ON current form, if the once famous Anfield roar really was our “Twelfth Man”, he would have been ignominiously hauled off before half-time never to pull on a red jersey again, writes DAVID WEBBER.
Blame for his decline is usually attributed towards the iPad-wielding tourists, or the out-of-towners, who sneak out early to beat the traffic that gridlocks the streets of L4 after the full-time whistle. Every fan however — whoever you are, wherever you’re from and wherever you sit — has a duty to get behind the team and the boss. Before kick-off, during the game, in fact, right up until the final whistle. I’ll give you half-time but, as Chelsea found out last weekend, only when the ref blows his whistle.
That’s your role. Bomb forward as much as you like Moreno lad, but you’ve got a defensive responsibility, too. It comes with the ticket. Whether you’re a veteran season-ticket holder, a member just glad to get a seat, or a visitor to Shanks’ bastion of invincibility, cheer, sing, wave your scarf. Just get behind the lads. That’s your job.
A nadir was reached yesterday in the Annie Road End. Not the greatest seats in the house, but who cares, right? The Reds on an unbeaten run, Chelsea dispatched at the Bridge, and a tricky midweek trip to Russia expertly negotiated. We’re set up nicely to finally get a decent result against Palace.
In the end, the result is a huge disappointment. Palace probably still can’t believe they’ve nicked it, but they are both solid at the back and clinical up front. Meanwhile, for all our neat play and pressing, our defensive frailties and inability to score come back to haunt us. Again. Still, there’s definite progress from earlier in the season.
Not that any of this appears to register with large swathes of our home support. You’ll Never Walk Alone sounds routine rather than rousing, while what should be a poignant rendition of Scouser Tommy is met with bemused indifference. The Palace fans on the other hand are in good voice. Unlike a certain other team from the capital, they’re far less interested in our players than they are backing their own.
Again, something our lot seem to have forgotten to do. When Klopp took charge last month, he noted the lack of belief among his new players. When only a crocked Sakho and goalscoring Coutinho receive any acclaim from the crowd, it’s not hard to see where that mental fragility might stem from. Just imagine what difference a song for Lallana, Benteke or Ibe might do for their self-confidence. They’d be running through walls.
So what has replaced our once “famous atmosphere”? The Palace fans packed in the far corner of the Annie Road are raucous, and while their repertoire isn’t particularly original — I’m irked that they appear to have nicked our Lucas song — it’s effective in both getting behind their team and pissing off some of our lot.
“Fuck off, Palace,” one solitary fella sitting two rows in front of me yells over to his right.
He’s joined by another fella towards the back. It’s repeated sporadically throughout the game, each time eliciting a murmur of giggles at the very naughtiness of it all.
Yet “Fuck off, Palace” represents the denouement of Liverpool’s claim of having the “Best Supporters in the World”. It’s the equivalent of going to a Beatles gig, expecting them to play A Day in the Life only for John, Paul, George and Ringo to instead start flicking Vs at the audience. Or worse still, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.
We’re better than this. We’re Liverpool Football Club. That’s what you signed up to when you bought a ticket. We’re 18 leagues, five European Cups. We’re the best football team in the land. European royalty. Too many teams in recent years have turned up and we’ve let them do a number on us in the stands. We’ve got the best songbook around. No-one else comes close. You’ll Never Walk Alone. Fields of Anfield Road. Scouser Tommy. A Liverbird Upon My Chest. Poetry in Motion. And they’re just the classics.
You can blame the ludicrous increase in ticket prices, the lack of kids in the ground, and the rapidly shrinking Scouse demographic. These are hugely important issues that FSG needs to address. The point though is this. Rarely is the Anfield songbook opened nowadays. Those fans that are filing through the turnstiles are not singing, and amidst all the finger-pointing and blame-shifting, those match-going supporters have to front up and play their part.
When visiting fans ask “Where’s Your Famous Atmosphere?” it sounds like they’re taking the piss. Beneath that bravado though there lies a deep-seated disappointment that they’re not being treated to our European royalty. Whether it’s Barcelona or Barnsley, Juventus or Yeovil, opposition teams and their fans alike should be blown away by the ferocity of our songs. They want to hear it. The Redmen on the pitch want to hear it. Kloppo wants to hear it. The millions of Reds worldwide watching the game on the telly want to hear it. Give them what they want. We should all be walking out of the ground with our throats hoarse and our heads buzzing.
We expect our players to give everything on the pitch. It’s about time we turned up, too. The “Twelfth Man” is struggling for form. Some might say he’s suffering a bit of an identity or even existential crisis. Maybe so, but the only identity that really matters is the Liverbird upon his chest. Let’s sing for that if nothing else.
