A Dark Foreboding

Like every other kopite tonight, every sinew every molecule of my being will be stretched to breaking point urging, praying for us to succeed. The prize, our 8th European CUP Final .This is the pinnacle of every fans wildest dream, to win the most glamorous, famous club trophy in the entire world of sport. So why the dark foreboding, the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach?

To be involved in one tragic disaster is bad enough .Two is enough to destroy most clubs and haunt their fans to their death beds.  A third would be unimaginably bad for everyone involved, but mostly Liverpool FC.  In LFCs darkest moments we foresaw the events leading up to the tragedies. The club flagged up all the dangers of the way the games were being organised but alas were ignored. Of course the club took the brunt of the aftermath as the authorities washed the blood off their hands, pointed fingers of blame elsewhere.    

For many months now clubs have been questioning the wisdom of Moscow and i'ts geographical location on the furthest extremities of Eastern Europe. Flights from England, who have had four of the top teams in the event, will take 6/7 hours. Moscow has the smallest amount of hotel rooms of any other comparable European city. The stadium has no turnstiles, akin to Istanbul and Athens, which resulted in mayhem as fans entered the ground.  Politically Russia is still unstable; the structure of the state police and army which ruled with an iron fist across the whole of Eastern Europe is still in place. .  Political relations with Britain are very poor; the Russians would like nothing better to use our fans as a way to embarrass our government with the whole world watching.  

To top it all now Manchester United are in the final. The history between the fans for many years has been obnoxious. Both fans taunt each other with the other clubs tragedies. Trouble flares up even when marshalled by Merseyside/Manchester police who are now the best in the business when it comes to handling football crowds. The Russian police/army will take no prisoners. Plus, fans who may get arrested through no fault of their own are in a very foreign country who have broken off full diplomatic relation with Britain, god help them.