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Thank God For Sami Hyypia

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Liverpool FC HyypiaNEWS of Michael Owen’s retirement last week was a little bittersweet for me. On the surface, like many Liverpool fans, I just didn’t care either way. That’s what he’d become to me – a non-entity.

But he was once an idol. Even though he’s only a handful of years older than me his ‘clean-cut’ image and pure footballing ability were all that I admired about him.

Other unique English talents from the ‘90s had been huge disappointments; Gascgoine, Merson and so on but Owen seemed to have a maturity and genuineness about him that was quite remarkable and as teenager, that stood out for me. His double strike against Arsenal in the 2001 FA Cup final ‘sealed the deal’ for me, in terms of his status.

Which is why his betrayal hurt all the more. It’s always why I completely lost faith in ‘idols’ and have really only ever had one player I have ‘looked up to’ since.

For me, Owen’s betrayal wasn’t when he chose Newcastle over us, nor that team that dare not speak its name. It was when he walked out on Rafa Benitez before even giving him a chance to prove himself. Had Owen stayed, who knows what would’ve happened?

Choosing Newcastle’s millions and then opting to move to Fergie-land after that were the final nails in the coffin of his status amongst Liverpool’s fans but he started down that ruinous path for me when he left us in the lurch in 2004, with only Baros and Cisse as strikers and assisted me in losing faith in footballers as heroes.
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But, thankfully, for every bland, mercenary-like striker from Chester there is a stoic, near-perfect defender from Kuusankoski.

Over the years, Sami Hyypia has constantly restored my faith in footballers. His confidence, ability, resolve and sincerity are traits that I hold in high esteem, as I’m sure we all do. Even after leaving Liverpool, I have followed his career closely, from player to manager at Bayer Leverkusen.

On Saturday morning, I recognized a mop of flaxen hair on Football Focus and I stopped in my tracks; it’d been far too long since I’d seen or heard Sami on English TV and remembered how much I missed the assurance his presence gave me – he is precisely the kind of character we are missing at Liverpool at the moment.

So, for myself, while I am always in a love/hate relationship with footballers and football in general, I will always have an eternal soft-spot for Sami Hyypia. The man that almost single-handedly cast away memories of the likes of Julian Dicks, John Scales and Steve Harkness. The man who managed to unite Reds and Blues in admiration. The man who managed to constantly restore my faith in the footballing icon.
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I'm a 32 year old Liverpool fan, living in the heart of the City Centre. I've supported the club since the day I was born and have been writing articles for L4L for over 3 years, writing close over 350 articles in that time. My favorite player of the past generation is Sami Hyypia.

I am the current editor for L4L, with my day job being in R&D for the NHS.

7 comments

  • simon says:

    Legend. Hopefully our manager some day

  • ste says:

    Deffo the next Liverpool Manager, whether thats in the summer or a few years away remains to be seen.

  • Denise Williams says:

    According to Stephane Henchoz Owen never walked out on Rafa at all. Rafa told him to go to Madrid as he didn’t want him. Henchoz also said Owen never wanted to leave but was told by Rafa he had no choice. If this is true and Mickey Quinn stated last week he was told the same by someone else then Rafa has been lying through his teeth all these years. I wonder why that doesn’t surprise me.

    • redrum says:

      if that were true – Owen would have signed the contract that was on offer for a whole year before he left … but guess what ? he didnt sign .

      Owen had no intention of signing . His refusal to sign meant Liverpool had to sell or lose him for free

      • Denise Williams says:

        Look redrum you really do not know the truth about that either. One thing I do know for an absolute fact is there was contract offer on the table for a whole year as you put it. The reason I know was because Houllier had sharp words with Rick Parry not long before Houllier was sacked on the lines of get your finger out and sort out Owen’s contract. However Parry was only interested in sorting out another deal and pay rise for Steven Garrard despite him only signing a contract only a few months previously. All of this was common knowledge and in the press with direct quotes from Houllier. However many fans chose to ignore that.

  • Denise Williams says:

    Not nonsense at all cold hard fact. Are you calling Stephane Henchoz and Gerard Houllier liars. Owen did not want to leave his options open at all as you put it. The fact was there was no actual contract on the table to sign the fact is Parry dithered and messed around for many months longer than he should have. Another fact Owen’s agent provided Parry with a long list of dates he could come in and discuss the contract only for Parry to claim he hadn’t time on any of those dates. Personally I don’t believe Parry was even interested in Owen’s contract. Hence Houllier having a go at him.

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