It seemed like such a good marketing idea. The two No. 8 players in the Merseyside derby (Liverpool v Everton football match at Anfield today) were wearing special '08' shirts to help advertise the Capital of Culture.
Really, the only thing that could go wrong was for Steve Gerrard to be sent off in disgrace for an awful foul. And, guess what, that's exactly what happened after only 18 minutes.
Maybe that was part of the plan too, even more publicity, no such thing as bad publicity etc.