May 2007 Archives

Apart from the pre-match trouble which marred the Champions League final my other big regret from the trip to Athens is that I couldn't make it to Olympiakos where a group of Liverpool fans were on a special pilgrimage.
The pilgrimage, organised by lads from the excellent Red All Over The Land website, took place on the day of the game at a time when most fans were congregating in Syntagma Square.
For those of you who don't know, in 1981 Olympiakos suffered there own tragedy, when 21 fans were killed in a crush at Gate 7 of the Karaiskaki Stadium.

AFTER Athens, there is a feeding frenzy going on over all things Liverpool in the national media.
If it's not Benitez at loggerheads with Parry, it's the Americans failing to provide the funding they'd promised.
God only knows what is actually going on at Anfield but one thing's for sure - a football club going through a massive period of change is always going to be a troubled place, especially after losing a European Cup final.
So at the moment, the vultures are hovering, all looking to feed off what they think is the rotting carcas of Liverpool FC.

Today marks the 22nd anniversary of the Heysel disaster where 39 Juventus fans were killed when trouble broke out prior to the Italian side's meeting with Liverpool in the 1985 European Cup final.
With Athens still fresh in the memory, perhaps now is a good time to reflect on what did happen on May 29, 1985 and on what so could easily have happened on May 23, 2007.
As I've already said on this blog, comparisons between Athens and Hillsborough are totally erroneous.
There was no hooliganism at Hillsborough and what happened there was a direct result of a breakdown in police control and a stadium which was so outdated it didn't even have a safety certificate.

One of the most irritating and disturbing things about the fallout from Athens is some are using it as a stick to beat us with over Hillsborough.
It's like they've been waiting for a couple of decades to say "I told you so" and now they're grabbing their chance.
Far be it from me to spoil their fun, but the only similarities between Athens and Hillsborough are that both involved Liverpool fans and both featured organisational ineptitude of a staggering level.

I've had quite a strong reaction to my latest blog with opinion divided on one aspect of it in particular.
Some of the criticism is definitely spot on because I think my wording could have been better.
I didn't intend to compare those who bunk in with corporate freeloaders from a safety perspective because I know such a comparison would be ridiculous.

Apologies to anyone who's been looking at this blog in the last few days trying to keep updated with everything that was going on in Athens.
Technical problems while I was out there meant I was unable to do so but I suppose in some ways it wasn't a bad thing because it's not always a good thing to have instant access to a computer when passions are running high.
Anyway, four days after the final and the fall-out from the shambles that preceded the game shows no sign of abating.

With all this talk of tickets, ballots, flights and hotels it seems to have been forgotten that there is a fairly important football match taking place in Athens on Wednesday night.
For the past week or so the game itself has been treated like something of an after thought, which is incredible when you consider it is a European Cup final not a friendly.
The time for recriminations over the ticket fiasco has now passed. I know it's easy for me to say that when I've got a ticket but the most important thing now is that we get right behind the lads as they endeavour to win a magnificent sixth European Cup.

HAD Steven Gerrard not been blessed with the kind of skills the rest of us can only dream of he would have been involved in the smad scramble for tickets for Athens.
The fact that the boyhood Red is guaranteed his place in the Olympic Stadium does not mean he isn't aware of the emotional torture thousands of his fellow Liverpudlians are going through as they try everything they can to get their hands on a ticket for the big game.
I spoke to Steven yesterday and one of the first things he told me was he is gutted for those who have missed out on a ticket.

Barely an hour before the Liverpool squad flew to Spain for a pre-final training camp the manager and players took part in a media day at Anfield.
One of the best things about working in the media is having access to this sort of event, where you can assess the mood of the players and listen to their thoughts first hand instead of having to rely on Sky Sports News.

Just heard from a very reliable source that there is a very prominent Liverpool businessman who has ten tickets for the final.
He is an Evertonian.
The man in question is not a tout, he got hold of his tickets because he has an executive box at Anfield.