Lucas: Underrated Brilliance

"People just don't know how good Lucas is."
         ~ Rafa Benitez, December 2008.

The above quote came from the darkest days of Lucas Leiva's career to date at Anfield, in the aftermath of being booed by his own supporters in late 2008.  Liverpool fan's on the whole like to see themselves as different, rightly or wrongly, dating back to the old adage of The Liverpool Way.   To hear a player donned in famous red booed inside L4 like the Brazilian was stands out as a particular low in recent times, in stark contrast to the belief and values that fuel such an ethos.

That is for me, even lower than the booing of Hodgson, Konchesky and the like, during arguably the darkest days of the last twenty years.  At least that was understandable, almost inevitable.  Almost necessary.  The Liverpool Way was a dying myth, the life blood (and £110,000 a day) being drawn out of the club, bringing it to it's knees.  The discontent of the 45,362 was heard no more vehemently than during the home defeat to Wolves, but that felt a necessary act.  The mistreatment directed at Lucas, albeit not half as universal, wasn't necessary, and only served to highlight the misgivings of the new age of The Liverpool Way, and the fickle nature of the lesser educated fans - the Sky Sports generation.

When Lucas signed for Liverpool in the summer of 2007 for £6m (yes, six million) from Gremio in Brazil, he had quite the pedigree, and as was the trend with new signings from far and distant lands (i.e. people's limited knowledge stemmed from three minute YouTube clips) - quite the hype.

The captain of the Under 20's Brazilian side, and youngest ever recipient of the Bola de Ouro, Brazil's best player award, previously given to Tevez, Kaka, Romario and Zico - i.e. not a bad judgement of quality.  Whilst young, Lucas showed maturity and a mentality above his years, and moved to England as a 20 year old.  But Lucas didn't look like your typical Brazilian flair players, he looked more like a teenage member of a failed boy band.

I vividly remember his debut, in the caldron of the Goodison Park derby, coming off the bench to replace Steven Gerrard.

Steven Gerrard.  Liverpool captain.  In the derby.  Mad.

Had it not been for Phil Neville's out stretched hand on the line, Lucas would have won the game in the final minutes, and been a hero.  Instead, that honour went to Dirk Kuyt from the penalty spot as Liverpool ran off in to the distance with three points.  Rafa Benitez went on to explain his decision which had fans aghast with shock; "I had Lucas on the bench and I could explain to him what I wanted, I couldn't explain to the players on the pitch with the temperature at 180 degrees.  I wanted less passion and more calm. Someone that could analyse the game and say 'we are not in a hurry. If you play 15 minutes with calm and you have possession you will have four or five chances."


It was clear that Benitez rated Lucas, and saw a number of qualities not immediately apparent to the watching fans.  He was young, and still had a lot to learn, never mind adjusting to the rigours of the Premier League.  Lucas wasn't the flamboyant, creative attacker that our minds jump to when we hear the term 'Brazilian Footballer', he was what seemed to be a timid character who was fearful of the stature and reputation of his team mates.  Lucas was unfortunate, he made a series of high profile mistakes that cost himself and the team greatly, and gave Sky Sports and the like the opportunity to crash down on this un-Brazilian Brazilian.  His foul against Wigan to give away a penalty in the dying embers of the game, and subsequent red card against the blue half of Merseyside in the FA Cup game which saw a Tic-Tac advert mask the misery of seeing Everton score the winner, stand out particularly.

The lowest ebb.  During this stage of his career, Lucas look inhibited by the crippling fear of exasperating the dislike held by a large proportion of the fans, and giving the easily influenced general football fan more ammunition to laugh and say "he's shite".

This was the turning point.  A haircut and stirring performance in the demolition of Manchester United at Old Trafford, playing in place of an injured Xabi Alonso - something that few know, such was the assumption that the Spaniard was at the heart of such a memorable victory.  After the departure of Alonso in the summer of 2009, Lucas played 35 of 38 league games, and growing in stature, it was the time when fans began to see Lucas in a different light.  As a strong, and powerful defensive midfielder, who given the opportunity to get forward could excel, as nights particularly in Europe showed.

The darkest 5 months in two decades followed the removal of Benitez, yet Lucas shone under Hodgson, taking greater responsibility and performing to a such a level perhaps only his former manager believed he could reach.  "People just don't know how good Lucas is.  He is a fantastic player, he was captain of his club side at 19... he has a very good mentality...  He can tackle, he can pass the ball and he can win in the air."

