A DAY TO go before the 2009-10 season of the English Premier League kicks off. And I couldn’t be more excited about the season, mainly because I have high hopes of the team I am backing – Liverpool. When the EPL started being beamed live in India, it had everybody hooked and everyone had their favourite teams. Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and so on. I somehow stuck to Liverpool. My knowledge about English Football was limited to updates from the Gillette World Sport Special and the occasional Bill Shankly quote, and the Merseyside team were at best middling in the premeiership as their aura of the 80s waned. But I liked them. I can’t honestly say I had a reason to, but I developed an affinity to the team.
It’s easy to ride bandwagons in these leagues, back Man U. because they are the winningest team, or Chelsea because they have the best players. I backed Liverpool partly out of chance, and partly out of my admiration for Michael Owen. Ironically, Owen will be seen in a Man U. shirt this season, but his move from Liverpool did not shake my fan roots, because by then I had known a fair bit about the team and each bit cemented my love for the team. Somehow, there was a hypnotic quality about the Hillsboro disaster and the Heysel stadium tragedies that drew me to show solidarity for the fans who paid the ultimate price for the game they loved. Bill Shankly, the legendary manager, is someone you cannot ignore. Liverpool’s achievements in Europe in the 80s and then ‘that’ final in 2005 in Istanbul only added to my ecstatic collection of sports memories of my favourite teams and it was impossible to let go. That a lad named Steven Gerrard, a Liverpool man for life by the looks of it, and the talisman inspiring the team happened to be one of my favourite current footballers just was the perfect icing on the cake. The others also had their story to tell – I thoroughly enjoyed watching Robbie Fowler in action, the quintessential Liverpool player, grinding and fighting hard to keep a rich legacy alive. Though many disagree with a lot of his tactics, I find Rafa Benitez a terrific strategist.
Finally, after watching season upon frustrating season where Liverpool never emerged as serious contenders for the title race, my decade long wait to see Liverpool on top of the table was almost fulfilled in 2008-09 when they had a great run (they had their highest total of points ever in the Premier League-86), only to be outclassed by a better Manchester United. No grudges, but my happiest moment, like I am sure for many others was the 4-1 thrashing of the champs at Old Trafford that Liverpool dealt. It was a rekindling of a love affair which had been going steady and strong but needed that spark of romance to bring it alive again. Perhaps, 2009-10 is the season to set the record straight and get a grip on the Premier League title for the first time. Liverpool has some of the most passionate fans (look at me, I am not a serious ‘fan’ by any qualification, yet my current read is a book on the club, I have ‘You’ll never Walk Alone’ in 5 versions on my iPod, numerous t-shirts, and my phone’s theme is Liverpool as well and of course, I own a DVD of the Istanbul Champions League final!) and it might finally be time for the club to deliver something for the new generation. They have tried in the past, and looking at the transfers in the summer, not too many are giving them a chance. But this is a club that thrives on passion, the only thing that really matters in football, if you ask me.
Aha! Now I’ve cracked the puzzle. It is the passion, or rather the accumulated passion that the club, its heroes, coaches and even the legendary arena – Anfield can stoke is what keeps everybody bound by the Liverpool spirit. After all, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ is the most apt line I can think of. ‘The Beatles’ were four Liverpool kids, and I have a t-shirt that alludes to that link. It says ‘All you need is Liverpool FC’. Sometimes, when you’re looking for passion and inspiration, it is true that you might just find it in your favourite football club. No matter what happens in the 09-10 season and beyond, I will be a Liverpool fan, a merseysider, for life!
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