask about the lack of an official web presence and was told by Mr Parry that a club site was supposed to be launched in the summer but was postponed after the Granada deal so that the club could use some of Granada's great expertise in this field.   
  After this, our Chairman, David Moores invited all for a drink (on him!) in the adjoining Bob Paisley suite and I was happy to take him up on this kind offer (he'd already started so I felt I had to catch him up).    
  Thanks to Kathy for the invite to attend and for the lift back into town .         (John Mac)

Liverpool 4 Sheffield Wednesday 1 - League (h) (5th Dec 99)   
   If I could just quote myself from my West Ham report: "I feel a lot more confident in December 99 than I did in September 98 about the team getting back to winning ways in the next match...". And so it came to pass. 

   New Liverpool Video on Sale (02nd Dec 99)  
   A new video from Granada has just been released called 'Walk On'. It's advertised as 'A celebration of the Greatest Liverpool Teams of the Century' and I wouldn't argue with that. It features the glory years of the club from Shanks' arrival through to the 1980's and has some great footage from Granada's archives although too much of it seems to have been drawn from their 'Reds in Europe' documentary series that many fans will already own on tape. That said, it pays loving tribute to Bill, Bob, Joe and Kenny so who's going to gripe? It runs for 98 minutes (which isn't bad) and costs around £14.99 - I'll be writing a lengthier, more in-depth review for RAOTL # 40 out on Shankly Day. The video's catalogue number is PTVID 1266 and it is produced by Granada for PT Video. Check out - www.pearsontv.com to see if there's any details there.

  Shankly Day Latest (02nd Dec 99)  
   Full details in the new issue of RAOTL on sale NOW! But basically - We've got Radio City to host the event and they'll be playing Shankly songs and interview/soundbites before the game, as well as introducing former Reds' legends of the Shankly era to the ground in the run up to the game. Then a Scots piper will lead the crowd in a chorus of 'Amazing Grace' Shankly's favourite hymn  (that's at about 2:45) this will co-incide with the display of the Shankly mosaic. This will be followed by YNWA which will be dedicated to the achievements and memory of the great man. We've got the club to agree to publish a special souvenir programme for the game (at no increase in cost, we insisted on that)  with, possibly, a reproduction of the programme from Shankly's first game at Anfield - v. Cardiff City - included inside. At half time there'll be a special penalty shoot out between Reds' legends from the 60s and legends from the 70s, which should be good for a laugh at least. We are also hoping to have Nessie Shankly present as the day's special guest, but her ill-health may prevent this.
     The rest is up to you - make sure you participate by bringing your flags and banners, scarves and rattles etc - let's make this the best FlagDay there's been. In early 2000 we've organised a Fans forum at Anfield to be attended by ex-players who played under Shankly. The idea is we celebrate the man and his career and the whole thing will be recorded for broadcast on the radio. There will also be a Shankly exhibition at the club museum: curator Steve Done is working on this as I write but it should be up and running by the time the Shankly Day comes around and will run into the new year.