The depature of Hodgson and arrival of Dalglish did not change his performance and standing within the team, winning the Player of the Year Award and making the most tackles in the England, Spain, Italy and Germany during the 2010-11 season.

Lucas has arrived and now must be considered the premier defensive midfielder in the Premier League, if not Europe.  His domination of Yaya Toure and quietening of David Silva against Manchester City on Sunday can only serve to emphasise his quality and importance to the Liverpool side.  His ability to break up the play is second to none, his passing range is getting better and better, whilst his tenacity and energy is mind blowing.  He has learnt from those around him, creating some kind of Mascherano-Alonso hybrid, the absolute definition of a modern day defensive midfielder.

It shows how far Lucas has come over the last four years, that the united concern that his potentially serious injury could deal Liverpool a blow greater than losing their captain for nearly a year, fingers crossed the prognosis is less debilitating both for Lucas and the club.

Whether or not he is ruled out for a considerable period of time, I look forward to the day the Lucas wears the captains armband at Anfield, and leads Brazil out across the world.

You're Hired

To be honest, I'm not sure why I haven't wrote this blog entry yet, seen as originally, this whole blog was motivated by the trials and tribulations that I faced and experienced on the road to getting a job.  Clearly, over time, it has become a wider exploration of things important to me, or at least of passing interest.

So, after 50+ applications (yes, I counted them) to organisations all over the country, countless painful online psychometric tests, and seemingly as many emails starting with the word 'unfortunately'... I finally have a job.

Since about May, when I really my applications really began in earnest, I have gone full circle in what I've targeted.  Initially, and quite naively I didn't really have much of a plan.  It was the glamorous opportunities I targeted first, the organisations with world renowned names - the most sought after ones.  Whilst I came close to one in particular, the lack of real world working experience cost me, especially as there's always someone who knows someone else, or has managed to get a weeks experience at the U-bloody-N, or the like.

Whilst these opportunities were marketing based, my relatively recent desire to forge a career in such an industry had me at a disadvantage.  Some people, as is the case with everything, will have known from an early age that they wanted to do something, and done everything they could to have made that a reality.

My reality was that I only discovered an interest and passion for marketing in the latter stages of my undergraduate degree, and whilst the year I spent studying for my MSc got me up to speed - I was playing catch up in practical experience.  It took quite a while to acknowledge this, again, perhaps naively, and led to a broadening of my application horizon.

A misguided venture in to the possibilities of recruitment followed, blinded by the lights of potential earnings above a basic salary, whilst my own focus became more on gaining that valuable work experience in an office, or on the road than following my own interest.  I had accepted that this was the route to go down, and went as far to be offered a job at a well known and respected drinks company, doing some thing that would provide me with experience I needed, rather than something I wanted to do.

Seemingly, out of the blue, I found a job that was not only something that I wanted to do and would follow on nicely from the MSc, but it was 2 miles away.  I had two interviews, and was offered the job on Tuesday last week.

So finally, I can leave my 6 and a half year vigil at River Island, and actually do something that I've been working towards for the last few years.

A Distinct Path

Thursday 17 August 2006, Sardinia; walking down to the rather pebbly beach on the third day of our holiday, in what now felt as an accepted routine, I felt confident. 

"... at worst, Mum, I'll get ABBC," I remember saying, "A in English, B in History, B in Sport and a C in Biology."

It was AS Level results day, and I wasn't facing the nervous walk in to school to pick up an envelope before looking down with my heart pounding.  I was waiting on a text, from a friend who I had placed the responsibility of getting my results for me whilst I was on holiday.

I had breezed through GCSE without much effort, and whilst I hadn't changed too much, I was sure I had put in enough effort to make the step up to AS.  With only four subjects, how could I not have enough time to revise sufficiently, and achieve some good solid foundations before A2 began? Well, that was the thinking anyway.

Lying on the beach, phone in hand, the text was expected around 12 o'clock.  A nervy fifteen minutes or so followed after midday, attempting to read a book as the nerves hit.

Finally, the vibration on the old Nokia hit.

English C.

History D.

Sport Studies E.

Biology U.

