The Miracle Of Istanbul - Please Read

[The Erectile Banana]

Hi,

As some of you may know I am currently studying for my MA in Writing.
I am currently participating in a Non Fiction Workshop as part of my course. The final goal of this class is to write a 4,000 to 5,000 word article that could be published in a relevant journal or magazine.
I have chosen to write about the The Miracle of Istanbul on 25th May 2005, perhaps the greatest night of many of our lives. This year marks the fifth anniversary of that tumultuous night (hard to believe it’s been that long), so what better way to mark the occasion than by sharing the stories of the Liverpool fans who bore witness to the greatest sporting event of the past decade?
The article will be divided into two separate strands. Strand One will be based on my personal experience of the night as I fly from Perth to Melbourne and watch the drama unfold in The Celtic Club until early the next morning.
Strand Two is where you come in. I’m looking to collate the stories of as many Liverpool fans as possible and their experiences of the night, the build up, the match itself and of course the raucous celebrations. Whether you were one of the lucky ones who made the pilgrimage to The Ataturk Olympic Stadium or you simply watched through crossed fingers down your local I want to hear your story.

Let me know:
What you did during the build up – any superstitions etc.
Where you watched the match and who you watched it with
The range of emotions you felt throughout the match
How you celebrated afterwards

I’m particularly interested in anyone who watched the final in an unusual venue/situation or has a funny anecdote to share.

I would also greatly appreciate if you could provide me with pictures to accompany your tale.
You can email your stories to [email protected] or you can send them to me by PM if you prefer.

I think that this has the potential to make a really great article. Thank you in advance to everyone who contributes.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thanks,

David.

[The Erectile Banana]

Mods, could you please make this a sticky?

Thanks.

[Kinell]

Well I was in Aus for it to. It was state of origin the night before which Queensland won which was a great start to the build up. In my final year of school I had a maths exam the next morning, so it was a late night and a real early morning for the game. Watched it a golf club which a guy from Huyton managed so it was a decent turn out. Was there with my dad and his mate Manny, another mad red but from Huddersfield. Jovial atmosphere as it was probs in every place and then it was that gutted feeling after Maldini knocked it in, right through till half time. Then the 7 minute blitz haven't experienced a similar moment since the gradual build up of euphoria from Gerrard's goal to Xabi's equaliser! Almost felt like I died when Dudek saved Shevchenko in extra time. Having barely been able to watch the penalties, after, I went mad like everyone else, jumping round shouting etc! Exhausted, no voice, and swelling with pride and happiness it was then off to school with Liverpool shirt under my school shirt and blazer where I absolutely nailed my maths exam, the only one I passed that year!

Later on that night or might have have been the night after, I hate the ****ing timezones, stayed up to watch the homecoming on sky news! Sadly I've never felt so alone and far away at that moment sat in front of the tele in my boxers.

Can't believe it's going on five years ago now!

[Matt]

Eric I'll have a go at this tomorrow but I think you'd get a far better response if this wasn't a sticky, I only saw this just now and it's been on here since yesterday...

I saw the Villa game at the Celtic Club where Gerrard scored that free kick in the last minute.

[MrMichael]

Yeah, never sure how much attention people pay to the sticky section, I think they get too used to the same threads being there and ignore ones they don't use. Repeated bumping sometimes works better.....

I'll also see if I can put something together for you Mr Musa and pm you it over the weekend.

[Matt]

Why not unsticky it this morning and see how responses go...?

I'm sure there'd be plenty of people willing to share their stories if they realised the thread was kicking around because it's probably the biggest night in a lot of supporters' memories.

[The Erectile Banana]

Thanks for the responses guys.

Yeah, maybe it would be better to unsticky it and see how it goes.

[Reece]

As requested, Sir Eric of Bananalot

[The Erectile Banana]

Much obliged.

[squaddie]

I'll get back to you with a pm if thats alright.

