Liverpool have performed Accrington Stanley simply as soon as earlier than of their historical past, however there’s a unusual bond between the golf equipment all due to one 1989 tv advert for milk.
There have been no nice fixtures between the groups, no nice targets scored and even gamers who’ve figured for each golf equipment.
However when Liverpool drew Accrington Stanley within the FA Cup third spherical, there was a wierd sense of event on the horizon.
On Saturday, the groups will meet for the primary time since 1956, when a Billy Liddell brace noticed the Reds beat Accrington Stanley 2-0 in one other FA Cup third spherical tie at Anfield.
What hyperlinks the 2 golf equipment isn’t that sport, although. As a substitute, it’s an advert first broadcast by the Milk Advertising and marketing Board in 1989.
This gained’t come as information to these over a sure age, however for youthful followers, they might be unaware of the connection and subsequent catchphrase that was little doubt uttered in households throughout Merseyside when the draw was made.
The advert in query depicts two younger Liverpudlians in kits going to the fridge.
One boy asks for lemonade whereas the opposite takes a swig of milk. The lemonade drinker reacts by exclaiming: “Milk?! Ugh.”
The milk-drinker then responds by saying, “It’s what Ian Rush drinks,” earlier than including: “He mentioned, ‘If I don’t drink a lot of milk, after I develop up I’ll solely be adequate to play for Accrington Stanley’.”
With a robust Scouse accent, his good friend then utters the well-known line, “Accrington Stanley, who’re they?” to which the milk drinker replies, “Precisely!”
It’s this tongue-in-cheek query that in some methods put Accrington Stanley on the map for the nation’s wider inhabitants.
After all, the membership at the moment are a fourth-division aspect and have been a relentless within the Soccer League since 2006.
Nonetheless, in the course of the Eighties, the Lancashire membership lingered within the North West Counties League, what’s now the ninth tier of English soccer.
The advert was so in style that it was proven for practically six years and has since had a number of parodic remakes.
Maybe the very best re-creation was produced in 2014, when Rush, Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman got here collectively to copy (nearly) the advert for Sport Aid.
There have been different re-makes together with this one with Ian Rush in, produced by Studio who sponsored the household stand on the Crown Floor.
There was additionally one that includes the 2 authentic youngsters as grown-ups, promoting Black Cow Vodka as a substitute of milk. Nonetheless, this wasn’t allowed to air resulting from considerations it promoted being socially irresponsible.
When you may anticipate Accrington Stanley to be irritated by the teasing, the membership and its followers have truly tended to embrace the advert’s legacy.
Carl Rice, the milk-drinking younger fan who went on to turn out to be an actor and stand-up comedian, was even invited to the Crown Floor as a visitor of honour within the 2005/06 season after they have been promoted to League Two.
The membership’s then chief government, Robert Heys, mentioned (h/t MEN): “To at the present time it has introduced us worldwide fame and hundreds in merchandise gross sales to nations as distant as Australia, Canada and America.
“Individuals take photos of the bottom. This time we need to be well-known for all the fitting causes.”
Rice then added: “That advert took me from a schoolboy in Liverpool to a star around the globe.
“I by no means obtained any royalties, as a result of I used to be a baby when it was made and I used to be paid in rainbow drops, but when I had I might be capable of retire now.”
He additionally revealed how the plan had truly been for the group talked about in jest to be Tottenham!
“I’ve finished TV and I’m a author however the advert is all folks need to speak about,” he continued.
“The unique script ought to have learn Tottenham Hotspur however they objected so The Nationwide Dairy Council picked one other group.”
Sadly, Kevin Spaine, the opposite little one actor, didn’t observe the same path. He was jailed for all times with a minimal of 18 years after being convicted of murdering Learoy Venner in July 2022.
The court docket was advised the previous little one actor’s life descended into crime and utilizing medicine, reported the Guardian.
Liverpool vs. Accrington Stanley kicks off at 12.15pm (GMT) on Saturday and is being proven on ITV 1.
