The eighties phenomenon of throwing things on the pitch has experienced a huge revival this season, and last night’s Merseyside Derby fell victim to this idiotic fad. Coins and plastic bottles were directed at the pitch, but the most bizarre missiles of the season turned up in the second half, when Liverpool fans started hurling socks onto the pitch.
Was it a safer version of the George Bush shoe throwing protest? Was it a surreal attempt to further destabilise Rafa Benitez’s diminishing sanity?
Alas, no. After searching some Liverpool message boards, The Spoiler discovered it was a taunt intended at Everton “sock robbers”. These are Kirkby residents who steal socks from clothes lines to keep their fingerprints off of the cars they steal. Kirkby, of course, is the proposed location of Everton’s new stadium.
Apparently, the concept of gloves and the idea that stealing is bad has yet to reach Kirkby.
Nineteen-year-old midfielder Dan Gosling will always have the memory of steering in a 118th minute winner that saw Everton progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup ahead of Liverpool. Unfortunately, most ITV viewers will not have this memory, thanks to Tic Tacs.
Aware that the Merseyside Derby was dreadfully boring, someone at ITV decided the nation would be much better off with a set of adverts instead. Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t great, as ITV were forced to cut back to Everton players celebrating their last gasp winner.
Aside from Lucas Leiva’s dismissal and some socks on the pitch, nothing else happened. If you must, check out the highlights after the jump…
Can we expect ill feeling and naughty words at Anfield tonight?
Back in the days before Sky Sports, £1,000 season tickets and barmy Spanish managers, the Liverpool/ Everton derby was a gentle affair that earned itself the moniker ‘The Friendly Derby’. As so many families consisted of supporters of both teams, segregation was not deemed necessary, and none of the vitriol present between, say, Arsenal and Tottenham could be detected.
These days, however, there is a helluva more tension between the sides: Rafa Benitez caused a big kerfuffle by calling The Toffees a ’small side’ in 2007, and the vile chants directed at Steven Gerrard, Phil Neville and their respective families in recent matches should not be wished upon anybody.
So, when did the tide turn on the Merseyside derby? Was it Evertonian bitterness over the Heysel disaster that kept English clubs in the European wilderness, or is it simply a change in the climate of the game that has created the animosity between all teams? Recent chants at Sol Campbell and Cristiano Ronaldo would certainly support the latter theory, but if you have any thoughts please let them be known below…
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