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Sharuko On Saturday
IN the end, not even the silence of the Kop, could take the gloss off their golden moment of coronation on Wednesday night

Eight goals, in yet another typical heavy-metal football show, had already provided the perfect setting for the grand theatrical production that followed.

Jurgen Klopp’s huge, triumphant and infectious smile, provided the illumination for this beauty of English summer nights.

Then, the exploding fireworks transformed the Liverpool skyline into red as the football club, which provides this city with its beating heart, celebrated in style.

Forty years after this city’s most famous son, John Lennon, was murdered in New York, Liverpool once again found a way to smile.

Thirty years after Alan Hansen became the last Liverpool captain, to lift the league trophy, Jordan Henderson once again found a way to do it on Wednesday night.

And, 20 years after the new millennium arrived, in which they watched helplessly as Alex Ferguson, and his Red Devils knocked them off their perch, they once again found a way to bring it home.

Fittingly, the last Reds manager to win it in 1990, Kenny Dalglish, was on hand to pass it on to Klopp, at the Kop.

And, at long last, Anfield, once again, became a home where champions reside.

The last time it had happened, Bruce Grobbelaar was part of the choir that celebrated their greatness.

As they partied that summer afternoon in 1990, they were unaware it would be more than a quarter-of-a-century, before they would party again.

In between, a lot happened.

The new millennium arrived and Sir Alex Ferguson, and his bloodthirsty Red Devils, came along and knocked them off their perch.

Steven Gerrard slipped and, as he went down, he cleared the path for Demba Ba to run through on goal and help Chelsea crush their dreams.

And, as if some supernatural force was at play again, the same Chelsea were the special guests again, when the party exploded on Wednesday.

It’s certainly hard not to see the hand of fate.

Somehow, there had to be EIGHT goals on Wednesday night, as if to honour Gerrard, the greatest Reds skipper never to win the league title.

That’s the number of the jersey he used to wear, when he was their leader, when he dragged them as close to glory, as they had ever come, during their time in the wilderness.

He might not have been on the podium on Wednesday but his shadow loomed large over the proceedings because, while he didn’t win it, he showed them how it could be won.

That’s why Stevie G topped the global poll, which BBC Sport ran in the past few weeks, asking fans to choose Liverpool’s All-Time Best XI side, even though he never won a league title.

“He was included in 92% of teams,’’ the BBC report noted. “He was the driving force behind two of the major trophies the club have lifted since 1990 — the 2004-05 Champions League and 2005-06 FA Cup.

“It is also impossible to think about a Liverpool title challenge without it evoking two images of the Merseyside-born England international — the first of him in the middle of a huddle of Reds players, demanding that they ‘don’t let it slip’ and the second of him looking absolutely devastated at Anfield having done just that against Chelsea.’’

And, talking about the hand of fate, in Liverpool’s eventual triumph this year, one cannot ignore that Stevie G’s finest hours, at the Reds, in that Champions League final and the FA Cup final, came in two blockbuster matches that ended in 3-3 draws.

Both matches spilled into extra-time, in both matches, Gerrard was incredibly influential, in dragging his team back, opening the scoring for them in that stunning comeback, that night in Istanbul, and scoring the last-gasp equaliser, in that FA Cup final.

Of course, the number three was dominant then, it’s dominant now.

And, even though Stevie G wasn’t at Anfield on Wednesday, his grand contribution to the cause, like Peter Ndlovu, when it comes to the Warriors, no matter where their journey will eventually take them, will never be forgotten.

Let alone erased from the memory.

At least, Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish was there, they call him Sir Kenny Dalglish now.

And, like Sir Alex, he is a man from Glasgow, like Ferguson, he is a boy who, at some point of his life, spent time in the riverside district of Govan and, like the great Red Devil Scot, a legend who now has a stand named after him.

Yes, Anfield’s Centenary Stand was renamed after him in May 2017.

And, boy oh boy, it brings back this whole thing about the number 30, and fate possibly playing a big role in Liverpool’s league triumph this season.

THEY WILL TELL US IT’S WRITTEN IN THE STARS AND HOW CAN WE SAY NO?

Somehow, the renaming of the Centenary Stand had to come 30 years after Dalglish scored his final league goal, in his Liverpool career, in the 3-0 home win over Nottingham Forest on April 18, 1987.

The scoreline (3-0), in a way, appears to give away the number 30, when its two digits are split.

Somehow, Liverpool’s 30-year wait for the league title had to end exactly 30 years after Dalglish made his final appearance for the club, on May 1, 1990, against Derby County, at the age of 39.

Dalglish, who was the manager of the last Liverpool side to be crowned champions, 30 years ago, in 1990, somehow, retired from international football after scoring 30 goals for Scotland.

In 1983, he finished second, in the Ballon dÓr race to Frenchman Michel Platini, the best performance by a Liverpool player, in that prestigious award, until Michael Owen won it in 2001.

Thirty years later, in October 2013, Dalglish was named a non-executive director at Liverpool, the role he still plays today.

And, of course, the role which provided him with the honour, together with his other achievements for the club, to be at that podium when the Reds ended their 30-year wait for the league title.

For 30 years, from the time the World Cup started to be shown in colour in 1970 to the turn of the millennium in 2000, only clubs from England’s North West were crowned English champions.

Everton, from Merseyside, won in 1970, Liverpool, from Merseyside, won in 1980, Liverpool, from Merseyside, won in 1990 and Manchester United, from Greater Manchester, won in 2000.

Chelsea, from London, disturbed that trend in 2010 but, 30 years after their last triumph, Liverpool have once again done it for the dominant North Western English football clubs.

Of course, it’s a tough time to be a Manchester United fan, right now, for obvious reasons, but it’s the way it is, and we simply have to accept our fate.