  West Ham 1 Liverpool 0 - League (a) (27th Nov 99)  
   This defeat may not be as bad as it first appears. Okay - the recent run of good results has been abruptly halted but West Ham have a fine home record - I think that's 7 wins out of 8 home games - so losing is nothing to be ashamed of. We also performed a damn sight better than we did last season at Upton Park when a similar result stopped our similar early Autumn run of good results and sent our season into freefall. I feel a lot more confident in December 99 than I did in September 88 about the team getting back to winning ways in the next match. GH's team look a more resilient unit than they did 14 months ago, it's just unfortunate that injuries have destroyed our attacking options this Autumn. Still with Titi and 'God' due to return shortly and with Owen and Berger's injuries looking less severe than they did at 5pm on Saturday, then I think we have reason to look into December with a good deal of optimisim.
   Although we performed well below par, we really could - and should - have gotten something out of this game. TV evidence shows that our disallowed goal should have stood and who knows how the team would have responded to drawing level early in the second half. When the 'goal' was scored I was standing (warning sarcasm alert!) in the concourse of West Ham's luxuriously appointed away end watching the action on tv, whilst finishing off a delicious pint of reasonably priced half-time lager. I think that along with Filbert St and Goodison, Upton Park has some of the worst facilities for away fans in the league. And God how you pay for the privilege! £31 for this dump is as much an insult as it is a joke. A similar price hike next year will see many loyal away-day Reds giving this one a miss.
   The day had begun well enough with a pleasant (if similarly overpriced) train journey from Liverpool to Euston. A couple of beers each and a rake of decent newspapers to wade through meant we spent an enjoyable 3 hours on one of Richard Branson's finest, before arriving in London just before noon. The train was, of course, late. Consequently we missed our rendezvous with the Moenchengladbach fans (Jonny and Tower included) who'd travelled over from Germany for the game. However, I was with another Liverpool fan who'd travelled a fair distance to see the match - Sean Woods of the New York Supporters Club - who'd flown in the day before to see his first game in a year. Joining him from slightly closer was 'their Chris' from Sankey. Following last season's debacle - when we spent far too long in a pub much too far from the ground - we decided to split the underground journey and got off half a dozen stops before Upton Park, at Whitechapel. The 'Blind Beggar' is only about 100 yards or so down this east end street and when we arrived the pub was packed with Liverpool supporters, most of whom had come down on the earlier 06:45 (and some who'd flown down on the EasyJet morning flight) and so they were a couple of hours ahead of us in the 'pre-match entertainment' stakes. We did our best to catch up, of course, only the pub couldn't pour the Guinness fast enough and occasionally had to stop serving it  to give the staff a rest. About 2:15 we headed off to the ground arriving at about a quarter to 3 to eventually meet up with the Borussia fans we'd missed at Euston as well as with JJP (with Hammers supporting neice in tow) and Andy and Sue who'd just finished selling the new issue.
   Last month we praised Joe Cole's invention and flair and it was in evidence here again. A pity I can't say the same thing about the Reds. With Owen looking out of sorts and not match fit, it meant we really did struggle as an attacking force after Berger limped out after about a quarter of an hour.  Their goal was a disappointment: both sloppy and, at 45 mins, ill-timed. Had we held out for just a minute more we would have had the psychological boost of going in all square after performing at far below our best. As it was we had busy performances from Danny Murphy, Steve Gerrard and Davey Thommo to praise, whilst Hyypia and Henchoz were generally untroubled, if occasionally caught out by Di Canio and Cole.
   To our credit we responded well in the second half and we were unlucky not to be credited with Owen's 'equaliser'. But as the half wore on we became increasingly desperate: full of committment and passion but short on guile. Big Sami was thrown forward and Hercules Meier came on for the Bassa Warrior - Song - with 20 minutes left.  We then proceeded to bombard the Hammers in a more direct fashion, when a bit more width might just have unlocked the door. The more we pressed, the more we left gaps and we were lucky not to concede a second when West Ham broke and Wanchope (I think) blasted well over from a promising position. When the final whistle went Big Sami collapsed to his knees. It was only partially in response to his first game as skipper ending in defeat. It was just as much a reflection of the effort and committment he showed in the last half-hour when he was all over the place, trying to drag a result from somewhere - anywhere!
   As we left our sour mood was compounded by the sight of the snaking, winding queue for the tube which was of pure 'Cup-final-tickets-on-sale-tomorrow' proportions. Sean, Chris and I (we'd lost Steve (I told you so) Kelly, Ian and Simon in the crowd) headed off into the depths of an estate in search of a sharpener. We eventually found a pub half way to Plaistow tube ('The Prince of Wales'??) - it was packed to the ceiling with grinning, celebrating Hammers but it sold cold beer - so what the heck.
   Back at Euston most of the pubs were shut to footy fans (unlike in previous years - Did the presence of so many Sunderland fans, on their way back from Watford, have anything to do with it?) which meant we had about half an hour to kill - which we soon did in the off-licence and the sarnie shop before getting on the train early to grab some decent seats. The journey back was quiet-ish until somewhere around Milton Keynes when we started a bit of a sing-song and dragged out some of the old ones in recognition of the Shankly Day. The day picked up a bit then and continued on an upward spiral until I was left stranded at Chester Station and had to pay £20 to get home in a cab. These days out in London are getting a bit expensive - roll on Tottenham!!

Star performers: Big Sami and the Thommo, Gerrard and Spud triumvirate. The crowd were generally quiet except for a rousing, raucous 20 minutes before the game actually started - and we turned out in numbers too. Overall - 5 out of 10.

  RAOTL Poll (24th Nov 99)  
   Wanna vote in our not-at-all-serious 'Tempting Fate' poll? Then <Click Here> We''ll publish the result in a week's time.

    Reserves News (22nd Nov 99)  
   Another decent bit of news tonight was the reserves resounding 6-2 win away at Barnsley. Fowler(3), Newby(2) and Stig scored for the Reds. Barnsley may well be languishing at the foot of the FA Premier reserves league, having won no games at all, but even so it's a good result.

