By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 02 May 07.

There’s absolutely no denying that that was an amazing match on Tuesday. It probably wasn’t much entertainment for the neutrals, but as far as we’re concerned we just wanted success and a trip to Athens before we worried about how the experts would describe it. The end result is what’s important, and we came away with a victory that will stay in our memories for a long time to come.

It wasn’t so much the match itself that caused all the emotion; it was the camaraderie and the togetherness of all of us watching. For that I want to thank each and every one of you who were there to make it so special. We haven’t had an atmosphere like that since last year’s FA Cup Final against West Ham, which in turn was the best since the semi-final win over Chel$ki, and the previous season’s Champions League Final. There can only be a small number of games that can be that good, and Tuesday’s was one of them. Again, thanks to all of you who came down and made it such a special occasion. Whether you were there or not, don’t dare to miss the final on May 23rd, which is now confirmed as a re-match of the 2005 final against AC Milan. See you all there!

In the meantime, we have a couple of fairly meaningless Premier League games to get through. The first of these is on Saturday May 5th when Liverpool travel to Fulham. That game is being broadcast on Setanta USA and will be shown live at Library Square at 7am. The doors should be open around 6:30, but we have to wait until the Celtic match is over before we can enter. Coffee will be available, and the bar will be open to serve pints (cash only) at 9am. If anybody is still in the mood to celebrate Tuesday’s massive victory over the Roman empire, then come and join us. It’s definitely not the biggest or most important match of the season, but if we are all there together then it can’t fail to be enjoyable. So don’t miss it!

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

By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 02 May 07.

After almost two days, it’s only now just starting to sink in as to exactly what we have achieved. Not only have we already won as many European Cups (5) as all other English clubs combined, we have now guaranteed that we’ll be making as many final appearances (7) as all other English clubs put together. If we can win in Athens on May 23rd, then we can also claim to have won as many as all British sides. Surely that must put us into an elite group of European clubs. Only AC Milan with six, and Real Madrid with nine, have won more than us. Bayern Munich, Benfica, and Juventus have also made seven final appearances each, winning four, two and two respectively.

Back at home, we’re already acknowledged as the most decorated and most successful football club in English history. Eighteen League titles, seven FA Cups, seven League Cups, and three UEFA Cups, are added to the five European or Champions League trophies already won. And that has been accomplished mostly over the last forty years under the direction of only eight managers. Of those eight, five have managed to bring us a European trophy.

Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, and Gerard Houllier brought us one UEFA Cup each, while Paisley, Joe Fagan, and now Rafa have brought us the European Cups. Once we see that, we can see just how massive an achievement this is for Rafa. That becomes even clearer if we compare Rafa with a few other supposedly elite clubs and their managers from our domestic league.

Sir Matt Busby was the first manager of an English club to win a European Cup in 1968, one year after Celtic had become the first British club to succeed. Nine years later, Liverpool won two in a row under Bob Paisley who was the first English born manager to win the trophy. Brian Clough won the next two with Nottingham Forest before Bob Paisley and Liverpool won their third the following year. After that it was Aston Villa under Tony Barton, and then two years later it was Joe Fagan bringing Liverpool our fourth. The following year should have been another glorious European campaign, but it ended in disaster at Heysel. It would be a long time and even longer for Liverpool, before any English club would be allowed to re-enter the competition and the European Cup return to England.

A few years after English clubs were re-admitted it was Manchester United winning in 1999, which was a large part of the justification for Alex Ferguson’s knighthood. Naturally there were questions as to whether it should be granted if it had not also been given to previous managers who won the trophy, including Brian Clough for his two and Bob Paisley for his three. The explanation at the time (and is still the explanation today) was that the 1999 trophy was part of a unique treble of League, FA Cup, and European Cup. But that had already been achieved by Joe Fagan when he won the League, League Cup, and European Cup in 1984. What is also unique is the achievement of Bob Paisley being one manager winning three European Cups (not to mention the eleven other major trophies won during his eight years in charge).

To say that a club is part of an elite European group should imply that there is some considerable history of success in European competition. There were a few years of glory for Nottingham Forest, but they have long since passed. Aston Villa went into a rapid decline for several years after winning in Europe, and were relegated to the Second Division for a season, before returning to the top flight in 1989. Out of most of the other English clubs to have competed in Europe, only a few have had success. That includes Leeds United with two UEFA Cups, Newcastle United with one UEFA Cup (and one Intertoto Cup), Tottenham Hotspur with two UEFA Cups and a Cup Winners Cup, and Ipswich with one UEFA Cup. Everton, West Ham, and Manchester City have won one Cup Winners Cup each. But, all of those were more than twenty years ago, and none of them have been collecting major silverware for more than a few years.

