Hope springs eternal on Kop

I’VE mentioned him in this column before, my friend the Long-Suffering Liverpool Supporter.

We'll call him LS for short. As a lad he'd grown sated and smug on the style of teams featuring household names like St John, Hunt, Toshack and Keegan. As a young adult, he'd swooned before the apparently unstoppable success of sides starring the likes of Hansen, Dalglish, Barnes, Rush and Aldridge.

But then, as he advanced into middle-age, and the management glory days of Shankly, Paisley and Dalglish gave way to the management gory days of Souness, Evans and Houllier, so also began the long years of personal distress, made all the more painful by the relatively recent memories of how great it once had been.

As a consequence, he developed what psychologists would call a coping mechanism, an extraordinary ability to see a silver lining wherever there was a cloud.

At some deep level, he knew it was all self-deception, of course not even the 2001 mini-treble of UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup could compensate for the fact that a club once routinely referred to as all-conquering could go 14 seasons without winning the league.

LS tried for a very long time to put a positive spin on Houllier but now simply shivers at the mention of his name, referring to the Frenchman's reign as "le terreur."

Yet, he still hasn't quite shaken off the habit of seeing the cup half-full.

The death of the great John Peel? Well, at least this most devoted and, yes, among the longest-suffering of Liverpool supporters caught a glimpse of the first green shoots of recovery at Anfield before his untimely demise.

The horrible leg break suffered by Djibril Cisse? A bad blow, for sure, but maybe a chance for Sinama-Pongolle to come good at last. (A thought: maybe poor Cisse should be nicknamed 'Video'. After all, there was a time when people worried that the arrival of video would spell the end for cinema).

Michael Owen suddenly scoring for fun at Real Madrid? Well, good luck to him, but the little man was no longer happy at Anfield. (Not surprisingly, the neutral observer might add, since no-one seemed capable of giving him the ball).

Whispers that Steven Gerrard might follow the wee man? Doesn't really want to think about that too much. But £20 million plus will do nicely. And maybe they'll get the Duffer yet. (The hunt for the Duffer is a clinical symptom of all Long-Suffering Liverpool Supporters, and all the more acute since concerns remain about the likelihood of Harry Kewell ever regaining his best form).

Emile Heskey? Well, no, not even LS could ever see an upside to Emile Heskey.

But here's the thing; for the first time in a long time, the Liverpool cup looks like it really is half-full. And getting fuller. The arrival of the Spanish armada boss Rafa Benitez and those genuinely class acts Alonso and Garcia seems to have finally liberated Liverpool's essential soul after the ice-bound years of Houllier's innate tactical conservatism.

But it's not only new boys who are shaking things up. Igor Biscan, formerly considered something of a joke by LS and friends, was hailed by the visiting fans in La Coruna in mid-week, as the Pool won 0-1 away from home in the Champions League. "Igor, Igor," was the unlikely, irony-free chant in the Riazor.

First they thought they had created a monster; now a terrible beauty is born.

And in the same game Djimi Traore a man whose first name has always caused confusion since many thought it was 'Hapless' was generally regarded as the man of the match. Repeat: Djimi Traore. Man of the match.

Then there's John Arne Risse looking like he's back to his rampaging best and, of course, Milan Baros finally doing for his club what he has done for his country.

Suddenly, an ecstatic LS is moved to ask: just how good, really, is Bruno Cheyrou? So happy times for the Anfield faithful, who are smiling and stretching as if awakening from a bad dream.

Which can only mean one thing, of course: Emile Heskey is bound to score the winner against them for Birmingham City today. Under the noses of the long-suffering Kop.