Bill Shankly 40th Anniversary (22nd Nov 99)  
   We had further talks with Liverpool FC today over our planned Shankly Day on Dec. 18 and it appears that things are going as well as we dared hope for. The club have managed to contact quite a few players of the Shankly era and they will be making guest appearances on the day, as well as on the days surrounding the 'weekend' in an official capacity for the club. The Shankly exhibition at the museum now looks certain to take place, and we've managed to pull off one big surprise that we've all been sworn to secrecy over - just make sure you're inside Anfield early so that you don't miss anything. Believe me - you'll regret it. We're still looking for a venue for that evening - function room, hall or whatever. Please get in touch with any suggestions. Yesterday's FA Cup draw added one ironic fetaure to the whole thing - the last game before the Shankly Day that celeberates Bill's arrival at Anfield will be against the club he left - Huddersfield Town. We feel it would be nice to make the day (I believe it's ITV's live match for the Sunday - 2pm) the first official day of our celebrations. To this end try and take as many flags and colours over to the McAlpine Stadium and let's officially 'open' the 40th anniversary celebrations in fine style. (JM)

Sunderland 0 Liverpool 2  - League (a) (20th Nov 99)  
   I listened on Radio Merseyside again after having to give up the ticket hunting at 10pm last night without success. With West Ham next week I couldn't afford to go up on spec and end up having to pay 50 quid to a tout, so here I am. Sunderland were unbeaten in 12 months at the SOL so going here and getting a result is something not to be sniffed at. From what I can gleam from the radio commentary The Reds were tight at the back and solid and busy elsewhere, and throughly deserved the victory even if Sunderland were unlucky not to score. One save from Davies by Sander sounded an absolute blinder and Song twice cleared off the line. Singled out for special praise were Westerweld, Hyppia and Henchoz, Song and Redknapp. On 'Match of the Day' Owen's goal looked top class - holding off a big strong defender and wriggling into the box to 'dink' the ball over the advancing keeper a la Peter Beardsley or King Kenny. The second goal was made by a fabulous run from Davey Thommo, back heeling the ball and nutmegging the defender in one movement out on the right wing then racing to the by-line before crossing hard and low to Berger standing about 15 yards out. Paddy belted a low, rasping RIGHT footer low into the bottom corner. JJP says that Thompson (only on the pitch for 15 mins) did enough to be named Man of the Match. A full report will be posted as soon as JJP gets home and sends me one. He has, however, already phoned me bellowing "Houllier In, Houllier In" down the phone so we must be doing something right. (JMac)

That not-so-wacky Phil McNutcase (19th Nov 99)  
   The Echo tonight has Phil McNulty's column concentrating on Houllier's battle over the Spice Boys image and the Anfield booze culture as portrayed in Neil Ruddock's embarrassing new book (and serialised in all the tackiest dailies) which we'll most-definitely NOT be pushing on our Kop Shop books pages or in the fanzine. Credit where it's due though, Phil actually comes up with some harsh words to say about Ruddock's claims, but then that's not too difficult is it? Ruddock quite brazenly revels in the "win, draw or lose - its first to the bar for the booze" culture that helped bring the club to 8th place obscurity during the nineties. Plummeting to such depths, McNulty reveals, saw Liverpool go from "title winners to the dark ages". Now I know that expectations are high here so we should take that as a compliment - that finishing ten places higher than Everton's usual 90s position is construed as "the dark ages" for The Reds. Anyway, wee Phil (who even has to look up to that young whippersnapper Chris Bascombe at the Echo these days) continues by demonstrating how Gerard has instilled new pride in the club, and holds up the example of Tuesday night's reserve game (see below) versus Sunderland. Whereas Stan Collymore famously once (or was it twice?) refused to turn out for the Reds' reserve team, Tuesday saw ALL of the available first team squad play at Knowlsey Road. "It was a night the new pride in wearing red was on show in front of just a faithful few frostbitten fans". Er ... make that 2,500 faithful few, Phil, about a third of the number of 'local, from-the-hearts' that turned up for your League Cup tie vs. Oxford this year. Okay, so it's a generally sympathetic column - but who cares, he's a bluenose, it's Fridayand I'm bored and pissed off at not having a Sunderland ticket.
     
Reserves (16th Nov 99)  
   The Reserves played Sunderland Res. tonight at Knowlsey Road, St Helens. The Reds, fielding an extremely strong line-up, won 4-0 with goals from Stephen Gerrard, Robbie Fowler, the great Danny Murphy and Davey Thompson. Robbie looked fit and sharp and could easily have scored a hat-trick. He was eventually substututed on the hour by Eric Meijer. The Liverpool line-up was: Westerweld, Song, Matteo, Henchoz, Hyypia, Gerrard, Thompson, Fowler, Murphy and Berger (who also had a fine game). Subs used were: Meijer, Traore and Maxwell. Subs not used: Stig Bjornebye and Jorgen Nielsen.

