Who would have bet that Liverpool would be in contention?
Not me!
But , it's the people 's choice. Any neutral football fan, or in my case a Boro fan!, would love to see Steven Gerrard lift the Premiership trophy.
The alternatives, Chelsea and Manchester City are wonderful teams full of highly talented players, but somehow they don't have that magic and tradition that Liverpool have.
Liverpool have never won the Premiership, unbelievable really when you think about the way that Liverpool dominated the 70s and 80s, especially in Europe.
Another good reason is that there are a lot of really good English players in the Liverpool setup. Without even mentioning our Captain Marvel Steven Gerrard.
Surely these Liverpool players wil be the mainstay of the English attempt of winning the World Cup in the summer.
God knows, they would become legends, should we get anywhere near the semi finals!
The World Cup has a very special place in my heart, as my very first experience of a football match was at the 1966 World Cup in England.
Ayresome Park was the venue for 3 games in the first stages of the World Cup. Ayresome Park is the former ground for my team.Middlesbrough FC.
I will never forget my first experience of a big crowd and the big match atmosphere. I was only 10 years old, a wide eyed innocent child who loved nothing more than to kick a ball against the wall in our street. We had our own World Cup , dozens of scruffy little kids playing football from dawn till dusk.
It was the Soviet Union v North Korea. It is only recently that I realised how well the Soviet Union did in the 1966 World Cup, they only just lost in the semi final to West Germany.
But of course the legend of the game North Korea v Italy will last forever in football folklore.
Mighty Italy had been beaten 1-0 by the Soviet Union and were rank favourites to beat the minnows from North Korea and progress as expected to the next round.
The Ayresome Park crowd , the Boro crowd, were behind the underdogs North Korea. My dad told me that in fact he really didn't like the Italian team, too dirty and physical, he said.
In fact, there was a deeper reason why he didn't like the Italians in general, he served in Italy at the end of the War.
The Russian game was amazing, but this game was something else, it was electric. When Pak Doo Ik scored, the crowd, my Dad, and I went mad. Imagine! North Korea, Pak Doo Ik, so strange, so unlikely!
Ever since that match, I have loved football, playing , watching, talking about it, so thank you Soviet Union and most of all, thank you Pak Doo Ik!
Pak Doo Ik scoring against Italy at Ayresome Park.
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