[motty]

Date 2nd March 1977 - European Cup 3rd round first leg held at the Geoffrey-Guichard stadium St Etienne 1 [Bathenay80] - 0 Liverpool - Attendance 38,000

St Etienne
1. Yvan Curkovic
2. Gérard Janvion
3. Gérard Farison
4. Oswaldo Piazza
5. Christian Lopez
6. Dominique Bathenay
7. Dominique Rocheteau
8. Jean-Michel Larque
9. Herve Revelli
10. Christian Synaeghel
11. Jacques Santini (current Spurs manager!)

Liverpool
1 Ray Clemence
2 Phil Neal
3 Joey Jones
4 Phil Thompson
5 Ray Kennedy
6 Emlyn Hughes
7 Terry McDermott
8 Jimmy Case
9 Steve Heighway
10 John Toshack (Dave Johnson)
11 Ian Callaghan

Subs not used: Peter McDonnell – Tommy Smith – David Fairclough

After safely seeing off Turkish based Trabzonspor in the 2nd round of the 1976 – 77 European Cup competition. The Tricky Red’s where paired against the previous years European Cup beaten finalists, the very highly rated and respected St Etienne from France. "Les Verts" [The Greens] as their supporters called them were unluckily beaten 1.0 by Bayern Munich at Hampden Park, they were very strongly tipped to win this seasons European Cup competition.

The journey to France was one of the longest coach trips we’d made up to that point. Thankfully Town’s Travel had provided coaches with a toilet and tea/coffee making facilities on board [Rather than the normal antiquated charabangs that they would use for normal away games]. Slab after slab of alcoholic beverages where loaded onto the coach as we prepared ourselves for another trip into the unknown. The majority of our fellow travellers were mainly teenage lads [like us] with a few Dads, lads and surprisingly a few girls. As we waited to board the coach, you could cut the air with a knife - the excitement amongst us was prevalent for all to see. The journey Southbound was relatively uneventful… a few wise cracks, a bit of banter and a gab to find out if anyone knew "anything" about St Etienne. Strangely enough a few people had heard reports of a large Turkish community in that area. This was dismissed in a split second this meant nothing to us, in time we would think otherwise? As you would expect, the drink flowed and in a matter of time the floor of the coach resembled the River Mersey on a bad day. Every time the coach turned a corner – a wave of empty cans would flow from one side of the coach to the other, one more turn and another wave appeared from out of the darkness.
We hit Portsmouth just after teatime and had to wait around for our boat to dock and be made ready for the night-time journey to Le Harve. Meanwhile coach after coach of Liverpool supporters duly arrived there was a "special" buzz in the air and it was building up. We didn’t fancy just loitering around doing nothing, so we asked "What time is the boat due out" we didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when we were told around 9.30 that night. In an effort to relieve the passing of time we decided to have a walk into Portsmouth to see what the local hospitality was like. It didn’t take long to realise that we were not alone in our thoughts and soon our ears guided us to a nearby boozer full of singing inebriated fellow Scousers. In time we knocked a few ales down our necks and fed our faces on fish and chips as we walked back to the boat terminal.

On reaching the terminal, it shocked us to see just how many Liverpudlians were making the trip to watch the Reds. We made our way to the front of the queue to find that the Customs and Excise people where checking people’s passports on an individual basis. We where all right but a few of the lad’s around us didn’t have passports. Very slowly groups of people three or four across approached the “check-out” area. Those with passports on the right nearest to the people who were checking for identification, those to the left those without passports. A great many people made their way onto the boat in this way. All aboard the Sky lark. A lot of the people sat on benches braving the elements of the weather… We decided to have a look around too see if there was anything better on offer. After ten or fifteen minutes [or so] we found a communal sleeping area with loads of empty beds, a quick nip upstairs and a quiet word with some of the lad’s we knew and they where sorted. The ships bar was packed to the hilt with travellers intent on maximum revelry, whilst some ravaged the ships shops. We got our heads down and tried to grab forty winks, despite the continuous never-ending drone of the ships engine. In the early morning we awoke much refreshed amongst a sea of Liverpudlians in every state of slumber. All hands on deck - the cold sea breeze and the bright sunshine quickly brought us to our senses. We all had grin’s on our faces as big as the Mersey Tunnel as we sighted what once was a far foreign land.

