"All at sea again..."* - Liverpool Echoes
Thursday, 16 April 09, 02:19 PM · Comments (50)
After Wednesday’s first leg, as the adrenalin receded, I had a chance to calmly appreciate the night’s events. The residual glow from a performance of such quality coupled with the margin of victory seemed to allow a small emotional space in which to step back and re-evaluate the city whose pride and joy we had just put to the sword (well half of it anyway, or is that a third because of Tranmere?).
So I found myself musing on how to establish a connection, something palpable, which would rise above the rather tiresome and tiring trading of insults that marks the annual joust between ourselves and the “Scouse” nation.
Previous games had not allowed this luxury: too fraught, too painful, too much explosive relief. This strange moment in time, feeling flushed with victory yet strangely unsettled, made me want to find something in or from that city, which I could embrace. A chance to put aside visceral enmities, to jump, as it were, from the trenches on Christmas morning to sing Silent Night and have a kick-about before the ritual slaughter starts all over again.
I have spent very little time in Liverpool and have only the haziest grasp of its geography, which is a bit rich considering the sort of invective I can throw its way at the drop of a hat.
Unfortunately, time and tide meant that I couldn’t hop on a train and walk the streets, searching out the landmarks, soaking up the culture that rises like a summer mist from the very paving slabs of the city streets. A chance to look in on the front windows of those small dark terraces, where thousands of dedicated fans spend the long, sunlit, summer evenings knitting their hand-spun woollen scarves ready for the next season’s evocative renditions of the nation’s favourite football anthems.
Bathed as I have been for 40 years in the tepid waters of fickle fandom, of soft “cockney” swagger: supporting a soulless husk devoid of football myth and memory, now besotted with plastic flags and foreign money, that for me would indeed be an education. What a chance to connect with all that is true and heartfelt in English football. Another time perhaps.
So it was that from the darker reaches of my past, a sudden realisation dawned. Some years back I had indeed forged a very solid bond with the city. In my callow youth, before my musical spirit finally settled in the Mississippi Delta, from where it rarely ventures much these days, I was a big, big fan of what I consider to be the greatest band to ever come out of Liverpool. No not the Beatles, who I’ve never cared for (like it would bother them). I speak, of course, of the legend that is Echo and the Bunnymen.
There, I had it. Some feverish digging around in old tapes and vinyl on the Thursday night saw me re-immersing myself in tunes I hadn’t listened to for a long, long time. As with all music, the sounds are bound up with myriad memories and emotions and yet as I lay back listening, those recollections kept colliding with the more immediate images and sensations of the night before.
Single words and phrases from numerous lyrics seemed to refer directly back to the action, to events, to emotions from the game, blocking out the older associations, the real links back to my youth.
Not that you’d care if they leave you unmoved, but for me, the tunes have stood the test of time. All through the weekend as the portents darkened and the sense of dread rose, they were there, both soothing and agitating my troubled spirit.
They seemed instantly familiar, songs I hadn’t heard for nearly 10 years, maybe. I turned them over in my mind, fondly recollecting, as though riffling through a box of old, faded family photographs.
Why had I been away so long? I don’t know.
Sometimes we’re like one of those Liverpudlian scarf knitters. We absent-mindedly work in a new ball of rich, soft wool while another, already used, lays half unravelled. Many rows of stitching later we happen upon the loose end, wonder why we’ve overlooked it and with a shake of the head, rework it back into the ever-lengthening scarf of our innermost life.
At other times we’re like fans of clubs whose success is perhaps more recent, adrift without history and memory, happy to wave our plastic flag before thoughtlessly casting it aside, assuming there’ll be a new one on our seat next time we come along (cough).
Just before leaving work to head to the Bridge on Tuesday night I watched YouTube. The Bunnymen live in 2001 at home, performing amongst their own in the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (no, no let's not go there with the “Stevie G in the penalty box” gags). It was “Ocean Rain”, a very slow melodic tune. Swelling to a crescendo, it seemed to capture the sense of impending doom and dread that was infecting my very core.
“All hands on deck at dawn
Sailing to sadder shores
Your port in my heavy storms
Harbours the blackest thoughts”*
*(Ocean Rain - Will Sergeant/Ian McCulloch/Les Pattinson/Pete de Freitas - 1984)
Oh get a grip man!
