By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 9 February 07.

We have sadly lost a very popular and well respected member of the LFC Vancouver family with the passing of Dave “Lurch” Curtis. I won’t say that I’ve known Dave either for a long time or that I would say that I knew him really well, but Dave was one of those genuine Scouse characters that if you met him once you’d never forget him, and would always be pleased to see again and again. He had a genuine aura of warmth and a generosity of spirit that was impossible not to be affected by. Apparently, the story goes that he was nicknamed Lurch for at one time being a dominating presence on the pitch, as a centre half during his more youthful years. Just looking at the pictures of him now, I can certainly believe that! It also explains his special insight into some of the finer aspects of the game. But then again, for someone of his friendly persona, I just can’t imagine him lunging into a tackle and trying to break my legs! He must have been much different back then, or at least he might have been a lot different on the pitch.

I was told some time ago that Dave was seriously ill, and that he would not be joining us any longer to watch our matches with the rest of the gang. It was with a great deal of sadness that I learned last week that he had lost his lengthy battle with cancer, and that yet another victim had been claimed by this terrible curse. But, as I know Dave would want, I’d like to tell a couple of stories that will hopefully entertain and amuse you.

The first time I met Dave was at the Liverpool v Chelsea match last season where we lost 4-1. There were a few choice comments from Dave about that one! As time went by, we saw each other more and more and we often enjoyed a good chat about the match, frequently with differing opinions. I would speak in favour of Rafa’s rotation system while Dave would claim that it should be like the old days of the same eleven every week. It’s understandable when you realise that Dave’s support of Liverpool goes way back and included the dark days of the old Second Division. It was the Shankly way of playing the same team as much as possible that got them back to the First Division and onward to glory. As the season progressed, we were well into the FA Cup and the Champions League, with many games still remaining in the League. After watching one match at Library Square, we were having a quiet pint and a chat when we started talking about the number of fixtures piling up in front of us and Dave asked casually how many more games there were to come. One of us said something along the lines of,

“We’ll be playing two each week for the next while.”
To which Dave commented,
“Ah well, that’ll keep them fit then.”
Hard to argue with that, I suppose.

Earlier this season, Donna and I were at Library Square to see a Champions League match, when the Whitecaps Kickstarters were also putting on a big do. Dave was there with his good friend Duff, and they sat in the upper section while we were down at the pool table end as usual. Several times during the match Dave came down for a quick word and to swap some friendly banter and a few jokes, then went back to sit with Duff to watch the match. At the end, prizes were being given out as Donna and I were getting ready to leave to go home. Dave turns up in front of me and then tells us that his friend Duff has just won the grand prize of the day, which is a helicopter tour of the North Shore Mountains. Not only that, but Dave is going to go with him.
“When’s this then Dave?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll soon find out won’t we,” he says.
Off he goes and no sooner is he away than he comes right back and says,
“We have to go right now!”
“Oh, well have a good time then, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”
Again he goes off, and again he comes right back.
“The tour organiser is here and he says that there’s room for two more. So if you two want to come along then you can, but it has to be right now.”
Donna and I looked at each other and immediately said, “Of course, why not?”

I mean, how many times do you get the offer of a helicopter tour? So off we go in a taxi to the waterfront heliport to take our tour. We’re no sooner inside the building with all the business execs on their way to Victoria and elsewhere than we are told we’re ready to go. That was a big disappointment to Dave as he had made straight for the snack table in the waiting room and was enthusiastically helping himself to the complimentary cookies and coffee when we got the call.

The weather was unbelievably sunny that day, with hardly a cloud in the sky. It was the perfect day for it and by a fluke I happened to have my camera with me. We’re soon in the helicopter and up in the air, listening to the pilot talk to the control tower over the headsets. Dave realises that he has a microphone attached to his headset and immediately starts talking to us all. After a couple of minutes he asks the pilot,
“Is it okay for me to talk or do you want me to keep quiet?”
To which the pilot politely answers,
“It’s fine if you want to talk, go right ahead.”
I’m sure it wasn’t long before he regretted that comment! Dave is soon asking about the pilot’s experience, and is told that he’s been flying helicopters for quite a few years, and that it’s a career that has taken him all over the world.
“Have you ever been to Liverpool?” asks Dave.
“No, I’ve never been there,” says the pilot.
“Have you been to Istanbul?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Well, you haven’t been all over the world then!”

We arrived back at the heliport after about twenty minutes in the air and walked up the ramp toward the terminal. We took a few more pictures and decided that we’d better see about getting back to Library Square soon. Dave insisted that we walk through the waiting area once more, just to annoy the smartly dressed execs inside with our slovenly presence. After we did that we were directed to the shuttle bus. Once we were on there, the driver asked if we wanted some music on the stereo and Dave yells “No! We’ll provide our own!” and then begins to lead us in a few choruses of some of The Beatles’ Greatest Hits. That lasted all the way back to Library Square, and I have the feeling that the driver was relieved that he didn’t have to put up with us any longer.

