FA Cup Final 2006 - Euro Red Diary 19

by Joel Rookwood

Liverpool v West Ham United - "It's only the FA Cup"

It was fast approaching midnight on a glacial January evening, and I was not in the most gracious of dispositions. The prospect of trawling through the streets of Burnley in search of my temporarily misplaced car unsurprisingly was providing little to lift my spirits. Every house appeared the same, each street seemingly undistinguishable from the next. Somewhere within this labyrinth of lanes however, there was a vehicle charged with transporting five disgruntled Liverpudlians out of Lancashire, a departure which couldn't come soon enough. For the town we hand descended upon, or its representative football team at least, had just dumped the mighty Liverpool out of the FA Cup.

Yes, the unthinkable had happened; the irrelevant first division entity from Lancashire, the county that football has long forgotten, had entered the dizzy heights of the fourth round at the expense of Liverpool, thanks to a solitary fortune-infested goal. And for the travelling support, there was an accompanying feeling of dejection that lingered longer than that which typically follows a cup defeat.

This was doubtless due in part to the fact we had gone there once already, only to have the original game postponed an hour before kick off. So we were a little disgruntled with the place even before our arrival, with the subsequent narrow defeat only intensifying the bitterness. After this disagreeable experience I doubt it's a place to which the Liverpool manager is desperate to return either.

For Benitez, the tie was his first in the competition. Understandably, the Spaniard chose once again to rest certain players and adopt a youth-dominant selection policy that in the League Cup had brought notable success, eventually culminating in an appearance in the final. Rafa's decision to opt for youth in the FA Cup however, was in the opinion of certain journalists bordering on the catastrophic.

This was clearly a grossly exaggerated response, one that typifies the approach of the English media. For the reality was that our hosts on this occasion were more determined than the likes of Millwall had proven to be during that Carling Cup run, with the inexperienced Liverpool players simply not performing at Turf Moor in the way they had done so heroically in the League Cup. The result however, served also to expose the lack of depth our squad could boast, and doubtless provided further education for the club's existing employees. There were indeed lessons to be learned and positives to be drawn. It's a good job too, for with match highlights including a Nunez sending off and a Traore own goal, the Burnley episode certainly didn't make for painless viewing.

Predictably it soon transpired that Benitez would not be let off lightly for failing to sidestep the Burnley banana skin. For whilst we were searching the dimly lit streets for our car, the man in the Anfield hot seat was simultaneously receiving a barrage of questions from a malicious British press about his selection policy, and what they would translate as his disrespect for the ‘oldest and therefore most prestigious cup competition in the world'. No manager or player in the modern game who is considered to even hint at demonstrating a lack of commitment in the FA Cup is allowed to forget it.

It seems as if no ‘purist' (as such individuals delight in calling themselves) is capable of referring to an FA Cup tie without resorting to some romanticised rhetoric (complete with underlying tones of disillusionment), about its prominence within modern football. As if a statement about the competition's untouchable and incomparable status serves as some kind of sponsor's signature, one that is required whenever it is mentioned in public communication. One can't help but wonder whether they are trying to reinforce this idealistic view as a reflection of the pride of their association with the famous cup, or convince an increasingly unconvinced public, or even themselves, as to its continued eminence.

There was a time of course, not so distant in the memory, when such desperate introductions to fixtures in this competition were unnecessary. People knew what an incredible achievement it was to even reach the semi-final, never mind actually lift the trophy, and no frantic reminders were deemed obligatory. This was of course when the game lingered a few rungs down on the ever-extending ladder that is British football's ever-evolving globalising process; when people didn't care about what was ‘the most exciting league in the world', but simply about winning the Derby at the weekend.

Contemporary English football is certainly not devoid of local pride, far from it. However, in line with the continental model, elite domestic superiority is now effectively entirely confined to the League Title, with money and grandeur (as well as the yardstick of true greatness) residing in the European Cup. ‘Fourth place' is now so obsessively coveted by a number of English clubs, that for many it is more valuable than victory in the FA Challenge Trophy final, due to the route that it provides to the most prestigious and financially rewarding club competition in the world. What is more, this feeling is seeping from the boardroom to the terraces. I don't think I've ever heard the chant ‘FA Cup, you're having a laugh' resound around an English stadium. However, should a dominant team fail to be successful in, or more pressingly fail to qualify for the ‘Champions' League, and no domestic opposing support will let them forget it.

