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PostPosted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:57 pm
by RUSHIE#9
Fantastic Thread!!

May 25th 2005;
The days leading upto the final i like many others was shitting bricks! For me this was the biggest game the reds had played in my living memory. I'd been around for the '80, '84 and '85 finals but at the age's of 3 months, 4 and 5 years old i can't really remember anything of those ones.
I sat down at 19.30 in the living room already sweating like gary glitter in a toyshop  :oops:  just hoping that by miracle of miracles fate would be on our side. By about 19.46 i was still sweating but this had now been joined by uncontrollable shiverring hoping that we'd get a goal back soon whilst cacking meself everytime milan attacked our goal. As the clock ticked round to half-time the shivering and sweating had been replaced by the sick feeling not of defeat but of seeing my beloved reds absolutely tin-hatted. I was within a buton press of turning the game off and watching some tired old '70's sitcom re-run for the billionth time on UKGold in the hope that it would cheer me up.... BUT I DIDN'T THANK GOD. I thought "God knows when we'll be in this big a game again stick with it and hope they'll make the score a bit more respectable." So i did, Stevie G scores - "well that will make it look a bit better in years to come in the history books." Next Vladi scores and i think "come on boys maybe we can make Milan work for their trophy for the next half hour." Then the penalty is given and i'm shouting at the top of me voice "COME ON, WE CAN DO THIS", which is followed by "AHH NOOOYEEEESSSSSS!!!!" as the penalty is saved and then knocked in by Xabi. Now i know we're back in the game 'cos the sweats and shaking have returned big time! For the next 30 minutes my heart was in my mouth (and on the floor everytime Milan went near the goal) but i still had the feeling that it was going to end cruelly for us.
The first thought of it's OURS came when Jerzy made THAT save from Shevchenko; surprisinlgy when it went to penalties I was the calmest i'd been all night and then when Jerzy stopped Shevchenko's penalty i screamed the house down and rang me Dad at work singin' CHAMPIONEE, CHAMPIONEE down the phone.

That was one special night and it was topped off the following day when driving into Liverpool with me folks to see the parade i was waiting at the traffic lights on speke boulevard. As the lights were about to change to green a police motorcycle came up speke hall road and stopped the traffic from moving off, next came two police outriders followed by the team coach with ol' big ears sat on the front dash, as they turned onto speke boulevard everyone started to honk their horns and chant LIVERPOOL, LIVERPOOL, LIVERPOOL. I think i even saw an evertonian applauding in a nearby car  :Oo:   :D  .
May 25th 2005 - a truely special day that will live with me til the day i leave this world.

PostPosted: Fri May 26, 2006 12:38 am
by Dalglish
Copy of my post in the Advanced thread.......... For the mere mortals who aren't in there !!! LOL :D

In a sea of soundbites on here sometimes you come across a post or two which portrays the raw emotion and touches on what it REALLY means to support this great club.....this is such a  post and Leons is about the best I've  read for many a day !


As many on here knowI  wasn't able to make Istanbul for personal reasons and it was first final i've missed since the FA Cup Final in 92 but you know something.......... , I didn't feel robbed or ever had regrets for not having been there. When I attended the parade the following day and stood on the corner of St John's Market and Lime Street and watched as the Bus inched slowly up the hill from Willaimason Square, the night was drawing in yet the trophy glimmered and glistened in the night air and in that moment for me at least it was the culmination of a dream i thought would never be realised in my lifetime ........

The EUROPEAN CUP for fecks sake !!!!!!!!! 

The one with the big ears was being shaken violently by Garcia who was going mental yet I stood quietly, reverantly almost and took in the sight..............and what a  glorious sight !!!!!

I thought about my time watching LFC, the trials and tribulations, the agony and the ecstacy, the wins and the losses. The long drives home after a shocking performance, the bewildering analysis on matches that had gone wrong and the exhiliration when it had gone so very very right as it did in Istanbul. I thought about the defining moments in my life watching LFC, my survival at Hillsborough and my subsequent loss of confidence in crowds and my self imposed exile from football for 3 years, the treble of trophies in 2001 when in one week I saw us win the FA Cup on Saturday, travelled to Gernany and saw us beat Alaves on a mad night in Dortmund and then over to Charlton to see us win 4-0 and qualify for the CL.....I thought about the KOP against Chelsea of which Mourinho was forced to quip "The power of Anfield , I felt it". And there in the cold night air standing on Lime Street with thousands of fellow fans and the Champions League trophy for company I too felt the power of Liverpoool Football Club and the tears flowed ...........


