Your LFC team (get to know your fellow SCM'ers)

[Modo]

What team did you grow up watching?

I'm asking about the team you saw as a teenager, the players you had on your wall and idolised.

And who was your favourite player?


I grew up watching the Spice boys generation.

---------------------James
R. Jones-- Wright--- Babb---Stig Inge

Mcateer--- Redknapp----Barnes----Macca

-----------------Rush--------Fowler


Might have mixed and matched there but that's basically the team.

My favourite players were Barnes, Fowler and Macca.

So yeah, I waited a long time to really witness a league win ( although I have vague memories of the 1990 win)

 

[localny]

Clemence/Grobbs

Nichol-- Hansen--- Lawro---Beglin

Houghton--- Molby---Souey----Barnes

-------Kenny------Rush--------

 

[tomasjj]

Grew up? I watched teams from 76-77 until now, so hard to say.

 

[Judge Jules]

Similar for me but I date it back to the early 60s.

 

[Mojo]

First time I watched us was the Heysel game and been watching us since.
First replica kits were the 89-91 Home and Away Candy classics.
Favorites growing up were Rush, Barnes and then Fowler.

 

[Judge Jules]

I still have one of those Candy shirts somewhere. Ended up not wearing it much as it scratched my man-boobs something terrible, esp.when I tried to play in it,

 

[rurikbird]

Dynamo Kyiv was my childhood team. This was the lineup that beat Real Madrid 2:0 in the CL quarters in 1999:

———————Shovkovskiy——————
Luzhny (C)—Holovko—Vaschuk—Kaladze
Kosovskiy—-Gusin—Kardash-Khatskevich
—————Shevchenko—-Rebrov————

Lobanovskiy came up with an interesting tactical plan for that game - at that time teams were still playing with a libero and Vaschuk was our regular one and Kardash his sub. In this game he played with both Kardash and Vaschuk as 2 liberos; when a journalist asked Lobanovkiy whether that was intended to make the defence stronger, he said “no, it’s actually to make the attack stronger!” And so it proved, as the extra player in that central area helped us be more confident in build-up and take the game to Real Madrid.

That was Lobanovskiy’s 3rd great Dynamo Kyiv team after the ones in mid 1970’s and late 1980’s which were both before my time. They were good enough to win the CL if not for some misfortune against Bayern Munich in the semi-final. Kaladze and Shevchenko ended up in AC Milan, Luzhny and Rebrov in London (rather unsuccessfully - it was difficult for players who grew up in USSR to adapt to life in the West) and the others were all superb domestic pros, while Lobanovskiy was at the top of his game and made the team greater than sum of its parts.

After he passed away, I started following Shevchenko in Milan for a while in Europe and Shakhtar domestically, but when Rafa was appointed to Liverpool it only took me one game to become LFC fan for life. That was the game and the lineup:

 

[dee]

Watched is a modern thing!

I watched Liverpool in the '74 cup final. First trip to Anfield was the following season. Caught one or two games per season up to early 80's then not much until I had a season ticket 96-98

 

[keniget]

Dynamo Kyiv was my childhood team. This was the lineup that beat Real Madrid 2:0 in the CL quarters in 1999:

———————Shovkovskiy——————
Luzhny (C)—Holovko—Vaschuk—Kaladze
Kosovskiy—-Gusin—Kardash-Khatskevich
—————Shevchenko—-Rebrov————

Lobanovskiy came up with an interesting tactical plan for that game - at that time teams were still playing with a libero and Vaschuk was our regular one and Kardash his sub. In this game he played with both Kardash and Vaschuk as 2 liberos; when a journalist asked Lobanovkiy whether that was intended to make our defence stronger, he said “no, it’s actually in order to make the attack stronger!” And so it proved, as the extra player in that central area helped us be more confident in build-up and take the game to Real Madrid.

That was Lobanovskiy’s 3rd great Dynamo Kyiv team after the ones in mid 1970’s and late 1980’s which were both before my time. They were good enough to win the CL if not for some misfortune against Bayern Munich in the semi-final. Kaladze and Shevchenko ended up in AC Milan, Luzhny and Rebrov in London (rather unsuccessfully - it was difficult for players who grew up in USSR to adapt to life in the West) and the others were all superb domestic pros, while Lobanovskiy was at the top of his game and made the team greater than sum of its parts.

