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Archive for the ‘History’ CategoryFriday May 17Posted by: Antoine Zammit No Comments »
Jamie Carragher, more than a legendWhen Jamie Carragher hangs up his boots on Sunday he would have played his 737th game for Liverpool F.C., only one player in club’s history has played more and that was Ian Callaghan with 857 games. The number of appearances doesn’t tell the whole story of one of the greatest players to ever play for Liverpool. Jamie is one of a kind, he came up through the Liverpool academy and now will retire having only played for one club. This is something you don’t see often in football, even past Liverpool legends like Ian Callaghan, Kenny Dalglish, Phil Neal, Ian Rush, John Barnes and Robbie Fowler had played for other clubs. Ironically Jamie (as described in his excellent autobiography) grew up as a Blue, he even showed up wearing his Everton shirt at his earlier training sessions however he turned out to be a true Red, bleeding Redder and anyone of us. We of course remember his heroics at Istanbul and the treble winning season of 2001 however there was more to Jamie than that. He is a proven leader and I would love to see him coaching back at Liverpool sometime soon, he would eventually make a great manager.  Jamie Carragher and I On a personal note, I met Jamie last Summer in Boston (Yes, I am gutted that my only photo with him is blurred) and what I had heard was true. The guy is the most down-to-earth person you will ever meet. For those wondering, he does speak slower when he is not being shoved with a microphone in his face :-) Jamie was happy to hear that I was Maltese, his maternal grandparents came from my home country so I can’t be prouder of our Number 23. My favourite Carra moment was in Istanbul, he convinced Dudek to do Grobbelaar’s spaghetti feet dance before the penalties to distract the AC Milan penalty takers. And yes it worked, proving that knowing your rich history can also win you trophies. Thank you Jamie, YNWA Antoine
Friday May 17Posted by: Antoine Zammit No Comments »
VIDEO : Jamie Carragher’s first interview (via @LiverpoolPlus)
Monday Apr 15Posted by: Antoine Zammit Comments Off
Never shall we forget The Hillsborough memorial at Anfield April 15th is a day when talking about football is irrelevant. We remember the 96 who went to a game and never returned. RIP John Alfred Anderson (62)
Wednesday Feb 13Posted by: Guest Writer 2 Comments »
Remember the name : Luis GarciaThird on our list sees us at Bekker’s Blog look into the Liverpool career (albeit a relatively short one) of the man who came from Barca to bring us joy – Luis Garcia. Liverpool History Luis Garcia was signed in August of 2004 by then manager Rafa Benitez for a fee of 6 million Euro’s. The Spaniard had been a product of the famous Barcelona youth academy and had finally made it into the side the season before. This prompted Benitez, who had worked with Garcia four seasons earlier while he was on loan at Tenerife, to snap the talented Catalan up in a time when the Spanish revolution was taking place. Antonio Nunez, Josemi, Fernando Morientes, Xabi Alonso and Garcia would all join la Anfield, although only the latter two would make a marked impact.  Luis the Magician Garcia’s first season would prove to the world why he is considered as one of Benitez’s most important signings. He had a legitimate goal disallowed for offside on debut against Bolton but would go on to register his first goals for the club in his next two games – grabbing goals against West Brom and Norwich. He would grab 7 goals in the league that season which failed to compare to his Champions League exploits. Luis, along with Steven Gerrard is regarded as being the key component to Liverpool’s Istanbul triumph. The little Spaniard scored the winning goal against Juventus in the Quarter-Finals, a goal which was voted as Liverpool’s goal of the year for the 2007 and repeated this feat against Chelsea in the Semi’s – in the process creating the life-long debate around the ‘ghost goal’. He played 12 out of the 13 games in the Champions League campaign, grabbing 5 goals in the knockout-phases. All in all he scored 13 goals in his debut season, an impressive season for the man who had just replaced Michael Owen as Liverpool’s number 10.
