“This is important. It means a lot to be here,” said Ann-Marie Barton, who remembers the mixed emotions when Liverpool last won the title: yes she was drinking champagne, but it was alone at home because of the Covid pandemic. “It was just me and Scooby [a stuffed mascot], and he doesn’t talk much.”
On Sunday she was out in blazing sunshine at Anfield with good friends lapping up the communal party atmosphere. Everyone seemed to be smiling. It was some party and was never going to be spoiled.
Barton has been Liverpool since she popped out of her mother’s womb, she said, and is proud of the autographs on the wheels of her chair. “You’ve got Klopp, Virgil Van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Stefan Bajčetić … I need to get Mo Salah.
Before the game, she said: “I know we will do it today, which is why it’s important to be here with my mates. It does mean a lot.”
One of those mates is Ali Hamidi, who played a part in Liverpool’s win against West Ham a fortnight ago by scooping up the ball near his seat and making a long throw to Alexis Mac Allister, who took the corner for Van Dijk’s 89th-minute header.
It has become something of a viral hit, although you cannot see his face. “It was me definitely … you can tell from the yellow sleeves.”
Hamidi was born in Iran and got into football in 1988 when he was still a child living in southern England. So why Liverpool? “I have no idea. They wore red and that was my favourite colour, it was probably as simple as that.”
Barton has seen Liverpool win the title a number of times, but it is the first proper time for Hamidi, a fishing tackle businessman who presents The Grand Fishing Adventure with Bobby Zamora on ITV. “I was only 10 when they won in 1990, so I didn’t really grasp what was happening.
“Winning today doesn’t mean everything, we’ve been through too much as a club for it to mean that. But from a football perspective, winning the league in front of your fans after such a long time … it is important.”
Some fans were wearing T-shirts declaring “Back on our perch”, a reference to the 2002 interview Alex Ferguson gave to the Guardian when he said: “My greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch. And you can print that.”
For Liverpool to now equal Manchester United and be on 20 titles means a lot to fans, but not as much as winning more titles than United.
Tom Hughes runs a city centre shop selling Liverpool merchandise and is doing a roaring trade in Slotfather T-shirts and flags blazed with “Back On Our Perch”.
As a diehard Liverpool fan he was of course going to the match. “I’m still nervous. It was like Christmas Eve for me last night. We waited so long to win it last time and we couldn’t celebrate, which I know a lot of other clubs were made up about.”
There were fans from all over the world at the match. The teenage boy section of the Jacob family, from New Jersey, persuaded their parents that they all had to come because of the match.
The family are of Egyptian heritage and there’s two words as to why the boys are Liverpool until they die: “Mo Salah,” one said. “That started it, but then we fell in love with the team. All of our friends love the team as well.
“The best game we saw was against Barcelona in the Champions League, that 4-3 comeback. Amazing.”
Two friends from Limerick, Pat Keegan and Gabriel Robinson, had their photos taken with a cardboard cut out of Van Dijk before the match.
Keegan said he had been a fan since Liverpool lost to Arsenal in the 1971 cup final, so he had seen a lot of ups and downs. “It’s either United or Liverpool in Ireland, and we’re Liverpool. Being here today means everything … just to see them do it. To catch up with United with the 20 titles, we’re delighted.
“We’ll knock Fergie off that perch next year. It was a fierce statement when he said it.”
The two men reckon they drank Liverpool dry last night, but it continued apace on Sunday and is likely to continue until the early hours of Monday, if not longer.
The Sandon pub near the ground was heaving pre-match, with the outdoor spaces a sea of red. Fans also queued up to have their photos taken at a new mural celebrating the 20 titles on one of its walls. It was made by the street artist John Culshaw last week and then vandalised on Friday.
Danny Claeys, the pub’s general manager, said: “Somebody decided to get white paint and squeeze it all over. Thankfully the artist came back and fixed it and as you can see, it’s become a massive photo thing. It’s the first one with 20. People have been out here since seven o’clock this morning.”
The joy around Anfield before and after the match on Sunday was a sight to behold, but it also has to be remembered that it is only half the city.
One taxi driver said that many of his Everton-supporting friends had gone away for the day.
Another said he had already booked a break in the Lake District in anticipation of the expected parade on 26 May, the day after the last league game of the season.
“This is hell on earth for me,” he said of ferrying Liverpool fans from the city centre to Anfield. “I certainly won’t be doing any driving after the match finishes.”
