Monday 9 November 2015 13:02, UK
In the wake of Jurgen Klopp's comments on Liverpool fans leaving Anfield before the final whistle, Johnny Phillips recalls his early exit from Highbury - and why supporters have the right to walk out on their side...
The date was Tuesday December 2, 2003. Arsenal's second string had just gone 3-0 up against a full strength Wolves in the 68th minute of a League Cup Fourth Round match at Highbury. That was the moment I did it for the first time. And have never regretted it since. The leaving early thing.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp raised the point on Sunday in his post-match press briefing after the defeat to Crystal Palace that, contrary to the anthem, he was very much walking alone when Palace took a 2-1 lead with eight minutes to go.
The sight of the home support trudging to the exits alarmed him, given how much time there was for the situation to be salvaged. 'Klopp has pop at Kop' raged one back page headline on Monday morning.
His comments weren't actually a direct criticism of the fans; he made it clear it was up to his highly-paid professional team to persuade them to stay. But many Liverpool supporters were glad of his observations. There are those at Anfield who have long viewed with suspicion the steady stream of early leavers. But it is no more a scourge of Liverpool games than of any others. Football fans leave early at every ground, especially when their team is losing.
Klopp's comments have ignited a debate about the crime of leaving football matches early. The disdain reserved for fans who disappear before the final whistle has risen its head again. You might miss a comeback? You've got to support your team when they need you? You can't be a proper fan if you don't stay to the end? Nonsense.
For starters, it isn't a habit peculiar to football. In rugby there is 10 minutes less playing time than football, but it still proves too long for some. Go to Test match cricket and there are plenty streaming out half an hour before the end of play as the shadows lengthen across the outfield. Racecourse crowds thin out long before the last race on the card.
Let's not restrict this to sport. Go to a concert and there are always those who slip out at the back before the encore. I remember a Chemical Brothers gig where the encore was actually longer than the set itself, but there were plenty who chose to skip it. Anywhere there is an opportunity for the spectators or audience to get out early then there are a healthy minority who will take it.
Anywhere there is an opportunity for the spectators or audience to get out early then there are a healthy minority who will take it.
There are certain forms of entertainment where it's harder to make a discreet dash for the exit. A few years ago I sat through an excruciating performance of Spamalot at the Harold Pinter Theatre with my girlfriend. Hemmed in by hooting American tourists it was the most claustrophobic hour of my life, the walls of the theatre closing in by the minute as a wretched version of Monty Python's work was gradually butchered to pieces. On that occasion we had to wait for the interval - does this equate to half-time? - to get out.
There is nothing noble about hanging around to endure something you're not enjoying. All the way through childhood I used to take great pride in never leaving Wolves matches early, wearing it as a badge of honour at Molineux as lesser mortals showed weaker resolve. Who were these fickle followers turning their back on the team before the final whistle? Then came that winter's night in north London.
Wolves manager Dave Jones had picked his usual, and strongest possible, Premier League line-up for the tie. It was live on telly, he didn't want to be humiliated. Arsene Wenger responded by selecting seven players with no more than 13 first team appearances between them. Frankie Simek made his debut. He never played for Arsenal again. Simek did at least regularly reappear on the football pitches of this country again, carving out a useful career at Sheffield Wednesday and Carlisle United. Anyone remember Efstathios Tavlaridis? He got a game for Arsenal that night too.
So by the time of the Gunners' third, my mate Dave and I were pretty fed up and quite cold too, sat there in the away section of the Clock End. So we headed off to the pub and watched the rest of the rout on TV in the warmth, with a drink. Since then I've done it a few more times too. And it's always been for the best, although it has generally come at 3-0 down in games.
Not all teams have acquired such a voracious appetite for the mediocre as Wolves. There are the famous comebacks. Manchester United in Barcelona, 1999. Liverpool in Istanbul, 2005. If you left those games early it probably is a tad harder to offer a plausable defence for that course of action. But, it must be remembered, there is always a reason.
There is a certain idealism behind scorning the early leaver. A stadium where 60,000 fans bounce up and down for 90 minutes, singing colourful songs and urging their team on to the bitter end. Occasionally this fans' utopia collides with reality. And it's brilliant. Klopp experienced such moments at the Westfalonstadion when his Borussia Dortmund team won the Bundesliga two years running and went on to slay Real Madrid on a famous European night.
But it's not the reality for most of us. Not for the fan of Halifax Town on Sunday afternoon. Rock bottom of the Conference with 13 defeats already this season, there was the relief of an FA Cup First Round tie to help numb the pain of a harrowing season. Depending on which moment the Shaymen's earlier leavers left, they will have missed one, two, three or maybe all four of opponents Wycombe's goals in defeat No 14.
For those Liverpool fans who decided that seeing fellow scouser Scott Dann put Alan Pardew's men 2-1 up in the 82nd minute was enough entertainment for one day, then good for them. Of course it wasn't all over. They know that, but it's their choice. They will have weighed up the possibilities of missing a thrilling last-minute equaliser and the chance to bask in the warm glow of a point at home to Crystal Palace.
One can only wonder about the heavenly world they might be heading off into. For me it was the simple wish to numb the pain of defeat a little bit earlier than everyone else. Please, next time you have to hold your knees in to let an early leaver shuffle past, don't tut and sigh and shake your head in disgust. Just accept there is somewhere else in this world that person would rather be.
