You probably have been watching Arne Slot‘s press conferences, you’ll recognise the voice of journalist and Liverpool fan Mo Stewart. We sat down with Mo for an prolonged version of My Liverpool Life.
My first Liverpool match was…
Within the Worthington Cup because it was known as again then, or League Cup as it’s now, in opposition to Southampton in 2002 at Anfield.
We gained 3-1 and I used to be sitting within the Kop. Patrick Berger scored a free-kick and I used to be sitting proper behind the purpose, and it regarded just like the ball was going to finish up immediately in my lap, however fortunately it went within the purpose.
By that time I’d already been supporting Liverpool for the most effective a part of 15 years. So it was very a lot a pilgrimage for me to return to that recreation.
There are a great deal of issues about it I’ll all the time bear in mind however yeah, it was a special occasion, although it wasn’t precisely a packed home.
I grew to become a Liverpool supporter as a result of…
I really feel like there’s fairly a number of individuals who appear like me, who’re across the identical age as me, who may have the same story, however we’re all John Barnes infants.
I met him earlier in the summertime, and I used to be very clear to level that out. I meant that metaphorically, he’s not truly my father!
My precise father continues to be there, doing an excellent job as he’s completed for the final 43 years, however once I first began watching soccer, I used to be sort of watching it solely on TV as a result of the place we lived in Kent there wasn’t actually a lot alternative to exit and see reside soccer.
Liverpool had been the staff who had been doing very effectively, so that they had been on TV extra usually than others and when John Barnes joined, it sort of felt like this was it.
This was the second the place I used to be like, ‘OK, these are the fellows I need to I need to comply with’, as a result of sure, he’d performed for Watford earlier than, but it surely was when he joined Liverpool actually that all the pieces actually clicked into place.
He’s such a implausible man to look at, such a superb participant and his story was similar to my story as in household comes from Jamaica, my household got here from Jamaica; he was left-footed, I used to be left-footed.
I imply, his birthday is even the day earlier than mine!
Have your love of Liverpool the membership and Liverpool town change into entwined?
They’ve one hundred pc change into entwined, they arrive hand in hand so far as I’m involved.
So earlier than I moved right here, my pictures of Liverpool had been all in regards to the soccer staff. I imply, clearly I used to be conscious of The Beatles, however they actually had been sort of virtually like a background.
They virtually felt like a band for everybody, they didn’t actually really feel particularly Liverpool to me in my younger thoughts.
However seeing Anfield, seeing the gang, seeing all of these issues as a younger child, that actually sort of made me assume, ‘OK, that is the place I need to be’.
And clearly within the good and within the dangerous instances. I’m sufficiently old to recollect Hillsborough and all the fallout afterwards with the scarves all throughout the Anfield pitch and the roses, and people had been issues the place I felt actually emotionally related to the staff.
I felt at house immediately in order that solely elevated my need to maneuver right here, after which once I lastly did transfer right here, all the pieces felt excellent.
Has your job masking Liverpool modified the way in which you view soccer?
It hasn’t modified how I view soccer as a result of frankly, that’s sort of how I’ve all the time considered soccer – I’ve my dad to thank for that.
After we had been youthful, we’d sit down and we wouldn’t simply watch Tottenham, my dad’s staff, and we wouldn’t simply watch Liverpool, or Leeds which is my sister’s staff.
On a Sunday afternoon, we’d sit down and we’d watch Italian soccer, English soccer, French soccer, Spanish soccer or Scottish soccer.
And it was extra in regards to the love of the sport, and never simply the love of the sport, however the love of how it’s performed by sure groups.
There was your AC Milans, my dad likes Actual Madrid, even Celtic within the Henrik Larsson period – the groups who wish to play nice, implausible flying soccer, they had been those who we sort of caught to, however the analytical aspect was all the time in there.
It has change into tougher at instances, I’ve to confess. So loads of the time once I’m working the sport as part of the media crew in the meanwhile, as a result of I work for American radio, so I’ve been sitting up within the radio gantry, I can’t cheer what Liverpool rating and it’s tough.
So I’ve to make it possible for I get pleasure from it on the instances, whether or not which means going house and rewatching the sport or as soon as the work aspect’s completed, going to the pub and having to speak with mates and even on exhibits like The Anfield Wrap, getting the prospect to debate it and speak it via.
The Liverpool match I might relive is…
The one which I first got here into my thoughts is the apparent one, which is Istanbul, as a result of it was simply such a seismic second for thus many causes.
That was my first summer season dwelling in Liverpool.
So being in and across the metropolis at the moment and attending to really feel what it feels wish to be in a European Cup ultimate, as a result of it’s not simply in regards to the staff, it actually turns into in regards to the metropolis as a result of that at that time, it’s been 20 years since we’ve been within the European Cup ultimate, so all the pieces actually felt alive.
Wherever you went round, you’d see posters, you’d see cardboard cutouts of Stevie and Carra in folks’s home windows and simply the vibe across the place was so particular.
After which clearly the sport itself occurs and the celebrations afterwards. I’ve obtained vivid recollections of strolling house from town centre just about down Higher Parliament Avenue and down Smithdown Highway, simply strolling via the center of the highway.
The Liverpool season I might relive is…
The treble season, 2000/01, as a result of all the pieces that we needed to realize, we did obtain, and the concept of having the ability to compete in three completely different competitions – 4 completely different competitions when you embrace the league.
That was additionally my first yr at college in Stoke, so I used to be dwelling in pupil halls and over the course of the season, a lot of my different buddies who weren’t into soccer, a few of them buddies who had been supporters of different groups, sort of obtained swept up alongside within the emotion of all of it.
It was simply I might say six months the place each time we gained a recreation, it made me really feel like we had been going to win the subsequent one.
The using of the wave of ‘wow, you simply by no means know what’s going to occur right here’, that season was simply very, very particular to me.
In the event you may have a cocktail party with three figures from Liverpool’s current and historical past, who would they be?
Effectively, I’ve truly been fortunate sufficient to be at a birthday celebration with Jurgen Klopp on the membership of couple of years in the past and it was all the pieces I’d hoped it to be. So yeah, he’s positively in, one hundred pc.
I’ve to be apparent and say John Barnes as effectively for all these apparent causes already talked about.
For a wild card, I need to say Daniel Sturridge as a result of he’s simply a lot enjoyable.
He genuinely is rather like the sort of particular person you may have a completely superior time with, it doesn’t matter what you’re speaking about, and he’s additionally somebody who obtained a really astute soccer mind.
I’d love to talk to him about soccer and all that sort of stuff, however then we are able to speak about music, style and meals as effectively.
Thanks once more to Mo Stewart for his time. You may subscribe to his Substack right here and his YouTube channel right here.
