By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 11 March 07.

May 16th 2001, and Liverpool had just beaten Deportivo Alaves 5-4 in what was arguably the most exciting UEFA Cup Final ever played. Following the match, Assistant Manager Phil Thompson talked about how he didn’t particularly enjoy the match as a defensive coach, but that the reaction of the supporters said it all: “This is where Liverpool belongs, at the top of European competition.” It was one of those statements that at the time seemed unimportant, but considering that this was our first success in Europe since 1984, and that the future under Gerard Houllier looked so bright, it seems in retrospect to have been extremely insightful. How many of us would realistically have believed that only four years later we would be involved in the most exciting European Cup Final ever played, and that we would be seriously talking about the not-so-ridiculous possibility of another European Cup just two years after that?

For this Champions League campaign we breezed past PSV Eindhoven and Bordeaux, and managed to withstand some nervous moments against Galatasaray. The first of the two matches against the Turks, at Anfield, saw us holding on at the end to win 3-2 after we had built up a 3-0 lead. The return match, in Istanbul at the Ataturk stadium, was something of a throwaway as we put out a second string side and lost 3-2. We had nothing to worry about with that, considering that we had already easily taken first place in the group with PSV behind us in second. Now we waited in anticipation for who we would face in the next round. Of all the clubs still in it, we were not going to face any of the other three Premier League sides (who all finished in first place in their groups), or PSV, leaving seven possible second place finishers to worry about. The question then was, “who would we want to face in the second round?” Do we want to play one of the clubs that we feel confident against, such as Lille, or do we want to be drawn against one of the big clubs that included nine time winners Real Madrid, 2004 winners Porto, or defending 2006 Champions Barcelona? I was just hoping that we wouldn’t be drawn against Celtic, since for my own reasons I was looking forward to Celtic going through to the quarter finals and possibly facing us then.

The draw for the second round (group of sixteen) put us up against defending champion Barcelona. What could be better for the neutrals than to see the previous two winners playing each other? It was a little bit frightening to think that we had to face the Spanish giants so soon, but we have to keep in mind that this is what it’s all about – we have to be confident that we are able to beat the big clubs if we want to consider ourselves as contenders. At least that first place finish in the group stage gave us the advantage of the second leg at Anfield, but we all remembered how unimportant that was for the last two competitions. In 2005 we beat Bayer Leverkusen, with the second leg away, while in 2006 we lost to Benfica with the second leg at home. The key is obviously to keep the contest alive in the first away leg with a draw being a good result, or a 1-0 win being even better, and then coming home to finish the job. Who would have predicted that we would leave the Nou Camp with a 2-1 lead?

It was one of the great European nights at Anfield as we watched chance after chance but couldn’t quite finish them. The difference was literally just inches as we hit the woodwork three times but just on the wrong side. Barcelona pressured effectively for just long enough to get one of the two goals that they needed, and caused a lot of anxious moments for all of us. Even though we were watching from several thousand miles away, we could feel the tension in the air at Anfield and we anxiously watched the clock tick away to the end. A 1-0 loss at home, but it’s good enough for us. Now we wait for the remaining second round matches to come to a conclusion and await the draw for the quarter finals in a few days time. This one is wide open, with any of the eight survivors from the second round eligible to face any other. We had talked about this amongst ourselves extensively, with the typical comment that we’ll take anybody but we would prefer not to face either Chelsea or Manchester United at this stage, so we’ll take either PSV or Roma as first choices. I was hoping for Valencia myself, which would be a chance for Rafa to show his former club why they should have kept him there.

It was early morning here when the draw was made, and I have to admit that after staggering out of bed on Friday morning I wasn’t thinking about that at all. But as soon as I remembered, I checked my e-mail and found about 9 messages, most of them with “we drew PSV” or words to that effect in the subject line. That was a little disappointing but after looking at the draw in some more detail, I was intrigued at the possibilities that the draw now presented to us.

As much as I was hoping that we’d face Valencia, I was also kind of hoping that Chelsea would face Manchester United. That would be a chance for them to knock each other around enough that if we had to play one of them in the semi-final, then they would be physically and mentally worn out or might even have a few key players suspended. As it is, they both played in the FA Cup this past weekend, and both of them have replays to face in less than a week’s time. Their fixture lists are going to be quite crowded by late April, especially for Chelsea as they already have a couple more games to play than the rest. Meanwhile, we can sit back, relaxing for the remainder of the week, and we only have nine more Premier League matches to worry about. Could it be that it was all part of Rafa’s master plan to let us go out of both domestic cups in January, allowing us to concentrate on Europe? How many of us would still be upset over those results should we go on to pick up number six?

