By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 26 April 07.

My first Anfield experience was as a young lad in the Paddock, surrounded by a surging mass of bodies. Of course it wasn’t really all that bad, but when you’re just a youngster and you feel a big weight of people from behind pushing you down a few steps of the terraces it can be a bit frightening. It wasn’t long before I’d taken up a place at the fence at the front of the Anfield Road end, along with lots of other young lads. What stands out in my mind from those days is the impressive sight of The Kop in all its glory, especially as they swayed and sang with their scarves held up high, and how they went absolutely berserk when Liverpool scored. That’s not to say that we didn’t go wild as well, just that the sight of those twenty-odd thousand celebrating, and the sheer wall of noise that came from them was a never-to-be-forgotten experience.

The Kop was well known as the place for all of the hard-core Liverpool supporters, but it was also much more than just a place for those fanatics. It became synonymous with true support, with those who stood on the famous terrace having the right to proudly call themselves Kopites. Surely that’s where any self-respecting Liverpool supporter would want to be. It would be a long time before I would dare to join them, but in the meantime I could at least learn from them and earn the right to become one of them.

Some time later, I was at my uncle’s Gerry’s house one Saturday evening when Match of the Day was coming on. It was going to be highlights of Liverpool’s away match from that day, which of course I hadn’t seen. Gerry looks at me and pats the seat next to him on the couch, “Here’s the Kop, Keith. Come over here and cheer for Liverpool.” Two things about that were strange. First, by that time I thought of myself as too big to jump up and sit next to someone to watch anything, let alone something as important as Liverpool. Second, Gerry’s an Evertonian! Why was he encouraging me to cheer for Liverpool? Did the man have no sense of rivalry? (That last part is easy to explain for many of us when we think of family as more important than football; but, that’s another story.)

That wasn’t the only time that someone claimed “here’s the Kop” and thought that it was perfectly natural to somehow re-create it at any place we wished. When I was living in the West Midlands in the late 60’s, most of my friends supported West Brom., Aston Villa, or Wolves. If Liverpool were playing against one of them, then the supporters of the other two would join me in cheering for Liverpool (unite against the common enemy and all that). They would also say that we were “in the kop” for this one, thinking that it would be a friendly gesture toward me, for a change, instead of the usual rivalry that existed between us. I was never sure if I should challenge them by explaining that there’s only one Kop, or that you can’t just decide to cheer for Liverpool because it’s somehow in the interest of your club on that day, or that you could even dream of being a part of The Kop without earning the right to do so. And, you would definitely have no right whatsoever to be anywhere near the place if you really support some club other than Liverpool.

It came as a bit of a shock a few years later when I saw some Liverpool supporters who were on their way to Europe carrying banners saying “The Kop on tour” and such, and commentators as well as supporters describing “the travelling Kop” wherever the Reds were located in the stadium (or in a public square in the town etc.). The thought of taking the massive stand around the continent seemed a bit ridiculous, but I just accepted that they must know something that I didn’t. Of course, they were simply saying that The Kop would be wherever they were, and so effectively it travelled with them - at least in spirit. Once I realised that, it became my own habit to sometimes refer to a group of Liverpool supporters as “the kop” even though we might be many miles distant from the real place. I did exactly that just recently when we were travelling through Southern California. We had made plans in advance to watch Liverpool v PSV at a pub in San Diego. We arrived there and there were only two other Reds and a dozen or so other customers in the place at that time of day (lunchtime). We asked the other couple to join us at our table with me saying to them, “join us over here, this’ll be the kop and you can cheer with us.” We had a bit of a laugh about that with our new friends saying that it would be a privilege to be able to say that they’d been in the kop, even if it wasn’t the real one.

Going back to those early days, I did of course eventually take my place on the real Kop, even if it was a lot less often than I would have liked. Now, living thousands of miles away, it’s almost impossible to be there. Besides, not only is it difficult to get to Merseyside, it’s even harder these days to get a ticket to any part of Anfield, and especially for The Kop. That’s partly because in those easy-going days of the 60’s and 70’s, all you had to do was show up early enough and pay a few shillings as you go through the turnstile - at least for most matches. Now it’s all tickets for every match and The Kop itself is only a fraction of the capacity that it once was. But part of that problem may be alleviated with the construction of the new stadium. The newly revised plans are said to include a massive area behind one of the goals that would hold 18,000 people, and all in one tier. That would make it the largest “home” area of any stadium in the Premier League and would go a long way to re-creating that special atmosphere of those earlier years.