Umm, was this a joke? "I'm really sorry mate, I'm not joking."

In that instant, my trouble free world took the most unexpected and devastating of hits. Relatively speaking, of course.  I had expected, and been expected to do far better.  I was aiming for BBB to get on the Uni course that I wanted to be on, so this had massively set me back and left me with a mountain to climb to get remotely near where I should have been.

Getting the results on holiday was horrible.  I had no time or space to get my head round the results, and spent most of my time swimming out to a big rock a hundred meters or so to sea.  Worse of all, my parents - clearly disappointed, didn't lay in to me until we got home.  Very much an air of a stay of execution.  I knew it was coming.

Friday 28th October 2011, Home; shortly before work, it was worth a quick check on the Uni online results page to see if the painfully dull sounding Board of Examiners had finally confirmed my results.

Not that I expected any thing to have been published, just like the umpteen looks before hand. So when I checked and saw "Pass with Distinction" I had to get my mum to read it, just to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

Whilst it was what I had aimed for over the last year, I feared I had just dropped short after a particular Icelandic lecturer took a dislike to me and crucified a presentation that deserved a good 10% more.  Of course, to get a commendation at MSc level would have been good still, but I had aimed for a distinction knowing it was the only grade I could get that would make the cost of the last year worth it.

To get a distinction completed five years and two months of an educational roller coaster.  Back in August 2006, I was told by pretty much everyone going that it was nigh on impossible to recover grades like that.  I had a firm talking to by both the head of sixth form and my parents to get my head down and work, focusing less on being the class clown and playing football.  Three resits in January helped bring English, History and Sport Studies up a grade, whilst Biology was never given another passing thought as it was unceremoniously sacked off.  There are some things you can recover from in the world, but a U in Biology is not one of them.

I went on to get BBC at A Level, and whilst it didn't hit my BBB target, I had recovered enough to give myself a chance of getting on a good course at a good Uni.  Even before the results were published, I'd decided journalism wasn't the path I wanted to take, I eventually took a course through clearing that had some modules which I was really interested in.  Somewhat bravely (stupidly?), a fair few of the modules were science based, but I managed to get through.  Fortunately, the management focused modules helped and I earnt a solid 2.1 - another step as I tried to recover the disaster of '06.

The result of this year has finally put to bed that let down, and allowed me to perform better than expected.

With the price and time invested in the last year, it was inevitable that it would/will act as a huge weight on my shoulders until I justify it by getting a job better than one I would have got had I not studied for an MSc.  It will be some time yet until that weight can truly be lifted, but the result gained on Friday is the best first step towards achieving that.

Now to get a job.

365 Days of Change

"That was as good as we have played all season, and I have no qualms with the performance whatsoever. I only hope fair-minded people will see it the same way.  It's just unfortunate that such a good game of football, a real credit to the Premier League, will revolve round the fact that Liverpool did not win."

A year ago this week, Liverpool had just succumbed to their fourth defeat out of the opening eight games under Roy Hodgson's management, only goal difference separated them from being bottom of the table.  It was already painfully clear that Hodgson was not up to scratch - both in terms of managing a club with aspirations a top four finish at the very minimum, and in terms of what we, the fans, expect from the manager.  He simply wasn't made for Liverpool.  His football philosophy, culture and expectations were at polar opposites to that of the club, and the 34 years of experience he so often relied upon as justification for his appointment, was the very reason he should never have been considered for the job.

Hodgson, his experience and methods "translated from Halmstad to Malmo to Orebo to Neuchatel Xamax to the Swiss national team" did nothing to warrant his appointment, merely being the safe option, a yes man after that awful Rafael Benitez and his constant politics and "rants."  This was what Liverpool needed, in the opinion of Christian Purslow (the Fernando Torres of finance, no less), to steady the ship in the face of loan repayment deadlines, and make the club more attractive to possible investors.

However, the logic behind that decision quickly unraveled as Liverpool had their worst start to a season in 82 years.  Liverpool were playing awful, unimaginative football despite Hodgson's claims that he liked a "high tempo passing game," had a manager who refused to consider the Liverpool Way and whose expectations meant a 1-0 victory at Bolton was referred to as a "famous victory." It was not, but it was another nail in the coffin as Liverpool, its players and fans endured some of its darkest days on the pitch.

