IT was 1998. They had torn down the century-old Roker Park and built a shiny new arena for the townsfolk of Sunderland. The desecration and rebuild was one of the first of a wave that became a tsunami as Victorian stadium after Edwardian football ground was razed to...
IT’S going to be a rushed job, this. Who previews Liverpool at home to Leicester at Christmas? There’s stuff to do. It’s a busy time. I gave myself a Christmas break, in honour of Jürgen Klopp and his people. They love a mid-season break in central Europe. My...
IT’S a funny old game, Saint. Funny, funny old game. You crack me up, Greavsie. No, Greavsie. You really do. You really crack me up. The Saint and the Greavsie — the Ian St John and the Jimmy Greaves — were staples on the football preview shows on...
NEIL Jones of the Liverpool Echo and Jonathan Northcroft of the Sunday Times were at the Anfield Wrap studio this week to provide guest slots on the TAW Unwrapped podcast. The chat and the buzz were over Liverpool’s fall from a cliff at Newcastle the previous weekend...
NEWCASTLE. Like a bizarro world Liverpool. Geordies. Like Scousers, and yet totally different. They’re a lot nearer Scotland for a start. That changes things. An old mate, a Merseysider born and bred, once worked among the North Easterners (actually he was in the jug...
A FEW years ago I went to see a shrink about my fear of flying. It was becoming too big of a problem for me. I wanted to take my wife to New York for a big anniversary, but the prospect of long-haul flights was keeping me reticent. I didn’t like myself for feeling...
“THERE used to be a football club over there,” said departing Tottenham Hotspur manager and newly-crowned UEFA cup winner, Keith Burkinshaw, as he left his job amid standard 1970-80s acrimony with his board of directors in May 1984. It’s a thoroughly...
OH, Jürgen. What have you gone and done? “Eighty-two minutes — game over. I turned around and I felt pretty alone at this moment. We have to decide when it is over.” Rarely has a manager’s theme been warmed to so gleefully. He’s saying what loads of...
GHOSTS roam the stadium in Anfield. I see them every game. I see a Kenny Dalglish-shaped apparition: arms aloft, teeth, hair, smiling like a kid. Running towards The Kop. I see Bill Shankly: be-scarfed, arms aloft, teeth clenched, jaw proud. Striding towards The Kop....
HE’S not the worst human being in the world, José Mourinho. There are more despicable characters. Don’t make me list them. Try saying to a fellow Liverpool fan that you wouldn’t have minded José managing our club at some point. A few souls will nod and smile...
