"Sailors, students, tourists and even Beatles fans have all been welcomed to Liverpool over the years. I arrived and started a new job in the city in 1999. I've always felt welcome and ease with my new fellow citizens. Well, almost always.
There's still one question I can't answer without revealing myself to be a stranger, maybe even a freak. Are you a red or a blue? For someone who's never followed football, never been a fan, it's impossible to answer. Small talk for Liverpool's men doesn't include wine, women and song. It's the match. Who played well? Who had a nightmare? Who scored and who couldn't hit a barn door? To not be into football can you make you a nobody. I feel myself become transparent as the conversation carries on around me, pass from the back line through mid field until a striker dashes off and wins the argument with a well struck goal. It's a substitution and an early bath for the lad west."
