one

In the late autumn of 20 13, Carragher, who just announced his retirement less than three months ago, drove to the gym to exercise. He listened to the radio and paid no attention to the driving route. He walked up Queen's Road until he saw the letters "Melwood".

At this time, he realized that he had gone the wrong way.

He is used to this road, used to driving here for training every day for nearly twenty years, and then dragged his tired and full body home.

Carragher said: "I have played more than 700 games for Liverpool, of which I have been to Anfield hundreds of times, but Melwood, I think I have been there at least 1000 times."

Even after many years of retirement, when he heard that Melwood was about to be demolished, he was still sighing and feeling. However, Carragher doesn't think he knows this field best. Ronnie Moran is.

Ronnie Moran, 1949 joined the Liverpool Reserve Team (then called Team C), 1998 retired, and became the captain of the club from an ordinary left-back. After retiring, he entered the coaching staff. He has devoted his life to Liverpool Football Club for 49 years!

Carragher remembers seeing Moran two or three times a week after he entered the first team. Houllier was already in charge. It was not until Carragher retired, Rogers left class and klopp arrived that Moran could be seen walking in Melwood.

Moran walked with his head down, smiled at acquaintances and said little. He keeps a humble attitude. He will walk around the field most of the time. Sometimes, when he sees the players training and playing, he will stop to watch and then gently ask Houllier, "May I come in for a walk?"

Whether later Benitez, Hodgson, Dalglish, Rogers or klopp, Moran will ask politely and get a positive answer before entering the arena. He never talks much, nor does he talk about seniority. He just watches and walks quietly-although he is the player and coach who has served in this training ground for the longest time, he is more qualified than anyone else-perhaps, in his heart, he is remembering.

Moran went for a walk in Melwood until March 20 17, a few days before his death. Until later, everyone didn't see him for more than two weeks. Soon the news of his death came, and he would never come again. This time it was to say goodbye.

two

At first, Melwood had no name. They are just a cricket ground belonging to Saint Francis Xavier. The manager of the stadium is two priests, one is Melling and the other is Woodlock. They put their names together and became Melwood.

It was 1950 when Liverpool bought the land. That year, Liverpool was in the middle of the top league, and occasionally reached an FA Cup final, but lost to Arsenal.

I bought Melwood because there is no standard training ground in Liverpool. The whole team can only train in the parking lot near Anfield, or in the small gym next to the main stand of Anfield (now it has been changed into a dining audience). Of course, players can also train at Anfield, just to protect the turf, and they can only play once a month on average.

Liverpool 1952 issued Melwood design drawings, and planned to start construction on 1954. Who would have thought that the team was relegated and the economic situation plummeted, so Melwood put it on hold.

Until Shankly arrived.

When Shankly first set foot at Melwood, he had just become the Liverpool manager.

He visited the training base with his wife Nancy and found that there was not even a decent turf! Xiang Shuai wrote in his autobiography: "Old Liverpool centre-back Tom Bush took Nancy and me to Melwood. There was a piece of turf that looked like it had been bombed, so I asked, did the Germans come here in those days? "

Melwood 1959 is a vast wasteland, full of trees, shrubs and rat holes. Shankly described that the weeds were high enough for Jimmy Melia to hide. Melia was the midfielder in the early days of Xiang Shuai's coaching, with a height of 1.7 meters, which shows the harsh environment of Melwood at that time.

Xiang Shuai learned that this used to be a cricket ground and frowned: Cricket? I'll give you a fucking board! (hey? I'm going to hit you! )

So, immediately set up a small venue and started playing five-a-side in Melwood. After a long time, the whole Liverpool team was called "give you a board"

Later, Liverpool 1965 reached the FA Cup final, defeated Leeds United 2- 1 at Wembley and won the first FA Cup. Shankly renamed the venue "Mini Wembley". This is also the birthplace of the prototype of Liverpool football philosophy "passing and moving".

After Shankly took office, he decided to change the team's daily training from the parking lot next to Anfield to Melwood. There is a simple reason. The parking lot is asphalt, which is not conducive to the movement of players and has the risk of injury. Melwood, though undeveloped, is at least a meadow. In the early years, Melwood had no dressing room. The players gathered at Anfield, put on their jerseys and equipment and drove to Melwood. After a day of training, take a bus back to Anfield to take a bath and go home.

Evans recalled: Later, Melwood was slowly transformed and upgraded. With the dressing room, he could also take a bath. Most players also bought private cars, and they no longer have to go to Anfield every day. It is much more convenient for everyone to go directly to Melwood, but we all miss the laughter in the car.

After Shankly retired, he settled in Bellevue, because it only takes five minutes to walk to Melwood. When Xiang Shuai chooses a house, there is only one requirement, and the closer to Melwood, the better.