As the draw actually turned out, Valencia will play Chelsea, with the winner playing us in the semi-final assuming that we prevail over PSV. That might not be as easy as we think. Ronald Koeman led his Benfica side against us in the second round last year and managed to knock us out, prematurely and against the odds, with an aggregate 3-0 result. I’m sure that Rafa will be well aware of PSV’s ability to punish any mistakes that we make, just as they recently did to Arsenal, so we’ll have to be extremely careful. Naturally, I hope that Valencia will beat Chelsea in the opposite quarter final and that Rafa then has his chance to go up against his old club. But, we could also have an opportunity to replay Chelsea in the semi-final and show them that 2005 was no fluke (but let’s make sure the ball is clearly across the line this time).

On the other side, Roma play Manchester United and AC Milan play Bayern Munich. My choice for those is for Roma to play AC Milan in the semi-final, meaning that we could face either of the Italian clubs in Athens on May 23rd. Either way it would be a rematch against clubs that we have beaten in the final before – Roma in 1984 and of course AC Milan in 2005. How would it feel to beat Chelsea in the semi and then Milan in the final? Would it be as special as it was in 2005, or not? One thing I can say is that if it does come down to us against Milan, I definitely don’t want to see us trailing 3-0 at any stage in the match.

As I sit here contemplating all of the various scenarios, I have to think back to how far we’ve come in just a few years. A few days after that 2001 final, we picked up the three points that we required in our “fourth final” of the season, securing our place in the Champions League for the first time under the new format and have qualified in all but one year of the six that have followed (we entered the UEFA Cup in 2003, after qualifying by winning the League Cup -we finished fifth in the Premier League, out of the Champions League places). Since 2001 we’ve picked up two major European trophies and two lesser ones to go with them. Now we find ourselves in the last eight of this year’s competition and we are looking at the serious possibility of going all the way to winning another. Of the eight clubs remaining, there are eighteen European cups between them, with eleven runners-up. (Note: Chelsea is the only remaining one never to have been to the final.)

If we are successful again this time around, it would put us equal with AC Milan’s six wins and edging ever closer to Real Madrid’s nine. Whatever the outcome, we can at least say that we’re back up there at the top of European competition, and that Thommo was right when he said, “This is where Liverpool belong.”

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

By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 26 February 07.

A quick trivia question: Who was the first black player who signed for Liverpool? That’s easy, right?; it was John Barnes in 1987. Okay then, who was the second black player to sign? That might be a little more difficult to answer. In fact, John Barnes was the second black player to sign, but the first to be brought in on a transfer from another club Watford). Howard Gayle was a Liverpool born player who signed professional forms for Liverpool after working his way through the youth team, the A and B teams, and then the reserve team under Roy Evans. Finally, in 1977, he became the first black player to sign as a professional for Liverpool FC., ten years before the arrival of Barnes.

During the same period that Howard Gayle was in the reserve squad, he was playing beside other Liverpool recruits such as David Fairclough, Sammy Lee, Ronnie Whelan, and Ian Rush. As Howie puts it, “I was elated just to have the feeling, to say that you were a part of Liverpool Football Club. For lads who’ve been brought up here and watched the Liverpool sides through the years, to sign with them is a dream. When you come from Liverpool, you don’t want to be just a footballer, but a footballer who plays for Liverpool or Everton.”

Unfortunately for Howard Gayle, he was not to be accepted as just another Liverpool prospect, but instead as a pioneer for black players trying to break into the professional ranks of formerly white-only clubs. “Everybody made that clear to me,” recalls Gayle, “It was constantly in the press that I was the first black player to play for Liverpool. It was a landmark as far as black people were concerned, and I was proud to represent the black community of Liverpool.”

For many people, including some in the Liverpool organisation, that pride of representing the black community went beyond the limits of acceptable behaviour and Howard Gayle was labelled as an activist, a trouble maker, or simply as one who had the wrong attitude which ultimately held back his development. “Howie could have been a great player if he hadn’t had that chip on his shoulder” was a common sentiment.

Gayle was signed as a winger and it was his blistering pace and close control of the ball that allowed him to speed down the wing past opposing players that set him apart from other Liverpool prospects. He was also a tough player who never shied away from a tackle, which earned him the respect of opposing players and of course of the supporters. His first of only five appearances in a Red shirt came in October of 1980 when he came on as a second-half substitute against Manchester City, replacing David Fairclough. His next appearance was the one that will always be remembered - according to captain Graeme Souness - as Paisley’s “inspired use of the tactical substitution.”

