“Champions” (volume 7)
“Campione. Campione. Campione LIVERPOOL”
The 7th and final promotional installment from my third book on Liverpool Football Club “Champions — Arne Slot and a “miracle” first season as manager of Liverpool FC” concluded, as literary law surely dictates, with the 55th and final chapter “Campione. Campione. Campione LIVERPOOL”. There was a city wide party to attend to so there wasn’t much football to report on, just the beginning of a celebration that will last long into the summer as millions of Reds around the world saw their footballing dreams come true and so without further ado: here is the final chapter of my book in full and some assorted fluff that I hope will pique your interest in my book(s) and, should your finances allow, perhaps treating yourself to some summer reading and in doing so, supporting an indie author.
Thanks.
"Chasing the Impossible and a Sword of Damocles" - link to Amazon
"A final word from The Boss" - link to Amazon
LIVERPOOL 1 (Salah 84)
CRYSTAL PALACE 1 (Sarr 9)
Football was entirely immaterial today as there was a hotly awaited party to attend to, but for the record: the newly crowned FA Cup winners and “Eagles” of Crystal Palace were by far the more cohesive team for the opening 30 minutes, deservedly led through Ismaïla Sarr’s smartly taken 9th minute goal and could and perhaps should have extended their lead through Jean-Philippe Mateta who saw his 30th minute goal ruled out for offside before rattling the Reds crossbar 2 minutes later. Although Liverpool brightened as the first half wore on, mainly through the persistent endeavour and bloody mindedness of Luis Díaz, they only truly came alive as an attacking force with the introduction of Trent Alexander-Arnold as a half-time substitute and quixotically, when down to 10 men following the dismissal of Ryan Gravenberch. Whilst second half chances came and went for both sides, Alexander-Arnold carved the visitors open time and again with trademark long raking passes and curling difficult to defend crosses, before the Egyptian King volleyed a late equaliser.
But the football itself was purely the middle act of three today and the final rubber stamping of Liverpool’s dominance of English football’s pun intended premier league. This afternoon at a bubbling Anfield was all about the before and after party, the building anticipation of what was so cruelly missed in the 2019–2020 season and whilst the TV cameras continually picked out the chief instigators of that glorious season in today’s crowd, namely Jürgen Klopp and his captain Jordan Henderson, Steven Gerrard clearly couldn’t be more pleased to be Anfield today if you paid him and there was of course the one, the only, King of Anfield Road, Kenny Dalglish. Just seeing Kenny’s broad and beaming smile reduced me to tears but then again, they always have. The lower tier of the stand named after the great man had a wonderful “Campione” mosaic, where last season The Kop proclaimed “Doubters — Believers — Conquerors”, today there was an even larger banner quoting “A Liverbird Upon My Chest” and the perfectly in keeping old school lyrics of “A Team That Plays The Liverpool Way — And Wins The Championship in May” and as the pre-match anticipation continued to roll around this storied field of Anfield Road, The Kop repeatedly demanded sight of their heroes with yet another pleasing old school anthem of triumphs past and the forever beautiful “Bring on the Champions”. The Mighty Reds duly arrived, filing through the guard of honour provided by Crystal Palace and an honour befitting the Champions of England, before the Reds brilliantly returned the favour for the FA Cup winners and The Kop belted out a spine tingling rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, and I dissolved into tears.
But today wasn’t about the football. It was for the final shrill of the referee’s whistle and for Anfield to erupt for one final time in this glorious, damn near miraculous season under Arne Slot. He’s still exactly one week away from celebrating his first year in the job. A faintly ridiculous achievement which, given time, I rather hope is given the true acclaim it deserves. My words will never do justice to the scenes post-match, but talking of acclaim: Mo Salah received both his PFA Player of the Year award and Premier League Golden Boot from the goal scoring hero of my childhood Ian Rush before Arne Slot and every member of his squad were roared to the rafters on their way to the presentation stage before THE moment we’d been eagerly waiting for, and my goodness had my/your/our club come through with the mighty decision to ask Alan Hansen to present the Premier League trophy to Virgil van Dijk. I knew I’d be in tears at that point and then the big man grabbed the legendary captain shortly after to present both him and the trophy to The Kop and suffice to say, I was gone again, lost in a tear filled reverie for when “Jocky” Hansen made playing the game look as simple as Virgil does today.
“Freed From Desire” boomed from the Anfield PA system as each and every player (and Arne Slot) danced from the penalty spot with the trophy and toward The Kop before the “Voice of Anfield” George Sephton played “You’ll Never Walk Alone” for the final time in his 54 year association with the club, the players lined up in front of The Kop for the final time this season, and I cried my final tears for the day us dreamers dared to dream of in a long ago August.
After match quotes were hard to come by in the hubbub of the on pitch celebratory party, but Trent Alexander-Arnold, before being engulfed by his sobbing parents and friends and family admitted through his own tears that he’ll “remember these moments for the rest of my life, especially a day like today. It goes down as the best day for me in my life”. Harvey Elliott enthused “It’s going to be a long night but it’s just incredible, it’s unbelievable”, Argentinian World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister admitted “When I arrived at this club, I said I was here to win trophies and this is maybe the biggest one you can get here” and you couldn’t wipe the smile from Curtis Jones’ face as he beamed “I’m a Scouser, I’ve come all the way through and I’m here. I’m just taking it all in” and “At the end of the year, if we come away with cups and trophies, that’s what it’s all about”. Rightly, we’ll conclude with the skipper Virgil van Dijk who expressed his love for the club, the fans and “I love what Liverpool stands for” before continuing “I was pretty clear that I wanted Alan Hansen to give me the trophy, and Mark and Jo from the Owen McVeigh Foundation because I work quite closely with them behind the scenes. I was really determined to get Alan Hansen to be here and to give me the trophy. I’m glad he wanted to because I met him before and obviously he’s one of the best centre-backs that Liverpool ever had”.
Then I had my final sighting for the day of Alan Hansen, a still smiling Kenny Dalglish, Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson and Jürgen Klopp, and the tears started flowing again.
Arne’s Afterword
“Another special day. Less pressure than four weeks ago, of course, when we had to win the game to get those celebrations. Now we knew we would get them. The energy in the stadium, how loud the fans were, the way the game ended in the last half-hour, going down to 10 men and then seeing such a great reaction from the players and the fans which led to, in my opinion, a deserved goal — we deserved to go 1–1. These players and these fans hate losing, don’t want to lose and that’s what we showed again today”
“Because you play football for yourself, for your family, but definitely also for the fans, and we are privileged that we can play it in front of these fans because these ones are special, which they’re going to again show tomorrow. Because if other teams or clubs show the trophy in their city then there are other people there, some great videos you can see — but I think this is again going to be next level”.
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Peace and blessings to you all.
I watched that day and you described it really well. Crystal Palace was also on a high after winning the FA cup