#melwood header

[melwoodedits]

headers melwood wedding 

like or reblog. if you like and save. credit on twitter @panabaksr if using

[fandomiconsx]

like or reblog if you use

[lockscreens-n-stuff]

Melissa Benoist Layout ♥️

[cwoodstuff]

like/reblog or credit devonnefeeling on twitter if you save/use

[stuffutb]

liverpool headers — training, melwood

[benoiststuff]

c. @capitacvers

like or reblog this post if you use/save.

[thingsfortwitter]

like or reblog; give credits on twitter “payneironic”  ♥

[stuffsseries]

Melwood Headers 💓

like or reblog credit for @bensfeld

[editsdanvers-blog]

melissa benoist + chris wood packs.

• like or credit deinertbenoist on twitter

[iconsdeserie]

like or reblog

twitter: @catgront 

[lavienrosedits]

Kara + Mon-El

• like/reblog if you save

[melwoodedits]

header simples melwood and melissa benoist

like or reblog. if you like and save. credit on twitter @panabaksr if using

[sgirlstuff]

MELISSA + CHRIS PACKS

like/reblog or (c) @ifavslexie on twitter

[lockscreens-n-stuff]

Melwood Baby 2020 layout 💙😭

[facepalming-since-chernobyl]

McCreep tweeted a prediction that Melwood would announce divorce by January 1, and if not, he will change his icon to Chris and use a Melwood header for a month. Let’s hold him to that 😜

Can he put Pratt as his icon? Because I already know he will need it *rolls eyes*

[walkonwalkonwithhopeinyourheart]

The Iron Man and the Pie Man (or 'why I feel the way I do about Manchester United') via /r/LiverpoolFC

The Iron Man and the Pie Man (or 'why I feel the way I do about Manchester United')

This is a story about sportsmanship by a referee, and lack of sportsmanship by a Manchester United player. Like many Liverpool fans, I would go to Anfield whenever I could, including testimonials. The first time I ever went to Anfield was 13th May 1974. Liverpool had won the FA Cup on 4th May, Bill Shankly was planning to surprise everyone by retiring, and a quick glance at who was relegated from the (then) First Division will quicken the heart of any Red.

It was a testimonial game for Ron Yeats, and featured Bobby Charlton playing for Celtic. You can read more about that game here and here. Anfield only missed out on its first sight of Kenny Dalglish because of upcoming International games, but the ground resonated to the veneration of two mighty Scots, Jock Stein and Bill Shankly.

The visiting Celtic fans (at least 10,000, including at least 11 sober) created a carnival atmosphere, singing Shankly's name in reverence to the tune of Amazing Grace. The Kop responded by singing "Jock Strap" in the same way. Celtic won easily and this account explains what actually happened on the pitch and on the terraces. Did Ron Yeats actually score in his own testimonial (or was it a Tranmere player?)

Anyway, Bobby Charlton was (and is) a legend, and he scored a trademark thunderbolt goal. So it was no surprise that Tommy Smith invited Charlton to pick the 11 players to act as the opposition in Tommy's testimonial played some three years later.

It was the 27th May 1977 and Liverpool had won the league (by one point from City), lost the FA Cup Final to you know who and had just won their first European Cup a couple of days before. You can imagine the atmosphere at Anfield!

My recollection is that at every home game, the same supporter would climb out of the Kop, run onto the pitch, take off his jacket and kick his jacket into the goal at the Kop end, the crowd would cheer and he would raise his hands in celebration! He'd put his jacket back on, and disappear back into the anonymity of the Kop. Such was the thrill of scoring at the Kop end!

A dream for any Liverpool supporter, but for one fan the dream was about to become a reality. A new type of TV show had been launched, called The Big Time. Today, the format is a cliche, but at the time it was groundbreaking. Ordinary people such as Sheena Easton got the chance to do professionally what they did as amateurs. Sheena became a star and learned a lot from her relationship with Prince but another episode featured a Scouser, Lol Cottrell.