So somewhere along the way the FA Cup has lost something of itself. The modern version undeniably lacks that same blend of emotion and enchantment it once had the capacity to instil. Some argue that Manchester United's decision not to enter the 1999/00 competition due to fixture congestion is to blame, but the situation is clearly far more complex than that, with economic issues surely of far greater significance.

However, whatever the reason for its apparent partial demise, the trophy has certainly not merely been consigned to history. It remains the greatest and most sought after domestic cup in the world. It is why foreign telecommunication companies become embroiled in hugely complex contracts concerning astronomical costs for rights to broadcast matches, why foreign players move to towns the names of which they can't pronounce to play for teams they've barely heard of in front of fans they don't understand, and why supporters will travel to Yeovil on a Sunday for a formality third round tie, as we did a couple of seasons ago. It has been devalued, yet it is far from being devoid of value.

Having been knocked out by Burnley in a third round tie and accepting an absurd avalanche of condemnation from the national media as a consequence, Benitez could have washed his hands of the trophy. He could have accepted that the FA Cup is not what it was, that its economic incentives are not worthy of the effort it takes to win it, that it is not the primary accolade the fans, particularly those of Liverpool, crave.

Having delivered the European Cup some four months later this may have further convinced lesser managers that such macro prioritising selection policies had been proven right. You can imagine Wenger, Mourinho or Ferguson in the same situation, delighting in lambasting their critics; bitterly exclaiming just how wrong these ‘mere commentators' were to have questioned their ‘indisputable genius', following the acquisition of a far more celebrated crown.

Rafa could have adopted the same approach as those inherently cynical of the competition, and overlooked it altogether in his list of priorities. However, whilst journalists were busy constructing their scathing articles about the continuation of Liverpool's unacceptable mediocrity, which was apparently signified in that defeat at Burnley, Benitez was considering the mistakes made and how they should be rectified for ensuing contests. He didn't dwell on the loss or let any embellished media response affect his winning mentality. He simply continued to devise his plan to win the European Cup.

Oh and incidentally, it was in the aftermath of the defeat on that wintry Lancashire evening that Benitez DECIDED to win the 2006 FA Cup. For everything about Liverpool's performances in that competition since, have been leading to the inevitable victory in Cardiff in the culmination of the very next campaign. He didn't linger in idealism as some managers would have done, dreaming about ‘how nice it would be to one day win it and prove those writers wrong'. He meticulously prepared for the immediate and long-term future so to avoid subsequent failure and ensure success. The violation of expectation would be replaced by a surpassing of anticipation, and at the very next opportunity.

Despite the occasional ticketing fiasco, I didn't miss a kick of this year's much publicised FA Cup campaign. It began somewhat dramatically on another cold January evening, this time with a tie at Luton Town, the only non-Premiership side we would face in the entire competition. Liverpool took the lead early in the game, with our hosts replying by notching three goals before the hour mark, which the home support assumed would prove sufficient to overcome the European Champions.

Gerrard and colleagues had made assumptions of their own however, and proceeded to mount a comeback, as we tend to do in knock out competitions. The 5-3 final score, which included an Alonso strike from inside his own half, in truth flattered Mike Newell's Luton and said much for our intentions for ‘the' cup. Following this initial victory, a home clash against Manchester United was sandwiched between trips to Portsmouth and Birmingham, all of whom were convincingly conquered, with the latter opponents spanked 7-0 on their own turf.

Then Manchester made its final contribution to this year's competition, with their gracious acceptance to host the semi-final between the two heavyweights of English football: Liverpool and Chelsea. 40,000 Scousers descended upon the city, and refused to go home without a place in the final secured.

Unlike Mourinho and his team, and their hundreds of supporters, we were not to be disappointed. ‘You'll Never Walk Alone' boomed out of the Old Trafford sound system following our convincing victory, as Chelsea demonstrated for the third successive season their inability to get past a semi when it really matters. I'll avoid the reference to any Viagra jokes at this juncture, to your considerable relief I'm sure.

Whilst on the subject of excitement though, it was rumoured that many Liverpool supporters were so jubilant after this victory against the new enemy, that in order to remember the occasion hundreds took their seats home with them. Well I can confirm that this statement just simply isn't true. It does however typify the disdain in which Liverpool supporters are clearly still held in. I for one am sick of being underestimated, for of course it was more like thousands who liberated their seats. I'm sitting on mine as I'm penning this article, and the memories are just flooding back.

