One year ago today, three decades of bitterness, pain and grudges were unleashed

“Remember during PE in 2011 when you said we would never win the league? Well, I bet you feel pretty silly now! Sorry to hear about you and Sinead by the way.”

Of course it would be the year that Liverpool are absolutely miles clear in the league that a global pandemic comes and shuts down sport in its entirety.

There were calls to void the season and Reds’ fans from all over the world had the sinking, horrific feeling that even when it looked absolutely air-tight, this was still going to be snatched away from us.

However, justice prevailed and as Frank Lampard’s Chelsea put the final nail in the coffin for Manchester City’s title defence – securing glory for Jürgen Klopp’s side – a wave of euphoria and relief swept across the Merseyside.

Soon those feelings were replaced with vengeance, as flashbacks of all the abuse that Liverpool fans had to endure in the past came rushing back.

“Next year will be your year sure haha”

“The last time you nearly won a league Steven Gerrard slipped haha”

“I wasn’t even born when Liverpool last won a title haha”

WhatsApp group chats began to flood with call out messages, digging up debates from 10 years ago, in a rampant brigade determined to get the last laugh.

“Remember you insisted that Darren Fletcher was better than Steven Gerrard, because he had won a Premier league and Gerrard hadn’t? Well by that logic, Dejan Lovren is now better than Bruno Fernandes.”

“Here lads, when was the last time Arsenal won a title? 16 years? God that’s an awful long time, is it not?”

And then of course we have the more blunt fans, who are wholly fuelled with a mixture of passion and years of resentment. They took the more old school approach, writing a big Facebook status in capital letters, tagging all of their past tormentors.

Of course Chelsea, City, Man United, Arsenal and all the other fans just had to take their licks. Football works in cycles, and although it’s fun at the time – getting one over your rivals – it more often than not will come back to haunt you.

Even though the title defence didn’t exactly go as planned, and every other fan in the league is determined to knock you back off that perch, Liverpool fans had to endure a bit of their own medicine a lot sooner than hoped.

However, that magical moment when it was finally finalised, when it was bulletproof, written in concrete and laminated forever, when they couldn’t take it away from us no matter what… it was so worth it.

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10