The Sun Never Sets in Manchester
Irving’s Autobiography (Highly Recommended)
Chapter One: The School Team’s Goal-Scoring Machine
Someone said it You may not believe it, but the biggest headache for me when I was a child was my nationality. I was born on December 14, 1979, in a public hospital in Chester, England. Our family has lived in Haywarden, a small town in neighboring Wales, for more than twenty years. However, my father Terry was a patriot with Scottish blood flowing throughout his body. His mother was a true Scotsman and he spent his youth in the north of the British Isles. However, from the bottom of my heart, I always consider myself a 100% Englishman. My dream since I was a child is to become a member of the "Lions", so I had no hesitation when making the first choice of my football career.
Sports was the focus of my teenage life. As a professional footballer, my father played for Everton, Bradford and other teams. My mother, Janet, was a track and field athlete. We Both siblings inherited her speed. My two older brothers, Terry and Andrew, are huge football fans, my older sister, Helen, plays on the national hockey team, and my younger sister, Leslie, loves basketball. Because of my father, it seemed inevitable that I would focus on football, but he never put any pressure on me. I've been playing football in my garden since I could walk. When I got a little older, I often played two-on-two games with my father and brothers in the garden in the middle of the street. From then on, I had a strong desire to compete, and I also showed some ability to score goals. In fact, compared with my peers, I am a bit short, but my father taught me to shoot smartly without pursuing strength or force.
When I was seven, my father decided it was time for me to receive formal training, so he took me to a local club five miles from home. However, the youngest team there was the ten-year-old group, and at first the club was not willing to let kids like me participate in training. But after a few classes, I became a substitute. In the few opportunities I had to play, I often scored one or two goals for the team at the last moment of the game, and soon I was regarded as the team's secret weapon. My father helped me a lot when I was growing up. He gave me technical advice and taught me many little tricks, while avoiding instilling too many tactical rules into me. His only hope was that I could Doing my favorite thing on the pitch - scoring goals.
A year later, I was specially recruited to enter a local primary school that focused on football education. It is undeniable that I began to attract wider attention. I soon became the goalscoring machine of the school team and broke the legendary Ian Rush's record of 72 goals with 97 goals in one season. Soon scouts from clubs such as Liverpool, Everton, and Manchester United arrived, but they all returned disappointed because according to school regulations, young players are not yet allowed to sign with the training center of a professional club. I was not disappointed. I knew in my heart that as long as I continued to improve my skills and score goals, those big clubs would definitely come looking for talent again.
After entering Haywarden High School, I was fortunate enough to be invited to visit many top clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea, which broadened my horizons. The one that left the deepest impression on me was Liverpool. A warm and family-like atmosphere. In fact, I started out as an absolute fan of Liverpool's city brothers, Everton. As a veteran player of the Everton team, my father often gets coupons, and going to Goodison Stadium to watch games has become a group activity for the whole family. However, the sincerity from all over the Liverpool team quickly transformed me into a "Red Army soldier". The meticulous care of the coaches in the youth development department of the club made me feel that I was appreciated and valued, which gave me great motivation to train.
When I was in middle school, I developed comprehensively in the field of sports. I was once obsessed with rugby. I was once the captain of the school hockey team. My sprinting level was not bad, and my 100-meter time reached 11.4 seconds. Of course, it was always my goal to be one of the sixteen best young players in England and go to the FA Lilleshaal Football School to become a professional player. When I was fourteen years old, I was selected by Liverpool Football Club to take the entrance examination.
More than a hundred young players from all over the country gathered in Chester, and the fierce competition can be imagined. Due to the bad weather and venue conditions that day, I felt very bad about myself and felt that there was almost no chance of being selected based on my on-the-spot performance. Fortunately, the judges did not ignore my usual performance. With the fame I gained day by day in the Liverpool youth team, I finally got my wish and became one of the sixteen selected candidates. I entered the door of Lillechar and started a two-year program. years of academic life. This was the first time in my life that I was away from my family and friends and living independently in a different place. In the first few weeks, I was as homesick as the other young players, and even shed tears. In fact, I am quite lucky in comparison, because my home is only an hour's drive from school, and my parents come to see me every weekend. Soon, the intense training and study gave me no time to miss home. Moreover, it was an opportunity worth cherishing to play with the most promising young players in the UK under extremely favorable conditions. It was there that I met the powerful players of Manchester United. Braun, Chelsea's Jon Harley, etc.