 Luis celebrates His second season would prove to be a lot less dramatic although he would again prove to be the nail in Chelsea’s coffin as he scored a fantastic goal from outside the area to send the Londoners home, and send Liverpool through to the FA Cup Final against West Ham. As life would have it, Luis would miss the final because of a red card he would pick up against the Hammers in the league – his only red of his Liverpool career. His 3rd season, and in fact Liverpool career would end in tragic circumstances when Luis was ruled out in January 2007 with a serious knee injury that kept him out for about 6 months. At the end of the season he moved back to Spain, and back to Atletico Madrid with whom he played a season for before, for a fee of 4 million Euro’s. As he left, Fernando Torres came the other way in a separate deal, but not even that could make the Kop faithful forget Luis. He ended his spell at the club with 30 goals in 121 games, 10 of those goals coming in the European competitions which he loved so very much. He would make one last return to Anfield in 2010 for Jamie Carragher’s testimonial match in which the mercurial maestro scored another magical goal. Cult Hero In the 3 years that Luis spent at Anfield he became somewhat of a cult hero. He was famous for his ability to strike a ball with his left or right foot and for a small player, to be able to score great goals with his head. He was versatile, being able to playing as an attacking midfielder, winger (on either side) or as a striker and had remarkable skill with the ball – and losing the ball. It was his thing, one moment he was a player that could challenge for the Ballon d’Or and the next he quite simply wasn’t. Some said he blew hot and cold, some said he was inconsistent but despite that no Liverpool player could say a word of bad against Luis because, being the magician he was, they knew that he could pull a moment of brilliance, a game changing goal or a vital winner from absolutely nowhere. The simultaneous frustration and joy one felt when watching Luis is summed up perfectly in one Rafa Benitez quote:
“You have to accept Luis for what he is. When he played for me at Tenerife, I tried to change him, but you have to say OK, he does what he does and provides different things. I have kept trying to remind him – many times – that when he takes the risks he does, he should do it closer to the opposition box. He can give possession away and that can anger the fans. But he also does different things that excite them and he scores goals. I tried to change him in Spain, and he scored 16 goals for me, so you have to accept what he does” Luis could be playing the worst game of his life but the Kop loved him so much that they would still chant his name – and chant his name they did. They even had a song for their ‘Little Spaniard’ to the tune of ‘You are mu sunshine’. “Luis Garcia – He drinks Sangria He came from Barca – To bring us joy He’s five ft. seven – He’s football heaven So, please don’t take our Luis away! Testament to the affection the fans have for him, Luis was voted as number 43 in the original 100 Players Who Shook The Kop – with only Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher placing higher than him of players who still played for the club Truth is, he was brilliant and he was frustrating, he was magical and he was careless, he was amazing and then he was invisible. But no matter what, he was Luis Garcia, and he was ours.  Luis Garcia YNWA …..Next time, Remember the Name: David James
Friday Feb 8Posted by: Guest Writer 13 Comments »
Remembering the Gate 7 disasterToday is 32th anniversary of GATE 7 disaster in Karaiskaki stadium. In 8/2/81 after a huge win against AEK Athens (6-0) Olympiacos’ fans tried to get out of the gate 7 (its like the KOP) and celebrate out of the stadium. The doors were closed, so 21 peaple died and many others got injured. No one was punished for leaving the door of the gate closed and causing this tragic accident. It is the biggest football tragedy in Greece. More about this tragedy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/  Olympiacos and Liverpool fans join hands in demand for Justice
Thursday Feb 7Posted by: Brian Reece 7 Comments »
Goodbye Jamie
The word legend is one that is constantly overused by many in the footballing world, and never in the correct context. But at Liverpool we have a true footballing legend in the form of Jamie Carragher a colossus, inspiring player who has served this great club with honour and dignity throughout his time at Anfield. Carragher is everything a young hopeful would want to become, only players like Ryan Giggs and Steven Gerrard have shown the same kind of devotion to a club like Jamie Carragher has for Liverpool, which will make it even more harder to say farewell to the great one when he hangs up his boots at the end of this season. The simply fact is we don’t have anyone who can fill his shoes now in terms of leadership or game reading. Agger and Skrtel are both great defenders, but neither have the leadership skills in terms of vocal presence and defence organisation that Carragher holds, Carra shouts orders like a lion and organises the defence like a military operation. Jamie Carragher has been a key part of the Liverpool defence and Brendan Rodgers has the hardest job in the world to find or mould a player to fill the gap. Over the past two years Carragher has lost a little pace and mistakes starting to creep into his game, but these are things which are down to age and loss of that extra yard. We have to remember that Carra has been around a long time and there’s no way week in week out he will be able to keep up with players like Aguero, Bale or Walcott in a sprint for the ball. But what role can Carragher play until the end of the season? Well one answer is to use Carragher as a sub and come on if we need a degree of calm or organisation on the field, starting Jamie every week may not be the solution, even if we would all love to see that happen, but its important to realise what Jamie Carragher has done for the club, and how hard he works to keep up a high level of fitness. Personally, I want Carragher involved for as much as possible, when your chasing a top four spot you need big players and no one fits the bill more than Carra, he will shed blood for Liverpool and that’s what you need in the run up towards the end of a hard season. We have young and some very experienced defenders but not ones with the leadership or organisational skills that Jamie Carragher brings, and now that he has decided to hang up his boots, it will be one of the hardest goodbyes in Liverpool history, to a true footballing legend that is Jamie Carragher. Brian Reece twitter @oldfattoad
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