ClubPark

Just about the only tipster worth following

No - the app in't broken, Manchester United did actually go 2-0 down to Aston Villa after just 4 minutes.. 🫣

Not sure how many people seen that coming..

All these Football apps charging a subscription for scores and no ads, and pummelling you with gambling ads... so we made one for you. It will remain free of all these things. 🤝

You can download it here for iOS and Android: ClubPark.app/download

Clive Tyldesley was one of the finest commentators of his generation, and plenty of football fans would say the same. How ITV gradually pushed him aside still doesn't add up.

For anyone raised on Champions League nights in the 1990s and early 2000s, his voice was a massive part of the magic. Juventus surging forward and him shouting "Del Piero!" was something else. He could make a European tie feel like the biggest match in the world before a ball was kicked.

And then there's "Can Manchester United score? They always score!" during that incredible 1999 Champions League final.

He knew when to go big, when to let the crowd carry it, and how to find the right words for moments we're still talking about decades on.

In January 2024, Sven-Göran Eriksson told the world he had terminal pancreatic cancer. Asked whether there was anything left in football he wished he'd done, the man who'd managed Benfica, Roma, Lazio, England and Manchester City had one answer.

“I’m a Liverpool supporter.”

“I’ve always wished to be the manager of Liverpool.”

It started when he was a boy in Sweden. His dad and brother were Liverpool fans, and later so was his son. When Swedish TV began showing one live English game on Saturday afternoons, the family always had the same wish.

“We always hoped they would show Liverpool.”

In 1979, aged 31 and just starting out as a manager at IFK Gothenburg, he wrote to Bob Paisley asking if he could come and see how the European champions went about their work.

“They said I was welcome to come.”

So over he came to watch Liverpool train.

“I remember the training.”

“It was very simple, very high quality.”

After one match he got an invite into the Boot Room. Liverpool were in a title race with Manchester United, so an hour after the final whistle he asked how United had done.

“We don’t know.”

That answer taught him nearly as much as the training sessions did.

“Can you imagine that you are so secure of yourself like Liverpool were?”

“They did it their way, they didn’t care what others did.”

More than twenty years on, once he'd spoken about his illness and the one job he always wanted, word reached Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp didn't hesitate.

“He’s very welcome to come here.”

“He can sit in my seat in my office and do my job for a day if he wants.”

The club asked him to help manage the Legends side against Ajax at Anfield. Sven's first thought was that someone was having him on.

“When they asked, I thought it was a joke.”

“Of course I will come to that.”

On 23rd March 2024, nearly 45 years after that letter to Bob Paisley, Sven-Göran Eriksson walked out at Anfield as Liverpool manager. Almost 60,000 were in the ground, Steven Gerrard wore the armband, and Liverpool came from 2-0 down to beat Ajax 4-2.

Gerrard was in no doubt who deserved the credit.

“He changed everything at half-time.”

“He’s still got it, he’s still got the magic.”

“He made the difference.”

Before kick-off he stood on the pitch as the Kop sang the song he'd grown up listening to. You'll Never Walk Alone.

“I cried.”

“It was beautiful.”

“To sit on the bench for Liverpool was the dream all my life.”

“Now it has happened.”

Five months later, Sven-Göran Eriksson passed away. He never got the Liverpool job the way he once dreamed of, but he got his afternoon at Anfield.

“It was beautiful, absolutely fantastic, incredible.”

“A memory for life.”