Every morning we must get up on time at 6:45, have breakfast at 7:30, and then take the school bus to the nearby Idesal Middle School to attend cultural classes with ordinary students. We have more than two hours of outdoor training after school, and we also participate in a series of official competitions every weekend. We were known as "football boys" in school, but we didn't get any preferential treatment in studies. Although academics naturally took a back seat to football, I still successfully passed the high school graduation exam. In the past two years, I have played for England's under-15 and under-16 teams, and have won many awards. There are countless teenagers who dream of becoming a professional player, but very few can actually realize this dream. When I walked out of Lilleshal, I was ready to ride on the green field.
The sun never sets in Manchester 2005-7-18 11:30
Chapter 2 Family·Love·Life (Part 1)
Our family is like one A sports fan club where almost every weekend is spent on the sidelines of a football or hockey pitch. There is never any quiet time in my house. Five active children make this house always full of life. Among my siblings, my sister Leslie and I spent the most time together. When we were little, we used to play hide and seek together. The three-year age gap made me feel the responsibility as the eldest brother, and I naturally became her "protector". Although my two brothers, Terry and Andrew, are eight or nine years older than me, we have many topics in common. They took me to play football when I was very young and saw early on that I had the potential to become a professional footballer. Not only do we cheer each other on during games, but we also talk about everything. Even now, we have different careers and lives, but we always support each other and are close: Terry is now an employee at a British aircraft manufacturer Assembler, Andrew became a fitness instructor, Karen was studying for the bar exam, and Leslie was about to graduate from high school. After retiring from the army, my father started working in the insurance industry and was often involved in community work in Liverpool. My mother, Janet, worked for a frozen food company for many years until she quit her job two years ago to focus on my business activities at home. No matter what you do, you must put 100% passion and effort into it. This is our family's creed. Our parents have taught us since childhood that respecting others is the foundation of being a human being, whether in the stadium or in daily life. My father sometimes thinks that I am too stubborn and always likes to make the final "summary speech" in family discussions. I think this is also the result of his encouraging me to think independently in everything. However, I still absolutely respect his views as an old striker on football issues. For example, he always told me to be aware of follow-up shots. This simple truth has given me many benefits in the game and I still remember it in my mind. In 1996, I became an official member of Liverpool FC as a trainee. Far from what some people imagined, the first weekly salary I received was less than forty-five pounds.
However, the "apprenticeship" that was supposed to last two years ended in just five months. On my seventeenth birthday, I finally signed my first three-year professional contract with the club, and my weekly salary began to increase year by year: Four hundred pounds in the first year, five hundred in the second year, six hundred plus a bonus of five thousand pounds in the third year. However, I'm far from a spendthrift and the only temptation I can't resist is buying a new car. Initially, I had to change two trains and catch a bus to go to Liverpool's Melwood training base. It took me an hour and a half to commute to work every day. Having a car of my own became a top priority. In March 1997, I got my driving license as expected. On the way home from the exam, my father and I went straight to the car dealership and bought back my first "mount" - a car worth 18,000 pounds. Rover two-seater car. In addition, my other "big deal" was taking my parents and Leslie to spend a wonderful vacation in Spain.
The sun never sets in Manchester 2005-7-18 11:30
Chapter 2 Family·Love·Life (Part 2)
It is undeniable that football has so far The wealth it has brought me is enough to last a lifetime. When I was nineteen, I had been living with my family in Chester when I decided to start building my own home. I put a lot of effort into this project, which lasted a year and a half. My new home does not occupy a very large area. The idea of ??having a large garden is unrealistic. I don’t have that much time to cut the grass and take care of the flowers. Having a snooker room is my priority. This is A hobby that I have had since childhood.
After discussion with the designer, we finally decided to build a three-story building. The ground floor is the living room, kitchen and snooker room. There are four rooms on the second floor, one of which is used as a "game center" with a table tennis table, flying darts and other activity facilities. A small gym is built on the top floor. Mom had a lot of hand in the interior decoration and we had the same aesthetic in terms of wallpaper, carpets and furniture. On her advice, I built a very simple kitchen. In fact, I can't even make a pot of tea or coffee. To be more precise, I never drink these. In comparison, I prefer to drink Coke.
Strictly speaking, I can only cook noodles and heat ready-made food in the microwave. Cooking is really not my strong point. In this new home, in my opinion my biggest "masterpiece" is the super aquarium in the living room. One morning when I woke up, I had a sudden thought. I thought how pleasant it would be to put an extra-long goldfish pond along the wall, and watch the colorful fish swimming in the dim light of the pond after turning off the lights at night! But everyone heard this. After I came up with the idea, I thought that a five- to six-meter-long fish tank was really exaggerated, so I ended up shortening the length of the aquarium by half. At first I filled it with imported tropical fish, but soon many of them "died":
I love this cozy little nest very much, and I will never sell my house even if I change clubs in the future. idea. Because I love living here.
