Diggin out the memorabilia.

[Pidge]

For some reason I found myself extricating two old magazines quite precious to me this evening...

 

I first got into Liverpool in 1994. I was just moving school and going from a tiny 50 pupil rural place to a MASSIVE, HOOOGE... 250 kid place. I always loved football and it was my main obsession every lunch time (along with climbing the playground fences to scare the dinnerladies and pretending to have seen 18 certificate films), but supporting a team was never really a thing at my old school. My dad was a Man Utd fan but although we used to watch MoTD regularly he never pushed me into following a team. The most supported clubs at my old school were Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle which, considering, we were in Devon... says a lot about the old school.

 

Anyway, thrust into this new school I was all of a sudden confronted by 10 of my older cousin's mates in my first breaktime all demanding an answer... "Hey mate, who do you support?" I panicked and said the first team with two players I liked in it... Arsenal (Wright and Campbell). Luckily my cousin (like an older brother in how I used to look up to him) soon directed me towards the Mersey. I found greats like Barnes, Rush and Molby... masters of the game playing shoulder to shoulder with an emerging set of the most exciting young attacking talent I have ever seen all turning out with smiles on their faces. The joy of the game, what I loved about it every lunch time. Passion, competition and love of that ball hitting your foot.

 

However it still took a while to really sink in to me what the club meant and, ultimately the 95/96 season was that threshold. So much talent and excitement, so much frustration! Of course, all ended in the most gutting way imaginable. So, one of these magazines is the 95/96 review. The days when I loved Colly. The days when McManaman was my hero and everything I wanted to be. The days that I got my dad to begrudgingly hang a framed picture of Ian Rush above my bed and the days where the "spice boys" image first started to take the sheen off of the "spice boys'" game (How much more has been said about those fucking suits than the merits of the team).

 

That fateful day in Wembley is the subject of the other magazine in question. It truly is one of my most treasured possessions. I remember seeing the advert in the previous LFC mag, I remember running down to the happy shopper every day that week to make sure that the one resident copy in a village full of pool fans hadn't gone... the FA Cup Special (doubling as an Ian Rush tribute edition). I had saved for it (my pocket money was designed to give me some sweet money, nothing more... about £1 a week) and done some chores to make up the rest, but couldn't afford it until the morning of the game.

 

I raced down there first thing and bagged it. At the queue one of my cousin's mates saw me buying it and let out a satisfying ("awwww... what!"). Getting home I sat down for breakfast and set about digesting the career of the great Ian Rush in full (25 goals against Everton, 14 goals for Juventus etc) and the run in. I remember sitting there playing Macca's goals from the Leeds replay in my head over and over while waiting for the greatest match ever to begin and...

 

Fergie pulled his old final trick when faced with a dangerous side. Kill the game, nick a goal. The cunt.

 

I even remember the red hot feeling behind my eyes as I watched Rushie clap the fans as he left the field. I love that mag, despite the fact that it was one of the worst days in football for me.

 

What old memorabilia do you have and what does it say about you as a Liverpool fan?

[Barzini]

I had a poster that was signed by the entire 85-86 team.

 

I kept it rolled up inside a cardboard tube and my mum threw it out by mistake about 10 years ago.

 

I've never had the same passion for memorabilia after that, I still feel sick thinking about it.

[rory]

i have signed photos from john barnes and jamie redknapp (says to rory aswell:))

 

quite a few old programmes and stuff, but what i have always wondered about is a silver tanker i have with european cup winners engraved on it, i got it from a family member who was a photographer for the echo (i think).

 

Oh i also have a real photo of bob paisley with the european cup.

[JohnnyH]

I've got Kevin MacDonald tied up in my basement.

[Pidge]

I've got Kevin MacDonald tied up in my basement.

 

Then who's in my shed?

[piechnik19]

Ive got a 93-95 away shirt framed with PIECHICK 19 on the back. He signed around about the time I started going to games, and I thought he was the real deal. Its a shame he will only be remembered for that game vs newcastle!

 

Also got nearly every copy of the sadly missed 'through the wind and rain' fanzine.

 

Nothing like a bit of nostalgia, certainly after recent performances...

[Walton Park]

Ive got a signed footy with the team the season Barnes Beardsely Aldridge signed on.