My first trip to Europe was in 1977, to England and Scotland. I spent two days in Liverpool on my way from London to Edinburgh. As a Beatles fan, a trip to Liverpool was obligatory.
The owner of the B&B where I stayed happened to have an extra ticket for the Everton v Nottingham Forest match the second night I was there, and invited me to join him. It was the first Premier League (if it was called that back then) I had ever seen live and Goodison Park was by far the biggest soccer stadium I ever had been in. It held close to 40,000. Back then, both teams were good and at least half of the matches ended in draws. As did that one. (Sorrowfully for our Chelsea fan, I don’t think they were in the top division that year. They had been relegated and got back in 1978 I believe.)
Last night, I watched the last Merseyside Derby that ever will be played in Goodison on TV here in Bangkok. Fittingly, it ended in a 2-2 draw, with Everton scoring the tying goal in the 8th minute of extra time. It took VAR 6 more minutes to decide the goal was allowed because of a possible offside. It took me and the commentators about 10 seconds to determine both Everton players involved in the play were onside. By the time the ruling finally came down, one of them said if the VAR operators keep taking that long, VAR should be eliminated.
The thing I most remember about that trip to Liverpool was how many preconceptions I had about it that were wrong. I thought, like Manchester, most team allegiances were based on where in the city you were born. I thought the River Mersey split the city in two (“Ferry Cross The Mersey” by Gerry and the Pacemakers). It doesn’t. It’s basically the western border of Liverpool. According to the B&B owner, most Liverpudlians are fans of the team that most of the people on the street where they grew up root for. The next street over might root for the other side.
Liverpool has a much bigger fan base. But, Everton has plenty of fans. Also, Goodison and Anfield are in the same area, within about 1/2 a mile of each other. We walked past Anfield on our way to the match.
I assumed that Liverpool was the original city side. Wrong. Everton is older and used to play in Anfield. After a rent dispute with the owner, they moved out and built Goodison Park. Faced with an empty stadium, Anfield’s owner started Liverpool.
Naturally, each of The Beatles was asked numerous times which team they supported. Back then, Paul and Ringo refused to say. I think both acknowledged later they were Liverpool fans. John said he didn’t like soccer so he supported neither. George had one of the greatest non-answer answers ever:
“Liverpool has 3 teams, and I support the other one.”
The owner of the B&B where I stayed happened to have an extra ticket for the Everton v Nottingham Forest match the second night I was there, and invited me to join him. It was the first Premier League (if it was called that back then) I had ever seen live and Goodison Park was by far the biggest soccer stadium I ever had been in. It held close to 40,000. Back then, both teams were good and at least half of the matches ended in draws. As did that one. (Sorrowfully for our Chelsea fan, I don’t think they were in the top division that year. They had been relegated and got back in 1978 I believe.)
Last night, I watched the last Merseyside Derby that ever will be played in Goodison on TV here in Bangkok. Fittingly, it ended in a 2-2 draw, with Everton scoring the tying goal in the 8th minute of extra time. It took VAR 6 more minutes to decide the goal was allowed because of a possible offside. It took me and the commentators about 10 seconds to determine both Everton players involved in the play were onside. By the time the ruling finally came down, one of them said if the VAR operators keep taking that long, VAR should be eliminated.
The thing I most remember about that trip to Liverpool was how many preconceptions I had about it that were wrong. I thought, like Manchester, most team allegiances were based on where in the city you were born. I thought the River Mersey split the city in two (“Ferry Cross The Mersey” by Gerry and the Pacemakers). It doesn’t. It’s basically the western border of Liverpool. According to the B&B owner, most Liverpudlians are fans of the team that most of the people on the street where they grew up root for. The next street over might root for the other side.
Liverpool has a much bigger fan base. But, Everton has plenty of fans. Also, Goodison and Anfield are in the same area, within about 1/2 a mile of each other. We walked past Anfield on our way to the match.
I assumed that Liverpool was the original city side. Wrong. Everton is older and used to play in Anfield. After a rent dispute with the owner, they moved out and built Goodison Park. Faced with an empty stadium, Anfield’s owner started Liverpool.
Naturally, each of The Beatles was asked numerous times which team they supported. Back then, Paul and Ringo refused to say. I think both acknowledged later they were Liverpool fans. John said he didn’t like soccer so he supported neither. George had one of the greatest non-answer answers ever:
“Liverpool has 3 teams, and I support the other one.”