The sun never sets in Manchester 2005-7-18 11:31
Chapter 2 Family·Love·Life (Part 2)
While building your own building . I also started our family’s house-changing plan. I first bought my parents a new house less than a mile from my new home, and bought the house next to theirs for Andrew, leaving Terry alone in the spacious old home. In addition, I bought Karen an apartment in the city. I never hesitate when it comes to helping my family. I firmly believe that no matter who among our five brothers and sisters is as lucky as me, they will do what I did. But now my father, who originally wanted to enjoy a comfortable life after retirement, is very busy. He was responsible for mowing four gardens and cleaning the family's eight cars.
Louis is a topic I have tried my best to avoid because she, like me, is a private person. Although sometimes we have to take steps, I don't want the media to get involved in the lives of my family and my girlfriend. Louise and I have known each other since childhood and our families have been neighbors for many years. She and I entered kindergarten on the same day, and I guess our "feeling" started at that time.
He is nearly two years older than me, but we both joined the team at almost the same time, and I was always his roommate when the team went out to stay in the hotel. You can say that he is one of my best friends.
In my opinion, the most difficult training is the team training before the start of each season. Due to international competitions and injuries, I participated in such preparations for the first time in the summer of 1999, and it was only before the start of the 2001-2002 season that I fully achieved the set training goals. I remember that one year the club went to the high mountain areas of Switzerland for training. The two high-intensity training sessions every day were mainly cross-country running. During lunch break, I would always lie upright on the hotel bed and could hardly move. I have to admit that endurance running is definitely not something I am good at. The feeling of rapid heartbeat and difficulty breathing is really unpleasant. However, in order to meet the challenges of the new season with excellent physical fitness, this is a test that must be endured. Moreover, I was somewhat surprised to discover my potential in physical fitness
The sun never sets in Manchester 2005-7- 18 11:31
Chapter 3 Red Army Soldiers (Part 2)
After the official opening of the league, the intensity of the team's daily training naturally dropped, making it more interesting. The following is my "running account" on game day. 9am is the end of a good night's sleep, and I love having enough time to get ready for the day. I usually don't eat breakfast after waking up. This is just a personal habit because eating after waking up always makes me feel uncomfortable, especially a hearty English breakfast. To avoid hitting the road on an empty stomach, I would soak up a bowl of cereal, take a shower, put on my club uniform, and head out calmly. It takes three-quarters of an hour to drive from my home to Melwood, and on the way I will routinely go to a tuck shop to buy a bottle of mineral water. After arriving at the club we started with warm-up runs and simple preparation activities. At 12:30, the whole team sat down at the dining table on time. My constant choice was boiled chicken, potatoes and rice. Lunch breaks after meals are also part of work, but I never sleep because I feel sleepy when I wake up, and it also affects my sleep at night. Carragher and I would either watch the game on TV or sit on the sofa and take a nap. At 4:30 in the afternoon, the coaching staff convened everyone to add some calories before the game. On the menu with cereals, fruits, puddings, etc., I usually only choose a few slices of toast: As usual, after that, coach Houllier comes to the battle." Discipline". The lineup had been determined a day before, and the tactical coordination had been fully practiced in daily training. Therefore, his speech was mainly to help us adjust our mentality and stimulate our fighting spirit without going into technical details. It was about 7 o'clock when the whole team arrived at the competition venue. Since the hamstring injury, my legs have to receive a massage from the team doctor for about half an hour before every game. In addition, I also have a "superstitious" habit, that is, the order in which I put on the game equipment: first the socks, knee pads and boots of the right foot, then the left foot. 45 minutes before the start of the game, we walked onto the court to warm up: jogging, jumping, stretching. The kick-off whistle was about to blow, and the atmosphere in the locker room began to heat up. Coach Houllier gave final instructions to the starting players one by one.
Nearly two hours later, we walked off the court dripping with sweat. After some relaxation exercises and a brief summary of the game, the stressful day is finally over. Driving home, scenes from the game would pop into my mind. If I’m not too tired, I’ll meet up with a few close friends at a restaurant or bar to calm down the excitement. Before I go to bed, I watch TV coverage of other games that day, and then I fall asleep with relief.
In recent seasons, the Liverpool team has continued to add new faces, many of whom are from foreign countries. However, this has not adversely affected the growth of local young players as some people have suspected. The club does not pursue star power when introducing foreign players, but based on the principle of the best quality and price ratio. The top football schools in English football have also entered the harvest period. Murphy, Carragher, Gerrard and I have all benefited from here. We were promoted to the first team without any setbacks. Everything happened naturally based on our performance.
