In case you 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 referred to as again then, or League Cup as it’s now, in opposition to Southampton in 2002 at Anfield.
We received 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 aim, and it regarded just like the ball was going to finish up immediately in my lap, however fortunately it went within the aim.
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 come back to that sport.
There are a great deal of issues about it I’ll at all times bear in mind however yeah, it was a big day, though 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 couple of individuals who appear to be me, who’re across the identical age as me, who can have an analogous 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 remains 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 form 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 dwell soccer.
Liverpool had been the staff who had been doing very effectively, in order that they had been on TV extra typically than others and when John Barnes joined, it form 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 observe’, as a result of sure, he’d performed for Watford earlier than, however it was when he joined Liverpool actually that every thing actually clicked into place.
He’s such a implausible man to observe, 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 the town develop into entwined?
They’ve one hundred pc develop into entwined, they arrive hand in hand so far as I’m involved.
So earlier than I moved right here, my photographs of Liverpool had been all concerning the soccer staff. I imply, clearly I used to be conscious of The Beatles, however they actually had been form of nearly like a background.
They nearly 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 form of made me assume, ‘OK, that is the place I need to be’.
And clearly within the good and within the unhealthy instances. I’m sufficiently old to recollect Hillsborough and the entire 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, every thing felt good.
Has your job protecting Liverpool modified the way in which you view soccer?
It hasn’t modified how I view soccer as a result of frankly, that’s form of how I’ve at all times seen 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 concerning 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 prefer to play nice, implausible flying soccer, they had been those who we form of caught to, however the analytical aspect was at all times in there.
It has develop into harder at instances, I’ve to confess. So a variety of the time once I’m working the sport as part of the media crew for the time being, 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 guarantee that 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 talk with mates and even on exhibits like The Anfield Wrap, getting the possibility to debate it and speak it by means of.
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 residing in Liverpool.
So being in and across the metropolis at the moment and attending to really feel what it feels prefer to be in a European Cup closing, as a result of it’s not simply concerning the staff, it actually turns into concerning the metropolis as a result of that at that time, it’s been 20 years since we’ve been within the European Cup closing, so every thing 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 acquired vivid recollections of strolling house from the town centre just about down Higher Parliament Avenue and down Smithdown Street, simply strolling by means of the center of the highway.
The Liverpool season I might relive is…
The treble season, 2000/01, as a result of every thing that we needed to attain, we did obtain, and the concept of with the ability to compete in three totally different competitions – 4 totally different competitions when you embrace the league.
That was additionally my first yr at college in Stoke, so I used to be residing in pupil halls and over the course of the season, numerous my different pals who weren’t into soccer, a few of them pals who had been supporters of different groups, form of acquired swept up alongside within the emotion of all of it.
It was simply I might say six months the place each time we received a sport, 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?
Nicely, I’ve truly been fortunate sufficient to be at a celebration with Jurgen Klopp on the membership of couple of years in the past and it was every thing I’d hoped it to be. So yeah, he’s undoubtedly 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 form of individual you might have a fully superior time with, it doesn’t matter what you’re speaking about, and he’s additionally somebody who acquired a really astute soccer mind.
I’d love to talk to him about soccer and all that form 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 possibly can subscribe to his Substack right here and his YouTube channel right here.