That wacky Phil McNutcase (16th Nov 99)   
   Tonight's Liverpool Echo has the back page headline: 'Houllier Spies on Norway Star'. Phil 'Straight between the cheeks' McNulty tells us that Gerard was, apparently, in Oslo at the weekend to 'spy' on Erik Mykland, the Norwegian Panathinaikos star. In a desperate attempt to flesh out this extremely flimsy (I hesitate to use the word 'story') piece McNutcase informs us that Mykland is "a gifted individual known as 'The Mosquito' in Norway because of his style of play.", and the image is left to ... well, just hang there. Well, I for one, cannot wait to see him. Get that pen out now, Gerard, and let us feast our eyes on this mosquito-like person.

Shankly 40th Anniversary (11th Nov 99)      This December sees the 40th anniversary of the arrival of Bill Shankly at Anfield. As part of the celebrations we will be organising a FlagDay and Kop Mosaic. We have been promised full co-operation by the club and we have also set the ball in motion to bring you some other events on the afternoon we entertain Coventry at Anfield. We can't go into too much detail until things are actually finalised BUT if it comes off it will be a wonderful day. Please remember that although this has the blessing of LFC it is NOT an official club event - it is OURS, yours and mine. It is us, the supporters, who proposed, planned and who are organising this. So please give it your fullest support. Bill deserves it. The club are planning to host a Shankly exhibition at the club museum from sometime in early to mid December until late January. Whether this comes off depends on them finding sufficient space to put the exhibition on and whether they can find any suitably interesting Shankly memorabilia. Anyone got anything they'd care to loan for the duration of the exhibition? At the moment we are desperately hunting down a suitable venue for the Saturday evening to host a supporters get-together (lots to drink, loads of singing, music and Shankly videos etc). Can anyone suggest anywhere? Contact us via email at RAOTL or leave a message on the forum. (JMac)

Joey Jones (10th Nov 99)  
   I'll be attending a 'Gentleman's Evening' in early December where the guests of honour will be ex-bluenose (& ex-manc) currency forger and screwdriver jockey, Mickey Thomas and that hero of Rome '77, the very great Joey Jones. For years I wondered what Jones' first name was... Oswald? Oliver? I thought that he prefaced his Christian name with an initial, like F. Murray Abraham did. (If you still haven't got it it's because of the chant "O Joey, Joey! ...". I'll get me coat.) If anyone has any questions or comments they'd like me to put to young Joseph I'd be delighted to pass them on. And if I can remember anything at all about what happened I'll write it up for the fanzine. (JMac)

Sunderland / West Ham Tickets Updates (10th Nov 99)  
   West Ham (a) went on sale today to season ticket holders. Any serial number. Voucher number 30. They are priced at an exorbitant £31.00. I suppose many Reds will be opting for the Kids' tickets at £17, which is priced about right for this away end. Remember to shave that morning - especially you girls. Some people are saying we should reciprocate and charge away fans at Anfield whatever their club charge us when we visit. Worth thinking about... And while we're at it let's give Newcastle only 900 tickets when they come here. Sunderland (a) sold out around 2pm on Saturday as we were running around outside The Kop looking for vouchers. So, if anyone has a spare, yours truly would appreciate it. (johnny.mac@liverpool-fc.net or leave a message on the message board)

