‘I WOULD KNOCK THE F***ING HINGES OFF THE DOOR FOR HIM’
Jürgen, Liverpool Helped Me Through the Darkest Periods of My Life
When Parkinson’s persisted, The Reds were there to lift me up
I love football.
English football, that is.
It’s soccer to us here in the States.
This is something I never thought I would say nine years ago. But I knew I wanted to get into it then.
The only problem is that I didn’t have a team to support.
That’s what we do, right?
We support a team through thick and thin and would do anything for.
As a Long Island resident, the New York Islanders will always have my heart. Sometimes to a fault. But right behind them is Liverpool Football Club.
Why them?
One day in 2015, my wife Nicole, who works at an ad agency, went on a scavenger hunt put together by NBC Sports to celebrate their new television rights deal to air the Premier League on their network.
Every scavenger hunt team was given kits to identify themselves. As I’m waiting in Penn Station for Nicole to go home together, here she shows up in a Liverpool shirt.
That got me. I was an instant supporter.
But I didn’t realize what I had gotten myself into. And how much it would change my life.
I decided to get the full experience by going to a Liverpool supporters bar in Manhattan to watch a match.
That moment changed everything that I thought I knew about football. The chants, the songs, the community and the energy was eye opening.
It just so happened that I was entering the LFC community at the same time that manager Jürgen Klopp took over the club. The Reds were not playing their best that year and Liverpool brought Klopp in to change things up and inject some energy into a team that was looking for something more.
I had never seen anyone like him before.
His energy on the touch line was absurd. His passion was unbridled. You could see he loved the club, the city and the supporters.
Jürgen Klopp is not just Liverpool’s manager.
He is Liverpool.
You know those guys people say they’ll run through walls for? Yeah, that’s Jürgen.
I would knock the hinges off a fucking door for him.
When I read on last Friday morning he would be leaving the club at the end of the season my heart sank a little bit.
It’s the equivalent of your best friend just saying he doesn’t have the energy to be your friend anymore.
But the more I sat back and thought about it, the more I thought about how fitting this is. Jürgen’s Liverpool teams got me through some of the darkest periods of my life.
The throws of Parkinson’s may have had persisted over the last eight years but I always knew that every weekend between August and May I could turn the TV on and Jürgen would be there leading Liverpool to glory.
And for the next 90 minutes, Parkinson’s disease didn’t exist.
For 90 minutes it was just me and Liverpool FC just looking to win a football match.
No tremors.
No dyskinesia.
None of that stuff bothered me.
The day that probably rings most special to me has to the day we brought my daughter home from the hospital, May 7, 2019.
Liverpool had just gone down 3–0 in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal against Barcelona — and that Lionel Messi guy. In order to go through, Liverpool needed to defeat Barcelona by four goals in the last match.
And they had to do it without two of their top strikers.
Sounds impossible, right?
Before the game, Klopp was asked if he thought they could pull it off. With his signature smile, breaking through the stoic nature of his presence, his answer was one that will stay with me forever.
“That is the plan: just try. If we can do it, wonderful. If not, then fail in the most beautiful way.”
Fail in the most beautiful way.
Wow. What kind of coach says that?
So what happened later that day?
Nicole and I brought our daughter home and I sat on the couch cradling our new baby. Nicole turned on the second half of the game for me.
I didn’t want to watch because I had already determined what the outcome would be in my head.
I was wrong.
Way wrong.
Liverpool defeated Barcelona 4–0.
It had to be, in my opinion, one of the greatest sporting comebacks of all time.
After the game, when the shock, surprise and joy was subsiding, the entire club gathered around the Kop end of the pitch where Liverpool’s most ardent supporters are located, and all sang Liverpool’s iconic “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.
And me?
My daughter was sleeping in my arms, so I just sat there, rocked her and sang along — quietly — everyone at Anfield.
In that moment, everything was perfect.
Parkinson’s did not exist.
There was love, happiness, and and support.
Liverpool went on to win the Champions League a few weeks later.
In the next few years, Liverpool also went on to win the UEFA Super Cup.
They also went on to win:
The FIFA Club World Cup.
The Premier League title — Liverpool’s first top division title in 30 years.
The League Cup.
The FA Cup.
And the Community Shield.
Now then, I know he will never ever ever read this story by this supporter from Long Island, but if he does, well…
Jürgen, thank you for your passion.
Thank you for your positivity.
Thank you for bringing some joy to my life when it was hard to find some.
Thank you for reminding me that I will never, ever, walk alone.
Thanks for reading my story.