The word spread like wild fire - soon the decks of the ship resembled a Red and White ant colony as we slowly entered and docked in Le Harve. A multitude of Liverpool songs spewed across the terminal forecourt as we made our way to the coach picking up points. The early morning sunshine blazed through the coach windows as we sped our way through Rouen and onwards towards Paris. In time cries of "Hey drives – can we stop soon – me belly thinks me throats been cut" started to fill the air. Some people hadn’t eaten anything since leaving Liverpool – some people couldn’t afford to buy food. You see the trip to watch the Reds was more important? We stopped at a few motorway service stations along the way [not like ours at home these where very basic and sparse] the French people we encountered were very abrupt and it was clear too see they didn’t want us there. They paid for their insolence as some people helped themselves to various foodstuffs and whatnot, this was the biggest takeaway we’d seen for some time. On the outskirts of Paris we noticed that we had been joined by the Gendarme, [On high- powered motorbikes and a couple of cars] Our Police escort stayed with us right until we had passed Paris, Vézelay and a couple of other one horse Towns along the way. Mid afternoon we arrived in Lyon free from our Police escort and where well chuffed when the coach driver informed us we could stop here for an hour or so, the police escort had ensured we where way ahead of schedule. Swarms of Scouser’s from a multitude of coaches soon enveloped the numerous cafés, restaurants and hostelries the afternoon air was filled with songs borne from the Mersey. Police sirens filled the air as entrepreneur types tried their hands at various jewellers etc. Highly branded and much sort after watches changed hands for ridiculously cheap prices, I never considered the option my Timex watch meant more to me. At this point it should be noted that back home we where in the middle of a bread strike on, so it came as no surprise to find that many on our coach had acquired some of finest bread that France had on offer. We decided [If the opportunity arose] to see if we could grab a couple of loaves on the way home [They would be fresher?] The aroma of the coach was surreal, freshly baked bread combined with the stale smell of sweat and alcohol.

We made our way into St Etienne and parked up near the ground, we decided to check out our end of the ground before we returned to a local square for an all out sustained attack on some much needed beer’s. The place was jumping; bipping and bobbing as the Reds let loose some of the frustration of such a long journey in that heat. Song’s were sung like they had never been sung before, I don’t think I’m qualified to express the feeling at that time and indeed in the ground that night. The queue into our end was immense as it turned and twisted along its way. We where just relieved to get in… Up on the terracing to find that it was very nearly full already, quite a few never made it even to the ground as dehydration and excesses of alcohol took its toll as they slept in the nearby pubs and coaches etc. The crowd inside built and built, it was clear that many outside would not get in. If the atmosphere in the pubs had been a cracker – then this was something else? We soon found out that the other half of our end was chocka block full of St Etienne supporters, the two sets of supporters divided by a line of Frances finest Gendarme.

Watching the St Etienne crowd it soon became clear that a large number of there support was of Turkish nationality, they seemed intent to make this as hostile as possible in more ways than one.
It came as a bit of a surprise to us to find that the St Etienne fans started throwing bread rolls over at the Liverpool supporters. It some became clear what was going on. The bread rolls had bricks inside them, most of the lads picked up the rolls, threw the bricks back and ate the rolls. "You're not getting' yer bread back, you're not getting yer bread back na na na na na na na na" was immediately also thrown back at them - Bon Appetit!

A wall of noise greeted both teams as they walked out onto the pitch. Joey Jones immediately legged it up to our end giving us his famous clenched fist salute – thousands of clenched fists saluted the sky as "O Joey Joey Joey Joey Joey Joey Joey Jones" suffocated the ears. You could tell that the St Etienne support had never seen anything in their lives like our Joey, as Liverpool song after Liverpool song echoed around the ground. The rest of the Liverpool team was applauded as they warmed up defending the goal at our end. Every player’s name was sung individually loud and proud and acknowledged by each of them in turn. It was evident to see that they had come to take on the Lions in the Lions den, this was going to be some game?