Where do you begin to fully explain the events of May 25th 2005 except to say "Some men are born into greatness and some men have greatness thrust upon them "

To see players of average ability like Smicer be transformed in a moment from Lamb to Lion is hard to explain except to say he fulfilled his destiny on that night as did so many others..........

In years to come people will ask what the side of 2005 meant to me and I will reply " They were the team that reminded us all of how great and rich in history and tradition Liverpool football Club really are.


Walk on ................   :buttrock

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:27 pm
by thegreenred
What a great topic to relive the happiest two days of my life, i had waited 21 years for that moment and nothing was gonna stop me milking it for all its worth. i have banging on to my son for years on how good the reds were showing him videos from the 70s and 80s thinking he will never witness a european cup victory for himself, so that night in istanbull was extra special. Im not ashamed to admit i sobbed like a big girls blouse  it meant so much to me to be with my son dancing round like a couple of deranged idiots , plus the homecoming was something i will never forget dressed head to toe in our our colours we walked down to st georges hall singing like i did the good old days feeling proud as hell. christ im feeling all emotional again writing this, it would be hard to top that night but i just hope and pray the day we  bring the championship home i would give it a bloody try. GOD BLESS STEVIE G, VLAD. XABI, DUDEK THANK YOU.

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:32 pm
by jkop
mgabby wrote:and now to some pictures ....
due to 20K maximum per picture, quality is poor. If someone nows how to upload better pictures, I have about 600 photos from the Istanbul trip ....

So this is the first half seats :

Excellent pictures i would have loved to have been there myself only for work commitments would love to see some more.

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:33 pm
by Effes
mgabby wrote:May 25 2005. So where were I ?????
The easy answer is Block 342 Row 69 Seat 551 Upper level.

I was in row 69 - front row wasn't it?

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 7:13 pm
by mgabby
Effes wrote:I was in row 69 - front row wasn't it?

It was the second row on the upper deck. But as you can see in the pictures, we "improved" our seats at half time to best seats possible ...  :buttrock  to Mid-field lower block.

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 7:18 pm
by mgabby
jkop wrote:Excellent pictures i would have loved to have been there myself only for work commitments would love to see some more.

is there a way to post pictures larger than 20k ? I have million pictures, but can post only a poor quality version of them ...

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 6:34 am
by babu
Was watching the game in the wee hours of the morning. When the third goal went in i was so excited i momentarily lost control of my limbs and gave myself a nasty black eye. No one from work believed i gave it to myself.

glorious night. :)

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 6:51 am
by Ollyn88
i was crying the whole night..... :down:

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 7:00 am
by Anfield Kop
Immense joy at seeing us win a major trophy after so many years and also happy that I could start teasing Man U fans.

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 10:35 am
by redpark81
I was working that night and believe me , if i could go back i would of got my shift off..... I didn't long start that job and when your the new boy working abroud, you have to shine... I live and work in turku finland.

We had the radio's on that night on full blast!!! As it was all in Finnish i was only able to pick up 70-80% that was going on in the game. When we were one down i wasn't to worried but as the second came i could not listen any more untill i went out to smoke a fag(first of 2 packs that night)..... On my return back to work, my work mates were making fun of me singing your 3 daown your 3 down..... what the :censored:? that was it? the end?

As down as i was, there was a still a part of me that believed! by the time we were 2-3 down , i know the game was back in our hands and this wasour chance.....

my shift ended just as the penalties were starting , so my friend kalle called me from the pub to give me every detail as it happened when it happened.......

Getting into the pub was crazy people were going mad, jumping , singing. I had one midle aged lady come up tro me and kiss me....

WHAT A NIGHT. One to tell the kids and the grand kids......

What about this year? league? europe? who knows. all i know , is that it will an amazing season with silverwear... starting with the community shield!!!!!!!!!



YNWA

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 11:05 am
by flipmode
Ollyn88 wrote:i was crying the whole night..... :down:

LOL  :D

I was happy for months!!!

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 11:11 am
by joko
great psot, i wouldn;t be able to post something as good as this   i only made a thread about my blackpoo in general chat :down:

anyway, my knees couldn't help trembling, i fell so weak, my hands are sweaty, for god sake i had never felt such a way in my life before

once the final finished, i couldn't help crying and laughing at the same time. i didn't go to istanbul for financial reason, so i just run around in my house like an indian rain dancing