WENGER WILL HAVE NO SHORTAGE OF OFFERS
> Why Liverpool’s victory over Roma in 1984 was a glorious night with tragic consequences in more ways than one
FORMER Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein believes Arsene Wenger will have “no shortage of offers” should he wish to continue his managerial career. “Over the last few years, I know for a fact he’s been approached by some of the biggest clubs in the world – I think of Real Madrid, Paris St Germain, the national team wanted him at one stage,” Dein told Sky Sports. “There will be no shortage of offers. I personally had calls from various people yesterday, saying, ‘can I speak to him?’. The question is does he want to do it anymore? He’s going to be 69 in October but he’s extraordinarily fit. He is the same weight as when I met him, 75 kg. He’s got a very active mind and such a knowledge of the game.” Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown believes Wenger will definitely seek to continue his managerial career at another club. Keown, who was a three-time title winner under Wenger during his time with the Gunners, does not see the Frenchman going into international management. “When you meet him, he’s still full of energy. I don’t feel this is the end of Arsene Wenger. He will feel there is another opportunity for him out there somewhere. He’s a day-to-day man, I don’t see him being an international manager. He needs to be in the thick of it every day, with the incredible amount of energy that he has.”
GRAEME SOUNESS was at the front of the line, his tracksuit top unzipped already – as if war could not come soon enough. Bruce Grobbelaar was behind him, who’d already fought a war in Rhodesia. Something had amused him. He was laughing his head off, as if to say, “This is nothing.”
The background is the Olympic Stadium but you cannot see the terraces because of the inferno of smoke: red, orange and yellow. It was 1984 and Liverpool were about to play AS Roma at their home ground. It is impossible to rank victories in football and define one as being absolutely the greatest. Yet if there was a top five in Liverpool’s history, surely this would feature amongst the collection. Liverpool’s dominance of the domestic scene and Europe meant success was expected and so, it was not necessarily a surprise when they went to Italy and won a final on the opponent’s own patch, albeit via penaltykicks. And yet, if you listen to the stories of the players and the supporters, you realise this was different. It was a glorious achievement with tragic consequences in more ways than one. In Rome, every attempt was made to make Liverpool’s players feel like they were entering the Colosseum as the doomed. Substitute Dave Hodgson remembers the occasion. “I could see how much everyone was really pumped up,’ he recalled. “All the Roma boys were there: Falcão, Conti, Cerezo, looking all serious. So, we broke into song – all of the Liverpool joined in – and the Roma boys seemed unnerved by it. holding a European Cup final on the home ground of one of the finalists, but UEFA did not listen.
Somehow, Liverpool found a way to prevail in this atmosphere. “It was like the Christians being fed to the lions,” Robinson says.
“There were banners outside specially welcoming the English infidels. But it never crossed my mind that we’d lose. We were brainwashed into believing we’d win. Graeme (Souness) was a Trojan that night. Every player on the pitch was in awe of him. He was brave and magnificent, and led the team like a warrior. Roma had Falcao and Cerezo – two fantastic Brazilian players in midfield. But I forgot they were playing, because of Graeme’s performance.”
Defeat for Roma meant wrath for Liverpool supporters. ‘Before and after the match Roma fans stabbed, slashed and brutalised the away supporters on a mass scale,’ writes Tony Evans in his recently released,
The reaction the following morning in Italy was one of immense embarrassment.
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