The funny thing is i remember every detail apart from actually watchin the game! Just felt like 90 minutes of my life had dissappeared. 24 hours before hand ****ting it like never before.... the days and nights to follow carried a feeling ive never felt in my life, and would count myself a lucky cunt if i ever got to feel it again.

[redstaralex]

mate, am very happy to give you my story but I suspect that just mine would come to a few thousand words as it was such a magnificent day and that when you consider the "whole event" which for me started in work the day before with a lot of banter between 3 reds and many many mancs (worked in Knutsford at the time) through the early morning cab to the airport, the full day in Istanbul (including the best official passport stamp I've got which states under reason for travel "CL Final"), meeting up with mates who had travelled from all over inc China and Italy, the match and all the emotion and the plane back and then finishing up at the homecoming parade

have you considered just a small part of the day? otherwise I suspect you may still be reading peoples stories on the day of the deadline

as I'm writing this I suspect the Juventus away game including mine and g/f's lucky chippy routine was more humorous

[Stanbull]

I struggled for a ticket and tried all the usual avenues but to no avail, all my mates were boxed off one way or another and with just one week to go resigned to not making it.

On the Friday before the final I got a call from a good mate who said one of their party had to drop out and did I want to take his place on the VIP trip, flying out with the players not involved, wives & girlfriends, 5 star hotel, VIP hospitality before the game, and ticket in the VIP section

I told him to **** off, it wasn't funny & put the phone down

He rang me straight back claiming it was not a joke and chance of a lifetime, all legit via The Club

I couldn't afford anyway I tell him but he says its £800 odd all in and that's less than some of my mates have paid going on Pov Airways, but I had to decide there and then.

I gave him my credit card details, taking the gamble of my life, I was either going to Istanbul in style or my credit card was about to used all over South East Asia buying high price electrical goods and expensive carpets

Monday morninng the posty delivers a letter from LFC, inside is the itinery just as he described, flight tickets from Speke Airport, match ticket to be collected on the flight and one of these hang round your neck passes to "The Golden Horn Club" I **** you not.

Well I'm leaping round the house like a loon, kids looking at me with that "stop embarassing me "look . I'm going to Istanbul in style

Get to the airport circa 4.30am on the 25th of May after a night of little sleep, if I have to be up really early for something important I keep waking up every hour checking the clock, & this day was important

JLA was packed to the rafters with reds and a nervous expectation was in the air when I met up with my mates and the rest of the party who were all good blokes as it turned out

Our flight indicates boarding and we are ushered into a small private lounge / terminal were Pelegrino, Le Tallec, Pongolle, Warnock, Whitbread, Morientes and a few others plus Kewells Mrs, Montse and all the other WAGS. ****in hell I can't believe this

We land in Istanbul and as we enter the terminal they are playing YNWA over the tannoy, good omen I think

The coach journey from the Airport to our hotel was amazing as the motorways embankments were lined with thousands of people waving at us, loads with red scarfs and the traffic was really really mental. Our hotel was out on the coast an hours drive past the Attaturk Stadium which we saw in the distance as we passed. I remember thinking at the time that it was in the middle of nowhere.

Threw our bags in the room, quick shower & down to the bar for a couple & a bite to eat.
Morientes was in the lobby and was happily taking to anyone & people were getting photos with him , well it was rude not to wasn't it and I didn't want to hurt his feelings

The thing that I would regret was we couldn't make it to The square, looked great and the lads have since told me loads stories, said they buzzin all day off the atmosphere Effs & Kebabs

Eventually we get on the coach to go to the stadium, my nerves start tingling and 5 minutes in the songs start at the back of the coach, 5 minutes after that the coach is rocking all the way there

The coach parks up about half a mile from were we need to go, and we start walking along the pavement of a road that is desserted of traffic when the first surreal moment of the day happens.

As me and my mate are walking we here police sirens in the distance behind us, we look round and see travelling at some pace police outriders & this huge black Mercedes. As it gets near us the car slams on the brakes draws level with us and the rear window winds down, and this smartly dressed bald bloke in his 60's puts his arm out to shake hands.