George Gillett and Tom Hicks have both been suitably impressed with what they have seen at Anfield and are largely responsible for the revision to the plans. Players like Steven Gerrard and others who have stood on The Kop themselves have explained what it means to the club, and how important it is to take advantage of it when playing at home (remember Shankly’s comment, “it’s worth a goal as The Kop can suck the ball into the net”). There’s no way that we can consider a New Anfield without also seriously considering a New Kop. Even though our new owners are American and have seen nothing like it in their other sports teams, they are smart enough businessmen to see the value of doing whatever it takes to include as large a section of the stadium as possible to accommodate that fanatical support. Nobody can see a successful future for Liverpool without it.

There are those who don’t see that a new Anfield can ever be as good a place as the present one. I can sympathise with that sentiment to some extent, but for me it’s not the place that matters so much as the atmosphere that’s created by the people who are there. We’ve been to Wembley and Cardiff’s Millennium stadium so many times that they were almost considered a second home for us. After that there have been plenty of cup matches at neutral grounds, and of course European finals throughout the continent. Nobody would say that we could never enjoy a match at those grounds just because we don’t have The Kop there. The atmosphere of a kop can and will be created by those who want it. It’s not important where we gather together, but it’s very important to have the right attitude. That’s something we can take with us wherever we happen to be, whether it’s at Anfield or anywhere else. In essence, The Kop is not so much a place - it’s more a state of mind.

What do you think? Give Keith your comments at keith [at] lfcvancouver.com.

By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 24 April 07.

Association Football, or soccer, is not widely known as a “tough” sport. That is, not by those who have never played the game. But, there have been lots of tough guys and hard men over the years and Liverpool have had a few of their own. If you were to ask who was the hardest of them all, the usual answer would be Tommy Smith. He was known as the “Anfield Iron” for good reason, but in fact that was more by reputation than anything else. In fact, if you ask that question of most of the players themselves from the early sixties onwards, they’ll tell you without doubt that it was Gerry Byrne who should claim the title as the hardest. But, you don’t have to take my word for it; Tommy Smith gave an interview on Shankly.com where he tells this anecdote from 1960:

I was only fifteen and playing in a five-a-side game at Melwood. I nutmegged Gerry Byrne and scored and I was on top of the world. A couple of minutes later a ball dropped between us, I went to head it and Gerry headed me and I went down with a gashed eye. As I lay on the ground covered in blood, Bill Shankly strolled across, looked down at me and said: “Lesson number one, never nutmeg Gerry Byrne son and think you can get away with it.”

As with many young players of that era, Gerry Byrne joined Liverpool straight from school at age fifteen in 1953. Don Welsh, who was the manager at the time, signed him as a professional the day after his seventeenth birthday, on August 30th, 1955. He made his debut (and only appearance for that season) on September 28th, 1957, with a 5-1 loss at Charlton Athletic. After that, he played a mere 7 games over the next 3 seasons, and was on the transfer list when Bill Shankly arrived, taking over from Phil Taylor in December of 1959.

Fortunately for all of us, and especially for Byrne himself, Shanks saw qualities in his play that others had missed. Instead of being transferred, Byrne became an integral part of the team that Shanks was building to finally take Liverpool out of the Second Division - and beyond. Left back Ronnie Moran was out with an injury when Byrne was given his chance, and he kept the position as his own from then on. His grit and determination were on display in every match of the 1961-62 promotion season as Byrne was an ever-present in all 42 League matches (as well as all 7 FA Cup matches) with Liverpool finishing a comfortable eight points clear of second place.

