This is a blog about football. And also not about football.
It’s no surprise that the turbulence of 2020 has brought different narratives and a new way of looking at things. But I really started thinking about it when Neil Atkinson, at the Anfield Wrap, talked about our new heroes this season. Watching our academy system players emerge and those on the fringes step in – players like Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams and Xherdan Shaqiri – shows how different our narratives are now.
Sitting in a field, this summer, I listened to Liverpool lose the Community Shield to Arsenal. A friend asked if I worried about the season ahead; if I thought we’d be able to keep up the momentum. The intensity of having won 196 points in two seasons. And actually I was. But it goes to show the power of a story.
Because when we lost Virgil van Dijk – likely for the rest of the season – to a freaky, unpunished injury, we were devastated. But now, it’s galvanised us. No doubt there will be times when we get caught out by this. And it goes without saying that we’d always prefer to have him with us than not with us. But it’s given us a different focus and a different story to tell. And that’s something that – so far – is keeping us at the top of the league and the top of our group in the European Cup. In the games since, we’ve conceded just three goals in seven games. A new story has helped us achieve a new aim.
And we’ve seen similar stories this summer, too. Clapping for carers; NHS heroes; recognising people doing jobs that might not have seemed important before. Delivery drivers and supermarket workers have kept things going, 2020 tells us.
We talk all the time about the power of a good story. We spend significant time with clients, honing their stories, so they can achieve their goals. We’re sold on the power of a good story.
But a new story. That’s powerful, too. New stories usher in change, and a new way of thinking about things. Like Liverpool this season, where we’ve *almost* managed to consider ourselves underdogs. Despite being, at this moment in time, champions of both England and The World.
So what of the power of new stories? They help us identify things that we need to recognise, change and cherish. If we’re serious about the pain of 2020 ushering in a new approach, then we need to remember these stories. If we care about the huge inequalities that have led us to the second highest death total in the world, after the US. Our recovery rate lags significantly behind other European countries. Whilst Spain and Italy have a higher number of coronavirus deaths per capita, both have significantly better recovery rates. We are the world’s sixth largest economy, yet our citizens are less likely to recover from Covid-19. These are the stories of the inequalities in the way we live; in the way our healthcare is funded; in our ability – or lack of – to stop work and isolate from the world.
And these are the stories we must remember. While it’s tempting to go back to what we know – to long for the relief of family and friends, company, travel and choice – we must remember. If something good is to come from this pain, we must remember that these events haven’t just been bad luck, or random. They’re the result of decisions made by our governments; some this year, some over years.
WWII gave birth to the welfare state in the UK; to the United Nations and closer European cooperation. The destruction of those six years was a story so strong that it changed the world forever. It gave us so many of the checks and balances, the safety nets and systems that we… take for granted? We’ve lived lives of unparalleled privilege as a result and the desire to make things better. And we go backwards when we forget these stories; when the peril diminishes in the distance. We need to make sure our new stories help us move forwards, not backwards.
Stories are powerful and we are the stories we tell ourselves. Remember them.
Photo by Marcus Loke on Unsplash