"I'm Mayor something or other Welcome to Istanbul" and hands me & my mate his business card" and with that roars off

We just looked at each other and then pissed ourselves laughing it was so bizarre

With my Golden Horn Pass round my neck I head into this huge marquee about 2 hours befor kick off and it was very impressive, huge buffet, hot food, free drinks huge TV screens. Warnock sat next to us to eat his food and he was saying how pissed off he was not to have made the squad, he felt he had done enough & had mixed emotions about being here. I have to say he was a really down to earth bloke.

The french duo Le Tallec & Pongo were moody little ****s and looked down on everyone who wasn't in the squad

After the food we got some drinks & I was stood next to Morientes watching highlights of previous European Cup goals,it was weired watching him watching himself scoring a goal on the TV. Also caught a glimpse of Marradona but he was surrounded by minders

An hour to kick off and it was all very nice in the prawn tent but I wanted to get in the ground now and savour the build up plus I wanted to be sober for this, the biggest game I'd ever been to

Got to my seat and behind me I could see Thomo in a box giving an interview, the next box along was McMannaman doing similar

We all know what happened in the game, and to tell you the truth I can't remember much of the first half other than their 3 goals

Half time we just sat there stunned, texts from Blue****e & Manc fans were coming through taunting me.

The YNWA just before the start of the second half was the best I have ever witnessed or been part of

Then the six crazy minutes, once we scored the second I knew we would get another, you could see & feel the Milan side collapse and the 50 odd thousand Liverpool fans on all three sides of the ground were at fever pitch making a deafening noise, you really did belive we were going to win it at that point

I couldn't watch Xabi's pen so I had my back to the pitch watching Thommo looking out, heard the sigh & thought oh no only to be replaced a split second later by thunderous cheering, leaping, dancing. I looked up could see Thommo hammering the glass.

Extra time went on for ever & I just wanted it over & pens, we looked knackered

Pens, I'm never good watching these but when Sheva went up my nerves were shot & them the best feeling I've ever had in football, all around went mental, watching the lads on the pitch celebrate, hearing us sing "Champions League you having a laugh" to all those knockers back home

Seeing Stevie lift the cup, unbelievable from were we were some hour and a half before, we seemed to stay in the stadium celebrating and hugging strangers for what seemed like hours, but oviously wasn't

As we head out of the stadium to try & find our coach loads of young turks in Stewards vests were begging us for scarfs, badges anything with LFC on. We just handed them all over WTF we won

The coach trip back to the hotel was extremely quiet which sounds odd looking back but I think everyone was exhausted and probably trying to come to terms with what we had just witnessed.

I got my phone out, turned it on and text after text of congrats was coming through from home,family, from mates, work collegues and I felt so proud reading them.

As for the texts I got at half time from all the gob****es, I just slowly deleted them without replying with a feeling of contentment, I didn't need to rub it in,I knew how they would all be feeling

We finally arrived back at the hotel about 3.00am can't really remember but we all grabbed a pint and ordered champagne and the hotel staff witnessed the party of all parties as 500 plus reds celebrated winning the European Cup for the 5th time, ours to keep and in such dramatic fashion so far from home.

With about 2 hours sleep we were back on to the coach heading for the airport, as we slowly exited the hotel we had to stop by some road works, suddenly all the construction workers stopped and started applauding us, then the rest of the street joined in, it was a mad feeling

The coach we were on went strainght through the gates of the airfield and to a private room away from the main building and we boarded very quickley and apparantly took off straight after the team plane as all the WAGs wanted to be on the parade

I slept all the way back, got off the plane, jumped a cab home to an empty house, wife had taken the kids to watch the homecoming, I was just too knackered, so I put the telly on and pressed play on the video(do you remember them) and prayed to god the Mrs hadn't ****ed the recording up. I 'm happy to report I am still married

[jono]

David.... when does your paper have to be in by?