We were 3-1 up from the first leg for Gawd's sake. I should have been skipping out the door and regaling my fellow travellers with lusty choruses of “Celery” while chucking lumps of the eponymous vegetable all over the carriage. Yet there I was moping like some love-lorn teenager.
That’s what years of following Chelsea and watching the best defence in the league leak three in eight minutes against Bolton does for you.
Ian McCulloch, frontman for the band, and myself have two things in common. We were born in the same year and share the same middle name. There are two things I’m also sure we don’t share. One of those is musical talent and the other is a love for Liverpool FC.
Now, Ian and me will have taken a very different view of the week's events. While I can wear the cloak of easy magnanimity, I don’t think he will be feeling too well disposed towards me and my soft, southern, bastard kind. Mind you I’m not likely to find out as we’ve never met and that’s unlikely to change.
Had it all gone arse-ways for us on Tuesday night, I’m not sure how well disposed I would have felt towards any Liverpool fan, Ian included. Oh yes I do, I would have been seriously lacking in the disposed department. But then I’m sure he wouldn’t have given a diddly sh*t about me in the hour of such an unlikely victory.
Whatever the result, though, I would always have his band’s exceptional music, a timeless and worthwhile contribution to the human experience.
He, on the other hand, has no handle with which to grasp onto my innocuous and perhaps pointless existence. I can offer him nothing worthwhile to assuage the pain of Tuesday night's defeat.
I must live with that knowledge, with my inadequacy, my inability to reciprocate. This is the black hole at the centre of the lonely hidden life of we who choose the badly tarmac’d, potholed road of fandom.
Still, when events yet to unfold add to, or diminish, the memory of a fantastic two-legged tie, I can always look back on it all as the time that gave me back my Bunnymen.
Still fabulous, I have to say.
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50 Comments · Add yours
A truly lyrical post, BB.
As a liverpool fan, I was disappointed on Tuesday night, but at the same time I had that sense of history that you get when you watch something really breathtaking. The quarter-final was exactly that. I really, really hope you go on to win it now. You have got to stop the mancs. we'll take the league from them, chelsea take the european cup, and, so as not to be greedy, let arsenal win the FA cup (I know its not going to be popular on a chelsea blog - but for the neutral that would be the ideal at the end of this season.)
Being first to comment, and having the keyboard to myself for a while with the missus watching some made for TV twaddle, I feel that maybe my own memories of the poo should be added.
The Beatles: yes, they were a phenomenon. For a few years they were the best band in the world but like the nonsense that follows their football team, the Mersey Sound was about as crap as things could get.
I remember a poo cafe in the early eighties where old geezers sat around holding little transistor radios to their ears, tuned into local stations that seemed to play endless Beatles hits, nearly 20 years after the event - a town obsessed with its 'istory even then.
The site of the Cavern Club with groups of Japanese tourists posing in the street for photos beside old replica posters. Probably still like that today.
John Lennon International Airport, I guess the size of RA's dining room, where they put up one of those snake things to make us walk around, presumably to make the place look bigger and busier than it really was.
And the people did have an earthy charm but they were just way too certain that they had the best football team and funniest sense of humour on the planet, neither of which was, is, or probably ever will be, true.
It's interesting to see the musings of Chelsea fans in a more lyrical light!
It's also amusing to see those outmoded and outdated views of liverpool still at the fore.
Being a Liverpool fan who has spent time in both cities (London and Liverpool) I can see why people in London find it so hard to understand Liverpool.
Like many Northern cities it retains a strong sense of its heritage and own mythology.
The fact that it clings so hard too that can be hard for a Londoner to comprehend.
History is important history matters. But then again being Chelsea fans I would not expect you to understand.
Oh and by the way both the city and the airport are modern and thriving so whilst scousers ( I am not one by the way)look to the past, the future looks very bright for the city and the club.
Reply to Jason:
'own mythology'.....
I realise your comment was about Liverpool, the place, but there was never a more apt description of the club.
'It's also amusing to see those outmoded and outdated views of liverpool still at the fore'
Mate, everyone knows the view of Liverpool is outdated and from the 80's....however it is your history, so perhaps you should be proud of it.