Fans, already heavily worn down by the ownership situation and the club bleeding money, were beginning to fall out of love with the club.  With the game.  I no longer looked forward to our next game, each loss felt less and less significant, and I was tired.  It wasn't our club anymore.  I vividly remember being sat high in the Main Stand on cold night in December when we lost to Wolves.  There was an air of inevitability of what was occurring in front of us. We were playing rubbish football, no creativity, no spark, and were completely outplayed by bottom of the table Wolves.  It was the night where the ironic chants of "Hodgson for England!" and "Dalglish!" became louder and louder.  Both in terms of sound, and meaning.

Hodgson didn't last much longer fortunately, yet I dread to think the state we would have found ourselves in had that gone on for a few months longer.

But Hodgson was just the support act of those dark days, the ownership situation had reached its head.  Martin Broughton, brought to the club by George Gillett and Tom Hicks to sell the club, had finally found an organisation who met the criterion set to buy the club.  On the 5th October, one of the most surreal statements I've ever read set the ball rolling in the most tumultuous few weeks in Liverpool's history.  Hicks and Gillett, unhappy with the prospect of making such a loss on the club they had bled try for 3 and a half years, attempted to remove Purslow and Ian Ayre from the board.  What followed was something I never thought I'd see, nor want to experience ever again - the future existence of the club being decided in a court.

It was a horrible period of time, but a year ago today, FSG completed the purchase of Liverpool Football Club.

"It's a real indication of how far we've come when we come into the dressing room and the boys are disappointed that they've drawn 1-1 with Manchester United."

This quote from Kenny Dalglish speaks volumes for the changes that the club has been through over the last 12 months.  No longer do we have a manager who so painfully and obviously didn't fit, nor are we bleeding £110,000 in interest payments every day.  The club is being professionally and effectively ran, making the most of our brand and strengthening our off the pitch performance ten fold.  The team is still in its infancy in terms of meeting its ultimate goals, but the potential and determination to do so is clear.

It is incredible to think how far we have come in the last 365 days, certainly further than my own expectations.  It was simply a relief to be free from Gillett and Hicks, yet there was massive caution associated with the new owners, and rightly so.  However, from the outset, John Henry and his colleagues have been willing to learn and to understand what needed to be done, from both the club perspective but also from the fans.  The ambition and honesty shown by FSG is in stark contrast from the depths of distrust, infighting and public embarrassment that overwhelmed everyone associated with the club, and seemed never ending only just over a year ago. 

The reds are coming up the hill.

An Ayre of Inevitability

"The socialism I believe in is everyone working for each other, everyone having a share of the rewards. It's the way I see football, the way I see life."

Over the last few days, this ethos, The Liverpool Way, has been widely considered to be under threat as the Liverpool Managing Director, Ian Ayre, indicated the club's desire to move away from the collective majority of the Premier League, and negotiate it's own overseas television deal.

I don't believe this idea to be quite as "scandalous" as some in the media would make out, and whilst I am not in support of it, I can see the thinking behind it.  Of course, it goes against the socialism that Shankly believed in, but sadly and with an air of inevitably, football sold it's soul to the devil long ago and this is just the next stage in it's unstoppable path (to ultimate destruction?).

In a world where Manchester United can sell sponsorship of their training kit for £40m, and Manchester City can sell their stadium naming rights, somewhat coincidentally admittedly, to Etihad for £400m over ten years - it is difficult for anyone to argue that it is still a level playing field, and everyone certainly can't be considered to be "sharing the rewards" as football appears to go from strength to strength.

However, with that said, challenging the issue of overseas television rights is very much frowned upon and equally unlikely to to happen, with 14 of the 20 Premier League clubs needing to sign off on it.  But why do Liverpool feel the need to float this idea? The Financial Fair Play rules.

The increasingly influential FFP rules dictate that a club must "compete within their revenues" based upon relevant income and expenses.  UEFA states in Article 58 that "relevant income is defined as revenue from gate receipts, broadcasting rights, sponsorship and advertising, commercial activities and other operating income, plus either profit on disposal of player registrations or income from disposal of player registrations."