Lol was an amateur player in Liverpool, a red man (and allegedly delivered Sayer's pies to Melwood). The pitch of the show was that Lol would be coached by the likes of Tommy Smith, Denis Law, Jimmy Hill and the legendary Bill Shankly for two weeks, and then get to pull on the red shirt and play at Anfield.

As these events happened more than 40 years ago, and the TV episode is not on YouTube, I am relying on my memory. But my memory is that Tommy Smith put Lol on a strict diet to help him lose weight, even though the game was a testimonial and he wouldn't have to do too much running. Anyone who saw Tommy Smith play can vouch for how much running Tommy did. Im pretty sure Tommy represented both England and 'Team America' so there is that.

The show showed Tommy "coaching" Lol, which involved Tommy showing his uncompromising side. Anyone who has seen Tommy play will know that he was Liverpool's enforcer, a hard man, or the "Iron Man". (Mind you, Jimmy Case was no slouch, either). After one weekend, Tommy weighed Lol. The scales showed that Lol had been on the sauce. Or perhaps the pies. Or the sauce and the pies. Lol swore that he hadn't over-indulged, to which Tommy replied "You're lying to me, but you can't lie to yourself". Shankly-esque.

Anyway, fast forward to the game and Liverpool pull a shock playing Clemence up front. This report claims Clemence scored two in a 9:9 result, but other reports claim that the final score was 3:3. No VAR then!

Anyway, part way through the second half, on comes Lol Cottrell, pulling on a red shirt and running out at Anfield front of a full house. A dream for many of us. There are two incidents that stick in my mind. One is someone passed to Lol on the edge of the box. The ball was waist high, and he decided to head it from outside the penalty area with a diving header. The opposition goalkeeper was Alex Stepney (of Manchester United), who made a good save. The crowd barely recognized this overweight player, applauded his invention.

Towards the end of the game, the referee saw an incident that no one else in the ground had seen, and awarded a penalty to Liverpool. It was just as well there was no VAR at that time, as the ref was the only person to see a foul or transgression of any rule. The referee had awarded the penalty in order to fulfill Lol's dream of scoring at Anfield, in a red shirt, in front of the Kop.

Lol stepped up, eyeballed Stepney, and looked behind him at the 14,000 Kopites willing him to score.

He missed it.

Although at the time I did not wear glasses, my eyesight was not as good as the referee, who had spotted encroachment by the opposition players into the penalty area, something that no one else in the ground had spotted. The referee duly ordered the kick to be taken again.

We can only imagine what was going through Lol's head. His heart would have been thumping out of his chest. This is it lad. The crowd were laughing. "Come on lad! put it away!" Stepney would have been giving him the eye. He had famously saved at the feet of Eusebio in 1968, just 12 months after Celtic became the first British club to win the European Cup.

Lol stepped up, hit it, and Stepney saved it.

He saved it.

Stepney was interviewed after the game about his lack of sportsmanship. His response was

"I wasn't going to be beaten by an amateur"

I will translate that from the Klingon into English. My ego was so big, my heartlessness so complete, I refused to help realise the dream of a humble supporter. Here is a write up that mentions a 3:3 result and also claims that Lol subsequently assaulted a referee in the Sunday league and got a lifetime ban a couple of years later.

Of course, it would be a big leap to say that Lol's anger and frustration of being remembered as the guy who missed two penalties in front of the Kop in a televised game affected him for the rest of his life. I hope not. But what I can say that that was the point where rivalry with Manchester United toggled from being just another rival, like Leeds or Nottingham Forest, into a more intense dislike. Other words may also apply.

So there you are. The pie man and the iron man. Was the result 3:3 or 9:9? What happened to Lol Cottrell? If any of you know, let me know in the thread below. If any of you remember the lad who used to kick his jacket into the goal that would be great, too

Let's hope that we show that we are more like Bobby Charlton than Alex Stepney!

Submitted January 16, 2020 at 12:22AM by Eric_Clanton via reddit https://ift.tt/2tltilq