'History is important history matters'......
Yes it does matter, which is why you should realise that both clubs were formed in the same year, and have an equally long set of historical events to cling onto.
For me, the pathetic attempts to belittle our history are exactly the reason why Liverpool are the least liked club amongst Chelsea fans.
Do you not understand that nobody, from any other side in the world, cares that Liverpool used to have a very good side 20 years ago?
Maybe you can watch repeats of the 'famous night in Istanbul' this weekend, whilst Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd and Everton play in the Cup Semi-Finals.
"History is important history matters. But then again being Chelsea fans I would not expect you to understand."
Oh FFS change the bloody record. Not only is this THE most tiresome line ever spun, all it does post-Wednesday is make you sound like a bitter and twisted bad loser. It will forever be a nice bit of 'history' for us Blues fans, as it was last season when you came, saw and got conquered.
Every club has history, the are clubs with a longer history than yours but no doubt in your little World they are disregarded as they haven't won as many pots as you.
That's why I want Man U to win the league. As detestable as they are, I believe they'll equal how many league titles you've won, therefore impacting a little more on your 'history'.
I think you're spot on Fiftee, they just want to keep their records intact, but slowly and surely they're being dismantled bit by bit.
And again, the Scousers are confusing history with success.
Jason, I genuinely want to ask a Liverpool fan this so please answer otherwise you are doing yourself a disservice.
Do you really think 'history' can only be equated with'success'? I know it's a natty chant, but some of you really seem to believe this to be true.
So have you ever discussed this with Transmere or Southport supporters? Are their clubs, their support, less intrinsically valuable because of their failure to win tin pots over the years?
Could you tell them this without expecting to get a bunch of fives in the mush in response?
Do you not understand how this makes you a worse football supporter than a better one, because it basically means you are admitting you only support Liverpool because they are successful, historically.
And taking your argument to its logical conclusion, does the fact that Liverpool, as a city, has considerably less 'history' than London make it a less valuable, emptier, sadder, more plastic city?
Or are things a bit more complicated than that?
Think on.
Oh, and lovely post BlueBayou, but personally I prefer The Teardrop Explodes.
Very bung.
Oh, and nice post by Tom Hallahan - while I generally agree with Greenlight 'For me, the pathetic attempts to belittle our history are exactly the reason why Liverpool are the least liked club amongst Chelsea fans' I still want Liverpool to win the league for any number of reasons, but mainly because I dislike United, as a club, considerably more.
I went to Liverpool for the first time this year and was so impressed I re-visited again.
First visit was for the Everton v Chelsea game on the free train. Having listened for years to our songs I had braced myself to jump over rats as I exited Lime Street station and had my hand firmly on my wallet in the deepest recesses on my pocket.
I was shocked to walk out into respectable streets with fine Victoria buildings.
A few weeks later I went back for a long weekend to explore the city and had a great time. One thing I did notice was all the locals (taxi drivers, shop keepers etc.) we spoke to were Everton supporters and they all liked Chelsea. Couldn't find many Liverpool supporters.
Reply to Mark25:
Perhaps they have more in common with Man Utd than they thought then, as we all know most people in Manchester support Citeh :-)
Looks like a continuing Liverpoo thread today.
Maybe it's because we're passing the time prior to another date with destiny this weekend, just like Liv..sorry, Everton, and this is as good a distraction as any.
As someone who hasn't been there for many years, apart from using the airport a couple of times in 2000, my recollections are a little stuck in the place as it was though I doubt that a bit of superficial gentrification has made a great difference to the mind-set of the folk in general.
Anyway, I'm with Pete and for many and varied reasons would prefer poo to take the PL rather than the mad mancs. Mainly though, because we already have one deluded city on this small island, and can do without another becoming even more so.
Hi,
Are you coming to Barcelona see the Chelsea-Barça? We have created a Facebook event we like you to joint and you will get a free visit to the CAMP NOU with a private guide
LINK
Regards,
Alba Monedero
Online Communication BGB
Reply to PeteW:
I can't agree with you there Pete........
It would mean we could no longer sing.."Have you ever seen Gerrard win the League?" and in my mind, that would be a sad day!