The first season back in the top flight saw Gerry Byrne play 38 of 42 League games (and all 6 FA Cup games) as Liverpool finished respectably in eighth place. It was only one year later when the First Division title was won, and one more season after that when Liverpool won their first ever FA Cup with Byrne again playing in every round. It was during the final against Leeds United when Gerry Byrne passed from “Player” to “Legend’ after playing for 117 minutes of the match with a broken collar bone.

In only the third minute of the contest, Byrne was involved in a collision with Leeds United’s Bobby Collins. Just moments before that collision, United’s Norman Hunter had injured his ankle in a tackle and so play was stopped so that both men could receive treatment. At first, it seemed as though it was Hunter who was more seriously injured, but as Byrne puts it himself,

"I went in for a tackle with Bobby Collins. He put his foot over the ball and turned his shoulder into me. I'd never broken a collarbone before, so I wasn't aware of what damage had been done straight away. It didn't cross my mind to leave the field and I played on with my arm dangling motionless by my side."

In those days, there were no substitutions allowed, and so Liverpool played on with a badly injured player rather than be reduced to ten men. Trainer Bob Paisley did what he could to patch him up at half-time, but there’s only so much that bandages and aspirin can do. At the end of the ninety minutes, with no goals scored, the match went to extra time. At the end of extra time, Liverpool had won 2-1 with the first goal (by Roger Hunt) resulting from one of Byrne’s crosses. After the final whistle, more than two hours after the injury, Byrne walked up the Wembley steps to collect his medal, and then completed the lap of honour with the rest of the players. Somehow, the entire side as well as the coaching staff had managed to hide the severity of his injury from the Leeds players. It wasn’t until some time later that it was revealed that he had in fact broken the bone, and that he must have been in extreme pain the whole time. If Leeds had known, they would have exploited that weakness down Liverpool’s left flank and might have won. Shankly said afterwards,

“Gerry’s collar bone was split and grinding together yet he played on in agony. It was a performance of raw courage from the boy.”

A few days later Gerry Byrne joined up with another previously injured player, Gordon Milne, to take part in one of the most famous laps of honour in Anfield history. The two of them came out with the FA Cup between them as Liverpool and Inter Milan warmed up before the first leg of their European Cup semi-final. The Italian players were frozen to the spot when they heard the roar from The Kop as the famous trophy was paraded before them. The Reds went on to win that match 3-1, but lost 3-0 in the second leg.

After a summer of rest, Gerry Byrne was fit, ready, and able, and played in every match of the 1965-66 season (plus 3 FA Cup and 9 Cup Winners Cup games), and picked up his second Championship medal in three years. By this time he had impressed England manager Alf Ramsey sufficiently to be made a part of the squad for the 1966 World Cup campaign, along with team-mates Roger Hunt and Ian Callaghan. It surprised quite a few at the time, as his only previous appearance internationally had been in a Home Championship loss to Scotland in the summer of 1963. Unfortunately, his only appearance for the squad was in a friendly against Norway, with England easily winning 6-1. Those two appearances were to be the only times that Byrne played for his country, as Everton’s Ray Wilson was preferred by Ramsey.

Those were the glory days for Gerry Byrne, and sadly it was also the end of the major part of his career. In August of 1966, in the first match of the season against Leicester City, Byrne badly injured his knee and was never quite the same player again. Recurring problems with that injury led to his retirement from football in December of 1969, ten years (almost to the day) after Shankly’s arrival, and never having played for another club.

Bill Shankly was sometimes known for his overly enthusiastic descriptions of players, but it was no exaggeration when he described Gerry Byrne saying, “There isn’t a harder – or fairer – footballer in the game.” Following the defeat of Belgian Champions Anderlecht in 1964, Shankly described Byrne’s performance as, “The best full-back display Europe has ever seen.” There’s so much that could be said about Gerry Byrne and his contribution to Liverpool during those years, but again it’s probably best to quote Shankly, who knew him better that anyone,

“When Gerry went, it took a big chunk out of Liverpool. Something special was missing.”

Liverpool supporters acknowledged Gerry Byrne’s importance to the club by voting him in at number 46 in the 100 Players Who Shook The Kop. There are also many who would say that Gerry “The Crunch” Byrne shook plenty of opposition players as well.