The whole trip there and back was only about an hour long, but it was one of the best hours I’ve ever had. Sadly, that was the last time we saw Dave before I heard that he was in the hospital. But, in some ways it was for the best as we’ll always remember Dave with a huge smile on his face as we all sang along with him on that short bus ride. It’s really sad for all us to say that we’ll never see him that way again, but before we get all teary eyed and reach for the tissues, I can see an image of Dave looking at us all and saying,

“Now don’t yers all start cryin’ yer soft sods! That’s never goin’ to ‘elp nothin’ is it!” Farewell Dave, you’ll be missed by all of us. Rest in Peace, You’ll Never Walk Alone.

What do you think? Give Keith your comments at keith [at] lfcvancouver.com.

By LFC Vancouver member Ste Speed, 14 February 07.

The two – one defeat to Newcastle Utd last Saturday was our seventh away loss of the season so far. Unfortunately it meant more than just the three points it was also the final nail in the coffin for the slight sliver of hope we still had of overtaking Chelsea for second place by the end of the season. Just when it seemed we were about to put the pressure on Chelsea we then dropped four points in our next two games. It’s the same old story as we seem to be on the verge of something only to blow it the following week.

The defeat on Saturday now leaves us fighting with Arsenal, and possibly Bolton, to see who finishes third or fourth. Whether we finish third or fourth doesn’t really matter in theory because it still means we will now be forced to qualify for next seasons Champions League. However it would still be nice to finish ahead of Arsenal which would be a nice revenge for the three defeats to them earlier in the season. This means that Arsenal’s visit to Anfield on March 31st is our biggest domestic fixture in the remainder of the season. It will be a tough game and I cannot predict what may or may not happen in that one, I guess it will depend how the two Barcelona games go. If we beat them and advance to the quarter finals, Rafa may decide to concentrate everything on going even further in the tournament as we would be big favourites to win the Champions League. If we lose to Barcelona then that will confirm the Arsenal game as the biggest of the season and should guarantee an explosive atmosphere. It’s a shame that the Sky TV schedule means that it will be played at lunch time as we all know from earlier in the season how hard that timeslot has been for us. But if you can’t be well up for revenge against Arsenal when can you be? Therefore the timeslot really needn’t matter. Whether we win or lose depends which team turns up on the day, if it’s the side that battered Chelsea a few weeks ago or the team that hardly tried in the FA Cup fixture.

It’s scary to think what the table would look like now if we had just picked up a few more points away from home earlier in the season. In our first seven away fixtures we only picked up two points out of a possible twenty one.

So what went wrong on Saturday? There are a couple of possible reasons why we failed to beat Newcastle. The hype and excitement of the new owners may have been a disruption and led to lack of concentration in training. The pitch at St James’s Park left a lot to be desired, although that didn’t seem to affect Newcastle’s players. I think the main reason is basically that we just didn’t take our chances, particularly in the first half when we could and should have scored at least three goals. Bellamy missed the easiest chance of all when he had an open goal and the ball was somehow scrambled away. Dirk Kuyt also had his quietest game for Liverpool so far. He was missing for the majority of the game and his only decent moment came in the second half when he did all the hard work with an amazingly skilful turn to leave him one on one with Newcastle’s keeper, Harper. Unfortunately he left his shooting boots at home and placed the ball wide when it looked easier to score.

However it wasn’t all bad news on Saturday. It was great to see Momo Sissoko back in the starting line up for the first time in three months. He wasn’t as effective as usual but it was his first game back and it will take a couple of games for him to get back to full match fitness and get sharp.

Up next is Barcelona a week Wednesday. With this weekend being F.A Cup weekend in Britain Rafa is taking the players to Portugal for a training camp. Hopefully this will give the players the best chance to be ready for the big test at the Nou Camp. I’m quietly confident we will take the tie to Anfield still very much involved and am really looking forward to both games.

The last two games have shown that we are missing some genuine class to take the next step but with Rafa getting the war chest this summer let’s all hope he spends it wisely. Despite the fact that we still aren’t any closer to winning the league than we were under Gerard Houllier, I still think Rafa is the man that will eventually see us back where we belong.

What do you think? Give Ste your comments at steSpeed [at] lfcvancouver.com.

By LFC Vancouver member Ste Speed, 11 February 07.

This week’s featured Ex Red is another player who will always be extremely popular here in Vancouver, Peter Beardsley. I really love Peter Beardsley and he’s definitely one of my top five favourite players of all time. He’s a top bloke too, I know this because I’ve met him, but more on that later.

