Whatever happens...

I BEGAN writing this blog late on the evening of Friday, May 31, 2019.

Twenty-four hours from now, the winners (and losers) in the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League Final will be known.

Celebrations will be full swing across either Merseyside or North London while sorrows will be getting drowned in the same places should the trophy not be going to Anfield or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

My allegiance, as all my family and friends know, is with Liverpool Football Club.

And I think I can pinpoint the moment I became a Red to 1973.

That year I can still recall both my first Grand National (I sobbed buckets as the gallant but spent Australian chaser Crisp was beaten on the line by the fast-finishing and youthful Red Rum) and my first FA Cup Final (I shouted with joy as Second Division Sunderland defied all the odds to defeat "dirty" Leeds United in still one of the biggest shocks in the competition's storied history).

In the September of that same year I began my time in education - some 18 years all told.

And it was in my first class in infants school I nailed my proverbial colours to the Red mast.

Sure, living where I did there were plenty of school pals who opted to be Blue and follow Everton.

But I was more than happy to be a Red.

In those days the stars of the team included goalkeeper Ray Clemence, midfielder Ian Callaghan and striker Kevin Keegan. But as a five-year-old, going on six-year-old schoolboy, my first hero in Red was Emlyn Hughes.

His infectious enthusiasm and ready smile really rubbed off on me and played a big part in my growing affection for the club.

And the following May, I can recall my happiness watching a fist-pumping 'Crazy Horse' accept the celebrated piece of silverware from Princess Anne after skippering the Reds to a 3-0 demolition of Newcastle United in the 1974 FA Cup Final.

Eighteen months later, now aged seven, I made my 'debut' at Anfield, with a seat midway up in the Main Stand. I was one of 37,340 fans on hand for a 1-0 victory over Sheffield United in the First Division. The great Ray Kennedy provided the only goal of the game, netting the winner 12 minutes from time. Strangely enough, I was accompanied to the game by a pair of older Blades supporters who weren't so chatty on the way back home!

From that moment on I always knew Anfield and Liverpool Football Club would play a very important part in my life.

And so it was to prove.

As I grew older I began to attend more and more matches, first with my Dad including some classic games such as the 4-0 win over Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen in the European Cup in November, 1980 and the 6-0 thrashing of Luton Town in October, 1983 when Ian Rush bagged five goals - including a brilliant volley at The Kop End that only those in attendance ever saw due to the absence of TV cameras - and Kenny Dalglish the other, while future Red Paul Walsh shone bright for the Hatters.

Later, of course, I began to attend games with my mates, standing on The Kop. My 'spec' was usually halfway up on the Main Stand side of that extraordinary terrace.

I was there for some amazing highs (Jan Molby's double to see off Manchester United in the Milk Cup in November, 1985) and some awful lows ("...it's up for grabs now!...").

I also began to follow my team away from Anfield and, as many of you know, was one of the very lucky ones on April 15, 1989.

Into the 1990s I began to take a seat in the Anfield stands and was in the old Kemlyn Road Stand when just 23,094 of us roared the Reds to a famous 3-0 win over Auxerre, overturning a 2-0 first-leg deficit in the second round of the UEFA Cup.

Due to work commitments, my opportunities to see the Reds live diminished during that decade and I was only able to make sporadic returns to the stadium. One such game I'll always remember was in April, 1997, when, on a rare occasion I had a seat in the Anfield Road End, I saw Liverpool just fall short against Paris St-Germain, beating the French side 2-0 on the night only to exit the European Cup-Winners' Cup at the last-four stage, 3-2 on aggregate.

After the turn of the millennium, my life changed domestically. Now married and with two young children, attending games at Anfield became much more difficult, especially when the prices began to sky-rocket. Nevertheless, the love I had for my club never wavered and I was a thrilled as any Reds fan who was fortunate to see first hand those epic wins that secured five pieces of silverware in 2001, the wonderful Worthington Cup Final triumph over Manchester United in 2003, the famous Olympiacos game in December, 2004 and the nerve-shredding Champions League semi-final victory over Chelsea the following spring.

And, of course, May 25, 2005, AC Milan and Istanbul.

I have made some trips back to Anfield but they are few and far between these days. Thankfully, my eldest son has been able to attend some games, most notably in March, 2016, when a Daniel Sturridge penalty and instinctive close-range finish from Roberto Firmino famously got the better of Manchester United in a last-16 clash in the Europa League.

And so we now arrive at June 1, 2019.

As I write, my nerves are really kicking-in over this evening's game in Madrid.

After what happened in Kiev a little over 12 months ago, I can barely imagine losing two European Cup Finals in succession. But of course, it could.

This is sport. Anything could happen in the Spanish capital. It isn't scripted.

Naturally I want my team to triumph - I'll take an own goal in a drab encounter so long as Jordan Henderson lifts 'Old Big Ears' for a sixth time in the club's illustrious history.

But however the match pans out and even if we just fall short on the night, I will still love my club.

For whatever happens, this love affair I have with Liverpool Football Club I will continue until my final day on God's earth.