It was one day in the spring of 1997. I was packing my bags and preparing to drive home after training. Assistant coach Mo Lan stopped me in a hurry and said: "Didn't 'Foreman' tell you? You will go to Sunderland with us tomorrow. He then went to Foreman, then-head coach Roy Evans, to confirm the decision. In this way, I excitedly traveled with the team for the first time, thinking that the coach must want me to experience the actual combat scenes of the Super League to gain some experience. When I learned that I was included in the waiting list, I was really disappointed. It was a great surprise. My first thoughts were to my parents, who absolutely couldn’t miss this important moment in my football career. I borrowed a cell phone from a teammate and immediately called home. Unfortunately, they couldn't get to Sunderland before the game started, but my mother told me that as die-hard Liverpool fans, Uncle John and Aunt Julia, who must be there for every game, would cheer me on on behalf of the whole family. I didn't get a chance to play in that game, but I recognized my uncle and aunt at a glance among the more than 5,000 Red Army supporters in the stands, and I felt particularly proud when I stood on the sidelines and waved to them.
The sun never sets in Manchester 2005-7-18 11:32
Chapter 4 From boy to champion
I thought it would be against Sander It was my first time to play in the Super League in a match against the Blues, but the coach might just want me to come to the stadium to experience the atmosphere, so I had to wait a few more days for my debut. But I firmly believe that this day is not far away, and the atmosphere I felt on the bench also benefited me a lot.
Facts have proved that my feeling was correct. Shortly after I went to Sunderland for a taste of the game, I had my real chance to perform against Wimbledon. What makes me extremely happy and proud is that I scored in my first league appearance, making me the youngest scorer in the 100-year history of Liverpool Club at 17 years and 143 days old. Not only that, but in the following season, my performance surprised people all over the world, because not only could I become the youngest league goalscorer in the history of Liverpool Club, but I also became the youngest golden goal scorer in the history of the Premier League. One of the boot winners. In the 1997-1998 season, I won the honor of the top scorer in the English Premier League. At this time, I was still about half a year away from my twentieth birthday. This achievement not only made me a Being the top scorer in the league also made me, a young boy less than 20 years old, a member of the much-anticipated England national team, and subsequently gave me the opportunity to participate in the World Cup held in France.
It can be said that my start in the Premier League was smooth sailing. As a fledgling newcomer, I received more and more attention: but I clearly know that the results I have achieved are absolutely inseparable from the help of my coach and teammates. Evans was one of the crucial people in my football life, he gave me my first chance as a young and inexperienced player. I remember that not long after he entered the first team, he said to me: "Young man, when Robbie Fowler is absent, you will take all the penalty kicks in the team." This rare trust he gave me made me Forever grateful to him. His departure as coach was one of the saddest moments for me at Liverpool FC.
Houllier, who stood alone after Evans left, had a completely different style. He is very meticulous and conscientious in everything he does, and he pays attention to communication with the players. As a technical expert from France, he adds fresh blood that is enough to win the game to Liverpool's authentic British style. He is a person who devotes almost all his energy to work and is extremely obsessed with football. No matter what night of the week you call his home, he will definitely be either going to the stadium to spy on "military intelligence" or staying in front of the TV to study strategies to defeat the enemy. . His attitude and method of handling my injury made me more convinced of his ability, and I also respected him more and more. I was deeply touched by his professionalism, and his personal care and love for me also made me able to important factor for successful growth.
Due to my playing style, I was often injured at the beginning of my career. At such times, he always recommended me the best treatment experts in Europe and repeatedly warned me to be patient, even when some people When he urgently asked me, who had basically recovered, to return to the field to help Liverpool get out of the slump, he still withstood the pressure from all aspects, insisted on starting from my future and the long-term interests of the club, was unwilling to act too hastily, and gave me sufficient recovery time. . Therefore, I have 100% trust in Coach Houllier's judgment and decision. I believe that as long as he is "in place", Liverpool will have a bright future. The club's second "foreman" Phil Thompson is also an indispensable figure. For decades, he has been sharing the fate of the team. As a star of Anfield in the past, he was a witness to the team's prosperity. Now that he has retreated from the front to the background, his passion is still undiminished, no matter in training It is his voice that people hear the most during the game. He was always vocal about unappreciated practices, and I had the taste of his lectures many times. Phil often criticized my defensive skills. He always took the trouble to point out my loopholes and give me pointers. The players followed his opinions and instructions not just because he spoke louder than anyone else, but more importantly because his prestige was based on his rich experience in club and national team and his loyalty to Liverpool. In short, I feel extremely lucky to have two leaders like Gerrard and Phil on my football journey.
