Recently in Fans Category

It was a strange afternoon at Anfield. On a beautiful sunny day there was some disappointment around as dreams of winning the Premiership had already gone but there was a real desire amongst the supporters to thank Rafa and the team for a good season. There was also the matter of saying farewell to one Sami Hyypia.

The Kop tribute mosaic for Sami before kick-off was excellent and certainly deserved after an impeccable decade at Anfield for the Mighty Finn.

Opening day of the season. Stadium of Light. It's half time and Liverpool fans are all thinking about the same man - Xabi Alonso. A man whose future had been cast in doubt all summer despite helping his country win Euro 2008 - a man touted as the cash generator for Gareth Barry in the longest (and most boring) transfer saga of the summer -and a man who was sitting on the bench watching youngster Damien Plessis in his place as Liverpool were struggling in a game billed as must win despite being number 1 of 38.

Rafael Benitez made a change at the break - something extremely rare - and although this turnaround wasn't quite as dramatic as other half time substitutions under his reign like when the same player was introduced for Salif Diao at Craven Cottage in 2004, or Forent Sinama - Pongolle against Olympiakos and Dietmar Hamann in Istanbul; Alonso replaced Plessis, Liverpool played much better and won the match 1 - 0. Easy.
It wasn't, of course, as simple as that and probably unfair on Plessis but since that much needed substitution on that August evening, Alonso hasn't looked back and has had his best season by far in a red shirt, consistently showing the class we all know he has.

ANDY COLLINSON, Aigburth

JUST like the latest Star Trek movie, Liverpool also wheeled out a few Klingons for the West Brom game. We were clinging-on to a clean-sheets record, a points record, a fewest losses record, yet once the record finished, what we weren't clinging-on to was a trophy!

The match itself was easy enough, which is what you'd expect playing against relegation fodder. Yet the most intriguing incident turned out to be Carragher attempting to fight Arbeloa. If the Spaniard had managed to hold his zonal position, Carragher might even have landed a punch too!

We've been expecting United to be crowned champions for a few weeks now, especially since Howard Webb gave them a get out of jail free card in their win against Spurs. Most of the papers are seeing that game as one of the pivotal ones now. Strange they didn't think so a few weeks back?

Anyway, the fact that United have now equalled our record of 18 league titles is sickening for every Liverpool supporter. It's an amazing 42 years since United and Liverpool were level in terms of title wins.

We travelled to the Midlands in the knowledge that the title challenge was over for another year. West Brom had plenty to play for, a slim chance of Premiership survival gave them some early desire and pressure. However, as soon as Gerrard capitalised on a defensive slip to chip their keeper you sensed that it was all over.

There were a lot of memories stirred at Anfield last night. Obviously many of them were painful beyond belief but the overriding emotion generated by the evening was one of joy. Joy at seeing so many of our ex-players once again playing on the hallowed turf but also joy at knowing that twenty years after Hillsborough that a simple word still unites all Liverpool supporters. That word is Justice.

The game itself was arranged to commemorate the twenty year anniversary of that awful day in Sheffield in 1989 but it was also to generate funding for the Marina Dalglish Appeal. In particular helping to generate funding to open a new radiotherapy unit on Merseyside.

The match had the full backing of the Hillsborough Family Support Group. It is typical of both our city and of the families affected by Hillsborough that however much the simple human right of Justice has been denied them over the last two decades, that charity and giving was at the heart of this event.