 IN A nutshell, May 25, 1977, is the most glorious date in English football history. It outshines the national team winning the World Cup by a mile - after all, that was at Wembley, after extra time! It outshines that other North Western team in red winning the big one in Europe too - that was also at Wembley, and also after extra time! What's more, it came after we had been fluked out of the FA Cup by the said other North Western team in red. At the time, they were non-entities, barely out of the second division, and we were rapidly becoming the finest club side in the world. So, of course, they go and do us, courtesy of a deflected goal off Tommy Smith's backside, in the process ruining our assault on the classic treble. Doubts stirred in our minds. Were we cursed to fall one fence short of the finishing post the way those great Leeds teams always did? Were the sceptical southern critics like Brian Glanville right when they said no way were we European Champion material? Anyway, on to Rome. For all the emotion, the game went more or less to plan. The first goal by Terry Mac was the culmination of a classic passing move straight from the training ground. The Sunday Times even did one of their little cartoons analysing it, an unusual tribute in those days. Then Borussia got one back, a cracking drive from the classy Simonsen. Fair enough. Enter Smith, of all people, atoning for his Wembley mishap with a bullet header. The penalty earned by Kevin Keegan was a bit academic. In truth, the win was the culmination of the Shankly era, albeit three years after he resigned. But far from the end for Liverpool, it was the beginning of an even more glorious chapter, with Paisley playing Augustus to Shankly's Julius Caesar. Style replaced sweat as Dalglish came in for Keegan, Souness for Cally and Hansen for Yosser. Happy days! Still, if we win in Istanbul with the current team, it must go down as an even bigger deal. It's one thing to win the National with a thoroughbred, but a pitpony? | 
