Grown men crying in the streets over 11 lads kicking a football and winning a trophy. All seems a little bit mad, doesn’t it? Not if you ask Bill Shankly.
Shanks famously said, “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.”
Those words have stuck with the people of Liverpool since they left his lips.
The truth is, to many in the city, football is everything. Not just the football but the culture that accompanies it. The songs, the drinks, the stories, the memories; each plays a giant part in millions of people’s lives. This so-called ‘game’ is the heartbeat of one of the most famous cities on earth.
It feels like we’ve seen it all in these three decades. Title challenges, relegation scraps and Blackpool doing the double over the Reds.
It’s not been easy. We’ve lost love ones along the way, people who waved the flags on the Kop and created the songs that gives you immediate goosebumps.
Finally, after 30 years, the city of Liverpool will be the home of the Champions of England. Liverpool Red will be seen from space and what a sight it will be.
Jürgen Norbert Klopp has taken Liverpool back to the top.
The game where it all changed…
Liverpool have been sensational this season but if you have to pick one standout performance, for me, it will have to be the demolition of Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City on Boxing Day.
Five days prior, Klopp’s team had won the FIFA Club World Cup in extra-time while playing in the scorching Qatar heat. You’d be forgiven for celebrating the win and producing a not-too-perfect performance in the next game, but not this team. Does a 4-0 away win sound alright?
It was as complete a performance you could get against a side who at the time occupied the 2nd position in the league and how fitting was it that the man who stole the headlines that night was the sole academy graduate in the line-up.
The scouser in their team
You’d have to search far and wide to find a player able to match Trent Alexander-Arnold’s level on that night in Leicestershire. Two goals and an assist is just breathtaking from any player but to produce those numbers at right-back just goes to show how good this young man is.
'Mentality Giants' has been a term used by the manager for the last few seasons to describe his unbelievable squad and it had never been more applicable than it had on that evening in Leicester.
The mentality required to already be 10 points clear in the league, fly half-way across the world, be crowned World Champions, fly home and be motivated enough win in such fashion a day after Christmas.
A remarkable feat by the best bunch of lads we’ve seen for 30 years.
Poetry in Motion personified.
Liverpool reign supreme.