Liverpool’s Quadruple Quest: A Nightmarish April of Our Dreams
Dreams are really made of nightmares.
As Liverpool fans, we should know this as it’s right there in You’ll Never Walk Alone.
The entirety of our club’s beloved anthem takes place inside of a storm. A dark storm. A storm strong enough to throw your dreams to the wayside. A storm that should terrify and dishearten you. Not exactly a summer’s picnic.
Beyond that, the subject of the song is forced to walk through such a storm. Not run, not seek shelter, but walk directly through it with the only motivating factors being the hope that there is indeed an end to this storm.
And though we all bellow the promise of a golden sky and the lark’s silver song, the “you” we sing to never actually arrive there. If songs were realities, whereby the lyrics were acted out live, You’ll Never Walk Alone would be a truly dreadful scene to witness.
Yet somehow we all sing this song to the heavens and use its words to invoke hope and inspire dreams. Again, this is because dreams are really made of nightmares.
What was your wildest dream as a Liverpool supporter?
Was it to see them finally win the European Cup again? What a nightmare that was. Between Rivaldo freekicks, Eidur sitters, Dudek double saves, and a penalty shootout, the realization of that dream definitely slashed years from my life at a young age.
Was it to see us win the league again, finally? Again, what another nightmare. Every single league match feeling like a must-win. Being 10 points clear and still not feeling safe. Oh, and then the whole world shut down and it almost got canceled. Once again, another dream came true robbing me of my golden years of retirement.
And what of the biggest dream of all? The untouched summit of English football. The quadruple. What a nightmare that would be.
Which would be a fair way to look at the April ahead of us. Objectively it is nightmarish.
It is the storm of all storms. Ultimately though, in order to reach the most golden of golden skies, the dream of dreams, one must first endure the storm of all storms. The nightmare of all nightmares.
It would be far too easy to dread the task ahead. The games ahead look as if they were hand-chosen by a neutral being forced to watch only Liverpool play. All of our biggest rivals, FA Cup semifinal, and Champion’s League football all packed into the space of 30 days; how terrifying. It’s all you could ever dream of.
Which takes us back to dreams being made of nightmares
That seemingly oxymoronic dichotomy is precisely where I find myself as a football fan. For me personally, the storm I will happily walkthrough, the nightmare I will happily dream, will see the emotional and rational parts of me do war.
The emotional side is fueled entirely by the remaining pieces of the inner child that fell in love with Liverpool Football Club 20 odd years ago. Long before these types of dreams were genuinely realistic and long before I realized how far off those dreams really were. That side of me is rabid at the thought of what’s to come and what could be for Liverpool.
However, the rational side of me shudders at the true task at hand. The general anxiety and feeling of helplessness that is inherent to being a football fan only being multiplied by the magnitude of the matches being played feels like standing on top of a really tall cliff loads of people have jumped from before. I will leap, but I will lose years.
That is the place I find myself while looking at the road ahead for Liverpool. An internal civil war waged. I’d have it no other way. It’s a dream come true.
Again, like most dreams I’ve lived with this football club, it is sure to be a dreadful experience – a nightmare. The most exciting and terrifying of nightmares you could ever dream up. Because that’s what the grandest of dreams requires, the grandest of nightmares.
