Another Night To Remember

VETERAN folk-punk rockers The Men They Couldn't Hang dropped into Liverpool on Saturday night for another date with 'Rawhides' from the city and beyond.

The band have been showcasing  their heady mix of cathartic anthems and poignantly-crafted ballads for almost 35 years having played their first official gig in London way back in the Easter of 1984.

I've lost count the number of occasions I've seen them live - my debut was at the old Haigh Building at Liverpool Polytechnic (yes, that's where it was and what it was called then) way back in March, 1987. Just the 31 years ago, then!

At that stage of their story they already had two great albums safely stashed in their discography while arguably their finest was just peeping over the horizon.

Fast forward to 2018 and they now have no less than 20 LPs to their name including this year's offering, Cock-A-Hoop, from which a few shining gems were plucked for this concert at a warm O2 Academy in front of an enthusiastic group of fans.

To take the title from a song they played from their 1985 debut LP Night Of A Thousand Candles, it really was A Night To Remember.

Opening with Gold Rush from 1986's How Green Is The Valley long player, a homage to the workers on the North Sea oil rigs, the band were on point throughout.

Lead singers Phil 'Swill' Odgers and Stefan Cush were really enjoying the occasion and that was clear to see with their great banter with the fans in between their outstanding delivery of the songs.

There were many highlights, not least Going Back To Coventry, Bounty Hunter, The Colours, Ironmasters and Shirt Of Blue.

And anyone who knows the band's politics would know where their allegiances firmly lie - spoiler alert: certainly not in the Conservative camp.

This was observed best in the magnificent Ghosts Of Cable Street which the band's chief writer, Paul Simmonds, penned as a tribute to those from the left who stood up and faced down the British Union of Fascists when they attempted to march through the East End of London one Sunday in October, 1936. The event, of course, became known as 'The Battle Of Cable Street'.

The gig was rounded off by the band's debut single, a cover of Eric Bogle's magnificently moving The Green Fields Of France (No Man's Land) which made the top three of legendary Merseyside-born DJ John Peel's Festive 50 back in 1985. Drummer Jon Odgers's playing here was especially powerful. This was followed by the joyous Walkin' Talkin' which always raises smiles when it's played live.

And as all the fans made their way into the Liverpool night, the smiles were very much in evidence as the band had regally entertained their loyal followers once again. Rawhides everywhere will be hoping this will be the case for a long time to come.

Ukraine on a parade...

SO, there will be no parade this year.

Plans will now change for Sunday.

And the scarves, shirts and banners will be put away for use on another day.

Such has been the way for us Liverpool supporters since the spring of 2012.

Four finals after Kenny Dalglish guided the Reds to the League Cup triumph over Cardiff City, it's been a collective tale of misery - with now a full set of cup losses to lament.

FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League and now Champions League.

I'm getting an inkling of what it must have been like to have been a Buffalo Bills fan a quarter of a century ago - just look up their Super Bowl heartbreakers if you don't believe me.

So, what can be said about this latest tale of woe?

The writing, perhaps, was on the wall once our wonderfully-talented talisman, Mohamed Salah, was cruelly forced out of the game due to a nasty shoulder injury he sustained in the opening half.

Only Real Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos will know deep down whether he meant his challenge to inflict serious damage on the Liverpool forward, but the Spaniard has a chequered history when it comes to dealing with talented players he knows will beat him for skill all day long.

His collection of Champions League yellow cards - a record 35 - is a testimony to that fact.

So when Salah tearfully left proceedings and Reds manager Jurgen Klopp was forced into making a change he certainly hadn't anticipated at such an early stage of the contest, it was always going to be a difficult night from that point onwards.

To be fair, though, the Reds were largely holding their own and a goalless scoreline after 45 minutes was both welcome and somewhat unexpected.

Then came the second 45 minutes.

In many ways it summed up this extraordinary journey all Liverpool supporters are having under Klopp.

From the low of seeing goalkeeper Loris Karius gift Real's opener to Karim Benzema to the high of witnessing Sadio Mane finish off a brilliant corner-kick routine honed to perfection on the training ground at Melwood to being on the wrong end of a truly astonishing strike from Gareth Bale to watching the Reds' number one make another miscue and more or less hand-deliver a third and ultimately killer goal to the Spaniards seven minutes from time.

This was a half of football that will always be remembered - but for the wrong reasons.

The pain of the defeat is still raw and the cold light of day has yet to dawn.

But even at this very early stage it's difficult to see how Karius will retain his position of Liverpool's first-choice goalkeeper - and maybe even a place at Anfield.

The first decision might be understandable, especially if the Reds are able to acquire a truly top-notch goalkeeper who has more years at the highest level of the game under his belt; the second decision leaves something of a dilemma.

Every player in the history of football - and indeed all sports - has committed errors.

It's all part of being human.

But it's almost always the last line of defence in team sports who suffer the most if they happen to make a mistake.

And so it proved in Kiev - twice.

One thing is for certain, Karius will really know who his true friends are after his personal nightmare.

And he will absolutely need them right now.

I hope the young German player will recover from this - but he'll need plenty of support from those closest to him.

He certainly shouldn't be made a scapegoat - football, after all, is a team game.

You win together; you draw together; you lose together.

That's the very nature of a team sport.

So where to next for Liverpool Football Club?

As miserable as us fans are feeling once again when the fates conspired to ensure there was not going to be Number Six, I'm confident the club is heading in a very positive direction.

Yes, it's not a straight and smooth road - this is the rollercoaster we all knew we were going to ride once this extraordinary and charismatic 50-year-old German became the club's manager in the autumn of 2015.

But there will be more ups than downs, I have absolutely no doubt about that.

This is a young Liverpool team that is really starting to gel as a fearsome unit who can rip opposition apart on more occasions than not. Reinforcements are predicted to arrive in the summer to improve the depth and quality of the squad, so with a fair wind and decent fortune that all clubs require at some stage in their season, this time next year there will likely be fresh silverware to polish at Anfield.

Indeed, winning the Champions League in Madrid come the spring of 2019 might just be the perfect place to exorcise these demons we are bedevilled with just now.

And as the magnificent Allez Allez Allez song so rightly puts it: "We're NEVER gonna stop!"