If it can't be us....C'mon the Mancs!
Talking about history:
All these manky poos conveniently forget that Chelsea were the first club eligible to play in the original European Cup.
It was the 'little Englander' 'home of football' mentality of the FA & Co that saw pressure put on us not to compete in its inaugural year and one bit of history, ours, stopped there.
Who knows how things might have been had we taken on Real Madrid at that time? Instead it was Los Blancos who made European Club history and not us.
History theme contd:
FM's showing more quotability than most LINK and here's an example:
"I won't think about Arsenal's cup record against Chelsea before the game because this is the past and I only care about the future. I hoped when I came to Chelsea it was to write history, not to read history."
Well said indeed.
A year ago I posted a comment around the last time we played Liverpool in the Champs Lge mentioning that I'd always found scousers okay people and someone called for my nurse. So its a brave post BB to put something positive on here about Liverpool. I've kept quiet about it ever since, but I feel a bit emboldened now, so I'll say it again. I've always found them good company, from guys I've worked with to students I now teach. I lived in Spain for a period in the eighties and remember the banter between cockneys and scousers always had an edge, but a mutually affectionate warmth as well. They were always skint and we were always rich. We bought their beer and they sold us knocked off designer clothes. It worked between us.
In my experience, they are more knowledgeable about football than most groups of fans too. But then I'm talking about the old scouse fans from 25 years ago. It may be different among the younger lot. I remember that the banter over football between us was always mutually respectful, Scousers respected Chelsea because we had won the Cup Winners Cup and were considered an attractive side that represented a cockney swagger -think Osgood and Hudson - that they had a unspoken admiration for. Just like the Beatles had all those great London bands to compete with like the Stones, Who and Kinks, we were somehow bonded with them. Obviously we respected them and their European Cups - a history only then in the making. I actually watched the Heysel Stadium disaster live in a bar with a bunch of them. I knew all their players names and strengths and weaknesses and they were able to name all the Chelsea team who had beaten Real Madrid in 1971.
Well those are just my memories. I have never met Man Utd or Arsenal fans, plastic or genuine, who had anything like their love for football in general. Maybe its all changed now.
Oh, and Tom Hallahan, if you're still reading this blog: I support your sentiments about the distribution of trophies this year. Not least because I have a £10 bet on that very treble, as I mentioned on a previous thread. Placed about a month ago when the odds were considerably longer than they are now.
Reply to PeteW:
Magnificent response sir!
One thought about tomorrow.
Games when Arse don't get their own way have a tendency to become very niggly affairs and I hope our guys are prepared for tough, bullying encounter just as much as an attractive football fest.
17th April, 17th April, 17th April.
It is most definitely not the 1st April, for that date was 16 days ago yet this story has April Fools written all over it :
LINK
"Chelsea are lining up a summer move for Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes after losing patience with Petr Cech, according to reports today."
Fair enough, Cech going through a bit of a rough patch, but being replaced by clown #1 would be the most embarrasing thing ever.
Reply to Fiftee:
This is even not funny for Fools Day. It is probably one of the most stupid transfer gossips I have ever heard.
Reply to Blue_MikeL:
I disagree, it's hilarious, or is that Hilarios.
While that story maybe nonsense or an attempt to gee him up, there can be little doubt that Petr is probably the person most in need of a good sports psychologist in the PL, or perhaps anywhere in football just now.
I'd suggest that it's not just the head injury, either.
We've talked about the Moscow effect on the squad, but let's not forget what Euro 2008 must have done to Petr.
As someone who has made his fair share of screw-ups over the years, mostly in the privacy of my own life, I can scarcely imagine what effect that had on him.
To blame oneself for the woes of a whole country, fledgling at that, is a burden that nobody should carry. And this, after his supporters treated their captain as the conquering hero.
Remember the crowds wearing their look-alike headgear and you may get a sense of how big the hole needed to be that he wanted to climb into.
Yet, although a goalkeeper can sometimes claim by their last second intervention, to single handedly win, or draw a match, the same cannot be said of a defeat.
When a goal is scored against you, then the person who allows the cross or shot must also take their share of the blame, as must the person who could've intervened a move earlier, or marked tighter, or saw the danger coming or whatever.
And what about the saves that got them to the finals in the first place?