Broadcasting rights are the only aspect of "relevant income" that are not individual to the club.  It would be wrong to share the income of gate receipts, sponsorship and commercial activities between every club in the league, as different clubs receive more, obviously.  So in that respect, why is it so out of the question for clubs to be paid their worth in terms of broadcasting.  Television rights in the UK, result in each club receiving £17.7m as an equal share, with then the more viewed clubs, i.e. the top 4-6, receiving up to £10m more in TV money.  So, to an extent, the bigger clubs already receive a greater slice of the pie.  However, even Alex Ferguson has suggested he doesn't think his club "gets enough money" considering the Premier League product, as it were, is sold to over 200 countries.

With that said, why can't the approach taken by Barcelona and Real Madrid be taken, where they rake in £136m per season? PER SEASON. It is clear to see why the Liverpool management feel their is a significantly untapped resource here, the support of the club and a number of others across the world means their hand could be strengthened beyond any happy majority.  But is suggesting this idea alone going against the foundations of the club?

Ian Ayre will merely be the mouth piece in this, with FSG, vastly experienced in monster television right deals and 80% owners of a sports network in America.  They are doing their job, they are investigating every single possible avenue for increase relevant income, and if that ruffles a few feathers... well it only highlights the state of the game.  If you don't play to the current environment and expectations, then someone else will and you will be left behind.  It is a sad fact of modern day football, and one that has already cost Liverpool dearly over the last 15 years or so, and its inability to fully realise the potential of its brand, and plan effectively for the future.  When football sold out to Sky in 1992, the Liverpool brand was immeasurably stronger than that of Manchester United.  Some two decades later and I don't need to tell you who did a better job on the business side of the club, never mind the integral links between on and off the pitch success.

I for one don't have any expectation for FSG and Ayre to get their wish, there are simply too many clubs who rely on the popularity and size of these clubs to bring in a significant proportion of their relevant income to accept any change.  I am sure FSG know this is probably the case too, and so, the eventual bottom line of this story is to strengthen the hand of the majority.  FSG are far too calculated and experienced as an organisation to not know every eventuality, whether that be going it alone, or achieving a stronger hand for the majority - both will benefit the club. An overseas television deal that includes the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City when they are posturing to go it alone, will be worth a lot more than a happy cast of satisfied clubs.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar suggestions from clubs looking at the possibilities of chasing their own overseas television rights over the next 20 months or so, again strengthening the hand of the majority with the ultimate outcome being an increase in deal that the Premier League receives in 2013, probably even more than the regular doubling of the fee up to now.

Benefiting everyone, sharing the rewards.

The Assessment Centre

The assessment centre.  Fundamentally flawed.

That is my feeling towards them at the minute. Especially if they are run as badly as some of the ones I have been on in the last week or two.  The whole point of an assessment centre, at least in terms of my understanding, is to find the most appropriate candidate(s) to recruit.  Whether that be through in-tray exercises, presentations, case studies, numerical/English tests, or group assessments… they’re basically there to test you, the candidate, against their criteria as to what they believe will be an appropriate candidate to hire.

Some of the aspects of assessment centre’s, I have absolutely no problem with.  None at all.  Some however, well one in particular, I couldn’t be more frustrated and disapproving of. 

Group assessments.

I know, I’ve got a great idea that will absolutely, definitely show me who we should employ.  We’ll give them 10 minutes, split them up in to a group of umm… lets say 10? 15? And let them work out a problem.  It’s brilliant.  We can see how they work with people, how they’ll fit in to our company culture, blah blah blah.

Wrong.

I have taken part in a number of group assessments, and to be honest, they are only getting worse.  They shouldn’t even be called group assessments.  They should be called ‘let’s see who can shout the loudest, and make the most insincere, fake approach to solving the problem.’ It is absolutely infuriating.  I took part in one a couple of weeks ago in London.  In groups of 15, we had 10 minutes to do one of those you-crash-land-on-the-moon-what-do-you-need-most tasks. 

Fifteen people.  That is a stupid, stupid number for such an activity.  So we spent 10 minutes with four or five people talking really loudly and saying all the things you are programmed to say, usually starting with the most patronising “right guys.” It’s a game, and maybe my inability to play the game is costing me, but ultimately, it is costing a good proportion of organisations that assume that just because you are shot down by some boisterous “Essixxxx girl” or some pompous Covent Garden politics graduate, that you are indeed rubbish at team work.

It is without a doubt the most frustrating aspect of trying to get a job.