It was a full six months after his first appearance when Liverpool had been held to a scoreless draw at home to Bayern Munich in the European Cup semi-final. In the second leg, Liverpool were determined to make Munich’s Paul Breitner eat his words whereby he had described Liverpool’s tactics as “unintelligent.” A raft of injuries caused Paisley to bring in several of his reserve squad for the second leg, which included Gayle on the bench for the start of the match. Kenny Dalglish came off the field after only a few minutes, suffering from the blows inflicted on him by the German side. Howard Gayle took the field in his place and ran them ragged. As a completely unknown player to them, the Bayern Munich side could not contain this player who ran at them with the ball at such high speed, which was totally alien to what they expected as the usual Liverpool style. All they could do was resort to kicking and fouling him repeatedly; to such an extent that Howie was starting to lose his cool and was beginning to retaliate. The rough treatment was too much, and he was booked for lashing out at a Bayern defender. After that booking, roughly an hour after entering the match, Paisley pulled him off the field and replaced him with Jimmy Case who played for the remaining twenty minutes (An additional piece of trivia: Howard Gayle was the first ever Liverpool sub to be subbed.). In the end, a Ray Kennedy goal was enough to put Liverpool through (on away goals) to the final against Real Madrid even though Bayern managed an equaliser just before the end.

That should have been Howard Gayle’s moment of glory, with many commentators and reporters describing him as a rising star and a key player in a gritty and courageous performance by a Liverpool side who were just not willing to lose. But, it left him with a sense of bitter disappointment for having been substituted in the second-half after coming on earlier as a substitute himself. “I was told it was to prevent me from being sent off”, said Gayle. Paisley’s reasoning was that Howard’s repeated retaliation could result in a second booking and a sending off, which would mean that Liverpool would be playing with ten men for the remainder of the ninety minutes, and possibly into extra time. That reasoning may be sound, but it came across as a lack of confidence from the manager.

The following Saturday, Gayle played a full ninety minutes away at Tottenham and scored in a 1-1 draw, playing in a side that included 19-year-old Ian Rush. With David Johnson and Kenny Dalglish out injured, Howie was able to showcase his abilities. As described in one match report (Robert Armstrong in The Guardian), “A few more goals of quality by Gayle, who swept Lee’s pass into the net after 25 minutes, and Johnson may have more than injury to overcome to regain his place. The impressive pace and timing of Gayle’s runs, which bemused Bayern Munich, could well restore a dimension and width to Liverpool’s attack missing since the dropping of Heighway. Significantly, both Gayle and Rush have shown they possess the nerve and flair required for the major occasion.”

The club did not see it that way, and he played in the next game at home to Sunderland and then his last one against Manchester City. At the end of the season, he was offered a contract that was clearly seen as not including him in the club’s future plans, and he asked to be moved elsewhere. A series of loan spells followed with Fulham and Newcastle, then a transfer to Birmingham City in 1983, followed by Sunderland, Dallas Sidekicks, and finally Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers and Halifax Town. In 1984, while at Birmingham, he made three appearances for the England Under-21 national side.

Although he may wish to be remembered for many other aspects of his career, he will always be known as the first black player for Liverpool FC, and for that one night’s performance in Munich. Many more black players came to Liverpool over the years following Howard Gayle. He was in many ways the pioneer who opened the way for other black players, including John Barnes, to follow later. In spite of his skills, or perhaps because of them, he was often on the receiving end of racial abuse from opposing supporters, especially when playing in the north east. “When I played for Newcastle and Sunderland, the fans were great, both on and off the pitch. But when I was an opposition player at St. James’s park, I was spat at, there were monkey noises, and all sorts of racist abuse. It wasn’t pleasant, but sadly it was something I had become used to. From banana skins being thrown at me, to spit in the face at English grounds, to 70,000 Germans at Bayern Munich chanting and making the Nazi salute, it was sometimes horrific.”

For some, his later performances are a vindication of the decision to allow him to leave the club after only five first team appearances. For others, that one night in Munich is seen as a glimpse of what might have been if only he had been given more encouragement, and had a little more faith been shown in him. Following his retirement from football in 1993, he has been involved in coaching and developing local youngsters. He can sometimes be heard on the official website adding his comments to the live audio broadcasts, which I had the pleasure of listening to just a short time ago.

Howard Gayle’s brief Liverpool career was enough to earn him the number 84 spot in 100 Players Who Shook The Kop.

Video Clip:
84 - Howard Gayle.

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

By LFC Vancouver member Ste Speed , 01 February 07.

Anfield Rap

Anfield Rap.mp3
Video Clip - The Anfield Rap.

Lyrics:

Liverpool F.C. is hard as hell
United, Tottenham, Arsenal
Watch my lips, and I will spell
'cause they don't just play, but they can rap aswell

Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool F.C.