If we look more closely at the English Premier League’s “Big Four” of Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United a little more closely, how many of them can claim to be in that elite group? Manchester United’s two European Cups came thirty one years apart (1968 and 1999), with a Cup Winners Cup in between in 1991. Chelsea have won two UEFA Cups twenty seven years apart (1971 and 1998), and Arsenal have won one UEFA Cup (Fairs Cup) in 1970 and a Cup Winners Cup twenty four years later in 1994. If we add it all up, then Liverpool’s five European Cups and three UEFA Cups easily overshadow the other three “Big” clubs’ total of seven between them.

Arsene Wenger has been at Arsenal for ten years and has led them to one appearance in a European final, the Champions League 2006, where they lost to Barcelona. Alex Ferguson has had twenty years at Manchester United, and while he’s undoubtedly been successful in the Premier League and the FA Cup, he has managed only one European final appearance which was their 1999 Champions League success. Jose Mourinho came to Chelsea with so much promise after leading FC Porto to the Champions League in 2004, saying that it would take up to three years to build Chelsea into European Champions. Now at the end of three years, he has managed to reach two semi-finals, losing out each time to one of the true European elites.

Now we look at our own Rafael Benitez. He has had the same three year time period as Jose Mourinho, and in that short time has won one Champions League and is on the verge of winning a second. There’s no doubt that Rafa is going to be in charge of Liverpool for many years to come. George Gillett and Tom Hicks have both given enthusiastic votes of approval to what he is doing and are anxious to help wherever they can. That includes increasing the money available to bring in new players, and to retain the players that we have now, who he identifies as the ones who will raise the club to an even higher level. When you compare the amounts of money that have been available to Rafa, Ferguson, and Mourinho, who would you expect to be the more successful? We know that it’s not so easy to buy champions who are guaranteed to win trophies. We also know that you can’t buy history and you certainly can’t buy class. With Rafa in charge at Liverpool we have both; and that’s priceless.

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

By LFC Vancouver member Ste Speed, 01 May 07.

Steve Nicol was a very talented utility player who was able to play brilliantly in a variety of positions. He played mostly at either right or left back, but he was also able to play at centre back, in midfield and he even played as a striker on a few occasions too. Apart from being a great player he was also a great character off the field and was one of the most popular members of the squad during his fourteen years at Liverpool.

Nico started his career in his native Scotland with Ayr United in 1979. After two seasons and seventy appearances, Bob Paisley paid £300,000 to bring him to Anfield in October 1981. He appeared in only the occasional first team game after his debut in a nil-nil draw with Birmingham City and spent most of his first two years playing in the reserves. This was the way it was in the ‘old days’ when new players would be thrown into the reserves to learn ‘The Liverpool Way’ and to find out if they had what it takes to pull on the red shirt. It wasn’t until Joe Fagan took over manager in 1983 that Nicol was given a sustained run in the first team. By the end of the 1983/84 season he had won the first of four league championship medals.

He wasn’t picked for the League Cup final against Everton at Wembley in the first ever all Merseyside final in February 1984. Although this was a big blow to the young Scotsman, bigger glory was soon to follow as he was picked in the squad for the 1984 European Cup Final against Roma, in Rome. Steve had a fine game when he came on as a substitute. The game went to a penalty shoot-out and this was where Nicol had the first of many famous moments in his Liverpool career. Phil Neal discusses this moment on the DVD – ‘Liverpool FC Champions of Europe’, in the episode ‘There’s No Place Like Rome’.

“Joe Fagan said, “Phil you take the first, Stevie Nic second, Souey third, then Rushie”. Then for the fifth he pointed to Kenny Dalglish and of course Kenny had been subbed. So he’s looking around and by this time Hansen and Lawrenson are fifty yards away because they don’t want to be included. So he’s looking between Bruce Grobbelaar and Alan Kennedy and he’s gone for Alan as the last one. So when it’s ready for our first kick Stevie Nicol has grabbed the ball and gone. So Souey says “just let him, he obviously wants to go. You know it’s a big occasion for him in his mind, if you take him back you might disturb him in that way, let him go”.

As we all know, he blasted the ball over the crossbar. Fortunately we still went on to win the European cup after Roma missed two penalties, thanks in part to the Grobbelaar wobbly legs routine, so Nicol’s miss didn’t affect the outcome.

