records significant events that happened in football on each day of the year. September 8th 1888, for instance, was the first day of the football league; March 29th Pickles the dog becomes a film star (1966). I reckon Murray and Walker might want to revise January 31st for any future editions. Instead of 'Ghana 0-2 Ivory Coast: Elephants sent to military camp (2000) they might want 'Mad Monday: chaos on transfer deadline day' (2011).
Talk about history unfolding before your eyes. The media went into meltdown. Ten years ago - actually even one year ago - we'd never have seen all the wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes but now with the Internet and Twitter and Sky Sports News anyone could follow events as they unfolded. On this day a record £130 million was spent in less than twenty four hours but the main stories focused on Fernando Torres (transferred from Liverpool to Chelsea for a whopping £50 million and Andy Carroll (Newcastle United to Liverpool for £35 million).
What I found interesting was the reaction of the fans. As reporters and journalists stood outside various stadia, ready to update the newest instalment (Torres is in a helicopter.... no he isn't ... yes he is... Carroll doesn't want to leave Newcastle... oh, yes he does...no way...) fans gathered behind them. Some were grinning, happy enough to be on the telly but others were becoming increasingly angry.
Liverpool fans were the first to make their views known. Torres, their hero, had let them down. It was no secret he'd been unhappy at the club but the speed and manner of his departure caught them by surprise. They reacted angrily. On Twitter, Bali Rai, urged everyone to send their shirts to charity. Others were less measured as this picture shows:
Worse still, Torres received death threats from a few Liverpool fans. Death threats! That's when it gets mental. OK, yes, when a player leaves one club for another it can feel lika a betrayal but death threats? That's beyond stupid. Sadly, it isn't uncommon. So what is it about football that drives usually sane, perfectly ordinary people to such extremes? What does the game unleash in them?
Maybe it's because for the die-hard fans (and remember, fan is short for fanatic) their team is an extension of their family. When I go to watch Huddersfield Town play and the singing end is giving it some welly, the song that gets to me every time is an old Elvis number. 'Take my heart, take my whole life too...' we sing, arms outstretched, lungs fit to burst. '...for I can't help falling in love with you...'
You is the club. The players are part of that club. The fans adore them and that adoration can last a lifetime, even when a player has retired or joins another team - as long as he joins that team in the right circumstances. Fans get that players have to move on. They know they can't hang on to their golden boy forever - that he'll have to be cut loose from the apron strings. But there's a right way and a wrong way to leave the nest and neither Carroll nor Torres were seen as leaving in the right way. But death threats? That's another ball game altogether...
Helena Pielichaty
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