I CRACKED a bit on Wednesday. Which was problematic because I cracked a lot on Saturday. There isn’t that much more to crack.
I realised I’d cracked when I dropped to my knees on the aisle and slapped the concrete repeatedly after Daniel Sturridge’s miss from six yards. I looked up to stares. This weirdo.
Thing is, I’ll take that in a concrete-slapping context. Thing is though, that had been going on all game. Look at this weirdo. Look at him shouting. Screaming. Singing, even. Look at him. A nudge over on the left. Look at him. Keep your eye on this fella. He’s on one.
And bar one bloke three rows in front not doing dissimilar things — shouting encouragement, asking for one more, shouting next one — there was mostly complete silence. A bit of joining in with whichever rendition of You’ll (fucking) Never (fucking) Walk (fucking) Alone (fucking) we were fucking singing in that phase of the game.
There’s an issue with these things, these pieces — like the tone can be misconstrued as, “I’m boss me, the rest of you need to look at yourselves”. It’s why I don’t do them. I don’t think I am boss or anything like that. Christ, I don’t even go to all the games. Gibbo does that. I’m not even going to Wolves. I need the weekend off, I need a winter break.
I don’t think everyone needs to be rowdy for 90 minutes. I think that’s ideal but it won’t happen. But what shouldn’t happen is people making noise being made to feel weird, being left on their own — trust me, you’ll definitely encourage Alexander-Arnold on your own in the Lower Centenary if you aren’t careful.
Same thing happened to Jono, elsewhere in the ground. He was giving the referee down the banks. Prick this and prick that no doubt. No one said this was pretty, by the way. That’s why it excites you when you are young. Prick this. Prick that. Around him:
- Nudges
- Eyes on
- Sniggering behind the hand.
One fella clapped him! Clapped Jono for shouting at the ref. Mate, shout at him yourself. It all helps. It all fucking helps. It is sort of the point.
This:
- Football grounds should be cauldrons of opposition or encouragement.
This:
- This Liverpool side needs a bit at the moment. Yeah, they’ll do your head in when they cock up so groan and then fucking shout encouragement. Remember yourself.
This:
- Forget the Kop. We don’t need to sing lovely songs, we need to call people pricks. You can do that anywhere in the ground at any time.
This:
- It’s your fucking League Cup, you bellends. I couldn’t give a shit about a day out at Wembley yadda yadda yadda Ronnie Whelan — so why am I the one making the noise and slapping the concrete?
I don’t think any of this is about where people are from or how much money they have or anything like that. I think all of this is about people not wanting to be embarrassed. Not wanting to be nudged about. I think too much of this is about not wanting to not be cool, not shout the right chant or shouting the uncool one. I think this is about it being something you get used to watching because tickets are hard to come by or something you have seen too many times before. Unsure and jaded. The Liverpool Way.
Listen:
It’s perfectly straightforward this. Tuesday is the most important day of your life. You might have other things going on, so let’s boil it down further. It is the biggest night of your year. If it goes well you might get another one bigger. If it doesn’t there’s every chance that is 2017 supporting The Reds. That is it. Everything else becomes process again. The process of top four. The process of starting the next campaign. Everything becomes the process. Your outcome is broken. Fucked on the concrete of Chelsea.
Listen:
It’s perfectly straightforward this. Go bananas. Every free kick is a Liverpool free kick. Every Liverpool player is a good player and it is a sheer fucking cosmic injustice that the brilliant bit of play they just attempted didn’t work. Every time the ball goes out of play it belongs to Liverpool. Every tackle on a Liverpool player is a foul. Your hands aren’t your hands. They are Liverpool’s hands. Clap them. Your throat, son, isn’t your throat. It is Liverpool’s throat. Use it.
Listen:
It’s perfectly straightforward this. Practice against Wolves. Go to Wolves and shout and scream and if any cunt so much as nudges or sniggers behind his or her hand, if anyone has an eye on you, ask them what they are doing. Fucking shame the bastards. Have it out with them there and then. Put a marker down. For Tuesday. Stretch your legs. For Tuesday. Have a warm up. For Tuesday. There is only Tuesday.
I’m off. The last thing I need is a warm up for Tuesday. I’ve a note from Dr Nevin giving me the all clear to have some time out of the firing line. To clear my head. To focus on Tuesday.
Tuesday is everything. Make it everything. Make Liverpool everything. And then we see.