Each time I am posed with such an assessment, I try my absolute best to get noticed, to weigh in well and show that I can play the game.  But sometimes, it is just impossible. 

But as I say, this will be costing the organisations that hire these people who play the game the best, and ultimately realise that they don’t match the company culture in terms of their personality, and they are god awful at teamwork. 

I do my best, and will continue to try and have my voice heard in such rubbish assessments, but the system itself is fundamentally flawed.  The ironic thing from my perspective at least, is the week assessment centre I spent at Adecco allowed a far better process, with group assessments over a week, in smaller groups with people who you have been able to create some kind of relationship with. It is surely here where you are more likely to show an accurate representation of your team working skills and personality.  I say ironic, because my team work "skills" were highly rated in that assessment, but it was my... wait for it... customer service skills that let me down. Nevermind, only had 6 years of retail experience, must have awful customer service skills.

I just can't win.

This will be massive.

Doomsday America: 10 years

I don't think I will ever witness such a day ever again.  At least, I certainly hope not.  Tuesday the 11th of September was not this generation's JFK or similar era defining moment, it was the apocalypse.  It was a day that has defined the world, at least in part, every single day since.  The biggest and most devastating attack on freedom for an unthinkable amount of time.  The day I remember vividly.  As vividly as a twelve year old could ever remember anything.

To be fair, I can't recollect whether there was an appreciation of what was beginning to happen whilst I was at school, but from the moment I sat down in the 'blue room' (I think it was the dining room, that happened to have some blue Ikea unit in) of our old house, I can remember the staggering images that were all over the television, as I attempted to do my maths homework.

Things like that shouldn't happen.  It took cold blooded murder to a new level.  I dread to think how those last few inevitable minutes must have felt for the passengers on those poor planes.  I remember being completely hypnotised by the events, literally not moving until being ordered to bed.  As the day wore on, and little to no homework was completed, the horror of what was happening truly become only to visible.

I remember my parents not letting my younger sisters watch the coverage.  How does an adult begin to understand what had just happened, let alone a 8 and 10 year old.  I had no idea.  Who would do this? Why? What on earth would possess anyone to commit such an act?

As the towers came down with the terrifying ease of a house of cards,  the terror and realisation of what had happened only became more real.  I can shut my eyes and see myself sat on my mum's bed, watching the wall-to-wall coverage on TV, as firemen, policemen, anyone who was physically able pored over the unthinkable tonnes of rubble.

I think the day afterwards was one of the most surreal experiences of my life.  Everyone was on edge.  Would they attack again? Would they attack us? There had been blind panic that the UK would be hit next, so much so that I can remember asking my mum "has it happened again?" after school.  To this day, I have a chilling newspaper from that day.

The last ten years have flown by.  From a personal perspective, from being in what, year 7 or 8, to finishing my postgraduate degree is an incredible stretch of time. I've been lucky and had a wonderful group of friends, I've witnessed incredible highs with Liverpool, traveled the world and doing my best to make something of my life.  The mere fact that 2,977 people weren't given that chance, never mind the thousands and thousands who were directly affected is one of the biggest injustices I think the world has ever bared witness to.

For what it's worth, I think America have done brilliantly in recovering (as much as is ever possible from such an event) over the last ten years.  George Bush, whilst not very popular with many, should be remembered with massive respect for how he stood up for his country, and the free world in the aftermath.  No peace time leader has ever had to deal with such an atrocity, and I hope history looks kindly on him.

It is impossible not to catch at least some of the programs in remembrance that have been on the television this and every anniversary, which images still haunt and hypnotise me as much as they did a decade ago.  The incredible courage and bravery of the fireman that day has always stuck in my mind.  How on earth do you charge in to a burning tower, knowing the chances of survival are stacked against you? How do you manage to do your job when your colleagues are being killed instantly by falling debris.  By falling people.

It is something that I have never been able to comprehend - amongst many, many other factors during that day, and something I don't think I could ever accurately reflect my respect and appreciation of the men and women who showed such insane amounts of bravery and fearless pride in what they do, as they charged in to the very heart of evil.

Incredible.

I feel particularly lucky on days like today.  Especially today. 

I am certain I will never ever forget the events of that day, nor the thousands of people who have had their lives so cruelly dictated by the forces of evil, and hope to never see something remotely like this ever again.

Good night and god bless. 

You'll never walk alone.