Liverpool FC Forum

by **Leonmc0708** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:56 am

Have you ever entered an empty stadium? Try it. Stand in the middle of the field and listen. There is nothing less empty than an empty stadium. There is nothing less mute than stands bereft of people.

At Wembley, shouts from the '66 World Cup which England won still resound, and if you listen very closely you can hear groans from 1953 when England fell to the Hungarians. Montevideo's Centenario Stadium sighs with nostalgia for the glory days of Uruguayan football. Maracana is still crying over Brazil's 1950 World Cup defeat.

At Bombonera in Buenos Aires, drums boom from half a century ago. From the depths of Azteca Stadium, you can hear the ceremonial chants of the ancient Mexican ball game. The concrete terraces of the Nou Camp in Barcelona speak Catalan, and the stands of San Mames in Bilbao talk in Euskera.

In Milan, the ghost of Giuseppe Meazza scores goals that shake the stadium bearing his name. The final of the '74 World Cup, won by Germany, is played day after day and night after night at Munich's Olympic Stadium.

The stadium of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia has marble and gold boxes and carpeted stands, but it has no memory or much of anything to say.

Eduardo Galeano, Football in Sun and Shadow

Next Monday evening Chelsea will train in an empty stadium. The loudest empty stadium in the world. It'll whisper to them of Liverpool's four glorious European Cup victories. Kopites now long departed will take up their specs again and invoke visions in the Chelsea minds of St Etienne, Inter Milan, Auxerre, Roma, Barcelona and Juventus.

The stands will echo to songs of triumph and glory, of the dignity of Elisha Scott and Billy Liddell, the heart of Ian St John and Emlyn Hughes, the strength of Tommy Smith and Graeme Souness, and the brilliance of John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish.

And when the Chelsea players look around, nervously, to see where these evocations are coming from they'll see no one there. They'll return to their hotel and
struggle to sleep as their minds are filled with thoughts of Reds coming up that hill once more, victorious and glorious.

And on Tuesday evening it is up to us, today's fans, to do our footballing ancestors proud at Anfield. Tuesday night is a chance for Glory, both on and off the pitch.

Do your best Reds, for there's nothing more you can do, and Rafa's team will have the chance to emulate the great teams of yore in Istanbul.

This can and will be OUR year.

by **Woollyback** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 11:09 am

great article

most of chelsea's players will be quaking in their boots when they come out of the tunnel next week, most of them will have never experienced anything like it in their lives

by **Leonmc0708** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 11:43 am

Woollyback wrote:great article

most of chelsea's players will be quaking in their boots when they come out of the tunnel next week, most of them will have never experienced anything like it in their lives

Makes the hairs on the back of my hairs on the back of my hairs stand on end !!

by **hawkmoon269** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 11:45 am

Another reason why we shouldn't move from Anfield - ne1 heard anymore news on that front?

by **XSD** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:01 pm

I sadly won't be there but I hope you guys that are can create the most hostile crowd atmosphere ever captured on television for me.
I want to hear ole! everytime we pass the ball, constant booing and jeering whenever one of them can get near it. I'm sure YNWA a few times won't go a miss :;):

by **hawkmoon269** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:04 pm

XSD wrote:I sadly won't be there but I hope you guys that are can create the most hostile crowd atmosphere ever captured on television for me.
I want to hear ole! everytime we pass the ball, constant booing and jeering whenever one of them can get near it. I'm sure YNWA a few times won't go a miss

And a few reditions of "Fields of Anfield Road"

We definitely have dreams and songs to sing.......

by **Big Niall** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:43 pm

When did LFC start singing the fields of athenrye?

Also a mate of mine (Everton fan) says Celtic sang you'll never walk alone before LFC. - anyone?

by **jonnymac1979** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:51 pm

My brothers going. Fu**ing gutted, he had his ticket promised to him as soon as the 0-0 Juventus game finished.

I know a fella that's got four tickets and I begged him this morning to make me first refusal should one become available. No chance though.

I truly believe we are going to show them how it's done next week. I can't wait to hear that noise!!!

by **Woollyback** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:18 pm

Big Niall wrote:When did LFC start singing the fields of athenrye?

Also a mate of mine (Everton fan) says Celtic sang you'll never walk alone before LFC. - anyone?

