Can We Walk Alone With You? Everton Fan Gets Liverpool Anthem Tattoo (For Charity)
DIEHARD Everton fan Matty Bowman has raised funds for desperately ill George Johnson, 4, by having the Liverpool’s club motto, You’ll Never Walk Alone, tattooed across his back. The deal was that if enough people pledged money for George, Matty would get the ink.
George suffers from a very rare motility condition (which means that he can not eat or drink and survives by being fed through his heart) and desperately needs to travel to a specialised clinic in the US to have his illness diagnosed and treated properly – and, sadly, incredibly expensively.
Matt, 26, told the Liverpool Echo:
“It took a few people to persuade me but I’ve got to go for it. I have been following this young lad’s story for about a year. I wanted to do something for him. (I thought) a marathon doesn’t get too much interest, so something hardcore like this might get a lot of interest. His mum has not stopped thanking me. We are going out for a meal next week as a thank-you. If I didn’t want to do it, I wouldn’t have done, but I did it for a reason – it was for George, I’ve got a boy the same age.”
We all wish George every ounce of luck. You can donate here.
One small thing, however. Might it be that Matty has always had a soft spot for the Liverpool anthem? Everton’s 1995 FA Cup final record, All Together Now, an adaptation on the Farm’s indie hit, was a good one- “Remember boys back in ’66, We won the cup with Catterick, Kendall’s boys in ’84, Now Big Joe Royle is coming back for more” – and the team running out to the theme from Z-Cars is a quaint footballing flashback to less DJ-driven sing-alongs. But neither tune gets the terraces in one voice – not like Liverpool’s rousing version of that 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical staple.
Liverpool fans know full well that every time they sing it in one voice, Everton fans wonder why they have no similar rouser. How they’d like to join in. They just need to find a valid reason. Can charity be it? Pink Floyd provided one by sampling ‘Walk on’ for their hit Fearless. But that was a mere snippet. To really enjoy the sing-along, you need to give it full throat with abandon.
PS – Your writer is an Arsenal fan who endured the pain of loving Spurs’ FA Cup final smash hit Ossie’s Dream – when Ossie wanted to “win the cup for Tottingh-ham”, and with those trembly knees, and all…. – and never – NEVER! – being able to join in…
Spotters: Team George/Facebook, via Liverpool Echo
Posted: 29th, January 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