Ah, yes I can see it now: Despite a late surge by the Londoners they couldn't overcome the two goal advantage we had secured, as we overwhelmed English football's ‘new money' once again. To further reemphasise the gulf in status between the two clubs, towards the climax of the encounter we unveiled our gigantic banner and positioned it opposite the Chelsea fans. It simply read: ‘No History'.

They may have bought the Title, and this may have been followed by a second, but Chelsea are, in the scheme of things, irrelevant. They are the modern-day Nottingham Forest, the current enemy to have appeared from nowhere in an attempt to stand in the way of a Liverpool Title challenge. They may have succeeded in the immediacy, but their threat will soon be eradicated. Lest they forget, form is temporary, class is permanent.

This catholic truth was further substantiated at the competition's pinnacle, when Liverpool travelled to Cardiff for the final finale to be held on Welsh soil before Wembley is once again restored as the centre stage for English football. As we had done against London-based opposition in the first final to be staged in the Welsh capital five years earlier, when two Michael Owen goals sank Arsene's Arsenal, Liverpool left it late to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat once again, this time breaking West Ham hearts.

Reminiscent of the European Cup final twelve months previously, Liverpool came from behind to take the game to 3-3 before seeing out extra time and winning on penalties. With Reina's decisive save from yet another cockney with a stupid haircut, thus confirming our ultimate victory, I felt the lingering dejection that had remained since the defeat at Burnley dissipate completely. I'm sure I was not alone in experiencing this sense of relief, interwoven as it was with unbridled joy.

As we left the stadium however, rather than bask in the glorious predictability of our latest conquest, the fans' focus quickly began to turn to a Title triumph. For Liverpool will soon be League Champions, that much is now obvious. The inevitability of last season's Champions League win at Istanbul was echoed by the inescapability of this year's victory in the FA Cup, which will now be followed by an unavoidable Title success. Because this is what happens when you question Benitez and doubt Liverpool: we win anyway. For both manager and club represent a unique constellation of attributes that are programmed and destined to succeed. We are history, we are future, we are assuredness, we are humility. We are denizens of greatness; the unquenchable, insurmountable, uncontrollable, inescapable force of English football. We are a catalogue of superlatives too many to mention.

Despite these all-too-obvious qualities, last January some impertinent journalists had the audacity to promote scepticism of Liverpool and Mr Benitez, and make their reservations public. Last weekend the gifted Spaniard orchestrated his characteristically nonverbal response: a simple smile, posing briefly for photographers, this time whilst clutching the same FA Cup he was charged with disrespectfully discounting only sixteen months previously. It was a smile which even turned to a laugh as he accidentally dropped the famous old trophy on the pitch during the celebrations. Who knows what the purists would have made of this further show of unforgivable disdain.

High up on the extensive list of reasons as to why Benitez and Liverpool FC represents a marriage made in heaven is the humility in which he consistently achieves incredible feats. In victory Benitez didn't run around like an arrogant egotist, savouring the moment that he proved the country wrong, making bold statements about his achievements and scornful remarks about the nation's press. Instead he quietly went home and began to analyse his side's relatively under par performance, and considered the changes deemed necessary in order to secure the one major trophy that eludes him: the League Title.

Local media reports in the days following the victory were brimming with headlines about how the Liverpool management team are already focussed on next season. This is no cliché, no flippant remark made to give the impression of being fully committed. This is the reality of the role required of a Liverpool manager: the relentless pursuit of greatness, which fundamentally comes not with a domestic cup, but in the form of the European Cup, and now, even more pressingly, the League Title.

As fulfilling as this FA Cup run and ultimate victory has been, it represents part of the journey, not the destination, for this chapter of the life of Liverpool and their legendary manager. In the opinion of this humble observer, Benitez is set to prove as much in the coming campaign. As one Liverpool banner displayed proudly at Istanbul claimed, ‘the secrecy of success is consistency of purpose'. Surely now no journalistic analyst can accuse Benitez of lacking secrecy, success, consistency or purpose. Come this time next May, the culmination of three years of hard work that is the function of these four attributes as well as countless others will see Liverpool crowned League Champions. It is then, that the hard work really begins.

Wherever the realisation of this dream unfolds, I'll be there to liberate my seat once again – because this one is killing me arse. And if forced to decide on a location, well, wouldn't it be poetic if it was Stamford Bridge? I don't know what image I would savour the most, Benitez clasping the League trophy or 3000 Scousers smuggling blue seats in their kecks.

Joel Rookwood

You've read the piece; now have your say; contact the author.

"The Onside In-Site" Copyright © From 2000. All rights reserved. Soccerphile Ltd.