“This is important. It means a lot to be here,” said Ann-Marie Barton, who remembers the mixed emotions when Liverpool last won the title: yes she was drinking champagne, but it was alone at home because of the Covid pandemic. “It was just me and Scooby [a stuffed mascot], and he doesn’t talk much.”
On Sunday she was out in blazing sunshine at Anfield with good friends lapping up the communal party atmosphere. Everyone seemed to be smiling. It was some party and was never going to be spoiled.
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Barton has been Liverpool since she popped out of her mother’s womb, she said, and is proud of the autographs on the wheels of her chair. “You’ve got Klopp, Virgil Van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Stefan Bajčetić … I need to get Mo Salah.
Before the game, she said: “I know we will do it today, which is why it’s important to be here with my mates. It does mean a lot.”
One of those mates is Ali Hamidi, who played a part in Liverpool’s win against West Ham a fortnight ago by scooping up the ball near his seat and making a long throw to Alexis Mac Allister, who took the corner for Van Dijk’s 89th-minute header.
It has become something of a viral hit, although you cannot see his face. “It was me definitely … you can tell from the yellow sleeves.”
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Hamidi was born in Iran and got into football in 1988 when he was still a child living in southern England. So why Liverpool? “I have no idea. They wore red and that was my favourite colour, it was probably as simple as that.”
Barton has seen Liverpool win the title a number of times, but it is the first proper time for Hamidi, a fishing tackle businessman who presents The Grand Fishing Adventure with Bobby Zamora on ITV. “I was only 10 when they won in 1990, so I didn’t really grasp what was happening.
“Winning today doesn’t mean everything, we’ve been through too much as a club for it to mean that. But from a football perspective, winning the league in front of your fans after such a long time … it is important.”
Some fans were wearing T-shirts declaring “Back on our perch”, a reference to the 2002 interview Alex Ferguson gave to the Guardian when he said: “My greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch. And you can print that.”
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For Liverpool to now equal Manchester United and be on 20 titles means a lot to fans, but not as much as winning more titles than United.
Tom Hughes runs a city centre shop selling Liverpool merchandise and is doing a roaring trade in Slotfather T-shirts and flags blazed with “Back On Our Perch”.
As a diehard Liverpool fan he was of course going to the match. “I’m still nervous. It was like Christmas Eve for me last night. We waited so long to win it last time and we couldn’t celebrate, which I know a lot of other clubs were made up about.”
There were fans from all over the world at the match. The teenage boy section of the Jacob family, from New Jersey, persuaded their parents that they all had to come because of the match.
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The family are of Egyptian heritage and there’s two words as to why the boys are Liverpool until they die: “Mo Salah,” one said. “That started it, but then we fell in love with the team. All of our friends love the team as well.
“The best game we saw was against Barcelona in the Champions League, that 4-3 comeback. Amazing.”
Two friends from Limerick, Pat Keegan and Gabriel Robinson, had their photos taken with a cardboard cut out of Van Dijk before the match.
Keegan said he had been a fan since Liverpool lost to Arsenal in the 1971 cup final, so he had seen a lot of ups and downs. “It’s either United or Liverpool in Ireland, and we’re Liverpool. Being here today means everything … just to see them do it. To catch up with United with the 20 titles, we’re delighted.
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“We’ll knock Fergie off that perch next year. It was a fierce statement when he said it.”
The two men reckon they drank Liverpool dry last night, but it continued apace on Sunday and is likely to continue until the early hours of Monday, if not longer.
The Sandon pub near the ground was heaving pre-match, with the outdoor spaces a sea of red. Fans also queued up to have their photos taken at a new mural celebrating the 20 titles on one of its walls. It was made by the street artist John Culshaw last week and then vandalised on Friday.
Danny Claeys, the pub’s general manager, said: “Somebody decided to get white paint and squeeze it all over. Thankfully the artist came back and fixed it and as you can see, it’s become a massive photo thing. It’s the first one with 20. People have been out here since seven o’clock this morning.”
Advertisement
The joy around Anfield before and after the match on Sunday was a sight to behold, but it also has to be remembered that it is only half the city.
One taxi driver said that many of his Everton-supporting friends had gone away for the day.
Another said he had already booked a break in the Lake District in anticipation of the expected parade on 26 May, the day after the last league game of the season.
“This is hell on earth for me,” he said of ferrying Liverpool fans from the city centre to Anfield. “I certainly won’t be doing any driving after the match finishes.”
