Liverpool 2 - Wycombe 1

[Fletch]

Not the greatest performance by our heroes in Red, but a gritty, hard fought win all the same. Most importantly though we're off to the FA Cup Final to squash the dirty Gooners!



"We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!" -Winston Churchill

[DIPPER]

Dirty Gooners?
Mate, is this the same dirty gooners that have beaten Liverpool in their only 2 previous FA Cup final encounters?I tell you, Liverpool should be worried cos we looked awesome against Tottenham & should have had a hatful, it seems as if we're peaking at just the right time to win a couple of trophies.

'They claim everyone was born but I don't recall it.Maybe I was having one of my blackouts'-Jim Morrisson

[AlfAndrews]

A few weeks ago I posed the question, "Who the f*ck are Wycombe?"

Well now I know. What an amazing gutsy effort they put up. But what a great goal by Heskey to break the deadlock. The last 10 to 15 minutes of that game was just incredible to watch. I can't wait for May 12.

It was great to actually SEE the game on TV because I normally only get to hear matches on the internet, which can be a bit tedious, especially when it cuts out all the time.

I thought it was an awesome atmosphere, even if the game was a bit rain-affected. Bloody hell. Why can't Collingwood crowds be like that?????
(We're working on it ... but it will take years to get sort of atmosphere at Australian footy)
Can anyone in England offer some suggestions for us Pie fans in Melbourne to help generate the sort of excitement that you get at a Liverpool match. I want it. I want it.

**floreat pica**

[London Dave]

Dipper may correct me on this but according to 2 Leeds fans I know, the way to generate this atmosphere is to come from a city where 1000% of people have nojob (hence the Leeds version of your fave tune Alf, reworked to You'll Never Work Again) and the only thing that matters in life is football. (waiting for your reply here Joffa!)Plus the weather is crap and summer,if it comes,lasts 1.7 hrs.
Seriously, I think the poms have always had a bit more of a sing song than us Aussies. Its a cultural thing. Compare the Barmy Army with OiOiOi chants. Still Alf, everything starts somewhere and we wish you and the rest of the guys the best.

ps Joffa, send me a mailregarding the cheersquad offer. I'm off to spain over easter in search of sunshine. Hope we can clean up the dogs, sans the dirty midget.

[DIPPER]

Well Alf I think that sometimes the atmsophere 'thing' can be a touch misleading-for this game & the Arsenal/Spurs game they were obviously semi finals which adds to atmosphere plus the make up of the crowd is roughly 50/50 which you don't get at normal league games so it really builds up into something special.Also for Wycombe it was a once in a lifetime event & on the news they showed footage of Wycombe (even I'm not sure where it is-LOL)& it was a ghost town with about 60 coachloads of people heading to Villa Park.But on my only ever visit to Anfield in 1996 I went with a load of my West Ham supporting mates to see the Hammers play up there & I was pretty excited at the prospect of going to the Cathedral that is Anfield but the atmosphere was terrible there was no singing from the scousers & at one point it went so quiet that the whole West Ham contingent did this big shhhsssssshhhhhhhhh thing holding their index fingers to their lips & then burst into mocking cockney laugh as if to say is this the best the famous Liverpool supporteres can do.I don't think the crowd atmosphere has ever fully recovered from all seater stadia & it probably never will-the crowds used to be made up of 95% men most of them young most of them working class, you just have to look now to see the number of women & children to see that it has fundamentally changed & is less oppressive as a result.
But it's quite odd as well that you should bring this up as last week when I watched the AFL highlights preogramme on TV I was left with the impression that the crowds were awesome-whenever a goal was kicked they showed a mass of screaming people waving flags & cheering so perhaps television itself is a slightly misleading medium with which to gauge crowd atmosphere.
If you want to improve it at Pies game though I suppose some of it will come with time, you know the more people get used to singing & chanting & doing that 'Bang' thing for Buckley that you mentioned then it will gain a momentum & then if Collingwood gain a reputation for it the fans will take a pride in that, a winning team will sure help & obviously getting a real hardcore all sitting together (such as the Kop) which is probably what the Cheersquad is all about-although it is perhaps not 'feral' enough as you Aussies would say.Above all though a few easy to remember, WITTY chants are the key to this sort of thing-good luck

'They claim everyone was born but I don't recall it.Maybe I was having one of my blackouts'-Jim Morrisson

[AlfAndrews]

Thanks, Dave and Dipper, for your input.

I think it's probably also true that AFL crowds are pretty sanitised these days. Would you believe, the Cheer Squad actually received a complaint from security the other night. We were making too much noise apparently. They told us to "tone it down a bit". Needlessly to say, our decibel levels increased somewhat thereafter.

It's interesting what Dipper says about TV. I wouldn't be surprised if they deliberately adjust the mix of their various microphones to make the crowd sound louder. Maybe they even use canned cheering when they get desperate.

Actually, judging by that bit of the Freo replay that I saw the other night, it sounded as though the Cheer Squad was the only section of the crowd that was making any noise at all. I think the atmosphere probably suffered from that sense of complacency you get when a home team is beating an unfancied interstate team. The Cheer Squad rose above that only because we made a conscious effort to do so.

It's gunna be hard work. But I, for one, am committed to bringing some inspired insanity to the terraces.

**floreat pica**