Liverpool 2 - Derby County 0  - League (h) (06th Nov 99)  
   In the car on the way back into Liverpool City Centre after the game, Big Tony summed the current mood up when he said, "I'll tell you what Houllier's done since last season - he's bought 'attitude'." No doubting that, Tony. Any doubters just had to witness the performance of Eric Meijer, a late sub for Camara, who was this new 'attitude' personified; but more of 'Hercules' later.
   We had to dig in and remain patient during this game. Last season we'd have drawn this easily, or panicked, lost shape and committed too many players upfield and ended up losing. This was a win that was ground out through pure determination rather than via incisive, irresistable football. Not that we didn't play any decent football: we did - at times; but more often than not we'd just see an attack break down, then the team would re-group and start again. Having Owen play one his most anonymous games in his entire career didn't help either - the brunt of the attacking responsibility thus falling on the shoulders of Danny Murphy and (an injured?) Titi Camara. After the first quarter hour, however, we were looking very bright and it looked as if once the first goal came another 2 or 3 would soon follow. But the goal didn't come, and once Smicer limped out of the action we had to reshuffle our attacking options with Titi moving out wide and Spud coming in to play down the middle. However, during this opening 20 minutes Derby also reshuffled their defensive shape and as a result we found creating clear-cut scoring chances very difficult. However, we stuck at it and at half-time the side was applauded off whereas you get the feeling that last year there'd have been a smattering of half-hearted applause, punctuated with booing and cries of "Fucking garbage, Redmen!". At least I think there would have been. Are we really a better side than last year? The results seem to say so. Given the games played at home over the last month I'd say that last year we'd have drawn with Derby and Bradford and possibly lost to West Ham. So, there must be an improvement musn't there? Well, yes there is and it's name is Sami Hyypia - and the sense of assurance he brings to the side. Once again Sami was quite magnificent - and don't believe Jim Smith's moaning in the paper's regarding the tackle that broke a bone in Eranio's leg. Smith uses referee Uriah Rennie's poor display (he was crap, actually) as the reason why Sami wasn't booked or even sent off. In fact, it was an innocuous challenge - so mild that 99% of the crowd hurled abuse at Rennie for giving the free kick, and not one Derby player - nor their supporters - protested to the referee about it; not even the all-seeing eyes of the MOTD tv cameras could throw any light on the incident.
   The second half continued much in the same vein - Liverpool with the bulk of the play but failing to really carve out a clear cut scoring chance. In games like this there's always the chance that the away side could sneal a goal. And Derby nearly did when Deon Burton was given a free header and somehow managed to hit the bar from close range. In the meanwhile though, Eric Meijer had come on for the injured Camara and immediately began to put himself about. One of his first rampaging forays saw us win a corner at The Kop end and Eric ran to the Kop, like a 90s Joey Jones (ask your dad) waving his fist, exhorting The Kop to raise the volume. The volume was duly raised. Shortly afterwards Eric received the ball wide on the right, out by The Kemmy, with his back to The Kop. He flicked the ball over his shoulder where Murphy ran onto it. The lively Spud then jinked in towards the area. As Owen drew a defender away by his presence in a central position (and I think he EXPECTED to be passed to), Spud cut back onto his right foot and drilled a hard, low shot towards the bottom left hand corner. Fortunately, it took a slight deflection of a defender's (Spencer Prior?) last-ditch tackle which lifted it above the keeper's despairing dive. However, I like to think it would've gone in anyway. The roar that nearly lifted the roof off Anfield was 50% relief and 50% celebration. We'd all said that if we were to do anything in the league this season we'd have to win the 3 home games after Southampton away, then after the two potentially tricky away games in late November (Sunderland, West Ham) we'd be looking to get 9 points from the 3 home games in December. Well, Danny's goal looked like sealing part one of the master strategy. A few minutes later a long ball 'over the top' found Redknapp suspiciously clear and chasing the ball in acres of space. The goalkeeper was always favourite to clear it though, and it took an embarrassing mis-kick to leave Jamie with the ball and facing an open goal fifteen yards out. Though the angle wasn't perfect, he slotted it home comfortably, and that was that really.
   As The Kop began to celebrate they took the time out to recognise the influential input from Eric 'Hercules' Meijer who's gung-ho approach had unsettled and shook the Derby defence, and had been instrumental in creating the opening - vital - goal. As his name reverberated around The Kop, Eric turned and smiled and looked slightly embarassed (bless him!), then he gave his approval with a no-nonsense, manly thumbs up. As we said after the West Ham game: he's in danger of becoming a cult. So much so that the bulletin board received this suggested chant: "He's big, he's Red, he's off his fucking head, Eric Meijer etc". I've heard worse (but not much worse.).

Overall - 6 and a half out of ten. Star performers were Sami and Henchoz, Spud and Hamman (who looked better as the game wore on) with MOTM going to big Hercules for his enthusiasm, grit and energy as well has influence on the final scoreline.

Sunderland Tickets & News Page Updates (02nd Nov 99)  
   Hello folks and sorry about the silence. Pressure of work and piss-ups in Ireland etc. Apologies and thanks for sticking with us. First: I've revamped this News Page so that only the last 4 -6 weeks are on this page. There's a separate Older News page for stuff from earlier in the season. This is so that this page loads quicker.  There are a few gaps - a few reports not yet in, or finished yet but they'll all be up soon. Have a look at Leicester away for some news on the New York Reds.
   Second: Sunderland away are on sale from Thursday morning - Spare voucher 29 ending in 5 or 6 is required and they cost £23 or £17 for the kids (That means you, Johnner - make sure you have a shave that day).

