Manchester United and Liverpool be damned – Arsenal for the Champions League!

As an Evertonian, I take only a passing interest in the European Champions League, having qualified for it just once a couple of seasons ago. Hopefully, with another qualification this year (fingers crossed!) and a few more to come, my interest will increase.

British teams have been quite successful over the years in this competition, but it does beg the question: Who would you want to see win the Champions League?

Celtic were the first British team to win the European Cup back in 1967, at Lisbon against Inter Milan. Since then, Manchester United have won it twice, in 1968 and 1999, Liverpool have won it five times – 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984 and 2005 – and Nottingham Forest have also won it twice, in 1979 and 1980. The only other British team to win it were Aston Villa in 1982.

Nowadays, the idea of Forest challenging for Europe’s greatest prize seems to be a thing of the past, but there are a few teams who might be up there with the elite – as well as Everton, the likes of Villa, Manchester City, Portsmouth and Spurs have the potential.

In the meantime, you are left with the normal quartet of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. Now, who do you pick out of that little lot to send your good wishes for them to succeed?

It’s pretty easy, as an Evertonian and a Scouser, to eliminate two of those clubs straight away. I honestly could never see myself cheering on Liverpool in a European Cup Final again – the reason for that goes back to the late ’70s when football on Merseyside was still a friendly, banter-filled affair. Like many thousands of other Evertonians, I cheered Liverpool on to success in the 1977.

Then, as he lifted the trophy to a city full of pride, Emlyn Hughes uttered the immortal words: “Liverpool are magic, Everton are tragic”, and that was the thanks we got for supporting them on their day. So never again for me.

As for Manchester United winning it, well I have nothing but respect for the club and what it has achieved, but I would rather Liverpool won it – that’s how much I don’t want to see them and their fans celebrating another success. All they sing about is how much they hate Scousers, so I’ll leave them and Wayne Rooney (a Scouser) to it.

That leaves Chelsea and Arsenal. I wouldn’t want to see Chelsea win, simply because of the way they have gone about achieving their success. They have sold their soul (in a Liverpool way) to the highest bidder, and I don’t really like the way most of their fans enjoy that success by rubbing it in other people’s faces. It would be like me inheriting a million pounds and buying a big house, then spending my time laughing at anyone who hasn’t got a million-pound house.

So I’m left with Arsenal – now there are a few players in the Arsenal team that I just plain don’t like. I think they are moaners and cheats but I do respect the club and how they have gone about their business. They remind me a lot in stature of how I look upon my own club, Everton. They do things their own way and it’s done properly. They have a top-drawer manager whose only minus is the fact that he hasn’t won that trophy and I would love it if they did. Good luck, the Gunners.