After he passed away, I started following Shevchenko in Milan for a while in Europe and Shakhtar domestically, but when Rafa was appointed to Liverpool it only took me one game to become LFC fan for life. That was the game and the lineup:

That’s interesting. What was it about that game that grabbed you?

 

[keniget]

I grew up in the 80s so 87-90 teams were the first ones I properly remembered.

 

[rurikbird]

That’s interesting. What was it about that game that grabbed you?

The style of play – it was faster and more energetic than the Italian game I mostly grew up watching, but also had this "continental" controlled quality, more pass-and-move oriented than the more gung-ho styles of Man United and other English teams that never attracted me. Rafa reminded me of Lobanovsky in the way he seemed so cerebral and detached, but also somehow you felt you could trust him. And that was also the first time I saw Xabi Alonso and Gerrard play; you can't do much better than that in midfield. They and Luis Garcia were taking the piss in that game too; almost everything was one-touch and a step ahead of the opposition.

After that I started researching about history of LFC and everything I saw confirmed that it was the right choice – but the initial step was just that this team "felt" right based on the way they played.

 

[Irishanfield]

Clemence, -
Kennedy (Alan) Hansen - Thompson - neal

Kennedy (ray) - McDermott- Souness - Lee

Dalglish - Johnson

 

[peekay]

I started following LFC for two reasons. First is Michael Owen after his goal against Argentina. Started following the club he played for. Second, at that time, everyone around me in India who watched PL was following Man United, and I wanted to be different. So, I started taking a keen interest in the club, which United fans hated.

In the process, I read about the club, the city, and what it stood for, and felt like a perfect fit.

So, my reasons for becoming an LFC fan were not that noble, but I made the right choice.

 

[peekay]

That’s interesting. What was it about that game that grabbed you?

 

[mom]

I started following us when we started winning loads of shiny things

 

[Squiggles]

I first remember getting interested in football and subsequently Liverpool in 95/96.

I think it was something like this, although Barnes maybe used to play central, too?


--------------------------James
-Jones-------Babb--------------Wright - - - - Bjornebye
Mcmanaman----Redknapp---Thomas - - - Barnes
--------------------Fowler - - - - Collymore

 

[Richey]

I first remember getting interested in football and subsequently Liverpool in 95/96.

I think it was something like this, although Barnes maybe used to play central, too?


--------------------------James
-Jones-------Babb--------------Wright - - - - Bjornebye
Mcmanaman----Redknapp---Thomas - - - Barnes
--------------------Fowler - - - - Collymore

By then he usually did yes.

We tended to be 5-3-2 at that point

 

[peterhague]

First game I remember (genuinely) is the 2-0 vs Arsenal in 1989. I was really young back then though. First season I took any real interest was 1991, when the team would've been something like

Grobbelaar

Venison
Hysen
Gillespie
Nicol

Barnes
McMahon
Molby
Houghton

Beardsley
Rush

I think Hansen was basically always injured by that point.

91/92 is a lot more vivid, and I can basically remember every up and down from that point on. What's funny looking back is how quickly I got the feeling that we were enduring a real title drought - certainly by the mid 90s.

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

I grew up with Uncle Woy's teams.

And by Woy i meant Roy Evans.

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

Dynamo Kyiv was my childhood team. This was the lineup that beat Real Madrid 2:0 in the CL quarters in 1999:

———————Shovkovskiy——————
Luzhny (C)—Holovko—Vaschuk—Kaladze
Kosovskiy—-Gusin—Kardash-Khatskevich
—————Shevchenko—-Rebrov————

Lobanovskiy came up with an interesting tactical plan for that game - at that time teams were still playing with a libero and Vaschuk was our regular one and Kardash his sub. In this game he played with both Kardash and Vaschuk as 2 liberos; when a journalist asked Lobanovkiy whether that was intended to make our defence stronger, he said “no, it’s actually to make the attack stronger!” And so it proved, as the extra player in that central area helped us be more confident in build-up and take the game to Real Madrid.

