The international break has given a welcome pause for thought for Liverpool supporters to reflect on the season so far…
I CLIMBED MOUNT VITOSHA in Bulgaria yesterday,
I know, yeah. That’s got nothing to do with what’s to come but Dan Morgan was banging on about his two hours of footy on Hackney Marshes in his TAW Rundown column on Friday and as he’s several stone and decades lighter than me, I feel I have to put this out there. Five hours, 1,888 ft of elevation (which pleases the Whitechapel Murders geek in me) and a glorious sense of achievement. I got to see a waterfall too. Beat that, Dan!
Actually , it’s been good to get away from it all – Reds included – this weekend. Too much pressure can spoil the fun and tarnish the beauty of the game, the club and what we believe it stands for. Time away gives us time to reflect and celebrate what we’ve achieved since Jurgen left. It’s time well spent.
Last week was bad. PSG, the final, the doubts and the accompanying schadenfreude from other quarters wasn’t pleasant. A week later, now that the fog has lifted somewhat, it means I’m happy to make this statement:
‘In March 2026, if Liverpool crash out of the FA Cup in a cup shock, if Liverpool go out of Europe to a team capable of winning it and if Liverpool are bloody awful in the League Cup final BUT are a dozen points of their nearest League rivals and seem odds on to win the thing, then I’m fine with it. Sign me up now. Use my own blood if you want or, failing that, my marrow. Sure, feel free to laugh at the idea of a quadruple and make out that ‘only’ winning the League is some sort of failure. I’m fine with that. Just give us that big trophy and we can all move on.’
Deal?
You can’t be down for too long. There’s a danger to that.
I’ve been listening to Neil and Martin talk about 2013-14. What a season that was. It was pivotal in the same way 2001 was. Both elevated the Reds from periods of inadequacy. It moved us away from blithely singing ‘We’re by the far the greatest team the world has ever seen’ to actually believing it. Yes, those seasons were followed by campaigns which dissipated in terms of progress and legacy (alright, we finished as runners up in 2002 but the point still stands), but what times they were. Diamonds in the sludge.
You should never find yourself in a position where you look back on your life and wish you’d celebrated more.
I write these words beset by aches. It changes hourly but at the moment it’s my left knee, right calf and the small of my back. I don’t care though. It’s a pious ache. A deserved pain. A collection of war wounds. I wanted to hike up a sodding mountain to look at a waterfall and I did it. I’m celebrating that and ignoring the gripes that come with it. We support a team that also outreaches its grasp occasionally. Not nearly enough, obviously, but the setbacks should never get you down. The aches are part of it.
Time has told me.
There’s still nine days to go before the next game. Fair enough, if international football’s thing, you’ve got your fix, but some of us still have to wait. Nine whole days! I’ll either be zen or furious with impatience. I think I know which.
There’s still a push needed. We’ve won nothing yet. Footballing Gods and all that.
But hopefully our minds are less fraught. Relaxation can build to determination before all this kicks off again and ambition can swell once more.
I’ve seen too many sludge seasons. Of believing but holding doubts, of being so mentally exhausted that I couldn’t celebrate properly (Seriously, after West Ham away in the 2014 run-in, I just sat in the pub shaking quietly while my mates sang to the skies) and of seeing 2014 become 2015. I’m just going to try to enjoy the next two months. Time away has given me that perspective.
We’re alright, y’know.
Sometimes it’s alright to go chasing waterfalls.
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