Peter started his career with Carlisle after being spotted playing for the famous Wallsend Boys' Club and after making over 100 appearances he decided to accept an offer to move to Canada and join the Vancouver Whitecaps who bought him for £275,000 in 1981.

He made enough of an impact in Vancouver for word to get back to Man United who paid £300,000 for him in 1982. Beardsley made just one appearance for them, in the League Cup, before rejoining the Whitecaps briefly until he was signed by Newcastle United in 1983.

In his autobiography there is an entire chapter dedicated to his time spent in Vancouver. He speaks very fondly of his time with the Whitecaps and says he was tempted on a number of occasions to move here on a permanent basis, but there was no way he could eventually resist signing for his hometown club, Newcastle United. He had some memorable performances for the Whitecaps and scored some great goals and is fondly remembered by all who saw him play at the time.

He had four years with the Magpies that included memorable partnerships with another Ex Red, Kevin Keegan, and also Chris Waddle. Peter helped Newcastle gain promotion to Division One in 1983/84 and it was at this point that he began to attract a lot of attention for his incredible abilities. His stock rose even higher after impressing during the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

During the summer of 1987 Kenny Dalglish smashed the British transfer record and brought him to Liverpool for 1.9 million pounds. The season before had ended badly for us as Everton had won the league title by nine points and Ian Rush had departed for Juventus. Kenny had already brought in John Aldridge from Oxford United to replace Rushie and in the summer of 1987 he added our man Beardsley and John Barnes from Watford. They were followed soon after by Ray Houghton also from Oxford United who had played a blinder for them at Anfield at the start of the season.

This side is regarded by a lot of people, including myself, as the most skilful Liverpool side ever. We went twenty nine games unbeaten at the start of the season equalling the record set previously by Leeds United. Annoyingly the chance to achieve the record was denied to us at Goodison Park against Everton with a Wayne Clark goal.

It wasn’t just the amount of wins we put in that season it was the way in which we went about it. The standard of skill on show that season was truly breathtaking with memorable victories against QPR, Everton and most famously the 5 – 0 versus Nottingham Forest which was later voted as the ‘performance of the century’. At that time Barnes was probably the best player in the world and to be honest although he didn’t get as many headlines Beardsley wasn’t too far behind him.

He had four fantastic seasons at Anfield during which he won two league titles, an FA Cup and three Charity Shields but unfortunately his time at Liverpool came to an abrupt end soon after Kenny Dalglish resigned in February 1991. Beardsley was criminally fazed out of the team in favour of Ronny Rosenthal by Kenny’s replacement, Graeme Souness. My dislike of Souey’s management reign could have its own separate article and one of the worst things he ever did was to sell Peter Beardsley to Everton for one million pounds in 1991. This decision still leaves me scratching my head sixteen years later. The stupidity of that decision was made clear at the time by the fact that Liverpool supporters were not angry with Beardsley for moving across Stanley Park but instead vented their anger and frustrations towards Souness and the Liverpool board. In my opinion it is not a coincidence that the sale of Peter Beardsley coincided with glory years coming to an end and us not winning a league title since 1990.

I was fortunate enough to meet him in early1992 while he was an Everton player. My uncle Graham used to be a registered FA referee and officiated non league games for many years. One time he was chosen to be the fourth official at a cup game between Everton and Watford at Goodison Park and he invited me and my dad to be his guests for the evening. We got to sit in the referees changing room before and after the game and then sit in the director’s box during the game. The referees changing room was in the same corridor as the two teams and I was able to meet and get the autographs of lots of players including all the Everton team, and from Watford the great Luther Blissett and a young David James just months before he signed for Liverpool. My favourite memory of that night was meeting Peter Beardsley and out of all the players I met that evening he was the nicest. He stopped and chatted with me for a good five minutes even though he was busy. I remember him rubbing my hair and making jokes and just being absolutely brilliant with me before signing my match programme which coincidentally had a picture of him on the cover. I was already a big fan of his but after that moment he became a real hero to me and I always followed his career wherever he played.

After Everton he returned to Newcastle where for the second time (again along with Kevin Keegan, this time as manager) he helped them to gain promotion to the top division. He had another four glorious years at Newcastle and almost captained them to the Premiership title in 1996. He left St James’s Park in 1997 and then spent the final two years of his career drifting to various teams including Bolton, Fulham, Man City and Hartlepool Utd where he won his final medal as a player in 1999 when they won the second division (now division one) title.

Beardsley played 177 games for Liverpool and scored 60 goals. Even though he was only with us for a short time he is regarded as an Anfield legend and one of the best players ever to play for the club. He was a key player in the great side of the late 1980’s and formed amazing partnerships with John Aldridge, John Barnes and Ian Rush. Peter Beardsley we salute you!

To see some great footage of Beardsley in action check out these two links.