Gomes may have talent and perhaps we can improve his game, but then why can't we do the same for PC? But if we really believe that we can turn him into a better keeper than Petr, then maybe it's us who needs the shrink.
Decent interview LINK
I've watched this LINK 3 times and I can't stop laughing
Great Malouda quote there: "When you come to Chelsea it is to write history, not to read history."
And that Ferguson interview. Like Mark25, you can't stop laughing.
Check out Ray Parlour's favourite Chelsea-Arsenal clashes:
LINK
A post that represents Chelsea fans in a different light, a good read.
The petty comments, fandom I suppose.
A passing Red.
Glad you found your Bunneymen, mate. But, I still hate the Scouse Scroungers & their Victimhood Mentality. So, there.
KTBFFH!
Reply to Mark25:
He may be a miserable old scrote, but no-one does the mind games better. Cheered me up no end!
Reply to Blue_MikeL:
I was listening to radio5 on the way home tonight. The footie programme had David Pleat on tonight and during the prog, he stated that when Petr was at Rennes, they sent 2 scouts to watch him. Apparently he let in 2 sloppy goals and the rest is history lol
Reply to TheBear:
Having just finished a very palatable Pinot Grigio and with the missus again engrossed in some dopey TV movie, I'm taking this opportunity to add a note in anticipation of tomorrows match.
Hopefully we will remember that this is a London Derby as well as a Cup Semi and should expect a sustained assault from our northern neighbours.
Everyone who takes the field will also be playing for a place against Barcelona, so there should be no repetition of Wednesdays first half hour, please.
Thank you and good night.
The Pinot effect: that wasn't meant as a reply to anything, just a general ramble.
Cheers and good luck (we all need some from time to time).
Genuinely excited about tomorrow. It won't be the end of the world for either team if they lose so fingers crossed for a good game, full of spirit and not too nervy.
Interesting to see Hiddink quoted as saying that "people within the organisation" -- one assumes he means the suits -- recognise that there's been too much instability and short-termism at Chelsea. Not that it takes a genius to recognise that, but when it comes to the gang that decided Avram Grant was a top-level manager one never likes to be too optimistic. Still, Guus is right to cite the Arse as a model -- they may have won sod all for a while but we all know that by not overreacting to a bad run, and understanding that they have a good manager and a good system in place, they were always much more likely to build another good team quickly than we were using the 30m-for-Sheva approach.
(Yet another reason why I don't want Ancelotti. I really can't see him having any interest in overseeing that sort of project and staying in the UK for 8 or 10 years.)
With the lack of contribs today seems that there are quite a few journeying across town to watch this one.
Good point about the relative lack of pressure on this match but I do feel that Arse will be very keen to get a result.
They're a team that need confidence just to stay afloat and a pasting by us would leave them paddling upstream without a rudder.
My guess is that beating them today means we won't have to face them again in the CL.
Looking forward to an all blue Cup Final.
All in all a shit day for South-East London - Chelsea beat the Woolwich Arse and Charlton get relegated.
Well done boys, forget the commercialism - the FA Cup is still magic and we're in the Final!
Come on you Toffees tomorrow.
PS I blame Anelka for the goal we let in today.
PPS Malouda's goal : Who would have thought it?
Nice win against Arsenal that, a lovely 19th birthday present for me! :)
Well surprisingly unscary in the end. From very early on it just looked like men against boys. The likes of Hull and Bolton usually provide more heart in mouth moments. Oh it's so fun cacking all over Wenger's failed philosophy!
Well surprisingly unscary in the end. From very early on it just seemed like men against boys. The likes of Hull and Bolton usually provide us with more heart in mouth moments. Oh it's so fun cacking all over Wenger's failed philosophy!
Muuuuuuch better. Proper football game, nice and relaxed, no crazed silliness. I'm not quite sure why Arse didn't show up (the Arseboppers sharing my carriage on the way back from the stadium were very unimpressed with Whinger and the team generally) but rarely can a 2-1 late-goal win have looked so comfortable.
Was that really Champagne at the end?
Normally that would be a bit previous after a semi, but considering the way this season's gone I'd say wtf and well deserved.
It's a win a Wembley after all.
