WHAT an away end that would have been last Sunday.
West London, awash with red smoke, Nike 110s and Scousers jiving hips to their new cuban beat.
You didn’t have to be there. You could be in Liverpool on a Sunday evening or Melbourne on a Monday morning, either way you would be alive with the seriousness of the enterprise.
It’s problematic in all manner of ways. None more so than the actual pandemic that restricts our movements and changes social habits with no promise of them ever returning. Mostly, though, because people have never stopped dying at exponential rates, never stopped being vulnerable.
Pepijn Lijnders described Melwood as a “hospital” on Wednesday, before going to great lengths to explain that Liverpool feel they have a responsibility to everyone working there to be as safe as they can, not just the players.
But what about the football? Amazing, isn’t it, how so many of the banter buses which were lined up along Stanley Park, honking horns for null-and-void last spring have now disappeared into the ether?
For so long, Liverpool wanted football back. To complete the job they started, of course, but because of the ride this team has taken us on. We wanted to be back on the rollercoaster as well as winning the prize at the end.
And yet finality evades and now a wider picture of a vast unknown emerges. When Liverpool sign Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota in one day you have the urge to dance yourself into the night. The same after Sunday’s performance of Champions.
That’s what you forget, that this period isn’t just taking Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool away from us, it’s taking away something that’s formed a defining part of our lives since we were consciously making decisions.
How many weekends have you given in some form to Liverpool? You can’t now look back without realising how they’ve shaped a hugely significant chunk of our social habits from supporters clubs to season tickets.
You did it because it was exhilarating, it was stadiums erupting with goals, lions dens and all that. The world’s eyes are always on Liverpool and Klopp made them come alive in the spotlight.
And yes it’s good, and yes it still means something. But after this week’s setback, where once again I can’t stress enough how people’s lives are more important, I can’t help but wonder just how and when we get this very important part of our own lives back?
A friend of mine is adamant that Liverpool only get to have the Premier League parade now if they retain the title. You wouldn’t bank against it after Sunday, but even if we reach such heights, we have no idea where we’ll be and what that will look like.
That is why it’s important to remember that the important thing isn’t transfers. It isn’t even winning everything, although we’re having a good go. What remains the most fundamental aspect of our investment in this game is that we get our footballing lives back.
This week has proved a major setback in that process. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely to be the last.
Sober stuff, but true. I’m in a different jurisdiction and the conversation is very much the same. So even though I can’t get to the ground, the absence of supporters, the very fact I can see and hear and know that they are not there, is in itself depressing. I’m chuffed to bits my wife got the Sky Sports subscription when we were still hammering everyone back in February, but even with the crowd noise on, it’s still not the same. I can only imagine the ache felt by those who were lucky enough to be able to attend every week.
I also think that Liverpool may end up – at some point, possibly – being most harmed by all this. We have the perfect synthesis of football ideally should *ALWAYS* be about – a holy trinity of supporters, players and manager. The three work best together. Plenty of other clubs and teams can’t say the same. Would we have nailed Barca 4-0 without Anfield as a cauldron? Maybe, but it certainly helped. Will we find some teams actually benefit when we play them because there’s no home onus on them to attack? Will we face a crunch tie against a Real or a PSG or even a league game against someone where our lack of frenzied atmosphere impacts on us, just a bit, knocks us off, just a bit?
Ultimately, it’s the same for everyone. Public health must always come first, despite what the crackpot conspiracy theorists would have you believe. But it would be amazing to get even a third or quarter-full ground going. It will be amazing when everyone can go back. The parade, when it happens, will be sensational and well-deserved. We’ll know never again to take it for granted. And I’m certainly planning a visit.
Although I’d love to see Anfield packed out I don’t think it’ll affect us the most.
I think it helps us.
Essentially, there’s no home and away as such and it just comes down to who’s best at footie.
We are. We’re the best team in the world.
Here in Australia, the NRL (National Rugby League) now allows crowds at grounds up to 50% of the grounds capacity, with certain social distancing measures in place. Similarly, in pubs and other venues you scan a QR code on your phone upon entry, fill out a quick online form with your name, contact number, number of dependents with you and whether you’re experiencing any flu-like symptoms or been overseas in the past two weeks.
Surely you’d think there was a similar model the PL could afford to adapt, allowing perhaps 25 or even 50% capacity in grounds to begin with with tickets on a first in best dressed basis or distributed randomly to club members or season ticket holders? Ensure social distancing measures are in place at grounds, have all attending fans scan a QR code upon entry and away you go.