The Didi Man My Love Affair with Liverpool by Dietmar Hamann

Author:Dietmar Hamann
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Soccer, Sports & Recreation, Sports
ISBN: 9780755362820
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2012-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

FIRST WE TAKE BOLTON, THEN WE TAKE MILAN

‘In which Rafa tells me to go’

I remember staring up at the sky. It was a beautiful, clear Wednesday evening in late May 2005.

‘I could think of a lot better places to be on a Wednesday evening than right here right now,’ I began to think to myself. This was a funny thing to say really, because as I tilted my head downwards to take in my surroundings, a vast sea of red and white came into view, a wall of noise seeped into my consciousness and I was reminded that I was standing in the centre circle of the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, about to start the second half of a Champions League final.

There was just one small fly in the ointment. We were 3–0 down against AC Milan, who were playing as if to justify the commonly held belief that they were the best club side in the world at that time.

It was all a bit confusing in a way, because it was looking as if I had no future as a Liverpool player. With my contract due to expire at the end of the 2004/05 season, Rafa had spoken to me in January 2005 and we had verbally agreed the basis for a new contract. I was delighted because Liverpool was where I wanted to be. It was to be a one-year deal and if I played a minimum of twenty-five games I was to get a one-year extension. That suited me. I wanted to play and felt I could command a regular place in the team. I trusted Rafa’s word and though nothing was said I took it that we had an agreement and that we would do the paperwork towards the end of the season. Paperwork wasn’t really my department, I just wanted to play football.

Then we started to go through a really bad patch in the second half of the season. Chelsea came to Anfield and beat us 1–0; as did Manchester United; we lost at Southampton 2–0 and by the same score at Birmingham; we then dropped another Anfield point to Blackburn. A couple of wins in between did little to put a gloss on what was a very poor period by anyone’s standards.

Sammy Lee pulled me aside at training in the middle of this bleak period and told me that Rafa wanted a word in his office. I went in and he sat me down and got straight to the point. He said in a quite unemotional tone, ‘Didi, I’ve thought about it. That offer is not an offer any more.’

I didn’t know why, but he was ending my Liverpool career and I didn’t even argue the toss with him. I just looked a little stunned and said ‘OK’. That was it. I walked out of the office.

As Rafa’s words began to sink in I realised that in about twelve weeks’ time I would no longer be a Liverpool player. It was a bolt from the blue.

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