Saturday 25th March 2006.
The 203th Merseyside Derby.
Never an occassion for the faint hearted. I've been a
Liverpool fan for the past 19 years and I have to tell you, the 2 fixtures any Red looks forward to each and every year are the games against
Everton and
Manchester United.
Those eagle-eyed in the crowd and in front of the telly would probably have spotted the rather strange "08" on the backs of Steven Gerrard and James Beattie.
Since I was on night shift at the Box that night, I didn't have the pleasure of watching it live. But I did get live updates from Soccernet and SMS updates from a Hammers fan (big up to you, GH) who was watching from the coffeeshop just down the road.
After the game, GH and I were chilling in the Box when I asked him what this strange 08 numbering was in the image I pulled off Soccernet.
"Ahhh.....", GH said in his typical London accent...
"...apparently...."
*pregnant pause*
G always had a flair for the suspenseful.
10 minutes later, I saw the light.
Apparently, those 2 shirts (Gerrard's and Beattie's) were specially commissioned by the City of Liverpool to be worn during the game, and then later auctioned off for charity to commemorate Liverpool being the European Capital of Culture in 2008.
Lovely.
Hopefully I'll be able to make a trip to Liverpool in 2008 to take in the sights. On my shopping list:
I was only able to watch the game last night off the VCR. What amused me the most was after Garcia scored Pool's second goal, the Kop were in full voice, belting out "We've Only Got Ten Men". Awesome.
Too bad Stevie lasted only 18 minutes on the pitch this time round. Whoever gets his jersey will be lucky.
It only has 18 minutes worth of sweat on it.