Liverpool 3 - Bradford City 1  - League (h) (01st Nov 99)  
   This is more like it. Without hitting anything like top form we score 3, come from a goal behind (We'd have lost or drawn this last year - maybe even last month?) and collect 3 points from the type of game that has become something of a soft, pink, fluffy underbelly for us in recent seasons. Add to that another towering performance from Hyypia who is rapidly becoming the bargain of the decade, and another blistering, sexy showing from Titi; coupled with the fact that we went above the Rent Defaulters and up into 6th place, and it's fair to say that we all went home rather happy from this one. In fact it was almost like 'the good old days'; I quote the Daily Telegraph: "Victory saw Liverpool rise four places to sixth, overhauling Everton on the way. The Kop, noisy throughout, roared its delight at the skill and speed of Camara, the clever play of Vladimir Smicer just behind him and the resolve showed after the earlier setback.".
    Titi's fantastic performance last Wednesday when he showed his real mettle in terrible personal circumstances has seen the man rocket in the estimation of everyone at Anfield. The reception he received from the 40,000, when the team came out, was absolutely phenomenal - and the support continued throughout the game: the guy could do no wrong. It's total respect from The Kop - multiplied ten-fold. An added bonus was a late appearance from Hercules who galloped around to excellent effect and gave many fans an opportunity to shower him with sugar-lumps. Despite the fact that we made a slow start there's no-one you could actually blame for the goal - Bradford knocked it round well, and when it fell to Windass (from a deflection?) just outsdie the box, he hit a belter with the outside of his right foot. From my seat slap bang behind the goal I knew it was in as soon as he hit it. 'Bad' very nearly became 'very fucking bad' sixty seconds later, when Dino Saunders (showing remarkable 'tongue kept in mouth' restraint) whipped over a cross from the left that found Neil Redfearn completely unmarked less than six yards out. The header was in true Andy Cole banjo-and-cow's-arse style, and we let out a huge collective sigh of relief (along with several highly crude expletives) as it flew over the bar. Thankfully that was the last we really saw of Bradford as an attacking force. The Reds picked up the tempo a bit and started to play some very decent football: Berger, Camara, Thompson and Smicer all combining well: Vladdy in particular going on several slaloming runs akin to Peter Beardsley '88. The real star was always likely to be Titi though, and about half an hour into the game he collected a ball from Staunton about 30 yards out, turned, danced passed 2 defenders and fired a crisp, low shot into the Anny Road end goal.

Liverpool 1  West Ham Utd 0 - League (h) (27th Oct 99)  
   Nerves were a bit frayed as the clock ticked down on this one.  I've read some idiot saying "2-0 is the most dangerous lead in football.". Well, he should 've been here when we were a goal up at 90 mins, the 4th official held up a board saying '3 mins' and West Ham start launching long balls deep into the heart of our defence.  But then I've forgotten about Sami Hyypia haven't I? The Colossus of Anfield Rhodes; The Mighty Finn - the man who when asked if he found the Premiership hard-going replied "It is not hard enough". WB Yeats should write poems about this guy - he is a tower. Even when fouled he wins the ball, and striding out of defence playing passes with either foot you'd swear he was the love-child of Alan Hansen and Franz Beckenbauer. He's quiet, unassuming, solid as a rock, totally committed and half-way to being our player of the year and it's not even November. There, I think I'm in love. But then I've not mentioned Mon Petit, Titi ... in one game he's cemented himself into the heart of The Kop forever, and it wasn't for the football.
   When Titi scored from Song's marvellous right wing cross I was too busy celebrating to notice what happened. What did register was that it took a long time for the Reds to regroup for the kick-off. It later transpired that Titi's father had died that afternoon and Titi had insisted that he played and dedicated his performance to his father. When he scored he broke down and wept. When I heard this the following morning I filled up. I wanted to phone someone and tell them how ... how ... proud I was of the man. Some players talk a good game (eh, guvnor?) others lead by example - tonight Titi Camara showed what a true giant he is. Whatever happens in his career he'll always be a Red and we'll always love him. Titi, may your god bless you.
   West Ham came to Anfield with all the inconsistency of, er, well, ... us. They can give anyone a game, tonk some of the best sides and lose to crap. So we didn't know what to expect. They gave a game to young Joe Cole - a player that we at RAOTL - have admired for several years. (JJP and I were talking to some West Ham fans a year or two back about his cracking young lad called Cole and one of them said, "Who's he play for then?". "You! You daft bastard!" I said. JJP's mate had put us on to him when he was still a kid in the youth team and we'd followed his progress via the Youth Cup and newspaper reports.). Ferdinand might be a solid enough (and overpriced) defender and Lampard a great prospect in midfield, but Joe Cole stuck out like a modest Man Utd fan tonight. The lad is class, pure and simple. It's a good job he's not 14 otherwise Sir Alex of Immodium would be round with a tube of Smarties and a large butterfly net looking for the next Mark Robbins. (Sounds a bit like Southampton's youth policy to me...).
   Another notable performance came from Eric Meijer. Now it's difficult to phrase this without taking the piss, and I don't want to do that because if the rest of the team showed just half his commitment and spirit we'd be ten points clear at the top. Eric works like a particularly conscientious Trojan on speed - "Stakhanovite", I believe Brian Glanville would call it (Look it up). When West Ham had the ball he'd gallop across the face of their back four closing defenders down, challenging for loose balls and generally making a lanky nuisnace of himself. But - when he gets the ball you just want him to lay it off neatly - and as quickly as possible - to the nearest red shirt. In the second half Eric was twisting and turning, trying to tackle 2 or 3 defenders at once as they played the ball around looking for an opportunity to clear it. One of them took a chance a belted it away, only for it to hit Eric plumb in the face as he stood about 6 foot away. The resounding 'Thwack!' was probably heard in Chester and I expected Eric to go down like Blackburn Rovers - that's loudly and generating much laughter. Instead, his legs buckled slightly and he just shook his head as if trying to shoo off an annoying fly, then he turned and galloped off after the ball. He was like a frisky stallion - half man, half horse: our very own centaur forward. The nickname 'Champion' had almost been applied when Pete says "Nah, he's more like Hercules.". I looked at Pete. Pete looked at me, and we both said, "Hercules - Steptoe's horse". A star was born.