Over the next decade Nicol was practically an ever present in the side, making 466 appearances and he went on to win three more league titles and three FA Cups. He also scored 46 goals and many of them were very memorable including a hat-trick at Newcastle and an amazing long range header at Arsenal on the opening day of the 1987/88 season.

Possibly his best season for Liverpool came in 1988/89 when he was named as the 1989 ‘Footballer of the Year’ by football writers. He was immense in defense and could be relied on to pop up with goals too as he helped us to achieve an FA Cup Final victory and finish runners up in the league during what was an extremely emotional time for Merseyside after Hillsborough. After Kenny Dalglish resigned as manager, Nicol was kept in the side by Graeme Souness and he helped the team win the FA Cup again in 1992 against Sunderland. This was to be the last trophy he won at Liverpool and in January 1995 after fourteen great years at Anfield he decided to move on, taking the player manager position at Notts County.

His time as Notts County’s player manager went from a great high to a huge low within months. In March 1995 he helped them to win the Anglo-Italian Cup at Wembley against Ascoli. The Anglo-Italian Cup is no longer played, it took place from 1970 to 1996 and was contested between teams in the English second division and Italy’s Serie B. The tournament was scrapped in 1996 after increasing violence amongst the fans. At the end of his first season as player manager Notts County were relegated to the second division (now called division one). After a bad start to the next season Nicol was sacked in November 1995.

He moved onto Sheffield Wednesday and ironically he made his debut at Goodison Park against his former rivals Everton. His best game for Sheffield Wednesday came a year later at Anfield in December 1996. A man of the match performance from Nicol in that game helped Sheffield Wednesday to a shock 1-0 victory over Liverpool.

After short spells at West Bromwich Albion and Doncaster Rovers, Nicol moved over to America to take a player coach role with the A-League side Boston Bulldogs in 1999. Between 1999 and 2002 he switched back and forth between the Boston Bulldogs and the New England Revolution in the MLS. In 2002 he returned to the New England Revolution as head coach. He was named MLS Coach of the Year in his first season and he took them to the MLS Cup Final in 2002, 2005 and 2006, unfortunately they lost on all three occasions. Steve Nicol has been a tremendous success in the MLS and is currently a big favourite to eventually take over as head coach for the USA national side.

Steve Nicol can definitely be considered amongst one of Liverpools best ever players and he will remain a big favourite amongst those who watched him in action. This was reflected with his ranking of 39th in the ‘100 Players Who Shook the Kop’.

Video Clip:
39 - Steve Nicol

To close this week I want to share some hilarious stories involving Steve Nicol during his time at Liverpool. I will be directly quoting an excerpt from Phil Thompson’s autobiography ‘Stand Up Pinocchio’ published by Sports Media in 2005.

‘He once went on a cruise to Norway. You get off the boat at various points to look at these beautiful little ports. Steve loved his crisps and lemonade and stored them in his cabin. He was with his wife and on one trip ashore he spotted this weighing machine. He climbed on and shouted in horror at his wife Eleanor that he was nearly a stone overweight. She was roaring with laughter and pointing out that he was holding two large bags full of bottles of lemonade and all kinds of stuff.

The biggest football wind-up of all time involved Stevie Nicol. We went to Israel for an end-of-season tour. Every night we would go to a local bar. One evening Kenny Dalglish decided to stay in and Stevie asked where he was as we sat outside having a few beers. Alan Hansen said: “What do you mean? Don’t you know?” He said: “Know what?” and the lads said: “Come on, you do know. Kenny’s found out that he has got an incurable illness.” Stevie replied: “You’re taking the piss” and so Alan said: “Ask Graeme.”

As he turned towards Souey, Alan winked to Graeme and said: “Tell him. Kenny’s got leukaemia.” Graeme said: “Yes, all the lads know.” Stevie turned to me for confirmation and repeated: “What’s wrong with Kenny?” I just said: “He’s got leukaemia.” Nico said: “I need to see him,” and with that he picked himself up and left.

The lads immediately grabbed the phone on the bar and contacted Kenny, saying: “He’s on his way to your room. You’ve got to ham it up.” I decided to go back with Nico and caught him up halfway down the road. He was just shaking his head and saying: “I can’t believe it.” When we got back to the hotel, he said: “Phil , can you leave me. I want to speak to Kenny on my own.” I said: “Yeah, no problem. Look, he told the lads, but he really wanted this to be kept private.” Nico said: “When did it happen?” I said: “Remember the bang he got on his arm in the Tottenham game at the end of the season? The reaction started from there.” He was just looking at me blankly, saying: “No!”

