September 2012 Archives

This afternoon was the afternoon that all Liverpool supporters had been waiting for. Liverpool had finally found their goal scoring feet and the match was a joy to watch.  Apart from the fact that Liverpool were in their dreadful third kit rather than their red, there really was not a lot to moan about.

It was also the afternoon that Brendan gave Suso and Andre Wisdom their first full starts in the premier league.  Starts which as the match went on proved that they along with Raheem Sterling had what it takes to become a regular player in the first eleven.

The afternoon though belonged to Luis Suarez, who having scored three against Norwich last season, decided that he was going to do exactly the same again today.  The teams had only been on the pitch sixty five seconds when a clever move saw his first of the afternoon go in.  

Today was one of those days that will be remembered for a variety of reasons.  The first of course and in my mind the most important was that it was Liverpool's chance to pay tribute to our 96 brothers and sisters who lost their lives at Hillsborough.

We had been made aware all week of what was going to happen before and in the opening minutes of the game and with tissues ready (I have spent a lot of time in tears since the report was published) I was not disappointed.  The words Justice, Truth and 96 were set into a mosaic pattern in the stands and looked wonderful.  Flowers were then presented by Sir Bobby Charlton to Ian Rush who placed them outside by the Hillsborough Memorial.  The tears flowed once the singing of You'll Never Walk Alone began.  It was fantastic to hear and I suspect a lot of people did as I did and looked skywards whilst joining in.

The match itself had been billed as the biggest game this weekend for reasons other than what it should have been.  These were of course, the singing of the vile chants from those supporters from both sides who believe it is clever to do and whether or not Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra would shake hands.

Yesterday's game marked the end of what had been a momentous week for Liverpool Football Club and for those who had campaigned for the truth around the Hillsborough Disaster.  A week which I have yet to write about, because there is so much yet to read and understand as well as the fact that I am still struggling with my own feelings of shock, anger and elation.

Throughout the game of course, once the truth was known, the response has been fantastic.  Clubs and their respective supporters have paid their own tributes to the 96 in many different ways, but to hear You'll Never Walk Alone being played in all the different stadiums, pulls at the heart strings and on behalf of most of you, I can only say thank you.

Sunderland Football Club, whose supporters had formed their own groups to help in the fight for justice, had all their stadium flags at half-mast and a message in support of the 96 was put onto their screens at the Stadium of Light before and during the game, so again I thank them for that.