Karen Gill, his granddaughter, once recalled that Xiang Shuai said to her, "Melwood is so important to me that Liverpool is reborn here. I told your grandmother Nancy that I had to rebuild Melwood! Make her beautiful and dignified. I did it, every inch of land ... If someone wants to take Melwood away from me, I will ... "

Shankly stopped here. Ms. Jill knows that Melwood is too important to her grandfather. She even believes that Shankly is willing to live in a broken wooden shed in Melwood as long as the club agrees.

three

Melwood has a wonderful accent, Shankly Tony Bennett has a Scottish accent, and Paisley has a typical Durham accent. Most obviously, he likes to use the word "what he did", which translates as "that what".

For example, what you did to me means "give me that thing". "That what" can be anything, depending on whether there is a tacit understanding between the two sides.

Melwood has begun to rebuild, and the club's equipment has returned to the unified management of assistant coach Paisley. St. John recalled, all you have to do is say to Paisley, give me that, and he will definitely give you what you want.

At this moment, tommy smith shouted, "Bob! Throw that to us! " Then Paisley threw the bandage directly from his left shoulder and landed at Smith's feet without looking back.

"Crazy Horse Song and Dance Show" emlyn hughes has just arrived from Blackpool. He doesn't believe in evil. He made a bet with the captains Ron Ye Zhi and St. John: "I want a pair of leggings, and Bob certainly doesn't know!" Ye Zhi waved and looked very disdainful. His body language says: Don't try, it's useless! Hughes ignored it and shouted, "Hello! Bob. Give me that! "

As soon as the voice fell, a pair of leg pads fell from the sky.

"He has a sixth sense!" That's what players say.

Shankly hates dishonest players, and cheating is absolutely not allowed in Melwood.

Once a player is injured, Shankly will have Paisley check him out. If Paisley feels seriously injured, he will tell the players: "Just say you can play, you must play." At the same time, Paisley will give Shankly a briefing: "The child can't play, the injury is too serious." At this time, Shankly will come and pat the players on the shoulder and say, "Oh, my God! Kid! Don't try to be brave, you can't play! Have a good rest! "

That year, Xiang Shuai signed a new player named Jack Winter Whitham from Wednesday. This Whitham sprained his foot while running laps, and raised his hand to show that he needed a rest. After Paisley checked, it was confirmed that Whiteham was really injured.

However, the newcomer didn't listen to Paisley's advice. He thinks he should be honest with the coach. If he can't play, he can't play Paisley told the coach that the players could not play, and Whiteham also said that he was really injured. Shankly was very angry and said, "Bob is a good man, so you have been using him! You're not hurt. Let's go Run around the pigsty in the corner! "

There is a pigsty in the southeast corner of Melwood. Every time a player runs through that position in training, he has to cover his nose. Poor Jack, he smelled a pig when he was running that day, and he has been obedient since then, never expecting anything again.

four

After Paisley took over, he was as obsessed with mini Wembley as Shankly. However, it is no longer limited to five people, but eight or nine people. Sometimes when they play until lunch, Paisley will squint and say with a wry smile, "Five more minutes!" " Or "You scored two more goals".

It is in this extreme way that he tests your determination to win.

Dalglish became the manager, and even the king was more ruthless. He will give the leading player to the backward team and test the team's performance in adversity by playing one less player.

The king likes to sit in Melwood's restaurant and enjoy a short afternoon tea with the players after such a game. In the 1980 s, the diet control was not strict, and it was common for players to talk nonsense with a bottle of coke or beer in each hand.

Dalglish later left Liverpool to coach Blackburn and Newcastle, and returned to Melwood several times just to taste the delicious food here.

McAteer, an Irishman, also likes Melwood's canteen-and the kitchen team's staff Anne and Paula. During Paisley's time, they worked in Melwood and witnessed the ups and downs of coaches and players from generation to generation.

When McAteer played football in Liverpool, he called Anne and Aunt Paula, and they called him "Little Jason". Another person who always likes to play jokes on menstruation is Redknapp. He is "Little Jamie".

Jason and Jamie always stay after training. They either help coach Moran cheer for football, or go to the kitchen to help aunt, clean tables and chairs and sweep the floor. Don't think they have any good intentions! When Moran sees the children working hard, she will ask her two aunts to tell the kitchen to cook a hamburger, French fries, fried fish, or bake some bread-sometimes they make it themselves. McTeal and Redknapp will go home with food.

This is what these guys are waiting for!

McAteer said that every time he holds a paper bag with food, he can't wait to eat it in the car, eat it while driving, and basically finish it when he gets home. Melwood is a second home!

Makati later fell out with Houllier and left Liverpool. On his last day at the club, he stayed late at Melwood. He said goodbye to Anne and Paula menstruation and held them in his arms and cried. Aunt whispered to him, "Come back and see us if you miss us!" " "

Come back, not Anfield, but Melwood.

five

In the 2004-05 season, Anne and Aunt Paula retired one after another. Carol and Aunt Caroline are here.

