"Chairman Mao has never seen the greatest show of red strength"

Its been a week since Liverpool came, saw and captured the hearts of many Red fans of this tiny island nation. I bet many of the Liverpool staff and players would have been shocked at the level of support that fans from 7000 miles away from home(Liverpool) could reach. Even Carragher and Sammy Lee who were here (the last time Liverpool came to our shores) 8 years ago would have been surprised at the huge support this time round. All the peripheral events prior to the match have one thing in common - Red fans galore. Even I was surprised by the Singapore Reds when I was in the stadium. I must say that theres probably more Red shirts in the stadium than NDP time. It was definitely leaps and bounds better than during the match eight years ago. At least this time round, theres some Kop songs being sung, albeit by small sections of the crowd only. Just as suspected, theres still some way to go for Singapore's Reds. But definitely, theres big progress. I still remember the first time the Reds came to Kallang all the way back in 1991. 99 percent of the fans back then were so much more ignorant about the Reds. One instance which sticks out was when it was announced that Steve McManaman (an exciting youth player then) was coming on as a sub, the majority of the crowd were laughing at the stadium announcer, and saying that he should have pronounced it "Steve McMahon". Steve McMahon was of course the midfield dynamo of the first team. But I and my mate could tell at once, from where we were, that the player about to come on was indeed the tall and lanky McManaman and not who the majority others thought it was.

Talking about progress, I really really wish that the team can build on last years great great effort and emerge the Champions this time round. Alas, we were so bloody close - 4 bloody points short! With Rafa at the helm, I am really sanguine about the prospects. By the look of the support in Singapore I am surely not alone in the level of optimism... Whatever it is, the famous team in Red will never be short of support :)

SANGUINE = WITH HOPE = RED