The most inspiring men are not those who excel at what they do. The ones who inspire me at least are the ones who somehow have slipped through the cracks and bungled their way to wealth and fame. Men who are inexplicably paid high wages in a field which they clearly have zero aptitude. That moment when you’re watching a schmuk on tv and you think to yourself ‘I could do X better than that guy’ is a sorely underrated boost for ones self esteem. For me that moment usually comes when I’m watching the news and some wooden generic news anchor drones along in a colourless monotone and over-enunciates every foreign name. I think at least half a billion people had the ‘I could do a better job’ moment throughout G W Bush’s two terms in office. And depending on which football team you support, you probably have that moment on a weekly basis. Daily if you support Newcastle, and maybe monthly or bi-monthly if you support Chelsea. If you support Barcelona, the feeling I’m talking about has probably never overcome you while watching football.
Since the introduction of modern sports coverage and the increased amount of monies involved, people easily forget that football is a game, and the object of a game is to have fun. And, unless you are a sociopath with no sense of humour, winning is not the only fun part of sports. Drama and hi-jinks add to the soap opera nature of football, and is one crucial element which helps make it so addictive. It is for this reason that Liverpool FC supporters are truly the luckiest fans in the world. We get to experience the full spectrum of what it is to be a football supporter. We can match Real Madrid in terms of how famous we are. Inter Milan for the amount of silver ware we’ve won. We also have more stories of nail biting moments of glory and failure than a team like West Brom who are continuously in relegation and promotion battles. It is not just the fact that we have more trophies than any other club in Britain which makes us the greatest, it’s how we won those trophies. Five years ago we were crowned European champions after the greatest comeback in history, and now we are sitting in the relegation zone. You need a sense of humour to support this club, one thing scousers are legendary for.
Which brings me back to the original reason I started this article. Bad players. Winning the European Cup in 2005 still makes me go all misty eyed when I think about it. When the expert pundits run down a list of the ‘greatest’ teams in football history, none of them will mention Liverpool of 2005. But for me and every other Liverpool supporter, that lineup which orchestrated the Miracle of Istanbul will always be the one in our hearts because they embodied the best aspects of the game. That was a team which had Sami Hypia, Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Dietmar Hamann – ALL brilliant players who were arguably some the best players in their particular positions. But rounding out the team were guys who were continuously derided by the press, their own supporters, and all the other so called experts. Jerzey Dudek, Igor Biscan, Djimi Traore, Josemi, Antonio Nunez….
I’m about as a loyal a Liverpool supporter there is, but I will admit that Djimi Traore was not very good, and Josemi was downright bad. The number of times anyone watching Josemi stumble around the pitch thought ‘I can play football better than that’ , would have left you convinced you actually had what it takes to be a pro footballer- no matter how fat you are, or how bad at hitting a cross field pass you happen to be. But all these players had some part in Liverpool hoisting the trophy against the much more talented AC Milan team.
Ultimately, all those George Bush moments we had to endure throughout that long season made us feel closer to the players on the pitch, and more united as a sports family. Perhaps we broke through the glossy veneer television producers try to attach to professional players. In hindsight I look at George W as an ordinary man who somehow ended up with the worst job in the world. W was a mere human burdened with unrealistic expectations. For us Liverpool supporters, the players became human too. We identified with them, largely because they had some clear and obvious short-comings to go along with their brilliant gifts. But through good old fashioned pluck, determination and grit they kept on running as hard they could til they got to the finish line. And they beat the bookies favourite to do it in the process.
The moral of the story is to never say die when pursuing your goals, and never be distracted or intimidated because your opponent has a flash car or is married to a lingerie model. Let people misunderestimate you, and when you win it will feel all that much better.
On a final note, just think about the fact that Pascal Cygan made 51 appearances for Arsenal the season that they went undefeated.
Mersey Paradise 