six lane, death-trap highway just to avoid you. But in
the ground, that doesn?t matter. Rich or poor, young or
old, bright or dumb, kind or cruel, male or female,
labour or conservative, it makes no difference — we?re
all supporters.
And we?re all mad. I know people whose weekends
are ruined because their team?s lost on Saturday.
People who won?t buy a Sunday paper if the score went
against them the previous day, who can?t bear to be
reminded about the loss. I even know people who
threaten to stop supporting their team, even to stop
watching football altogether after a particularly
depressing loss. But none of us ever do.
Things aren?t going so well for Liverpool at the
moment. We?re out of the Champions League, we?ve
lost two of our last three games and the defence that
last year was one of the best in the Premiership is sud
denly leaking goals. Steven Gerrard, the great hope of
British soccer, is so out of form that he?s lost his once
guaranteed starting place in the team and our normal
ly error-free goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek is spilling the ball
all over the penalty area, issuing gold-embossed invi
tations to opposing players to shoot and score.
Invitations that they have been delighted to accept.
Four weeks ago we were seven points clear at the top
of the table and being talked of as Premiership cham
pions elect; now, we?re a point behind Arsenal and
playing some of the worst football in ages.
But sooner or later it will all turn around. Because
there?s always another game. Weekdays in Europe or
G O A L In d o o r • Dec.-Jan. 2002 • 21