That was Lobanovskiy’s 3rd great Dynamo Kyiv team after the ones in mid 1970’s and late 1980’s which were both before my time. They were good enough to win the CL if not for some misfortune against Bayern Munich in the semi-final. Kaladze and Shevchenko ended up in AC Milan, Luzhny and Rebrov in London (rather unsuccessfully - it was difficult for players who grew up in USSR to adapt to life in the West) and the others were all superb domestic pros, while Lobanovskiy was at the top of his game and made the team greater than sum of its parts.

After he passed away, I started following Shevchenko in Milan for a while in Europe and Shakhtar domestically, but when Rafa was appointed to Liverpool it only took me one game to become LFC fan for life. That was the game and the lineup:

Lobanovskiy was a legend, a visionary, a pioneer of the game.

The Kyiv teams of the past were a force. I remembered Svenchenko and Rebrov were scoring bucket loads for fun back then.

 

[Hyena]

I started following Liverpool towards the end of the 95/96 season.

Caught them on a public TV screen and was intrigued by this team playing in all red that seemed to spend the whole game endlessly passing to each other. I was rather impressed by the fact that they were the only team that still kept battling in the league even though it seemed rather obvious that Newcastle and Manchester United were the only two with a chance of winning it.

Liverpool used to sell these magazines, which the local newstands would import from the UK and sell for an exorbitant (to a 14 year old) amount but I saved up and bought them anyway. Managed to convince myself that Dominic Matteo and Mark Kennedy were the next big things in world football.

 

[rurikbird]

Lobanovskiy was a legend, a visionary, a pioneer of the game.

The Kyiv teams of the past were a force. I remembered Svenchenko and Rebrov were scoring bucket loads for fun back then.

He was a giant of the game for sure. One of his favourite phrases was that a "star-team" will always beat a "team of stars" and the way his Dynamo destroyed Van Gaal's Barcelona in two back-to-back group-stage CL games in 1997 – 3:0 in Kyiv and 0:4 at Camp Nou – was still the best expression of that I can remember. The crazy thing was the longevity – how he managed to build 3 great teams in 3 different decades; the 1970's team won the Cup Winners' Cup and beat the Bayern of prime Gerd Muller in the Super Cup, in the 80's he led Dynamo to another Cup Winners' Cup title in the final against Atletico Madrid that is still considered among the most one-sided finals in history and in 1990's he managed to play on par with Real and Bayern while his players earned a pittance and the training facilities deteriorated due to the economic troubles in Ukraine. He also mentored 2 Ballon d'Or winners in Oleh Blokhin and Shevchenko.

Watching Dynamo in Ukraine in the 90's I also saw the ugly side – they were a club who had all the refs and authorities in their pocket and treated the domestic league as a controlled training session to prepare for those big Champions League games. I admired that team, but was never a fan of Dynamo as a club. Only when Shakhtar became a force, has the sense of parity and fairness been somewhat restored.

In case this post triggered a desire to watch some old footage, here is all of Dynamo's goals in that 1998-99 campaign, the peak of Lobanovsky's 3rd great team. The goals against Real Madrid in the quarters are a good illustration of the Rebrov-Shevchenko partnership at its peak; they had a telepathic understanding.

 

[Frogfish]

Similar for me but I date it back to the early 60s.

Ditto. I remember my neighbour's budgie was called 'Shankly'. Does that count?

 

[Judge Jules]

Ha. I can just imagine the great man growling "Nae bother, son, just as long as it supports Liverpool".

 

[Judge Jules]

He was a giant of the game for sure. One of his favourite phrases was that a "star-team" will always beat a "team of stars" and the way his Dynamo destroyed Van Gaal's Barcelona in 2 group-stage CL games in 1997 – 3:0 in Kyiv and 0:4 at Camp Nou – was still the best expression of that I can remember. The crazy thing was the longevity – how he managed to build 3 great teams in 3 different decades; the 1970's team won the Cup Winners' Cup and beat the Bayern of prime Gerd Muller in the Super Cup, in the 80's he led Dynamo to another Cup Winners' Cup title in the final against Atletico Madrid that is still considered among the most one-sided finals in history and in 1990's he managed to play on par with Real and Bayern while his players earned a pittance and the training facilities deteriorated due to the economic troubles in Ukraine. He also mentored 2 Ballon d'Or winners in Oleh Blokhin and Shevchenko.

