Liverpool’s Mini-Disc Madness

Can you imagine watching six-a-side football on TV? (and no we don’t mean that Baller League shite)

Okay let us add an extra ingredient to that question, can you imagine watching the likes of Liverpool, AC Milan, Ajax and Rangers playing six-a-side football on TV?

Alright just one more. Can you imagine Liverpool going abroad to play six-a-side football midway through a season that presented their best chance of winning the league title for the first time in seven years?

Well in the madcap world of 1997, that’s exactly what happened. This is the story of Liverpool’s Mini-Disc Madness. 

The 1996-97 season was a massive one in the fledgling history of the Premier League. As supporters basked in the post Euro 96 glow, the clubs (boosted by a new Sky television deal) went on the sort of spending spree that would make Elton John’s eyes water. Despite spending £3.5million on Czech Euro 96 star Patrik Berger, there was something of local ethos flowing through Anfield as Roy Evans’ side embarked on a fine opening half of the season that would indeed see them sit atop the league table as 1996 became 1997 with academy products such as Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman in top form which fuelled talk on Merseyside that the league title may return to Anfield after an exile that had mainly seen the championship reside with arch-rivals Manchester United. Maybe the Spice Boys were about to mature… 

You’re probably wondering where Mini-Discs fit into this (or indeed if you’re a younger reader what a Mini-Disc even is), well you see in 1997, Sony had a brainwave that they wanted to plug their patented format of music consumption that was intended to put cassettes in the shade by hosting a six-a-side tournament at the recently opened Amsterdam Arena (now known as the Johan Crujff Arena). While tournaments in the Dutch capital were nothing new (the Amsterdam Tournament was a staple of pre-season activity during the 1990s and 2000s, especially for English clubs), this one was to take place smack bang in the middle of the season, in January! 

Remarkably, Liverpool travelled to Amsterdam on the same day they’d coughed up a 2-0 half-time lead to lose 4-2 to Chelsea in an entertaining fourth round FA Cup game and two of their opponents in the Dutch capital were also midway through their respective seasons with only Ajax enjoying the luxury of a winter break. 

The rules of the tournament were relatively simple, six-a-side with rolling substitutes (bit like at your local PowerLeague) although the penalty area took up most of the respective halves of the pitch, the goals were full sized and bizarrely for six-a-side, the offside rule was in play. The games also lasted 40 minutes, split into four ten-minute quarters. 

The competition featured the cream of European football, Walter Smith’s Rangers had Paul Gascoigne in their ranks while the spine of Ajax’s Champions League winners of just two years previously were on show as the likes of Ronald de Boer, Jari Litmanen, Marc Overmars and the prolific Patrick Kluivert. Perhaps the most star-studded of lineups was reserved for AC Milan as the Rossoneri were able to call upon Italian superstars Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini as well as imported heroes Edgar Davids and Marcel Desailly. 

While Liverpool were going well in the Cup Winners’ Cup at the time (they were playing in lieu of FA Cup winners Manchester United who had claimed the double in 1996 and were playing in the Champions League, Liverpool of course were the beaten Wembley finalists), this was a slightly different assignment to the likes of Finnish outfit MyPa, FC Sion of Switzerland and Norwegian side SK Brann. This was probably reflected in the results as Evans’ Reds were walloped 5-0 by AC Milan in their opening fixture before receiving further hammerings from Rangers (7-3) and Ajax (8-1) and ending the league phase bottom of the table with a whopping -16 goal difference before losing the third place play-off to Rangers on penalties.

AC Milan were the winners of the tournament, proving too strong for the hosts in a 5-0 hammering in the final and each team received £120,000 for their troubles. There was talk of the SMDES becoming an annual event with Juventus and Bayern Munich rumoured to be joining the fun but alas it never materialised. 

When Jumpers For Goalposts comes to power, instead of warm weather training camps during the bleak English mid-winter, it’s going to be mandated that this tournament is resurrected and one Premier League team must play per season!