Marks for the night: Camara (MOTM) Ten out of ten. Thompson was again as busy as a bee, Hyypia - another fabulous performance and Hercules, you are in danger of becomming a cult. Overall: 7 out of 10.

Southampton 1 Liverpool 1 - League (a) (23rd Oct 99)  
   The finacial impact of the trip to Omagh meant I have to give this one a miss. But JJP is sending me a trip and match report. Honest. Stay tuned. You probably saw it on Match Of The Day anyway. 

Omagh Town 1 Liverpool 7 - Friendly (a) (18th Oct 99)      Liverpool were the only side to keep their promise to bring a full-strength squad to Omagh's St Julian's Road ground. Temporary stands along both touchlines raised the capacity of this tiny arena to 7,000. Almost all the crowd were Liverpool supporters and around 100 had travelled over from Merseyside and the mainland to follow the side. The people of Omagh were genuinely surprised to see us over there as they said that United had brought only "a handful" and Chelsea "maybe a dozen". Another limiting factor was the (non) availabilty of tickets and the complete press blackout for this game on the mainland. At Chelsea on Saturday people were amazed to learn that we were travelling to Belfast the following day for a game they knew nothing about. After an evening in The Albert and The Hogshead in town celebrating the Chelsea win, the last thing I need was a 5am alarm call in order for me to get to Speke airport for 6am. But I got one anyway, and I was half-asleep when I checked in for the 7:15am EasyJet flight to Belfast International. There were about 2 dozen familiar faces in the departure lounge - each looking as knackered and hung-over as I presumably did. A one-hour wait on the tarmac whilst an electrical fault was investigated didn't go down too well and we eventually disembarked and crossed the tarmac to a second plane, leaving Liverpool about an hour late (for a 40 minute flight!). On the flight I learned of the variety of options the travellers had: some were staying overnight in Belfast with friends and acquaintances they'd made at the pre-season games. Some were (terrifyingly) planning to meet up para-miliatray types (I kid you not) for a Sunday night sesh. The daftest (Steve Wright, this means you) were off to Dublin and planned to catch the bus up the following morning. I was being picked up by my brother-in-law, and renowned bon viveur, Dermot and was driving straight to Omagh. One hearty Ulster fry set me up for the day and I said I was off out for a spot of sight-seeing. By 11am Dermot, Paddy Chesters and I were in the back-room of a weird night club enjoying the first pint of the trip. The room was thick with cigarette smoke and there were about 15 blokes in there: ten of them were absolutely off their cake. They'd either stayed up all night or rose at 9 to continue the session. It's a popular spot for a pint after (or instead) of mass and opens suitably early enough to accomodate this. After there we went on a mini pub crawl of the town. We'd promised my sister in law we'd be back for lunch but didn't get in until around 9pm - by which time I'd had enough, made my excuses and went to bed and crashed out.     The Monday morning - matchday! - was bright but cold and windy. Dermot was off to work so young Paddy dropped me off at the Omagh Town Social Club around 10:30am. I was the first 'Red' there: as I ordered my pint one bloke says "They've started arriving then?". Everyone was charming and friendly. One bloke apologises for the tatty ManU scarf up behind the bar and complains to the barman that they should have an Omagh one up there. Several of the locals are Liverpool fans but even the Manc ones were friendly and welcoming without a hint of the in-your-face arrogance and lack of sportsmanship that afflicts their counterparts on the mainland. An hour later I decide I want a change of scenery and head over the bridge and back into town. I headed up the hill to MJ's (The Monument Bar) next to the Post Office, close to the Court House at the summt. This is a fine drinking bar cum off-licence and the shelves behind the counter are piled high with bottles of Paddys, Powers, Jamesons etc. There are a gang of Scousers in here, but no-one I know so I leave after one and head down the hill to Gallagher's