Football

Anfield viewed from the new Main Stand

As I lived in Walsall at the time, I didn't get chance to see Liverpool play except on Match of the Day. I started to go and watch Walsall F.C. (The Saddlers) play at Fellows Park, when I had the funds, the ground was literally a 10 minute walk from our house. Most of my close friends were not into football, so I would go by myself, meeting up with a couple of mates from work. Bearing in mind that this was early to late 80's, when hooliganism was at it's height! I stayed away from all of that, I was just there for the football.

Hartlepool United Football Club

Liverpool Football Club

Walsall Football Club

Above are the crests of the three football teams I will always check for the score. Hartlepool, my birth place, Walsall, the place I lived in for all of my school years, and Liverpool, the team that got me watching football.

UEFA Super Cup, Premier League Trophy, Champions League Trophy & FIFA Club World Cup. 2019/2020 Season

LIVERPOOL FC - HONOURS AND TROPHIES

Liverpool Football Club are one of the most successful English football teams and also one of Europe's most decorated clubs.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 19 times

1900/01, 1905/06, 1921/22, 1922/23, 1946/47, 1963/64, 1965/66, 1972/73, 1975/76, 1976/77, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1985/86, 1987/88, 1989/90, 2019/20*

* Premier League

Due to the Coronavirus (Covid19) in 2020, football was suspended from 13/03/2020 until 17/06/2020, when it resumed behind closed doors to finish the season on 26/07/2020. Liverpool clinched the title with 7 games remaining, and with 23 points between them and Manchester City, they finished the season with 99 points, 18 points clear of 2nd place Manchester City. At the time of posting this, Liverpool were still Champions League Winners, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Champions, as well as Premier League Winners.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS 6 times a British record

1976/77 3-1 vs Borussia Mönchengladbach
1977/78 1-0 vs Club Brugge
1980/81 1-0 vs Real Madrid
1983/84 1-1 (4-2 in penalty shootout) vs AS Roma
2004/05 3-3 (3-2 in penalty shootout) vs AC Milan

2018/19 2-0 vs Tottenham Hotspur

UEFA CUP WINNERS 3 times a British record

1972/73, 1975/76, 2000/01

FA CUP WINNERS 7 times

1964/65, 1973/74, 1985/86, 1988/89, 1991/92, 2000/01, 2005/06

LEAGUE CUP WINNERS 8 times an English record

1980/81, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1994/95, 2000/01, 2002/03, 2011/12

EUROPEAN SUPER CUP WINNERS 4 times a British record

1977, 2001, 2005, 2019

CHARITY SHIELD WINNERS 15 times

1963/64*, 1964/65*, 1965/66, 1973/74, 1975/76, 1976/77*, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1985/86*, 1987/88, 1988/89, 1989/90*, 2000/01, 2006/07 (* shared)

FOOTBALL LEAGUE SUPER CUP WINNERS Once

1985/86

(This competition was organised for English Clubs who would miss out on European Football due to being banned, due to Hooligans. This turned out to be a one off competition, due to poor attendance, so Liverpool are the only holders of this trophy).

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP Once

2019

Other Trophies

Football League Second Division Champions 4 times

1893/94, 1895/96, 1904/05, 1961/62

Lancashire League Champions Once

1892/93

FA Youth Cup Winners 4 times

1995/96, 2005/06 2006/07 2018/19

Reserves Division One Winners 18 times

1956/57, 1968/69, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1972/73, 1973/74, 1974/75, 1975/76, 1976/77, 1978/79, 1980/81, 1981/82, 1983/84, 1984/85, 1989/90, 1999/2000

2005 Champions League Winners, our 5th time so we get to keep the trophy.

Centre trophy is the original, the 4 behind are replicas.

