THIS is the astonishing tale of how an ordinary Red ended up quaffing champagne with an increasingly agitated Silvio Berlusconi - and a bevy of his Mafioso-style heavies - as Liverpool performed a Champions League miracle.
Despite threats from his wife and bank manager, in May 2005 middle-aged Kenny Noonan travels to Istanbul to watch Liverpool play AC Milan in the Champions’ League final. He carries the scars of 30 years as a Red - Heysel, Hillsborough, Alex Ferguson - and of living in a city which has been demonised.
What happened to Liverpool FC in the second half is legend. What happened to Kenny in the AC Milan director’s box is stranger than fiction.
Beating Berlusconi is based on the bizarre true story of Mark Radley - a 29-year-old cobbler from Allerton in Liverpool - who managed to inveigle his way into the AC Milan directors’ box during the 2005 Champions’ League Final.
Helping himself to free bubbly and salmon, and then invited to sit down by a smirking, perma-tanned Don Corleone type, Mark had no idea he was watching the match next to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi!
When Liverpool’s unlikely equaliser went in his Italian host turned nasty and the two squared up before Mark was hastily hauled off by Signor Berlusconi’s heavies.
Beating Berlusconi! is a new comedy by John Graham Davies, and stars Paul Duckworth. The play charts the fortunes of a lifelong Liverpool fan and the fortunes of his club and city. It had a cult following during its first run in the north-west in 2009, playing to standing ovations, and is now touring national
Beating Berlusconi! is at the Wyeside, Builth Wells, on Friday ,March 5.
Tickets can be booked by calling the box office on 01982 552555.