Recent Posts:
[rpfc_recent_posts_from_category meta=”true”]
Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
I’ll just repeat this:
It’s perfectly straightforward this. Go bananas. Every free kick is a Liverpool free kick. Every Liverpool player is a good player and it is a sheer fucking cosmic injustice that the brilliant bit of play they just attempted didn’t work. Every time the ball goes out of play it belongs to Liverpool. Every tackle on a Liverpool player is a foul. Your hands aren’t your hands. They are Liverpool’s hands. Clap them. Your throat, son, isn’t your throat. It is Liverpool’s throat. Use it
I’m get tickets using the membership scheme. So I get to sit all over the ground over the course of the season.
The lower centenary is definitely the worse stand for atmosphere.
We haven’t won fuck all for a decade. It’s a period of deep frustration. There’s anger in the fanbase. We should be venting that anger every match ….. at the opposition players!
Especially against Chelsea. Especially them. We’d have won the league in 13/14 but for them. We’d have won it this year too but for them. I hope our fans unleash that deep frustration every time a Chelsea player touches the ball. Frighten them with the ferocity of our frustration.
The New Main Stand is becoming a hindrance not a help. I sat in the old one for 17 years and when it was bouncing (and yes the atmosphere could be great in that stand!) there was an “all in it” feeling. You were close, could hug and jump on each other no problem and always bloody warm!! Now its always cold, your not sat with all of your mates anymore and the seats are too far away so no one can hear you bloody talk anyway. I sat in the Annie road on Wednesday and for the first time I could our new Stand in all its glory. It looked half empty (even though it was only the hospitality) but the impression wasn’t great.
As to a solution to all the above, I honestly don’t know!!! So don’t ask!
Anyway come on redmen and lets get into these plastic bastards on Tuesday
The solution is to reduce ticket prices for locals within a 10 mile radius of Annie Road. Concessions for the unemployed. The tourists and corporates need displacement. But this is our owners fault. As is the weak team that has limited quality and no depth. Fuck, we profited from the last Window and had no Europe, and we can’t even beat 14th placed championship Wolves.
Not the old ‘locals’ chestnut. I stand on the Kop every home game with my daughter and we belt out every song, we should, scream, hurl abuse at refs, the lot. We are from Lancashire (within my lifetime so was Liverpool). Against Plymouth there were numerous people with local accents and you know something, most were apparently struck dumb. Off to my right however, a group of foreign supporters were singing their hearts out all through the game and guess what, a number of those local fans had the nerve to snigger at them. I will leave your imagination to decide what I shouted at them. Oh, and I also work with 2 locals who have got tickets in the local sale, who are blue shite and have sold them on.
Personal gripe that I’d like to add…
The amount of people who start applauding after the first chorus of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” thinking the songs finished when it’s played before the match never ceases to amaze me.
It’s only the most famous song in football and the motto of the club. Don’t worry about it like…
I know it’s shocking that what once began as an embarrassing mistake by tourist divs in the corner of the Kemlyn Road (Anny Road End), is now almost the norm. Says it all really, the ground used to be full of people who simply came to support the Reds whether every other week, occasionally or even first time. There was a common purpose. Now there are many who attend as a perk of their jobs, day trippers there for the ‘Anfield Experience’ and various odds and sods who have no understanding of the heritage, tradition and duty of being a Liverpool supporter.
Safe standing might go some way to restoring a culture of many actually participating in the events unfolding before them, but the rush to get as much money out the new punters overrides anything. FSG want to make money, so some guy with a Thomas Cook package and bags stuffed full of goodies from the new even mega, mega store is who they want at the match. It’s business now, and Jurgen desperately urging the crowd to get behind the lads ain’t going to work, as many who like him doing this actually want to be entertained themselves by the rump of true supporters. It’s as though the traditional cheeky Scousers come as part of the deal, the entertainment what with their nice flags, songs and raw emotion.
Stuart Hall (sorry to mention him) used to refer to Anfield as the Colosseum. Well folks from being the audience come to witness the opposition put to the sword we have become part of the offer the famous Twelfth Man (trademark FSG),
Suffered the same kind of response in the new Main Stand against Sunderland. Called Anichebe a big dopey c*nt and got looked at like I had 2 heads. Its embarrassing.
Give everything to The Reds on Tuesday. Stick with them too.