Every time the St Etienne supporters sang "Allez Les Verts" we immediately responded back with "Allez Les Rouge, allez les Rouge allez" any attempt by them to create any sort of atmosphere was drowned out by the Liverpool support. The crescendo of noise rose as the teams lined up for the big kick off. The Tricky Reds were without Kevin Keegan and to make matters even worst Big John Toshack wasn’t 100% fit, nagging injury problems would soon hinder the number of appearances Big John would be able to make. A couple of finely tuned rash tackles from the French defenders soon put paid to the big fella after half an hour or so it was clear to see Big John was struggling – Now it was a backs against the wall job. Bob Paisley had no other option but to replace the limping Toshack with Dave Johnson. Strangely, the enforced substitution seemed to gel the Reds into a more mobile and comfortable pattern of play and the Frenchmen had a number of questions asked about them. The majority of the St Etienne players continued to make on and off the ball challenges which neither the linesmen or the referee appeared to see. With the Reds getting no protection whatsoever from the officials – you could see that Joey Jones and the lads had had enough of this nonsense. A couple of Joey Jones specials soon made the St Etienne players realise if they wanted to mix it Liverpool where more than capable of matching them. What started as a feast of football slowly deteriorated into a rough and tumble affair thanks to the official’s ineptitude.

Argentinean centre-half Oscar Piazza nicknamed “The Beast” or "The Wild Bull of the Pampas" received a yellow card for nearly chopping Ian Callaghan in half with one of the worst tackles ever witnessed, this booking meant that he would not take part in the second leg. A Steve Heighway thunderbolt nearly broke Curkovic’s cross bar, no-one was on hand for the follow up and the ball was unfortunately played into safety. Ten minutes later with the match beginning to look like a no score draw until Jean-Michel Larque miss kicked an attempted shot which conveniently fell to the feet of Bathenay hit this strike that even Ray Clemence couldn’t stop - Liverpool didn’t deserve to be a goal down. As the final whistle blew, the St Etienne supporters quite rightly went ballistic they knew they had also witnessed a superb game between two very good sides. The Liverpool players saluted the away cacophony of support who boomed out "We’ll support you evermore" as the players made their way to the tunnel there was a bit of a commotion. The St Etienne players wanted to swap shirts but the Liverpool players had been instructed not too [as a protest about the way they behaved on the pitch] Without an away goal the odds were slightly less favourable for the Reds, especially with the French side looking slick. Walking out the ground cries of "One goal's not enough tra la la la" resounded throughout the Liverpool section [An act of defiance] and a clear indication that this game wasn’t over by any stretch of the imagination?

We sang our way back to the coaches and some realised that it would take some time to sort everybody out onto the correct coaches, we went for a drink? The few St Etienne supporters that had made it to a nearby bar sat in silence as we ordered some beers and helped ourselves to a couple of sarnies. "What’s with all this bread throwing malarkey" one of the lad’s said, they didn’t have a clue what we where on about so we left it as that. We told the French supporters that if they thought that tonight’s atmosphere was special "Wait until they hear 26,000 like minded on the Spion Kop". We nearly cacked ourselves when one of them replied "Yes we have heard all about the Liverpool Spion Kop and how famous it is" We asked them if they would be coming to Liverpool for the 2nd leg "Non" was the reply? "Good job lad – your lot are gonna get snotted for what they did tonight" He had no reply, so we got off back to the coaches with a couple of bottles of wine to see us on our way. The traffic congestion was something to behold eventually we made it to the motorway and a slow night-time trip to Le Harve. We woke up to find that we where not too far away and we would be stopping for a while at Rouen. The people descended upon Rouen like locusts eating anything they could get there hands on, near enough everybody was walking around with every type of bread known to man to take home for the families. Sirens again coincided with our visit as some helped themselves to fancy designer label goods, this ensured that a police escort to Le Harve would be in situ. The ferry trip back home saw much wheeler dealing as entrepreneur types cashed in on the goods they had acquired. It was great to get back home.