[dom9]

I struggled for a ticket and tried all the usual avenues but to no avail, all my mates were boxed off one way or another and with just one week to go resigned to not making it.

On the Friday before the final I got a call from a good mate who said one of their party had to drop out and did I want to take his place on the VIP trip, flying out with the players not involved, wives & girlfriends, 5 star hotel, VIP hospitality before the game, and ticket in the VIP section

I told him to **** off, it wasn't funny & put the phone down

He rang me straight back claiming it was not a joke and chance of a lifetime, all legit via The Club

I couldn't afford anyway I tell him but he says its £800 odd all in and that's less than some of my mates have paid going on Pov Airways, but I had to decide there and then.

I gave him my credit card details, taking the gamble of my life, I was either going to Istanbul in style or my credit card was about to used all over South East Asia buying high price electrical goods and expensive carpets

Monday morninng the posty delivers a letter from LFC, inside is the itinery just as he described, flight tickets from Speke Airport, match ticket to be collected on the flight and one of these hang round your neck passes to "The Golden Horn Club" I **** you not.

Well I'm leaping round the house like a loon, kids looking at me with that "stop embarassing me "look . I'm going to Istanbul in style

Get to the airport circa 4.30am on the 25th of May after a night of little sleep, if I have to be up really early for something important I keep waking up every hour checking the clock, & this day was important

JLA was packed to the rafters with reds and a nervous expectation was in the air when I met up with my mates and the rest of the party who were all good blokes as it turned out

Our flight indicates boarding and we are ushered into a small private lounge / terminal were Pelegrino, Le Tallec, Pongolle, Warnock, Whitbread, Morientes and a few others plus Kewells Mrs, Montse and all the other WAGS. ****in hell I can't believe this

We land in Istanbul and as we enter the terminal they are playing YNWA over the tannoy, good omen I think

The coach journey from the Airport to our hotel was amazing as the motorways embankments were lined with thousands of people waving at us, loads with red scarfs and the traffic was really really mental. Our hotel was out on the coast an hours drive past the Attaturk Stadium which we saw in the distance as we passed. I remember thinking at the time that it was in the middle of nowhere.

Threw our bags in the room, quick shower & down to the bar for a couple & a bite to eat.
Morientes was in the lobby and was happily taking to anyone & people were getting photos with him , well it was rude not to wasn't it and I didn't want to hurt his feelings

The thing that I would regret was we couldn't make it to The square, looked great and the lads have since told me loads stories, said they buzzin all day off the atmosphere Effs & Kebabs

Eventually we get on the coach to go to the stadium, my nerves start tingling and 5 minutes in the songs start at the back of the coach, 5 minutes after that the coach is rocking all the way there

The coach parks up about half a mile from were we need to go, and we start walking along the pavement of a road that is desserted of traffic when the first surreal moment of the day happens.

As me and my mate are walking we here police sirens in the distance behind us, we look round and see travelling at some pace police outriders & this huge black Mercedes. As it gets near us the car slams on the brakes draws level with us and the rear window winds down, and this smartly dressed bald bloke in his 60's puts his arm out to shake hands.

"I'm Mayor something or other Welcome to Istanbul" and hands me & my mate his business card" and with that roars off

We just looked at each other and then pissed ourselves laughing it was so bizarre

With my Golden Horn Pass round my neck I head into this huge marquee about 2 hours befor kick off and it was very impressive, huge buffet, hot food, free drinks huge TV screens. Warnock sat next to us to eat his food and he was saying how pissed off he was not to have made the squad, he felt he had done enough & had mixed emotions about being here. I have to say he was a really down to earth bloke.