Bar, also on the High Street, described by one of it's regulars as "the best wee bar in Omagh", and I wouldn't disagree. There's a wicked banter going on between Mickey the landlord and a couple of the regulars. I pull up a stool to the bar order a Guinness and sit back savouring the local colour. Gallaghers is lovely dark bar, barely wide enough for the bar itself and couple of customers and reminiscent of The Globe in town. A couple of the lads come in and we swap stories of the journey. One of the blokes in the bar says "We had a gang of your lads in here last night - singing all night long". Yup, that sounds like us. Then it's off back to the Omagh Town Social Club were we'd all arranged to meet up before the game. On the way we bump into Steve Wright and his mates just in from Dublin. Sordid stories are swapped but because of the number of married men involved I am sworn to secrecy. We have a couple more beers in the club and listen to amazing tales of Omagh hospitality - the landlady of a B&B about ten miles out of town insisting on driving the four Scousers she's putting up around like she's a taxi driver. Others say they've found it difficult to buy a pint as everytime they turn round there are 2 or 3 more drinks on the bar in front of them. There's about 20 or so Liverpol fans in here and a large red banner covers one wall. Around four, an hour before kick-off, we head off up to the ground as there are tickets to sort out and we've no idea where we're going.     There are two half-covered terraces at either end of the ground and a small covered grandstand seating about 200 on the half-way line of the near touchline. Both sides of the ground have tidy, temporary seating. I'm sitting (well standing on my seat actually) at the very back of Block G, just above the changing rooms which are directly behind the small main stand. Over the rear wall I can see some of the Liverpool players standing in the doorway of the tiny changing rooms (portakabins really) signing autographs and posing for photos. Over on the far side I spot a Liverpool banner from the Falcon pub. Behind this stand is a row of houses: every window is packed with faces and there are people sitting on garden sheds and some even on the roof! It's bitterly cold and windy yet they stay up there for most of the first half.    The two teams come out to a huge roar and line up facing the main stand. There were about a dozen mascots with the Liverpool team wearing a variety of Liverpool shirts and seemingly oblivious to the cold. The whole ground then fell silent for one minute in memory of those who died in the bombing of August 15th 1998. After this (the team and mascots are still standing there in the biting wind) The announcer (see right) Charlie Collins announces that Liverpool country singer John Kennedy is to perform his own tribute song "Town of Tears". Again the crowd falls silent as John sings this touching tribute. To do this standing on a windy football pitch in front of 7,000 people takes some bottle and he richly deserves his ovation.     Omagh Town: Eamon Gallagher, Stephen Johnston, Eamon Kavanagh,Stuart Gauld, Kevin Moore, Frankie Wilson,

Some comments from the Irish Press: "Omagh Town boss Eddie McCreadie, heaped praise on Liverpool FC ..."They knew what it meant to be here. "I felt it was a magnificent touch to to visit the Memorial Garden and lay a wreath. They fulfilled their promise to bring all their stars and include them at some stage of the match. They honoured all their promises and it was a pleasure to have them." (Derry Journal 22nd Oct) "The likes of Redknapp and Owen will have sore hands this morning. Every time I turned round they were signing autographs. And I thought it was very touching that the Liverpool party wanted to lay a wreath at the bomb site. It was a very nice gesture" (Tyrone Constitution, 21st Oct). "Donegal based D.J. Charlie Collins acted as MC for the evening, whipping up the crowd with some good natured banter, although his Donegal brogue didn't adapt easily to the pronounciations of a couple of Liverpool's more recent signings, the names of Djimi Traore and Eric Meijer proving a bit of a mouthful to 'our Charles'" (Ulster Herald, 21st Oct).

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