We knew it was done, and dusted, when they beat us 2-0 at Anfield in January to go 30 points above us.

Liverpool have simply been too good, too consistent, too powerful they deserve their trophy and everything they have won as a group.

We know they will tell us we haven’t seen anything yet, that the empire has just struck back, that they have returned to reclaim their place, at the top of the table, and that this is just a start.

They will tell us to read the bible, and get an understanding of what the number 30 represents in the Holy Book, for us to get a good impression of what is coming our way, what has just been started.

They will tell us their league title came after 30 years, a number mentioned 87 times in the Bible and, it’s not just a coincidence their legend, who stood on that podium on Wednesday, last scored a league game for them in ’87.

They will tell us about John Baptist, how he began to preach at the age of 30, about David, that he was 30 when his reign on Israel started, about the 30 companions Samson had, about the 30 days Israelis cried, after the death of Moses, and about the 30 dynasties of Pharaoh.

They will tell us there is a reason why there are 30 days, in four of the 12 months of the year, a reason why a ruler has 30 cms, and — after three decades away — they have come back to rule their football kingdom.

It’s hard to argue otherwise, they have the best team in the world, which is more important than having the best players, the balance in their side is amazing, two young and free-spirited flying fullbacks, a giant freak of nature, at the heart of their defence.

A Brazilian goalkeeper, a Brazilian defensive midfielder and a Brazilian forward, two of the best African footballers and the efficiency, and raw passion, of a German tactician have all combined to produce the most destructive football machine in the game today.

No one can deny them their spoils, they deserve everything, and anyone suggesting they have been arrogant, in their celebrations, simply is being unfair and doesn’t understand what it means to spend 30 years waiting for a league title.

When you consider that, of the 23 players who were with the Warriors at the last AFCON finals, only Edmore Sibanda, Danny Phiri, Ovidy Karuru, Elvis Chipezeze, Thabani Kamusoko and Nyasha Mushekwi had been born, the last time Liverpool were champions, you can understand why they should enjoy their moment.

ZiKeeper was just three years, and so was Mushekwi, Kamusoko was just two years, Deco was just one year-old, and so was Karuru, Chigova was 10-months-old, Chipezeze was two-months-old.

Knowledge Musona was only born a month, after Liverpool’s last triumph, Khama Billiat three months later.

PETER DRURY, WHAT A POET, WHAT A COMMENTATOR

And, listening to commentator Peter Drury, providing the poetic soundtrack to the presentation ceremony, the raw passion his words generated, the excellence of the commentary, even for a die-hard United fan like me, you end up saying, once in a while, it’s probably good that a club like Liverpool should win the league.

There is something about Peter that makes him special and I have always told myself that, if I grow up, I want to be as good as Peter Drury.

Just check how he introduced Trent Alexander-Arnold to the podium, using him as a subject to also bring in Andy Robertson, his teammate down the left channel.

“From left to right, they have become twins, what one does, the other matches, the coverage of the yards, miles, week on week, month on month, by these fullbacks is beyond ordinary.’’

Class!

But, that was just an appetiser because, it was Peter’s full presentation of this special occasion, which was as much a product of genius as the achievements which were being celebrated that night.

For me, it’s just a privilege to repeat it here:

“And, so, the eventual end of the season like no other, a coronation unlike anything we have witnessed before, the presentation team comprises Richard Masters, at the end of a debut campaign as the Premier League chief executive which has thrown at him, more than he had ever considered remotely possible.

“It has been an exceptional effort from him, and so many around him, that this season has reached something like a natural sporting end, of course, with the mighty poignancy, Sir Kenny Dalglish.

“In front of almost nobody, it’s gone half past 10 at night on the 22nd of July, near to the intended start of the next season than the scheduled end of this, a month since their triumph was confirmed, some four months since the normal time it would have been sealed.

“And, now look, Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish, Jurgen Klpp, from another city and another land, and yet somehow brought to this one and once he understood Liverpool, and Liverpool understood him, simply a transformational leader.

“The smile on Mo Salah, as wide as Anfield. And, finally, Jordan Henderson, 30 years old, the 30 years, the captain, a Dalglish investment once doubted by some, the boy born in Sunderland in the summer of 1990, when Liverpool last ruled the land, and who grew up one day to lift the European Cup.

“And, a year later, to follow now, in the fabled footsteps of Ron Yeats and Tommy Smith, Emelyn Hughes and Phil Thompson, Graeme Souness and Alan Hansen to skipper Liverpool to the title, at the end of the season they feared may never end, the longest wait, a generation on and more.

“The 19th time in their history, for the first time in the Premier league, in the never to be forgotten year of 2020, the champions of England again, at last, are Liverpool.

“And, right now, they are the champions of the world, they are the champions of Europe and the champions of their own land. In these moments, no bird flies higher than the Liver Bird, no club anywhere carries the kudos of Liverpool Football Club.

“Game for game, the quickest champions of the Premier League era and, yet, the latest. Those 30 years of hurt, through which twice they conquered Europe, they have won the UEFA Cup, three FA Cups, four League Cups, they have not been hurting but how they have been itching and, Jim, he (Klopp) brought it home.

“This year, a league that belongs to Klopp and Kop.’’

 To God Be The Glory!

Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton and all the Chakariboys in the struggle.

Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bruno, Bruno, Bruno, Bruno, Bruno, Bruno!

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You can also interact with me on Twitter — @Chakariboy, Facebook, Instagram — sharukor and every Wednesday night, at 9.45pm, when I join the legendary Charles “CNN’’ Mabika and producer Craig “Master Craig’’ Katsande on the ZBC television magazine programme, “Game Plan”