Video Clip:
46 - Gerry Byrne

What do you think? Give Keith your comments at keith [at] lfcvancouver.com.

By LFC Vancouver member Andy Neumann , 26 April 07.

Ohhhhhh Campione

This new song has just been adapted from the PAOK song 'PAOK 80 XRONIA PAOK' and the LFC lyrics are below.

You can follow this video from The Albert .

Lyrics:

Ooohhh Campione
The One And Only
We're Liverpool

They say our days are numbered, we're not famous anymore
But Scousers rule the country like we've always done before

What do you think? Give Andy your comments at andy [at] lfcvancouver.com.

Rafa: Lay off Momo - Anfield Road

Liverpool boss Rafael Benítez has been listening to some knee-jerk criticism thrown at young midfielder Momo Sissoko and has asked that the critics blame him instead.

More here.

EX-TORY leader Michael Howard will teach a novice about the history of Liverpool Football Club in a new reality TV series about celebrity hobbies.

More here.

DAVID MOYES has just about calmed down at losing Momo Sissoko to Liverpool 21 months ago. But only just.

More here.

A new song that was given its first major airing at Anfield on Saturday is being tipped to take off in a big way as the season reaches an exciting climax.

More here.

More here.

A spectator caught chanting racist abuse during this season's home match against Manchester United has been given a three-year football banning order.

More here.

Djibril Cisse could be set to return to his manor house at Frodsham as rumours suggest that loan club Marseille are not prepared to fork out the £7m that Liverpool are demanding for his permanent signature.

More here.

Spanish journalist Guillem Balague has written about how Rafael Benítez was convinced to stay on at Anfield thanks to two factors – finally being able to tell the new owners just how far Liverpool were away from winning a league title, and the unreserved support shown to him by the singing fans at the Anfield Champions League quarter final against PSV Eindhoven.

More here.

Sami Hyypiä will make his 400th Liverpool appearance the next time he appears on the pitch in a Liverpool shirt.

More here.

Jamie Carragher will equal Ian Callaghan's European appearance record when he takes to the field at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

More here.

Jerzy Dudek will leave Liverpool this summer after claiming he is fed up of being treated like 'a slave'.

More here.

With the benefit of hindsight, it wasn't the smartest move. Possessing less money than a heroin-addled church mouse with a gambling problem, I decided to forgo the pleasures of a free ticket to the 2004/5 European Cup semi-final against Chelsea.

More here.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE EXCLUSIVES: Chelsea v Liverpool SEMI-FINAL, 1ST LEG, TONIGHT, STAMFORD BRIDGE, 7.45PM Gerrard: We've given blood, sweat and tears, but we will make history.. I can taste it

More here.

RAFAEL BENITEZ is one of European football’s cagiest thinkers.

More here.

Just as he had done all week prior to Wednesday’s first leg match, Jose Mourinho has already started the excuses in case his team loses next week. And in doing so once again showed how unprofessional and bitter he is.

More here.

YNWA/JFT 96,
Andy Neumann

Standings as of 26 April 07.

Rank	Member	Points
1	Ste	39
1	Kevin	39
3	Lance	36
4	Dennis	33
5	Mark Aston	31
6	Andy	26
7	Keith	22
8	Glenn Whyte	10
9	Chris Cole	6
10	Quentin	5
11	Glenn Whitt.	3

To enter the members contest see the rules below.

RULES:

• Only open to paid LFC Vancouver Members.
• You list the names of the players you think will start the next LFC match.
• You must submit your list to lfcvancouver [at] gmail.com at least 12 hours before kick-off.
• This contest will include every match that LFC plays this season. Starting with Blackburn.
• The member(s) that correctly guess the starting XI will be awarded 5 points.
• At the end of the season the player with the most points will win the prize.
• What is the prize? It is a surprise!
• The standings will be included in each week’s newsletter.

Scoring System:

• 11 Correct picks = 5 points.
• 10 Correct picks = 3 points.
• 9 Correct picks = 1 point.
• 0-8 Correct picks = 0 points.

YNWA/JFT 96,

Andy Neumann