What do you think? Give Ste or Kevin your comments at steSpeed [at] lfcvancouver.com.

RAFA REJECTS GIBSON JIBE - Liverpool FC

Rafa Benitez has hit back at suggestions big clubs such as Liverpool are not providing enough English talent for the national side.

More here.

LIVERPOOL are on the verge of sealing their first multi-million pound sponsorship deal of the new American era with a £21.6m agreement with Carlsberg.

More here.

Liverpool midfielder Momo Sissoko chats to journalist Shakir Ahmed about religion and football…

More here.

A slight increase in the admission charges at the Liverpool FC Musuem and Stadium Tour, has come into effect.

More here.

In advance of our League meeting at St. James’ Park on Saturday, YNWA looks at the careers of some of the many who have represented both Newcastle United and the reds.

More here.

Liverpool fan "Souey's Tache" has turned a hobby into a way of raising money for the Hillsborough Justice Campaign (HJC).

More here.

Steven Gerrard says he was 'blown away' after meeting with the clubs new owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks. Liverpool's captain was presented with a vision of the Reds sitting on top of the world, an image that Gerrard is more than excited about.

More here.

Rafael Benítez has recently taken up residence in a £4.5m home on the Wirral.

More here.

JAVIER MASCHERANO is set to be confirmed a Liverpool player within the next 48 hours.

More here.

Rick Parry, the Liverpool chief executive, has dismissed accusations from Steve Gibson, the Middlesbrough chairman, that the Merseyside club are failing in a duty to the England team by recruiting coaches and young players from overseas.

More here.

Liverpool Football Club has been praised by the government for its part in the 'Respect the Club, Respect the Area' campaign.

More here.

MERSEYSIDE’S football stars of the future have launched a campaign to improve their playing fields.

More here.

Chief executive Rick Parry spoke to BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek about takeovers, transfer budgets and why Liverpool comes before England. Here's the interview in full.

More here.

If Liverpool's new owners were sincere about their statement that taking over Anfield was "not about money but winning and passion", they ought to have been here.

More here.

It is more than wearing red that unites the Montreal Canadiens and Liverpool Football Club.

More here.

The ‘revelation’ today that new Liverpool co-Chairman George Gillett expects that his new acquisition will soon be traveling to the Far East to play friendlies in order to boost the fan base has been greeted by the press as some kind of bolt from the blue and an indication that the soul of the club has well and truly been sold to the mighty dollar.

More here.

More here.

Tom Hicks was not lying when he told reporters in Liverpool that he and his partner, George Gillett Jr, knew a thing or two about the quirky business of building and modifying stadiums.

More here.

Pledge that kept boss at Anfield

More here.

RAFAEL BENITEZ admits he has no idea when injury-jinxed Harry Kewell will again play for Liverpool.

More here.

Jordy Brouwer, Emiliano Insua and Ronald Huth made their LFC debuts on Tuesday as Liverpool Reserves slipped to a 3-1 friendly defeat to Preston. Here's the best of the action in pictures.

More here.

I'VE not walked down Anfield Road since Liverpool FC was sold last week, so I don't know if the Stars and Stripes have been unfurled above the Shankly Gates.

More here.

LIVERPOOL Reserves boss Gary Ablett hailed the performance of Emiliano Insua after the Argentine left-back shone on his debut against Preston in a friendly at The Academy yesterday.

More here.

As Rafa Benitez uses the transfer window to draft in a bunch of foreign youngsters, questions continue to mount over the local production line at Anfield.

More here.

Liverpool are eyeing a shock move for Barcelona superkid Giovani dos Santos.

More here.

WHAT is it with these French footballers and their artistic tendencies?

More here.

YNWA/JFT 96,
Andy Neumann

Standings as of 15 February 07.

Rank	Member	Points
1	Ste	27
2	Kevin	26
3	Lance	25
4	Dennis	24
4	Mark Aston	24
6	Keith	18
7	Andy	17
8	Glenn Whyte	10
9	Quentin	5
9	Chris Cole	5
11	Glenn Whitt.	1

To enter the members contest see the rules below.

RULES:

• Only open to paid LFC Vancouver Members.
• You list the names of the players you think will start the next LFC match.
• You must submit your list to lfcvancouver [at] gmail.com at least 12 hours before kick-off.
• This contest will include every match that LFC plays this season. Starting with Blackburn.
• The member(s) that correctly guess the starting XI will be awarded 5 points.
• At the end of the season the player with the most points will win the prize.
• What is the prize? It is a surprise!
• The standings will be included in each week’s newsletter.

Scoring System:

• 11 Correct picks = 5 points.
• 10 Correct picks = 3 points.
• 9 Correct picks = 1 point.
• 0-8 Correct picks = 0 points.

YNWA/JFT 96,

Andy Neumann