Along came 1984, and Walsall had progressed in the League Cup (The Milk Cup as it was known as at that time), and who should they draw in the semi final? Liverpool, and it was at Anfield, because of the Walsall games I had been to, I had the correct tickets to be able to purchase a ticket for this game, coach transport arranged, on Tuesday 7th February 1984 I arrived at Anfield, amongst a hail of bricks being hurled at our coaches (the ugly side of football showing it's ugly head), no injuries! I arrived at the turnstile bursting to use the toilet (football coaches were not allowed to stop at services, due to the hooligans), I legged it to the toilet, I was ages, I thought I am going to miss the start of the match. I headed up the steps into the stands (no seating in those days), and there it was in front of me.... Anfield! and the pitch looked so lush and green even under the floodlights, I thought it looked like an oversized Snooker table. Of course, there was one down side, as I had got my ticket from Walsall F.C. I was with the Walsall fans. That being said, the atmosphere was amazing, I had never known anything like it, Walsall's Fellows Park could hold around 20,000 fans (I had never seen Fellows Park that full except once), here this night at Anfield the attendance was around 31,000 (around 10,000 of which were Walsall supporters), which I think was quite a low turn out, the capacity of Anfield at the time was around 45,000.

Ronnie Whelan scored for Liverpool after 14 minutes, it looked like business as normal, then after 42 minutes Gary Gillespie making his debut for Liverpool tried to clear the ball away, for it to ricochet off the back of Phil Neal and into the net. The Walsall fans went mad, a chorus of "who are you?" coming from the Walsall fans. On 73 minutes Ronnie Whelan popped up again to score, the Walsall fans although in good voice must have thought that would be it, then just a minute later Kevin Summerfield scored the equaliser for Walsall, the away fans erupted again. The final score Liverpool 2 Walsall 2. And so ended my first ever visit to Anfield, even though I couldn't react to the action the way I wanted to, it was still a memory I will always keep.

The Milk Cup (League Cup)

7 days later was the 2nd leg at Fellows Park, nothing was going to keep me away from this game, the tie was delicately poised, could Walsall get another famous victory (in 1933 Walsall played Arsenal at Fellows Park in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, with Walsall winning 2 - 0). As I said above I had only seen Fellows Park at full capacity once, and 14th Feb 1984 v Liverpool was that day. We were literally packed in like sardines in a tin. The traveling Liverpool fans were in good voice.

On 13 minutes Ian Rush did what he did best and put the visitors in front, this was greeted with cheering from the Liverpool fans, which was then followed by a huge cracking noise, when Rushy scored the Liverpool fans surged forward as they would normally do at Anfield, but in front of them was a low brick wall, the cracking noise was the wall giving way, and fans spilled onto the pitch behind the goal. Play was held up for 13 minutes as the injured were attended to. Liverpool captain Graeme Souness joined in the rescue with the police and carried one injured fan to safety. He was concerned as he could hear the injured youngsters crying out in pain. 24 people were injured. The game resumed, and Walsall gave as good as they got, but on 49 minutes Ronnie Whelan scored to put the game beyond Walsall. Walsall manager Alan Buckley said after the game, "I am not going to decry other teams, but had we faced any other side than the most ruthlessly professional outfit in Great Britain, with wonderful skills to boot, I believe Walsall would have been at Wembley." I witnessed something at this game, I thought was impossible, from my position in the crowd, I was looking across the pitch just ahead of the Walsall goal line, and saw Rushy put the ball over the bar from around 2yrds out!! he never misses from that range!

This win would now take Liverpool to Wembley to face Everton in the final on 24th March. 100,000 fans filled the stadium to watch what turned out to be a very poor match, which ended 0-0 (there was no extra time or penalties in this competition back then, so the replay took place on 28th March, at Maine Road (the home of Manchester City), in front of 52,089 fans. This game was not much better than the game at Wembley 4 days earlier. Graeme Souness scored the only goal of the game on 21 minutes, to win Liverpool the trophy for the 4th consecutive time. This season saw Liverpool win the League, the European Cup (beating Roma 4-2 on penalties after drawing the game 1-1) and the League Cup (Milk Cup).