Up the Reds.
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LFC have the greatest repertoire of songs in English football, by a mile. Working class songs for a working class city, witty, original, never copying songs of other clubs, full of history harking back to days of old and times gone by, and yet they never get an airing at home games. Yesterday, for a moment, we heard “L.i.v.e.r.p double ol Liverpool FC”, but then it died away. And all we could hear was the Palace fans again.
Klopp is right, and the fans he inherited must be a greater source of disappointment to him at the moment than the squad he inherited….the fans who left early yesterday seemed so eager to get out, but it was the timing of them leaving, straight after the goal, like it was a huge “f*ck off” to the players, that rankled with those of us who remained in the ground.
Spot on Howard, the songs you speak of were passed down through families (it certainly was through mine) – from yer Grandad’s era of Billy Liddell and Albert Stubbins, through to yer Da’s era of Shankly through to King Kenny, when our generation took the mantle from Kenny through to Evans, Houllier and Rafa…and that is where it seems to have ended.
Old traditions have been lost, such as singing each players name just before kick off when the teams are out of the tunnel, and singing ‘Come All Ye Faithful’ at Christmas games. Even ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ is half arsed now. When was the last time there was a witty, spur of the moment piss-take of an opposition manager, player, fans or the officials?
All seater stadiums and ticket prices have contributed to there being less tickets available for an increasingly growing demand. Strict stadium rules on fan conduct, flags and banners, sharing tickets and standing also have massively reduced the atmosphere. But a change of fan demographic in the game, as mentioned in the article, has been the biggest killer of atmosphere. The traditions cannot be expected to be passed on to new supporters, local or not, when the supporters who made the Kop and Anny Road what they were have been alienated. The club must take their fair share of the blame, and I feel that the link has been broken beyond repair now.
Great article. As the 12th Man, we all need to up our game. When we do, it makes late winners and equalisers more likely, which means we’ll all feel better about the team, and so we perform better the next match. A virtuous circle.
I agree completely with this, and the other articles on the same topic.
Its time to stand up and be counted!
But I wonder if we should take this literally? Is it time to have the discussion about safe standing? The best atmosphere comes when The Kop is standing.
When you stand, you are engaged and you’re part of it. When you’re sitting, you instantly become a spectator. From there, its a short step to an attitude of ‘come on then, entertain me’.
The Bundesliga is in a league of its own in terms of atmosphere and support. Nothing comes near it. And its the safe standing areas that make all the noise. Those seats are cheaper, and are subsidised by the corporates who pay for the experience generated.
I know our club has more concerns than most about the safety of standing. But when policed properly, as shown elsewhere in Europe, it can be as safe as seated areas.
If we are going to really have a discussion about increasing the volume and the atmosphere and the support by the 12th man, then we need to include the issue of safe standing.
completely agree that safe standing (german style) should be introduced for the Kop and also that it be pay on the day — a fair price that would encourage younger less well off fans.. we pay for the police to manage the manage — when i went to the Kop you needed to be in the Kop by 1-1.30pm to ensure a ticket. the whole event was a celebration. Later years i was bought some stand tickets — great match but very different experience
Someone suggested once on The Anfield Wrap that fans should be breathalized on the way in and unless you’ve had 5 pints you can’t come in…..there’s something to that.
I have been to Dortmund a few times and everyone is on the ale, everyone. And everyone sings, not always with the vigour of the Yellow Wall but songs come from all over the ground.
Not sure how the club can ensure everyone is lashed though unfortunately!
Great article and agree 100%. There is evidence to suggest that we can create an atmosphere the 13/14 season, European nights and even the “bigger” league games (the derby for example). The decline in atmosphere has been happening for a while but is probably only more noticeable now though because we’re trying to show Klopp we’re like the German fans. We’re also missing a player with a song to get the crowd going (think Gerrard, Suarez or Torres) which is probably why we hear songs for old players being sung.
I do think the club has to look at itself though and how it effects the atmosphere. I’ve always admired and appreciated the work groups such as The Spirit of Shankly and Spion Kop 1906 do to drum up the atmosphere. In truth I often wish i could show that level of dedication and support. There will be far more qualified people to comment but the issues they’re constantly have with LFC are having an impact before the game. The flags and banners we’re missed on Sunday. I would love to read a positive piece about how these groups try to get the atmosphere going rather than articles about how bad it has got. There is also an issue with the stewards who request people “sit down” as soon as the game kick’s off or any action finishes. At a recent European game i witnessed a steward (following a complaint) tell a fan to stop standing up to sing. The ironic thing is Liverpool needs this level of support more than ever. It uses it for marketing, merchandise and promotion. If it doesn’t help to encourage atmosphere then it will continue to decline and they’ll loose a big selling tool.