Date 16th March 1977 - European Cup 3rd round 2nd leg at Anfield
Liverpool 3 [Keegan 2’.Kennedy 59’.Fairclough 84’] - St Etienne 1 [50' Bathenay] - Attendance 55,043

"Joey Eats Frog's Legs."

Liverpool
1 Ray Clemence
2 Phil Neal
3 Joey Jones
4 Tommy Smith
5 Ray Kennedy
6 Emlyn Hughes
7 Kevin Keegan
8 Jimmy Case
9 Steve Heighway
10 John Toshack (David Fairclough)
11 Ian Callaghan
Subs not used: Peter McDonnell – Terry McDermott – Dave Johnson – Brian Kettle

St Etienne
1. Ivan Curkovic
2. Gérard Janvion
3. Gérard Farison
4. Alain Merchadier (Hervé Revelli)
5. Christian Lopez
6. Dominique Bathenay
7. Dominique Rocheteau
8. Jean-Michel Larque
9. Jacques Santini
10. Christian Synaeghel
11. Patrick Revelli

The home game remains for me the best Anfield game EVER?

Up to that point we’d never experienced anything like this… The level of expectancy was immense.

We’d finished work at 15.30 and hopped on a bus to Kirkdale Station and meet the rest of our mates in the Sportsman in Westminster Road [Bootle] after a couple of pints the possibility of us not getting in became too much. We arrived at Anfield just before 17.00 to be met by a huge queue that snaked around the ground, you could see the steam rising from those ahead as the mist swept in from the Irish Sea. The nerves were really kicking in now even two and a half-hours before kick-off. A steward reassured everyone around us that we’d get in despite the numbers ahead of us. Around 17:30 we managed to get in the Kop, the relief was there to see in everyone’s faces that we had been able to get in for the match. We made our way into our usual speck [not quite the middle] just in front of the pillar by it on the Main Stand side. Tonight was going to be something really special, you could sense something was in the air.

The St Etienne support was large in number and was housed in one half of the green and white Annie Road "Allez les Verts - Allez les Verts" they sang. To be greeted with a thunderous and earth moving response from the Kop "Allez les Rouges - Allez les Rouges" [The Liverpool vocal support at St Etienne had been from the very top drawer of the Kop] This Anfield night surpassed anything else we’d ever heard before, and probably indeed since? As the teams trotted out, a wall of noise greeted the ears - around and around the stadium it went. You couldn’t hear yourself think, mind we only had one thing on our minds a Liverpool FC win. As expected, Joey Jones didn't just walk out onto the pitch - he flew out of the tunnel and soon he was legging it up to his adhoring Kop waving both his fists like a madman possessed giving us his famous clenched fist salute. The Kop was a sea of fists as we each snorted back "O Joey Joey Joey Joey Joey Joey Joey Jones" We bounced and jumped as one in acclaim to our beloved reds.

The Kop was crammed full but this didn’t stop our old mate in once again causing mayhem. In them day’s [Every home game] this old school Red [a bloke in his mid forties] used to just barge his way through the Kop sending many on a downward surge. He used to stand next to us and in time we used to take the Mickey out of each other, he found his speck once again as we mocked him for being late. A huge red banner just behind us read, "Joey Eats Frog's Legs." Everyone applauded the lads who were holding it up, no one knew then the consequences this flag would have in Liverpool history. "You'll Never Walk Alone" boomed out from the Spion Kop one more time as the players lined up for the kick off. A kick off of another sort started in the St Etienne section of the Annie Road as many of the Road End paid back some of the French hospitality afforded to us in the first game. "Hello hello, scousers aggro, scousers aggro, hello hello" sang the Kop in tandem with the assalt on the French. The game kicked off two minutes early to the biggest roar heard in Merseyside for many a year and within two minutes "Mighty Mouse" Kevin Keegan received the ball from a short corner near the Main Stand corner flag. From a sublime angle he crossed the ball over to the far post. On and on the ball went, I don’t know if their goalie [Curkovic] lost sight of the ball in the floodlights, but somehow it eluded him and ended up in the back of the St Etienne net - Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees cried the majority of those tightly crammed inside Anfield. The place was in uproar, total bedlam pursued as we rocked the Anfield to its very foundations 1-1 on aggregate now - all square. We watched the lads who had climbed onto the roof of the Annie Road and Kemlyn Road celebrate, once we had calmed down.

