Cheshire-based Liverpool fan Jamie Rawlings, or JR to his fans (no, absolutely nothing to do with Dallas, thank you for the emails) joined Voiceoffootball in August 2006.

Since then his column has earned itself a loyal following, so we caught up with Jay to quiz him on his footballing loves and loathes in a bit more detail...

Name: Jamie Rawlings

Occupation: Student and Voiceoffootball columnist

First football match you saw: The first match that I properly remember being at is Liverpool v Sheffield Wednesday on the first day of 95/96 season. It was Stan Collymore’s first game for Liverpool and he scored and ran over to the part of the stadium where I was sitting. Liverpool won 1-0.

Sum up being a Liverpool fan: Frustrating. How can a team look so good in one game and then be so different in the next? A prime example is week one of this season. We beat Chelsea 2-1 in the Community Shield, then went to Sheffield United the following Saturday and drew 1-1.

What do you like best about writing for Voiceoffootball? It gives me the opportunity to share my views about football with a lot more people and so gives my close friends’ ears a bit of a breather.

If you could change one thing in football what would it be? There are many little things that annoy me in football, like when you’re about to watch the game on TV and it goes to an advert. But the main thing I’d want to change is the rule about going off the pitch when you have received treatment for an injury. It just doesn’t work. You’ve received an injury from an illegal challenge, and to top it off, you’ve got to stand off the pitch for a few moments!?

Any funny footballing anecdotes to share with your fans: I’m sure I’ve got lots, but my mind is blank at the moment. One that sticks in my memory though is from when I was 15 and I played in goal for my Sunday league team. We had reached the final of the Cup and we were playing the team from the top of our league. At half time it was 1-1 and in the changing room everyone was singing my praises saying how I’d kept us in the game and how I was having an absolute stormer.

We came out for the second half, and the first thing I had to do was clear a back pass from our centre back. Instead of putting my foot through the ball, I decided to try taking it around their striker (and probably best player in the league). As you can imagine, it didn’t go to plan, he took the ball off me, and slotted it into the open goal. We went on to lose 6-1.

Favourite football quote: There have been some absolute classics over the years from the many commentators of the sport. Lines like, ‘Some people are on the pitch, they think its all over, it is now.’ Also comments such as, ‘Game Over’ by Andy Gray when Hernan Crespo put Milan 3-0 up against Liverpool in the Champions League final, not to mention Alan Hansen’s – ‘You win nothing with kids’ that later came back to haunt him.

I think, however, some of my favourite quotes come from Soccer Saturday with Jeff Stelling and the boys on Sky Sports. Recently they showed a tour of the Emirates Stadium, and it showed how there has been a toilet for dogs built in to it. One of the pundits said; ‘Who takes a dog to the football?’ with Peter Reid quickly replying, ‘I’ve seen you with a few at the football before Matt (Le Tissier).’

Most mischievous transfer rumour you’ve ever heard: Liverpool and some other Premiership clubs apparently trying to buy fictional character Didier Baptist ahead of Dream Team’s Harchester United a few seasons ago.

Who do you have the greatest admiration for in football? An interesting question. Obviously I could be boring and go for the ‘big guns’ like Pele, Maradona or the late George Best, but I’m going to be more original. My heart says someone like Robbie Fowler, you know, somebody who is an absolute legend at Anfield, but actually I think I’m going to say Teddy Sheringham. He’s like 300, and he still puts a shirt on, turns out in the Premiership and can do a job.

Sum up your love of the beautiful game: Football makes or breaks my week. I can play five-a-side on a Friday night, get beat, and it’s spoilt my weekend. I don’t even want to think about the day after England went out of the 2006 World Cup. I wouldn’t speak to anyone for hours and had to go for a walk.