They have been working in Melwood ever since.

When Benitez became Liverpool manager, he brought many young talents from all over the world. They got married in Liverpool and made it their second hometown.

Caroline still remembers Lucas telling her that she wanted to move to Lazio: "Carlo was on vacation and was really busy that day. Lucas came to the restaurant and said, "I'm leaving." I shook my head, no! Don't! You won't! As he spoke, tears came down. "

Carol also called Caroline and said, "You know what? Lucas is leaving! " At some point, she also cried.

Lucas played for Liverpool for 10 years. When he came, he was still a silly boy who couldn't even speak English clearly. When he left, he was already a husband and father. Carol and Caroline are used to greeting their children every day and sincerely correcting their pronunciation. They are responsible for Lucas' dinner when he comes home, because they have to meet the recipe requirements of the club nutritionist.

The next day, Lucas' wife adriana lima will come to Melwood with him and ask his two aunts how to prepare the sauce.

And Suarez, when he was wronged as a racist, Carlo handed him a glass of lemonade and said to him, "Those bad guys are afraid of you, so they wronged you. I believe you are innocent. " They have been encouraging Suarez to know that he is not alone at Liverpool. Suarez returned to Melwood on March 20 16 to visit them, accompanied by his daughter delfina and son Benjamin who were born in Liverpool.

Caroline said: "There are more and more foreign players in Liverpool. We need to help them integrate into this environment as much as possible. We take care of them like their mother. "

Emre Can, 20 14, was quiet when he first reported to Liverpool. After lunch, all the other players are playing table tennis or table tennis, and Zhan is sitting there alone, looking at a loss. Carol went up to Gerald and said, "Call that new boy and play with you." Gerald nodded and did it.

From then on, whenever a newcomer came to Melwood for training, the old aunts would remind the captain to ensure that someone would take care of him. When Salah first arrived, Henderson sent Lovren to take care of him according to his aunt's instructions, and since then, he wrote a disgusting story about the everlasting friendship.

six

Melwood is different from Anfield. What has happened or is happening at Melwood determines the success or failure of Anfield.

Melwood is Liverpool's home base.

As mentioned at the beginning, Carragher left the team like this, but he is not the only one who still leads himself back to Melwood with his mental inertia. David thompson, Carragher's former teammate, has been away from Liverpool for many years and lives in Blackburn. One day, he drove to Melwood for training and was stopped at the door, only to realize that he had gone the wrong way.

However, this land will become history and will never be seen again.

No matter how good the new training base in Kirkeby is, it is also new. The story there needs someone to write, listen and record, and it may take another 70 years to produce the heavy feeling like Melwood.

Tom Werner, president of Liverpool Football Club, buried a time capsule at the training base and wrote it to people fifty years later. This is a bonus item, which adds a humanistic atmosphere to Liverpool's new home.

In football, fifty years is long enough. Fifty years ago, Shankly was still struggling between the old and the new. He sent old striker roger hunt to Bolton with tears in his eyes. Liverpool are always looking for a new striker.

But now, the difficulties at that time are nothing at all. Since then, too many excellent players have emerged. Toshack, kevin keegan, Dalglish, Rush, Aldridge, beardsley, Fowler, Owen, Torres, Suarez, Salah ... all came to this world from Melwood. In this land, the stories of reincarnation were written one after another.

Fowler wrote a poem on the day Liverpool moved out of Melwood, as the end of the full text:

When I was a child, I thought of you a thousand times every night.

Get on the bus and your dream will come true happily.

Hewei went to Myka and rushed to Ye Zhi.

Celebrities walked through the gate of the training ground and wrote meaningful poems.

I am one of them.

My pride is beyond words.

Be grateful, but the memory will not disappear.

Dalglish, Evans and Old Moran are all touching my heartstrings.

Unforgettable The mud, the blue sky overhead.

Melwood, this place called home, you must see my heart.

There is a place that only we know, and she will be there at any time.

Goodbye, Melwood!

14 After writing Liverpool, I know my story very well. What happened at Melwood is far more than Anfield.

Limited by space and ability, I can't cover everything. I have to write a representative story that I think I have read little. There are some good stories, so this time we have to give up what we love.

For example:

Whelan learned that Evans would not renew his contract. At the end of his ten-year Liverpool career, he locked himself in his car in Melwood parking lot and burst into tears.

Fowler returned to Liverpool on June 5438+ 10, 2006. His seat in the dressing room and the location of his private locker are exactly the same as when he left four years ago! Melwood's staff left him a note: My God! Welcome back!

Benitez, who broke up with Liverpool in the summer of 20 10, chose to come to Melwood to get his personal belongings last weekend. He doesn't want to disturb too many people, let alone let others see his weak and sad side.

……

I want to write all these things, but I really can't write them this time.

Fortunately, we can still walk together and continue to tell you in the days to come. Thanks for reading, thanks for your hard work!