Stadium, Shopping (oh my!) and the Spirit of Shankly

Day Twenty-six – Liverpool

Today was another day I had marked down in my calendar as a real highlight of the trip – the Anfield stadium tour. To say it more than lived up to my high expectations would be a massive understatement.

The morning was a quiet one, mainly spent sorting out washing, eating and killing time for the tour in the afternoon. We left home about 12:30pm and walked down to catch a bus into the centre of Liverpool. From there we caught another up to Anfield and arrived about 1:15pm.

"He made the people happy"

After taking a few photos outside the gates at the Kop end we went across the road to a local caff as the weather was really quite cold. Proper mugs of hot tea in a dodgy Anfield caff with a bunch of other fans was great. That tea tasted better than just about any other cup I've had since I arrived, even if Wyn and Julie do make a pretty good one too. Tea drunk, we still had some time to kill so we went into the club shop and did some "planning" for the massive raid to come after the tour (more on that later). Soon it was 2:30pm and we were on the tour....

Let me say this up front, EVERY single one of the guides were entertaining, friendly, funny and obviously MASSIVE fans of the club. They way they talked about the history, players and managers both past and present made you believe they are every bit as passionate and obsessive as the craziest of us fans.

That alone made the visit worth it. Everything else though is something you have to see to believe. Everywhere you go inside Anfield is a clear indication of what a *massive* club this is. Even the most hardened of outsiders would agree.

We started in the Guest Lounge with a look at past managers and players and some "education" on the history of the club, mostly since Shanks and the 60s. Most of what he said wasn't news to me by any stretch but I must admit I wasn't quite up to speed on Rafa's generosity or his obsession with the history of Liverpool. Not only did he donate GBP196,000 of his own money after he finished (96k to the Hillsborough familes and 100k to other local charities) he also had a new Boot Room built to the exact same size as the original one in an attempt to bring back that famous institution.

From there we went up to sit in the Director's Box and look at the pitch and stands. The guide spoke about the unique relationship between the people on the terraces and the players and staff. Our team benches are not covered like most other clubs, specifically so that if the fans are getting wet then so do the players and management because "they are no better than the rest of us".

Back inside, we visited the media room where press conferences are held. The kids got to sit where the interviews are conducted and we got another talk on history, the current media room being the old Boot Room. I'm not sure what everyone else was thinking but I was well away on my own, imagining the discussions that must have happened, right where I was sitting and including people like Shanks, Paisely, King Kenny and more.

Next up was the bit I was really waiting for – players dressing room and tunnel. We had to visit the away dressing room as the home one was being prepared for tomorrow's game. No matter, I still had my photo taken with Carra's shirt, guaranteed to have been worn by the great man recently during a match. Out in the tunnel now and I got to do IT. Never mind in my own hallway at home. I actually, 100% genuinely, for real, TOUCHED THE "THIS IS ANFIELD" SIGN. Woohoo! Me! The guide gave a really entertaining speech at this point about how John Terry got goosebumps standing there listening to the crowd singing YNWA before the 2005 Champs League semi when we beat them 1-0 thanks to Luis Garcia and THAT goal.

Head spinning now, we walked along pitch side and up into the Kop for a talk about the history of the Kop and why it is so named. Sitting there it is hard to imagine what it must have been like with 28,000 people packed in when it was still all standing. That concluded the tour proper and we moved on to look at the museum.

No picture, no photo can compare to standing in the trophy room. I seen it often enough online and in books but it pales by comparison. There is SO MUCH silverware in there that you simply cannot see it all at once. Never mind a "trophy case", we need a whole bloody cabinet just for the European Cups (4 replicas and 1 real one) alone! Something I didn't know BTW, since we got to keep ours for winning 5, UEFA have canned the practice so future winners, no matter how many they amass will never have the honour of keeping a "real" cup. One of the guides commented that a bunch Scum fans did the tour the week before. After all, where else will THEY ever see 5 European Cups??? Stick that up yer arse Fergie you miserable...

Other highlights of the museum were numerous collections of players medals (including all of Carra's ones), shirts worn by players in various finals (too many to mention!), the commemorative plaque from the first match between us and Juventus since Heysel and SO much more.

Last up before we left was a trip to the shop. To say I went a bit crazy would be somewhat of an understatement. I'm pretty certain I have enough shirts of various flavours to go a whole week wearing a clean one every day. Lets just say the receipt is about 18 inches long and leave it at that ;-).

The bus trip home was uneventful but did give me one last look at Anfield and the more typically Scouse parts of Liverpool. Today was our last day here and tomorrow we leave for York bright and early. I won't miss roadworks, boarded up houses and the rest but I WILL miss the Liverpool I have in my heart – family and football.

YNWA,

Millsy

PS. From here on the blog posts will be intermittent with no wi-fi most of the time...