Watching Dynamo in Ukraine in the 90's I also saw the ugly side – they were a club who had all the refs and authorities in their pocket and treated the domestic league as a controlled training session to prepare for those big Champions League games. I admired that team, but was never a fan of Dynamo as a club. Only when Shakhtar became a force, has the sense of parity and fairness been somewhat restored.

In case this post triggered a desire to watch some old footage, here is all of Dynamo's goals in that 1998-99 campaign, the peak of Lobanovsky's 3rd great team. The goals against Real Madrid in the quarters are a good illustration of the Rebrov-Shevchenko partnership at its peak; they had a telepathic understanding.

Lobanovskiy would have enjoyed our triumph in Istanbul then. I've always thought of that as the ultimate triumph of a team over a collection of mostly superior individuals.

At the time I remember thinking Rebrov was both lucky to have Shevchenko as a partner and unlucky that his quality diverted attention from Rebrov's own. A little later on I also remember thinking we got the wrong Shevchenko partner when that (sorry) massive downgrade Voronin arrived at LFC.

 

[Brizzle]

I was a bit late to footy, probably 5 or 6 when I first even showed an interest (with a subbuteo set thrust upon me one christmas!).

The team / players that really got me obsessed with Liverpool were the late 90s. I remember watching the 96 FA Cup final, but I would say I was on the outskirts of finding my obsession.

My first set of 'favourite players' were David James, Bjornebye, Redknapp, Owen, Berger, Murphy, McManaman, Leonhardsen etc.

I was always a GK at school, my local team and in football 'camps' every school holiday so I was usually a full kit wanker in all of those loud 90s kits. Especially these bad boys:

It was then already at the start of doing nothing but watching, reading or playing football when the 00/01 treble team came around - then my favourite players were Barmby (who had the privilege of being the name on my shirt that season), Heskey, Hyypia, McAllister, Ziege, Litmanen etc.

 

[tombrown]

Grobelaar
Nicol Hansen Gillespie Ablett
Houghton McMahon Spackman Barnes
Aldridge Beardsley

Look at that line up then look at my age and you can see I came to this game (properly) later in life

 

[Irishanfield]

Grobelaar
Nicol Hansen Gillespie Ablett
Houghton McMahon Spackman Barnes
Aldridge Beardsley

Look at that line up then look at my age and you can see I came to this game (properly) later in life

That must be around 86-87? The season Ian Rush went to juventus... Aldridge was a great replacement and a bit unlucky that rushie came back because he was never going to oust rush..

 

[Squiggles]

I was a bit late to footy, probably 5 or 6 when I first even showed an interest (with a subbuteo set thrust upon me one christmas!).

The team / players that really got me obsessed with Liverpool were the late 90s. I remember watching the 96 FA Cup final, but I would say I was on the outskirts of finding my obsession.

My first set of 'favourite players' were David James, Bjornebye, Redknapp, Owen, Berger, Murphy, McManaman, Leonhardsen etc.

I was always a GK at school, my local team and in football 'camps' every school holiday so I was usually a full kit wanker in all of those loud 90s kits. Especially these bad boys:

It was then already at the start of doing nothing but watching, reading or playing football when the 00/01 treble team came around - then my favourite players were Barmby (who had the privilege of being the name on my shirt that season), Heskey, Hyypia, McAllister, Ziege, Litmanen etc.

I was a GK too and the green was my first kit. The elbow pads were great. I think Newcastle had the same GK kit but in light blue.

 

[tombrown]

That must be around 86-87? The season Ian Rush went to juventus... Aldridge was a great replacement and a bit unlucky that rushie came back because he was never going to oust rush..

87-88 was my first year as a season ticket holder, which is why I remember the team so well. Lawro was injured and eventually left to manage Oxford, which was how GG got the CB berth, Whelan injury let in Spackman and (I think) patchy form/injuries to Timotei let Ablett in. Bench would have been 2 of wooden legs McDonald, Timotei and Craig Johnstone, who sometimes replaced Houghton in the starting 11.

Apologies to the players for all the likely mispellings on their names