My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility...

aah...aah...ahh...aah

...had Napoleon had that idea he'd have conquered the bloody world

Walk on... walk on... with hope... in your heart... and you'll ne... ver walk... alone

Alright Aldo
Sound as a pound
I'm cushty la but there's nothing down
The rest of the lads ain't got it sussed
We'll have to learn 'em to talk like us

Well I'm rapping now, I'm rapping for fun
I'm your goalie, the number one
You can take the mick, don't call me a clown
Any more lip and you're going down

Alright Ace, we're great me and you
But the other lads don't talk like we do
No they don't talk like we do, do they do la
We'll have to learn 'em to talk propah

Walk on... walk on... with hope... in your heart... and you'll ne... ver walk... alone

You two scousers are always yapping
I'm gonna show you some serious rapping
I come from Jamaica, my name is John Barn-es
When I do my thing the crowd go bananas

How's he doing the Jamaica rap?
He's from just south of the Watford Gap
He gives us stick about the north/south divide
'cause they got the jobs
Yeah, but we got the side

Well I came to England looking for fame
So come on Kenny man, give us a game
'cause I'm sat on the bench paying my dues with the blues
I'm very big down under, but my wife disagrees

They've won the league, bigger stars than Dallas
They got more silver than Buckingham Palace
No-one knows quite what to expect
When the red machine's in full effect

Well Steve McMahon sure can rap
It's about time he had an England cap
So come on Bobby Robson, he's the man
'cause if anyone can, Macca can
Macca-can... Macca-can... Macca-can... Macca-can...

Liverpool F.C. is hard as hell

My idea was to build Liverpool up and up and up until eventually they would be untouchable. Everybody would have to submit. Give in, give in, give in

We're Ireland lads
Och-ai the noo
And there's four of us
And only two of you
So if you want nai trouble
And you don't want a slap
You'd better teach us the Anfield rap

Don't forget us paddies
And me the Great Dane
And I'm from London mate so watch your game
Well you two scousers, you're always squaking
But we'll just let our feet do the talking

Our lads have come from all over the place
They talk dead funny, but they play dead great
Well now we've gotta learn 'em to talk real cool
The song you've gotta learn if you're Liverpool

Walk on... walk on... with hope... in your heart... and you'll ne... ver walk... alone

You'll never walk alone

Ho-ho my word
That's unbelievable, it really is
I think they should stick to playing football. Terrible
What do you think Kenny?

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

Promising start for Padelli as reds lose - The Liverpool Way

Talk about after the 'Lord Mayor's Show'. One night I was watching Eto'o and Ronaldinho in a packed and vibrant Anfield, the next night it was Robert Huth and Jason Euell at Billingham Synthonium on a freezing night on Teesside. Both games ended in 1-0 defeats, but that's where any similarity ends.

More here.

LIVERPOOL’S new American owners might well have been moved by their first public airing of You’ll Never Walk Alone – if they had been able to hear it.

More here.

Teenage Aussie goalkeeping prospect Dean Bouzanis has been offered a three-year deal by Liverpool after impressing Rafa Benitez in a trial.

More here - and http://www.smh.com.au/news/football/how-a-sydney-kid-made-cut-at-one-of-the-greatest-clubs/2007/02/03/1169919584241.html here.

A SHOCKING video mocking Liverpool fans being crushed at Hillsborough has been posted on internet site YouTube.

More here.

Liverpool under-18s are halfway to the Youth Cup final after an action-packed first-leg victory over Newcastle United at St James's Park on Saturday.

More here.

The draw has thrown up the possibility of revenge on a grand scale. Liverpool's path to glory may be crossed by three teams who have more reasons to beat them than just winning the cup.

More here.

Celtic fans have thrown their support behind the recent Anfield 'Truth Day' with the unveiling of a 'Justice For The 96' banner at Sunday's Old Firm derby.

More here.

PRINCE’S Trust volunteers who renovated a Liverpool community hall have been thanked for their hard work by new Reds signing Emiliano Insua.

More here.

WELCOME to the new north Liverpool.

More here.

Liverpool's new owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have suspended work on their proposed new stadium and ordered a review of the plans.

More here.

One of the main gripes amongst Liverpool fans is how the club is treated within the media.

More here.

RAFA BENITEZ is anxious for a swift meeting with Liverpool’s new owners as he seeks further reassurances on the future direction of the club.

More here.

Liverpool Reserves manager Gary Ablett was full of praise for Jack Hobbs after his colossal performance at centre half during the 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic.

More here.

GEORGE GILLETT and Tom Hicks told city planners they want extra time to ensure Liverpool’s new stadium eventually matches the capacity of Old Trafford.

More here.

YNWA/JFT 96,
Andy Neumann

Standings as of 15 March 07.

Rank	Member	Points
1	Ste	33
1	Kevin	32
3	Dennis	30
4	Lance	30
4	Mark Aston	29
6	Andy	26
7	Keith	21
8	Glenn Whyte	10
9	Quentin	5
9	Chris Cole	5
11	Glenn Whitt.	3

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