The french duo Le Tallec & Pongo were moody little ****s and looked down on everyone who wasn't in the squad

After the food we got some drinks & I was stood next to Morientes watching highlights of previous European Cup goals,it was weired watching him watching himself scoring a goal on the TV. Also caught a glimpse of Marradona but he was surrounded by minders

An hour to kick off and it was all very nice in the prawn tent but I wanted to get in the ground now and savour the build up plus I wanted to be sober for this, the biggest game I'd ever been to

Got to my seat and behind me I could see Thomo in a box giving an interview, the next box along was McMannaman doing similar

We all know what happened in the game, and to tell you the truth I can't remember much of the first half other than their 3 goals

Half time we just sat there stunned, texts from Blue****e & Manc fans were coming through taunting me.

The YNWA just before the start of the second half was the best I have ever witnessed or been part of

Then the six crazy minutes, once we scored the second I knew we would get another, you could see & feel the Milan side collapse and the 50 odd thousand Liverpool fans on all three sides of the ground were at fever pitch making a deafening noise, you really did belive we were going to win it at that point

I couldn't watch Xabi's pen so I had my back to the pitch watching Thommo looking out, heard the sigh & thought oh no only to be replaced a split second later by thunderous cheering, leaping, dancing. I looked up could see Thommo hammering the glass.

Extra time went on for ever & I just wanted it over & pens, we looked knackered

Pens, I'm never good watching these but when Sheva went up my nerves were shot & them the best feeling I've ever had in football, all around went mental, watching the lads on the pitch celebrate, hearing us sing "Champions League you having a laugh" to all those knockers back home

Seeing Stevie lift the cup, unbelievable from were we were some hour and a half before, we seemed to stay in the stadium celebrating and hugging strangers for what seemed like hours, but oviously wasn't

As we head out of the stadium to try & find our coach loads of young turks in Stewards vests were begging us for scarfs, badges anything with LFC on. We just handed them all over WTF we won

The coach trip back to the hotel was extremely quiet which sounds odd looking back but I think everyone was exhausted and probably trying to come to terms with what we had just witnessed.

I got my phone out, turned it on and text after text of congrats was coming through from home,family, from mates, work collegues and I felt so proud reading them.

As for the texts I got at half time from all the gob****es, I just slowly deleted them without replying with a feeling of contentment, I didn't need to rub it in,I knew how they would all be feeling

We finally arrived back at the hotel about 3.00am can't really remember but we all grabbed a pint and ordered champagne and the hotel staff witnessed the party of all parties as 500 plus reds celebrated winning the European Cup for the 5th time, ours to keep and in such dramatic fashion so far from home.

With about 2 hours sleep we were back on to the coach heading for the airport, as we slowly exited the hotel we had to stop by some road works, suddenly all the construction workers stopped and started applauding us, then the rest of the street joined in, it was a mad feeling

The coach we were on went strainght through the gates of the airfield and to a private room away from the main building and we boarded very quickley and apparantly took off straight after the team plane as all the WAGs wanted to be on the parade

I slept all the way back, got off the plane, jumped a cab home to an empty house, wife had taken the kids to watch the homecoming, I was just too knackered, so I put the telly on and pressed play on the video(do you remember them) and prayed to god the Mrs hadn't ****ed the recording up. I 'm happy to report I am still married

Wow.

[Vermilion]

Watched it with my bro...a utd fan ..after waxing lyrical about Milan's finesse, skill and experience..as they shot into what everyone expected to be an unassailable lead..he then pessimistically began stating at 3-0 "this isn't over yet", while i was hysterically shouting at him..."don't be ****in stupid, your only saying that because your terrified LFC would win it you ****".

He got so worked up as each goal went in...as did i, me scared to believe....him scared to believe....mumbling things like...."there's only one winner here now"...while i still refused to believe we could produce such an amazing...unprecidented European Final Win.

Anyway, needless to say it was an eventful evening, which i'm not ashamed to say descended into a glorious slanging match, him with his "lucky lucky ****ers" jibes, and his "Dudek was well off his line" dismay, and me....well, i just didn't care what he said, i was invincible...bullett proof...

he couldn't hurt me with words about football....Look, LOOK!! what Liverpool fc just did.

And thank **** we did eh.