I read somewhere that fields of athenrye was sung with great passion by Ireland fans at Anfield during euro96, then was re-worded in one or 2 of the pubs round anfield a year or 2 after

Celtic's claim to have been the first to stake a claim to YNWA is just utter rubbish though, I'm afraid. It's a Liverpool song, sung by a Liverpudlian. Simple as that. I f*cking hate it when Celtic start singing it now like it's our joint anthem. It's not joint, it's Liverpool's

by **taff** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:40 pm

You'll never walk alone is a song from the musical Carrousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein which was covered by the Merseyside band Gerry and the pacemakers. With the explosion of the merseybeat in the early sixties and the revival of LFC under Shankly the DJ in the ground used to play the latest hits and YNWA was number 1 for a few weeks. The story goes that Shankly was impressed with how the crowd sang along and asked that the DJ keep on playing the song even after it fell from the charts and the song and the myth was born. So Celtic etc claiming the song is total nonsense.

Fields of Athen Rye is an Irish rebel song about a prisoner of the troubles I think and was used a lot by Munster Rugby Club and then by the Irish International football and rugby teams. I dont know how we picked it up, probably those hardcore Albert drinkers I assume. Still it could have been Wild Rover

Great article Leon by the way. Carpe Dium

by **yckatbjywtbiastkamb** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 5:17 pm

taff wrote:You'll never walk alone is a song from the musical Carrousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein which was covered by the Merseyside band Gerry and the pacemakers. With the explosion of the merseybeat in the early sixties and the revival of LFC under Shankly the DJ in the ground used to play the latest hits and YNWA was number 1 for a few weeks. The story goes that Shankly was impressed with how the crowd sang along and asked that the DJ keep on playing the song even after it fell from the charts and the song and the myth was born. So Celtic etc claiming the song is total nonsense.

Fields of Athen Rye is an Irish rebel song about a prisoner of the troubles I think and was used a lot by Munster Rugby Club and then by the Irish International football and rugby teams. I dont know how we picked it up, probably those hardcore Albert drinkers I assume. Still it could have been Wild Rover

Great article Leon by the way. Carpe Dium

yeah, there`s no way celtic fans sang ynwa before us, they`d have to be fans of musicals which i just cant envisage glasweigan shipbuilders and dockers being somehow.
fields of anthenry has been sung at liverpool family gatherings (known as do`s) for donkeys years and in the local pubs too where irish, folk and country and western (the proper stuff, not this modern ******) are very popular and always have been in liverpool to be honest. so when someone reworded it most people already knew the tune.

by **KennyisGod....still** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 7:46 pm

Is there any anthem that makes you stand up and be proud any more than YNWA? I aint heard one, wherever I've watched football. Like Leon says, it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. God save the queen dont come close, 60,000+ tone deaf manx (?) aint got anythin to rival its passion and Chelski fans aint heard anythin like the noise they'll hear tuesday. I heard somewhere Liverpool fans broke either the British or World record for noise levels within a sports arena when Gerrard scored THAT goal against Olympiakos, so theres the challenge....beat it when we score next week :cool:

by **kenco** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:02 pm

Big Niall wrote:When did LFC start singing the fields of athenrye?

Also a mate of mine (Everton fan) says Celtic sang you'll never walk alone before LFC. - anyone?

the first time celtic sang you'll never walk alone was in 1989.the sang it out of respect for liverpool football club.celtic were the first team we played after the hillsborough disaster.they invited us to their ground to play our first game after hillsborough.as the teams walked on to the pitch,every person in that ground held their scraves above their heads and sang you'll never walk alone.it made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.i think we beat celtic 4-0 but the score didn't matter it was the occasion that mattered most.ever since then they just adopted it.

by **A.B.** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:32 pm

I already have goose bumps and the game is five days away, both the fans and the players can and will do us proud.

I can't wait.

by **liamac** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:21 pm

I remember that game after Hillsborough and the singing of YNWA and it brought tears to my eyes , being catholic irish etc , to hear your teams anthem being sung by your fav scots teams fans as well was really an emotional experiance .
I have a lot of cousins back in Ireland who support Liverpool but also follow Celtic as well, its a pretty common thing over there to be honest ........

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