When he finally got in the room Kenny was saying: “Sorry Nico, I thought you knew. I have been keeping it low key because I wanted to be with the lads on this trip.” Later Kenny would reveal how the conversation went. Nico said: “You have been a wonderful ambassador for the game and this club. You are one of my idols. I can’t believe what has happened.”

I was standing at the door listening to all of this. Suddenly Stevie added a rider to his tribute to Kenny. He said :”I thought something was wrong with you because you have been playing so badly.” Kenny’s face changed at this point and he said: ‘I think it’s best if you get off.” He said later: “I didn’t know whether to choke him or burst out laughing.”

I returned with Nico to meet up again with the rest of the lads. He poured out his conversation. It was now about two hours since we started this wind-up and I said to Big Al: “We will have to break the news to him. He’s really cut up.”

I got hold of Nico and said: “Listen, it’s just a wind-up.” He was having none of it and replied: “I don’t believe you.” I had to get all the other lads to hammer home that he’d just been done by the longest wind-up in the history of the club.

I know it was wrong to use a serious illness like leukaemia as a joke, but it was just the first word that came out. It wasn’t meant to offend anybody. Anyway, people sometimes say that you have to be there and this was certainly one of those famous stories about Steve Nicol. Kenny never let him forget those final words: “I knew something was wrong because you have been playing so badly.”

Nico stories abound throughout our spell together. Another one was during my spell as reserve-team trainer. The first team were away over Christmas. Nico was out of the team and Kenny wanted him to have treatment so that he would be ready for the next game. I went in to meet him at Anfield at 9:30am and he was the only one in for treatment. I had the machines at the ready.

Who was to stagger in – and I mean stagger – but Stevie. He had been out at a family party and had turned up with one of his mates in tow. I summoned Nico to climb up on the treatment table, pulled his trousers round his ankles, which wasn’t a pleasant sight, and started to administer the ultrasound on his groin. His head went back on the backrest and he fell asleep, snoring loudly.

This left me with his mate who was as inebriated as Nico was. He sat on the other treatment bed, extremely pleased to be in this inner sanctum. He started asking about all things football. Suddenly he said: “Do you scout much? Do you watch many players and many games?”

I said: “We are always pro-active and looking for players who might fit the bill.” To this he said: “I’ve seen a player.” My ears pricked up. He added: “This boy can do everything. He’s a midfield player. He’s hard as nails. He can head a ball. He scores goals and he’s a great defender.” I’m thinking: “Sounds quite a star.” I said: “Who does he play for?” thinking that we could get this lad watched. In all seriousness, Nico’s mate said: “The Bow and Arrow Pub.” Having the ultrasound on Stevie’s nuts at the time, I nearly took his wedding tackle off. He woke with a start as I said: “Oh, great!” At that point, I couldn’t wait to get rid of them both so I could spray something to get shot of the fumes. What made it equally worse, was I forgot to ask which one of them was driving.’

‘Stand Up Pinocchio’ by Phil Thompson, with Ken Rogers. Sport Media, 2005.

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

Contracts for Youth Cup heroes - Liverpool Echo

FOUR of Liverpool’s double Youth Cup winning side will be rewarded with new contracts following last night’s victory at Old Trafford.

More here.

Academy Director Steve Heighway will shortly be hanging up his famous boots after a lifetime with the club in two highly contrasting roles.

More here.

Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy has described allegations that he has no working relationship with manager Rafael Benitez as "complete garbage".

More here.

Football seems to be evolving into one big beauty pageant. Long-gone are the days of rugged, uncompromising, battle-hardened professionals.

More here.

As part of our build up to Tuesday’s match we will be posting various videos, articles and memories from Anfield folklore to inspire you for what will no doubt be another magical atmosphere.

More here.

Steven Gerrard has backed Rick Parry's declaration that departing Academy director Steve Heighway should remain at the club in some capacity.

More here.

Yesterday morning I wrote down a few thoughts, to summon in the event of the Reds losing, drawing or going out on the away goal rule; the kind of stuff to ponder about this club of ours: pride, history, and a bright future.

More here.

JOSE MOURINHO vowed that Chelsea's strength of character would see them return next season for another crack at reaching the Champions League final.

More here.

YNWA/JFT 96,
Andy Neumann

Standings as of 06 May 07.

Rank	Member	Points
1	Ste	43
2	Kevin	40
3	Lance	36
3	Dennis	36
5	Mark Aston	31
6	Andy	26
7	Keith	24
8	Glenn Whyte	10
9	Chris Cole	6
10	Quentin	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