Instead of inspiring the Reds onto greater things this seemed to gel the St Etienne players together and they began to ask questions about the Reds defence. The French Champions had gained the initiative and began attacking in waves – the crowd where getting a bit nervy as Ray Clemence saved shot after shot. "Liverpool – Liverpool - Liverpool" urged the Kop as the Reds began to attack the French. The half-time whistle blew [not that you could hear it] and the players ran off for a breather and some advice and encouragement from Bob and the backroom boys. Ivan Curkovic ran out onto the Anfield pitch and towards the Spion Kop, he received a hero’s welcome as everybody clapped him into the Kop goal. We watched the St Etienne players follow him into there half – they seemed to be in awe of the Kop – it was that special at times.

Very early in the 2nd half Dominique Barthenay let fly from about 30 yards dipping shot straight past an airborne Ray Clemence the ball flew into the back of the Annie Road net - an away goal - and what a cracking goal too? The St Etienne supporters turned their part of the Annie into a sea of Green and White as they erupted in acknowledgement to the wonder goal "Allez les Verts - Allez les Verts. " echoed from the French. Our hearts sank, we needed two goals from somewhere, the silent Spion Kop awoke from its enforced slumber "Come on you Reds!" - "Come on you Reds!" - "Come on you Reds!" it cried time and time again. This prompted the whole of the ground to get behind the Reds and I mean every Liverpool supporter, not just the Kop! We continued to attack the St Etienne goal wave after wave until then in the 59th minute Big John Toshack flicked on an Ian Callaghan cross which fell to the feet of Ray Kennedy who drilled the ball into the back of the Spion Kop goal Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 2-1 on the night for us, but we still needed one more goal. The atmosphere was amazing, incredible, deafening, the noise just bounced around and around Anfield itself. The Kop, no the whole ground itself was just a cauldron of red and white hot noise, everybody screaming the team on and on, the veins in everybody’s heads stood out as we screamed our way for the last half an hour. Cometh the hour cometh the man – On 70 minutes super Sub David Fairclough [The Bionic Carrot] was introduced to the crowd as a weary John Toshack came off to a tumultuous reception. The French also took this opportunity to replace Hervé Revelli for Merchadier [he'd had his nose smashed halfway across his face by an earlier flailing Toshack arm in an aerial challenge.] On and on the Red attacks continued, St Etienne as a man stood and rebuffed each attack after attack.

With six minutes remaining it looked like we were going out of the European Cup… then… A simple ball was played to the feet of Ray Kennedy, who turned and played an exquisite ball between two French defenders and Dave Fairclough. The ball just fell right for the oncoming Fairclough who chested it down as he continued to outrun the two French defenders. He took the ball on for a step or two before very calmly sliding the ball past the advancing Curkovic – on and on the ball rolled goal wards - I’m certain the Kop sucked the ball into the net.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.

In celebration of that goal David Fairclough jumped higher into the air than any other player I have ever seen in all the years I have been following not just the Reds, but football itself.
A volcano hit Anfield that night, the biggest volcano I ever saw? Everyone was jumping up and down "We've done it -We've done it" The arl snarler next to me was embraced like a long lost lover, up and down the whole of the ground bounced. "Liverpool are magic - "Liverpool are magic na na na na na na na na" reverberated from every mouth in every stand soon followed by “Oh when the Reds - go marching in” The Anfield foundations rocked to their very core as "You'll Never Walk Alone" was belted out by everybody, the whole crowd was a sea of Red and White, we’d never seen or heard anything like this before. St Etienne had nothing left, an almighty roar greeted the final whistle and the Reds and the famous "Twelfth man" had beaten the best team in Europe. The Liverpool players walked up to the Spion Kop in the pouring rain to receive the applause they duly deserved. "Tell me mar me mar, I don’t want no tea, no tea were going to Italy tell me mar me mar" filled the air hours after the match had finished, as we celebrated the most unbelievable game ever witnessed – we knew at that moment that our destiny was calling us.