After several years of training in the league, the Liverpool team and I have made great progress. We are accumulating strength and waiting for victory. I believe that our efforts will not be in vain and we will return with a full load. The 2000-2001 season proved the saying “you will reap what you sow”. An old injury recurred and I missed the suspenseful League Cup final. But towards the end of the season, I finally got rid of the entanglement of the Achilles tendon injury and gradually returned to my best condition. I scored five goals in two league games against Newcastle and Chelsea, which helped me quickly regain the feeling of shooting. A few days later at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, I truly realized my dream: lifting the trophy (English FA Cup) for Liverpool. I was also particularly satisfied with the two goals in that game: the first reminded me of the 1998 World Cup against Romania, and the second just proved that victory often lies in trying harder. As an important match in the "long-distance finals" of this season, the UEFA Cup is almost certain to be won. Not only did we return triumphantly again, we also won in a good way and played a beautiful game. In the Charity Shield and European Super Cup, the team continues to be unstoppable. In just a few months, our team has won five championships in a row. This makes me extremely excited. Our efforts have finally paid off. Our next goal is to win the Premier League and the Champions League.
This summer’s visit to Southeast Asia and the one-week training camp in hot Spain brought us great gains, which not only allowed the players to maintain their original excellent condition, but also further enhanced the team’s ability. Unity. Liverpool's success in the past year is inseparable from coach Houllier's rotation strategy in the forward lineup. Although sitting on the bench is never a happy thing, I can understand it every time. Coach's decision. I signed my fourth contract with the club at the end of September. The initiative to renew my contract more than a year before the last contract expired fully shows that the club attaches great importance to me. Like many of my team-mates, I believe Liverpool's golden era is just around the corner and we are willing to create and share this history that will be extraordinary.
The sun never sets in Manchester 2005-7-18 11:32
Chapter 5: That goal changed my life
That was February 1998 On a chilly morning, my father and I set foot on the teeing area of ??the Chester Golf Club early. Although as a frequent visitor, I know the rules here better than anyone else, but on this day I still risked violating discipline by not turning off my phone. Indeed, I was waiting for that long-awaited phone call.
During that time, there were rumors in the media that I was very likely to be recruited into the national team, but I always believed that no one could be 100% sure until something happened.
I don't know if that can be considered torture. The phone finally rang, and on the other end of the phone was Doug Rivermore from the Liverpool coaching staff. Sure enough, he brought me good news: I was selected for the England team and would participate in the friendly match against Chile in a few days. At that time, I was only an eighteen-year-old rookie who had not yet played half a season as the first choice for Liverpool. . I'm not usually an emotional person, but I was so excited after that phone call that day that I'll never forget it. My phone rang at least twenty times in less than ten minutes as colleagues and friends rushed to congratulate me. Finally, out of respect for other golfers, I turned off my hotline. My father, who was several strokes behind me at the time, also took advantage of the situation and no longer lost money as he usually did. Before the start of the ’97-’98 season, the goal I set for myself was to become a real first-team player for Liverpool, slowly accumulate experience in the league, and continue my career as a forward. Of course, I didn't think about being selected for the national team, but at that time, it seemed to me that it was a long-term goal that had to wait for at least two years. After the league started, I got a chance to play and started scoring goals. I thought to myself: My outstanding performance at the club made a striker like Alan Shearer a member of the national team. Why wouldn't he be the next one? What about me?
I received a warm welcome from the senior players in the national team, which gave me more confidence and I quickly entered my role. I always believed in my abilities and had the courage to never back down. When I was 18 years and 59 days old, I didn’t wear the England jersey just to break a record. I was fully equipped to compete in the international arena. ability. The people who helped me the most when I first joined the team were Alan Shearer and Paul Merson. They taught me a lot of "things to know" about international competitions. Now that they have both left the national team, I don't feel alone because Rio Ferdinand and I are very good friends. Now there are more and more Liverpool players in the national team, and I have added Gerrard, Heskey and other partners, so I feel more at home.
I scored on my debut for England in the 15s, 16s, 18s, 20s and 21s. But I couldn't repeat the "good start" against Chile. But the moment I stepped onto the Wembley pitch was definitely a huge milestone in my life. The public opinion's evaluation of me the next day was quite encouraging, and I began to aim at a higher goal - to represent England in the World Cup.
In Casablanca, Morocco, at the age of eighteen and one hundred and sixty-four days, I became the youngest person ever in England