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Published on April 23, 2008

tulsathit taptim

tulsathit@nationgroup.com

Bill Shankly.

As you read this, the result of the first leg of the Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea on Tuesday night will be known. Whether the team in red have won or lost, the late, legendary Liverpool manager must be proud, as his most renowned statement about the world's most popular sport has taken on a different meaning this week.

Despite the current boardroom turmoil at Liverpool, Shankly must be smiling - from wherever he is - at 17-year-old Liam Harker, a passionate Reds fan who is proving him so right in a peculiar way. He must be smiling at the dying youngster's last wish, at the club's response to it, and at the team's supporters, who have scrambled to let Liam know that he is not walking alone. Football, for once, goes beyond life and death in an inspiring way.

The teenager lives and breathes Liverpool. And he's dying Liverpool, too - being aided by the club he loves and his fellow Reds, the only people on the planet who understand why he wants to wear the red jersey on his deathbed and what that means to him.

Liam, from Darlington, found out that he was suffering from stomach cancer six weeks ago. After being treated with an intensive course of radiotherapy, he was told on April 3 that he had beaten the cancer, as the tumour had started to shrink. But the following day he became very ill. It turned out that the cancer had not only resisted the treatment, but it had spread throughout his body.

Last Friday, he was told he had just two weeks left to live and was allowed to go home to die. Liam's wish, made to his dad, was to spend his final days in a shirt signed by the players he idolises. He also asked his dad to bury him in a Liverpool shirt.

The signed shirt arrived on Saturday, along with an invitation for a VIP tour of the club, which unfortunately had to be rejected because of Liam's weak condition. Fans on Merseyside have since desperately tried to organise a display of Liam's name on the Kop - the famous stand at the Anfield stadium - in time for last night's semi-final. If you are a Liverpool fan, that is simply a tribute to die for.

Everyone associated with Liverpool was hoping that the plan materialised in time, and that Liam held on long enough and was able to see it on television. If he saw it, the result on the pitch wouldn't have mattered much - although a Liverpool win would make it a perfect day. If it happened, the young man must have realised the real essence of being a Red, and the role he played in making others come to the same realisation.

The Harker story is where two worlds meet: absolute, near-fanatical obsession that causes both romantic and tragic repercussions, and the spirit of togetherness - of the kind enshrined in Liverpool's "You'll Never Walk Alone" anthem. With financial vultures hovering over most beloved football clubs -  seeking to reap benefits and thus wreaking havoc in the process - there may be a greater need than ever for the two worlds to converge and counter the threat.

Football clubs run solely by and for money, no matter how big, can only go so far. Investors have come and gone, and the current detrimental clash inside the Anfield boardroom has exposed the sad truth that nobody is immune, not even clubs proud of their rich history and culture like Liverpool. But what really matters is the passion that consumes real fans and how the shared feeling turns into a powerful bond that no money can buy.

Liverpool's official website was being flooded with messages asking Liam to stay strong and hang on. Fans from as far away as Asia have bombarded British TV stations with pleas that the prepared Liam Harker banner be broadcast long enough for the little Red hero to see and cherish it.

Yes, football nowadays is cut-throat business, and rivalry on and off the field has long made results on it a matter of life and death. Shankly, however, will take great satisfaction in the fact that the hero, for once, is not a player, but a young boy who has stuck with the club he loves through thick and thin, and will do so until his last breath.