Let’s face it the new model of encouraging the corporate divvies and global fan base to attend. I saw a clip from Redmen TV where a guy was talking about how Liverpool ( and the other top clubs) are just tourist clubs. and he nailed it . Its the era of selfies and half half scarf sadly
Brilliant cri de couer, Niel. This stuff really does my head in. Some of us have supported this club as best we can since we’ve been kids and get this – we have never been to the ground. Never. Because we grew up on a farm in Ireland and we didn’t even get on a plane for the first time until we were almost 19 and all the rest of it. And even then there’s guilt that we haven’t ploughed every spare cent we have into attending every game we possibly can instead of having children and paying off the car loan and groaning through the biggest recession in a century. So we make do with seeing the Reds any time we can when they visit this country and listen in on the radio or whatever for everything else and when you hear the SILENCE over the BBC 5 Live airwaves, like last weekend against Swansea, when you’d love to be there with a few beakers on board, going bananas like your life depends on it and in some ways it does, it’s an absolute bloody sickener. So please, sort it out.
Neil, even.
Agree with this.
Massive Liverpool fan base here in Cumbria. Loads travel 3 hrs down there and 3 hrs back up the M6 fucking car park regularly as we love the club and love going to games (when we can get tickets), for me to take one of my lads it’s generally a cost of minimum £200 a game. I usually get my mates season ticket in the lower Centenary and there are scousers all around me who won’t even speak or acknowledge me, or a 9 yr old kid!! Those same scousers who don’t sing or shout like me and my son do.
It’s a fucking joke. Some of you lot need to have a word. If I can spend £200 a shot going to the game, surely that means I care as much, if not more than most.
I’ve only been twice this season, as I simply can’t get tickets, even with the increased capacity. But from what I can see on tv and have been told by my mates the atmosphere is getting worse by the week.
With that passion I reckon we need to start a whip round to get you there mate.
Fucking love that mate, well in
As someone who has also never been able to make it to the ground; you really nailed it.
Oh yes.
Make Anfield a cauldron. The sort of place we hate our lads going. Where the ref DOES get influenced by the crowd and intimidated into giving the contentious decisions our way. It does happen, that. Where opposition players are scared to be in possession and every time they are hounded by one of ours it’s met with raucous cheering. Anfield can be like that. It can swallow Chelsea.
Great article, Neil. This is precisely why Liverpool NEEDS a safe standing section.
As a Celtic season ticket holder, (I only manage to get down to see Liverpool a couple of times a season with my son, that’s if I manage to get tickets etc. etc.) I can see first hand what a difference the standing section makes to a stadium. There is a constant noise in the background of a match, cancelling out the rustle of the sweetie papers. At first I thought it was a bit of an annoyance having a “singing section” as it disrupted the natural ebb and flow of a game, a “get your finger out” roar when the opposition had the temerity to score was no longer there, just a constant noise and waving of flags to the beat of two drummers.
This would make the atmosphere at Anfield. It would galvanise the support for the full 90 mins. It would scare the opposition. It would get the 3 points.
LFC, FSG, Fan groups, please get together and act on this. I understand the emotional connection of the word “standing” in a football ground now, however this is not unsafe. Unsafe, currently, is standing at the back of the Kop where the back of the seat in front of you is hitting your ankles. One surge and you’re gone. This safe standing is different. It’s well stewarded, policed and monitored. It’s a direct one person = one space, different even to the German model, where it’s 3 people to 2 spaces.
Take the lead. Be the first. Set the standard. Win the league.
Couldn’t agree more. Again, understand the fear of giving offence, but organised, planned standing couldn’t be further from the shambles that was Leppings Lane, April 1989. If it’s done right…
Going on Tuesday. Echoes my thoughts precisely. Get into them, Red Men!!
I live in the States so do not get to attend matches. The silence coming through the TV against Southampton was appealing. I shouldn’t be hearing “When the Saints go marching in” for fucks sake. Even if the ground yelled “Reds!” When they say “Saints” it would have mattered. Why the hell do people want to go to the match if they’re gonna sit there in fucking silence! Get up, make some fucking noise!
Over the last few years I’ve seen the “have it out with them” approach up close. From the arl Arse on the Kop punching the young guy with his girl sat in front of me for shouting “FUCKING come on reds!” To the guy beside me on the Kop saying “you know what I’d do with your fucking Irish manager?? (Rodgers) I’d fucking sack him!!” when he heard my N Irish accent join in the singing. That was Basel in Dec 14, the last time I sung/shouted properly. The vitriol that night enraged and sobered me to the point I felt defeated and though I’ve been back in the Kop and in the upper cent. It’s been with a murmur rather than a hoarse roar. I’ve been wondering for quite some time what sort of behaviour will greet me when I’m next over for Palace in April , what I do wish is that I could sit with people like this who I could feed off and reciprocate the effort. Up the fucking reds!