The concept that a standing Kop will bring back a singing ,swaying atmosphere is spurious. When it was a standing terrace it only rocked for the biggest and most hostile fixtures.Much of the time it was as flat as now.
But that won’t stop the revisionist history many spout, probably by those that never went anywhere near the ground during our 70s and 80s pomp. Everyone is blaming any set that excludes themselves. The demographic of those going is ageing, their spirit has long gone.
Look at those leaving after the second goal. They weren’t OOTers, day trippers or oversea visitors on a weekend jolly. They were 40-50 year old locals that had seen it all before. They all knew we’d never score, there are so few goal in this side now. When was the last time we’d camp in the opposition’s box and grind out a goal from relentless pressure?
While the idea that the kop was rocking every week is definitely idealistic, there is simply no comparison between then (standing) and now. The 80s, in my opinion, wasn’t really even part of what I’d describe as the golden era of Anfield – that would be the 60s and 70s. By the 80s there was a little more entitlement and it was less cool to sing sometimes. But you’d still know you were at Anfield. The team would still know that the majority of the stadium were on their side. And while it was generally the bigger/important games that had huge atmospheres, you would not get the sustained spells of players’ shouts echoing around the ground at any match. The revisionism works both ways. The 60s and 70s in general were a special time to be at Anfield and especially on the kop, but we don’t have to judge what’s possible by the past either. We’re the absolute worst right now, let’s look towards turning that around and bringing in an era where perhaps it’s not even just about the kop.. But the four “walls” of Anfield. A long road perhaps, but one worth going down.
Great article. Keep banging this drum, guys. It is up to us to change things.
Would probably cause uproar but taking season tickets out the kop and making it pay at the gate would be a positive, lads would queue and you would get fans that really want to be there create atmosphere with mates etc
Agree with all of that, David, although I think United have as good a songbook as our’s. We might not like the songs, but I think it bears comparison. Like us, they also have excellent away support.
Visiting fans to both Anfield and Old Trafford will often out-sing the home support, but the songs will always be about the team they are facing rather than themselves. It is their big day out, after all.
I blame gentrification throigh ticket pricing and seating.Instead of building corporate boxes, they should build a boys pen with terraces reserved for the under 16s who live in Merseyside. It would be something to behold. Something to fear. Especially if they built terraces for thier fathers too. £10 a ticket. Scouse passion and sentiment made Anfield famous, not supporters from Shepton Mallet, near Rutland.
That’s rubbish. Other clubs don’t have morgue atmospheres. The problem is down to the age of those going, not where they’re from. Cheap tickets won’t get kids in, the tickets have already gone.
Scrap all STs for the Kop and Annie Rd. Pay on the gate, sit where you like (i.e, with your mates). First come first serve. Fuck off all latecomers. And limit kids not old enough to drive or drink. Screaming brats are worse than silence.
Take some of the audience now at the theatre .Take a bow Nick Silvestri of Seaford, Long Island,gets up to plug his phone into a socket on the set of a Broadway comedy.
Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic, Richard Griffiths at the National and in NYC: bollock people interrupting shows with their phones. We are sold that we must be doing 10 things at once to be Boss People. Go to a match, get text alerts,listen to another match, check pictures of dogs out on a Cruft’s Website. Leave the phone, join in the songs master the match atmosphere. Be good at one thing. .Supporting with the others. Yer missus will be alright with a taxi .Sakes.
Ask not what your club can do for you, ask what you can do for your club.
For me, one of the most depressing things about our mostly apathetic home support is just how damned good it was at Anfield during 2013/14. As someone who started going the match in 1992, 13/14 was the best Liverpool campaign I’ve ever had the privilege to have witnessed, and consistently the best atmosphere. But if we can only bother our arses to properly get behind the lads not just when they’re winning but also playing once-in-a-lifetime football, we need to think on.
Also, I never forgot the time that, as a spotty, thick 14-year-old, I got a bollocking on the Kop for having a go at Mark Walters, just a few weeks after he scored two against Blackburn. Can’t remember the match in question but Walters was utterly crap. However the bloke giving me down the banks made the point that, rather than whining and moaning, we needed instead to support our players. Anfield could do with a few blokes like that now.
Jurgen Klopp should of joined Crystal Palace. They have without a doubt the best fans in the Premier League at the moment. Their mentality & organisation have saved their matchday experience.
I think its time to hand the keys of kop to the young scallies of this city with an ultra mentality. They make the awaydays fun, they should be the future…FSG should make them the future.