Think Sultana gave motm to Frank, but I found it hard to choose between Alex, JT, FM or DD, and I wouldn't have thought that possible just a couple of months ago!
Onwards and upwards.
Reply to limetreebower:
Yeah, there was no panic on our side, and only panic with Wenger and their side with 10 to go. Putting on Bendtner and taking off Adebayor was not the right move. When you are playing desperate football, you want Adebayor to be the one heading it in/on. If he is to come off for overtime, fine, do it at the interval.
The Nasri sub didn't do much either. It isn't that I don't rate him, I think he's quite good. But there is a serious problem to keeping on defenders and strikers but removing midfielders in crunch time. Fluency through the middle is lost. I saw one time where Walcott had to recieve the ball deep in his own half to drive forward, then give it to Bendtner on the wing. That's not a play that gets you goals.
I think Arsenal are a good side, and may yet put a big dent into Man U in the 3(!) games that they play in the next month. But it wasn't working for them today. My feeling is the midfield control of Lamps/Ballack/Essien kept them from achieving serious fluency.
We could pass it like they could, but we can also win the ball back, where they needed big tackles and fouls to achieve that. To me that seemed the difference in the game. Chances obviously favored us, and too bad that Lamps volley didn't hit the net...
Guus did a great job with the team selection I think. Malouda is coming on- and Eboue is a liability for them.
I'm less frightened, but still wary about Barca after this. Both of these teams have looked excellent- I feel the difference is Arsenal use teamplay and skill, but Barca use the teamplay to set up individual feats of skill for goals. Harder to stop that. Ideally if we cut off distribution they will have fewer dangerous chances. The midfield today looked like they might be up to the task.
Men against kebab waiters
Reply to fansincethesixties:
From what I saw Alex didn't put a foot wrong, and actually looked quite good at times. Perhaps we shouldn't be hasty in selling JT, Riccy, Alex or Ivanovic. Bosingwa is here to stay, but I am afraid Paulo is done after this ACL tear. So, Bosingwa as left back cover for Cole? He'll have to rest some games. Mancienne? Maybe we'll buy one.
This year hasn't gone swimmingly by any means, but if we didn't have the back 4 coverage that we did, we'd be in a much worse situation than we are. If Alex wants to stay, and can play this well as a backup, then I say keep him. Ivanovic is now enjoying his Cult Hero status, perhaps he'd like another crack at it.
Didier is a beast, and that's all there is to it. The press are seizing upon the Scolari thing, which I feel is unfortunate. Considering what DD does say sometimes to the press, his "I'm the same player, he doesn't play me" is about as docile as it gets it seems...
The cries of "Drogba Out!" are distinctly muffled nowadays. Maybe he will, maybe he won't stay healthy, I don't know. I have no idea how many years his knees have left in them. My gut says he grits it out until the World Cup, so next year at least is productive. Would we get that much from selling him? I worry that without making sure we have a serious target man behind him that a sale at the end of the year would be premature. Who is our spearhead without DD?
Only one question:
Why does it take a goal against to settle us down?
We still looked a bit tentative early on and that might be due to the way our season's gone, but the way we turn a deficit into a springboard must be scaring the shite out of the opposition.
The goal made Essien wake up, and that seemed in turn to make the difference. He was all over them from the 20th minute on.
It could be that he instincively plays the holding role further back the field until it turns out a more positive attitude is required. So we need to go a goal down before he turns into the beast. The Bruce Banner of Stamford Bridge.
Alex was exceptional today. He absolutely ate Adebayor, which takes some doing. JT also had a number of superb tackles. The only person I'd be critical of would be Nic. I just don't think he's ever going to be a winger. It's not really his fault: the shot that hit the post was a fantastic effort, but he doesn't seem to have the tools to get into that position often enough from out on the right. Malouda was noticeably more of a threat than Nic today, all day long -- now there's a thought.
I was sitting very high up and got a better sense of the formation, too. Ballack's contribution seemed more obvious from up there. Or maybe he just had a better game than he's managed recently.
And here's me thinking if a player pushes the ref, he gets a red card not a yellow. You lucky boy Denilson!
Undramatic and organised today, that's how it should be, I hope Arse are up for the Poo game next week, we need a favour.