Amen……well said.
Hi Neil, great article! Just the kind of response I expect from you after reading your articles. So thanks for that.
I agree completely turn Anfield into Cauldron/Colosseum and upset the minds of the plastics as they will be hard focused on going to repeat their performance ala 2014 to further dent any hopes of mounting a title challenge.
Conte is not going to come with open arms, more like a cloak and dagger from the Italian.
I wish I had you sitting next to me at the matches I have attended at Anfield, being an out of towner/wool whatever. I lose my voice singing, trying to rally something and getting that look you mention from the other schmucks around me. Didn’t give a fuck then and still don’t!
I can’t make this game in the flesh, but I and my heart will be in it all the way.
So come on you Redmen, Klopp and Red fans alike, Neil is calling on us to give it everything we got and return the favor to the plastics and knock them for the rest of the teams to do them in. Let’s do him and all of Liverpool proud — Nothing less will suffice.
Up the Reds!!!
Had a lot of looks and sniggers on Weds in U1 in the main. Couldn’t understand it. Then walking out heard a few people boo. Me and some other lad shouted “fuck that booing off” – some women then said lfc were a disgrace – not sure if she was the person booing – but had to say to her ‘shout then. Don’t boo.’ People also more interested filming on their phone saying ‘look at me’ on social media rather than participating and doing all YOU can to influence the result.
The support is finished,until there’s a way for the day tripping tourists to be fucked off(and there isn’t) it will stay like that.The season when we were going for the league and desperate for 3 points v Sunderland,I was sat among a huge section of weirdo’s who spent most of the game eating or taking photo’s,they had no comprehension of what was at stake.Just me and a younger local lad sat behind me appeared arsed and stood punching the air at the final whistle after we won 2-1.1st half v Swansea has to be the most bored I’ve ever been at a game,and it was the final straw as I’ve given my s/t to my lad,as I join our armchair army for good.
Good luck to everyone who tries to get an atmosphere going in the ground though.
You feel like out of the people who are there most matches there is a higher percentage of people who don’t give a fuck about atmosphere then those who are trying. Apart from 3/4 games a season you’ll get people in the Kop shouting “sit down” after one minute, a few chants will start in the 300 blocks but rarely get past the 200s. With regards to Wednesday it was a good atmosphere on the Kop but you could tell it wasn’t carrying in the other stands. 40 minutes into the game and the aisles in the lower centenary are full as people went to get food as if that is more important than the game, was made up when the bellends who do that missed 2 goals against Everton last season. Maybe a general din and more chants as opposed to songs will help, there was no boos/whistles when they had the ball on Wednesday and hardly any “Liverpool” chants but there was plenty of “me and me old pal Joe” which will never be belted out by nearly 50,000 fans. The other thing of course is getting the people who don’t contribute out of the Kop, whether they are old arses or people there for the first time and getting people who actually care about the atmosphere in there as at least we would have one stand properly bouncing then, unfortunately there’s pretty much no chance of this happening.
I sit right in the middle of the Kop near the camera behind the goal and I’m surrounded by old arses who’ve been sitting in the same seat for years. The bulk of them hardly ever open their mouths unless it’s to shout something negative. I’ve tried this season to encourage some of the fuckers to sing something other than YNWA but frankly I despair of having any effect. This is the problem and until something’s done to clear them all out nothing will change. Fucking depressing.
The problem by us is people who are relentessly negative – loud, foul mouthed, criticisms supposedly based on the time they’ve been ‘supporting’ the team. Actually they don’t seem to be watching the same game as me. They have the effect of making those around them shrink in on themselves. They were finally called out on Wednesday – so maybe they’ll remember for tomorrow. What do people get out of behaving that way? Wouldn’t it be cheaper/ warmer to stay at home and shout at the telly?
Spot on artiicle. Some of us old farts in the Kop still join in all the chants but far too many young and old who can’t be arsed
From the States. Went to my first game vs. City on New Years Eve. Lucky enough to land a ticket by myself on row 8 of the Kop. From what I gather that was one of the better atmospheres at Anfield this year. Did my best to not look/act like a tourist. Definitely no jersey, no half/half scarf(ffs who does that?) wasn’t even wearing anything ‘Liverpool.’ I sang my ass off, yelled at the ref to fuck off(he was shit btw,) and fully backed the Reds. No one around me knew I wasn’t from there. But shit, ‘those people’ were everywhere. Not trying to call any group out, but there were a boatload of Scandanavian dudes wearing those split scarves. I wanted to say something, but it wasn’t my place to do so.