Photos of Liverpool's 6 European/Champions League Cup Wins

It would be many years before I would get the chance to go to Anfield again. I managed to see Liverpool play Birmingham City at St Andrew's, a cousin of mine had managed to get a couple of tickets, and took me along, it was not a great game, and ended 1-1.

A work colleague managed to get tickets for the 1984 FA Cup Final Everton v Watford, obviously I was not a fan of either side, but I just wanted to go and saver the atmosphere. It was a great day, and it was great to see Everton and Watford fans walking together and enjoying a bit of banter, no trouble at all. Everton won 2-0.

Some of the programmes I have collected over the years

I have been to a number of football matches over the years, a majority being Walsall games, I have been to Molineux, to watch Wolves v Man Utd, Villa Park to watch Villa v Liverpool, but I wanted to go back to Anfield, this day arrived in 1996, a work colleague (Scouse Pete, original eh?) was from Liverpool and was a massive Reds fan, he managed to get tickets for us to see Liverpool v Leeds, and to top it all, it was in the Kop end. What a game, Liverpool ran out 5-0 winners with goals from Razor Ruddock (2), Robbie Fowler (2) and 1 from Stan Collymore. We were staying with relatives of Pete's, in the evening we went into the city, going from bar to bar, the place was buzzing after the win. I have since been to Anfield a number of times, I once managed to get a ticket to watch Liverpool v Man Utd, this was a shock as even for lesser sides, it is almost impossible to get tickets (hence why I have not been to Anfield as often as I would like). I have been to a few European matches, one that sticks in my mind is when we played Turkish side Besiktas in the UEFA Champions League, We had lost 2-1 at the FİYAPI İnönü Stadyumu in Istanbul on 24th October 2007, we then played them at Anfield on 06th November 2007. Gary, another work colleague managed to get 4 tickets, so a good friend of mine Gareth could come along and he also took his son, for his 1st visit to Anfield. The tickets were for The Centenary Stand (now known as The Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand). We hoped the team could turn the score around, but what we all witnessed that night was beyond our wildest dreams. The support was amazing from the fans, the noise, a proper European night at Anfield.

Peter Crouch started the scoring off on 19 minutes, Yossi Benayoun added another on 32 minutes, the game settled down a bit, half time came and went, then on 53 minutes Yossi Benayoun added a 3rd his second, Yossi Benayoun added a 4th to complete his hattrick on 56 minutes. Then on 69 minutes up popped Captain fantastic Steven Gerrard to make it 5-0, we thought that would be it, just knock the ball about and see the game out, but no, Ryan Babel made it 6-0 on 78 minutes (surely that was it?). On 81 minutes a clearance from Ibrahim Toraman deflected off the onrushing Babel on the edge of the penalty area and over the stranded Arikan to make it 7-0. Peter Crouch started the scoring and finished it on 89 minutes for his 2nd and Liverpool's 8th. What a game, what a result. Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas

Anfield scoreboard. I was sat to the left of this on this night.

I have now been to a few Liverpool games at Anfield, but even though the capacity of the ground has increased, it is becoming harder to get tickets, also the price of tickets is a factor, if you want to be seated somewhere with a decent view, and not up in the gods, you are looking at tickets from £42 to £59 per adult, and of course there is travel and parking on top of that, plus you always have to go to the club shop.

A selection of my football tickets

A few years ago, I was in Walsall, visiting friends and relatives, and I found out that England B side were playing at Walsall FC's new ground The Bescot Stadium, this is literally a stones throw from their old ground Fellows Park. I enjoyed the game, not that I remember much about it. Then a few years later I went and watched Walsall play a League game, it is true what they say about new grounds, they don't seem to have the atmosphere of the original ground, this was so true for the game I went to see.

An assortment of photos from my visits to Anfield

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