Still an amazing experience and I can’t wait to get back. Oh yeah, we won too. Let’s get back to doing that again. Up the Reds.
As a Villa fan I’m sad I won’t be visiting Anfield this year – and maybe not next year either.
But I have to agree with many comments on what is an excellent article.
I used to go to Anfield and it was a cauldron, you knew Villa had to play not the eleven Liverpool players on the pitch but the thousands in the Kop and around the ground.
The last few times I’ve been to Anfield it’s been very different. I have thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful fan zone you have but once inside the ground it’s very quite once you have sang your anthem at the start of the game.
I know last season the Villa fans totally out-sang, out-encouraged and seemingly had far more passion than Liverpool fans – and you won 3-2.
It’s an issue I see though all over the country. Visiting fans tend to be more vocal because they are the true supporters, there are just too many corporate and tourists getting seats.
Just make sure you get back on track against Chelsea and make Anfield bounce again.
That was a brilliant read lad…..perfectly put, we know it can be a pain in the old necko once in a while being a red, but do you know what? I still love the bones of them and will defend them like mad every day I go into work and get the usual shoite from muppets who don’t love the reds like I do,every time we don’t win….Bollix to them all and shout your heads off!!!
nice one
I scream at the telly half a world away in Australia usually in the middle of the night or early morning
My kids used to get scared but now they smile. My nine year old daughter started shouting at the opposition – gold! Can’t quite stretch it to c*nt but.
This weekend and Tuesday night / Wednesday morning is huge so every fan everywhere in the world should scream and f*ck the consequences.
The only way to sort this is to get radical. A large number of tickets need to be made available on a first come first served basis at £9.95 max. In person only. Perhaps safe standing if the authorities can be persuaded. Absolutely non transferable. Sold at a limited number of ticketing points at different times (so those who work unsociable hours have a chance). Must have an orderly way of organising the inevitable queues.
The result?
The young ones who are really keen have a chance to get in with their mates. The atmosphere will be transformed.
Amass a few seasons worth of such tickets and you get priority for a season ticket with your mates.
But there has to be an understanding that at some point the season ticket may have to be given up to make room for the new guys who have spent the last x years queuing up for god knows how many hours in the wind and rain for the chance to support their beloved reds and have now earned the right to get into the ground regularly.
Systems influence behaviour. You need to change the system if you want to change the behaviour. (Read Peter Senge ‘fifth discipline’ if you need to be convinced)
“Systems influence behaviour. You need to change the system if you want to change the behaviour.”
This.
Great article Neil.
Reckon you’re fighting a tough battle without FSG recognising that the support is part of the problem. We are so close to being great again and we need everything on our side. The ground atmosphere is utterly mediocre for all the reasons you and the commenters on this thread explain.
We need to engage the owners to address this issue. Get radical, as Timple says. Have you tweeted JH your article, for starters??
UP THE F***ING REDS
Fed up with our fans being apologists for players who seemingly don’t care about the red shirt and are quite happy to turn up, get through the 90 mins as best they can, then scoot off back to Alderly Edge in their Vogues and Bentleys which they need to support the weight of their over-flowing pay packets…yes, I went there, because in this day and age when people are struggling for cash and jobs, it fucking matters. It sort of explains the silence, somewhat, the disbelief, the sheer incredulity of watching a team that up until 3 weeks ago were killing it and raising our hopes to 13/14 season levels. Now, yet AGAIN, within the space of those last 3 weeks the bottom has dropped out of everything and we are left bereft…AGAIN. How can it not be allowed to not want to shout anymore when you see your team pissing another game up the wall against vastly inferior opposition? The sniggering at others who choose to express their support in a different way is pathetic and unnecessary and I agree with Neil that it is perhaps the worst thing about the whole situation, but all those reactions are born of so many years without a title (almost 30 now). It’s not just a problem at Anfield though it is a disease which is spreading and pervades many grounds these days…I don’t think it is necessarily the footy though. I think people are weary, they are just tired, they are feeling fearful of the future. So, they go to the ground in the hope that their beloved reds can lift them out of their daily grind, their weary, fearful existence….the answer…no, they can’t so silence ensues…
I’m not condoning it….i’m a shouter and a screamer, i live and breathe it, kick every ball slag off the opposition…but these last few days I too have lapsed into silence…fuck it.