You'll Never Walk Alone

I woke at about 7:30 AM on Tuesday morning. Kellie made me some toast for breakfast and after Marcus had left with Ella to go to school and work, Kellie and I prepared for another big day of sightseeing. Today we were visiting Anfield and driving out to Kirkby, the suburb that my father grew up in, to meet my grandfather and Aunt for the first time. I also spoke to Miss C on Skype. I had been so busy the last few days that I hadn't had time to message her.

The tour of Anfield started at 11:00 AM and the stadium was about a half an hour drive from Kellie's house. We took a short drive around the streets surrounding the stadium and it was one of the worse neighbourhoods I had ever seen. The houses were small and many were derelict. It was obvious that the people living in these areas were relatively poor compared to other areas in Liverpool.

Kellie does business with the football club and arranged with her contacts there for a free tour. We arrived and was instructed by one of the attendants to park in the staff carpark. We found a parking spot and walked around through the Paisley gates to the entrance of the club. We entered the reception and showed the receptionist our bookings and received our tickets. There was a vending machine in the lobby which 2 different souvenir coins. They were 2.00 Pound each. I got 2 of each coin and then we headed back out to wait with the rest of the group.

About 5 minutes later, the tour guides came out and introduced themselves. They led us around the side of the stadium and into a little room. This room was full of brilliant old photographs of various moments in Liverpool Football Clubs history. 

The  guides gave us a few minutes to take some photos (and not the ones on the wall), and then we headed into the press room. The press room used to be the location of the famous 'boot room'. The boot room was where the Liverpool coaching staff would lure opposition managers for a drink and try to find out information. Since the boot room was removed, Liverpool have not won a Premiere League title.

From there we went down a hall with many more photos and into the home dressing room. The players shirts were positioned where they would actually sit during half time.

After the dressing room we walked down the tunnel past the famous 'This is Anfield' sign and out into the are where the coaching staff and substitutes sit during the game. The actual field is perfectly manicured almost shines in the sun.

From there we walked along the edge of the ground to the Spion Kop. The 'Kop', as it's more commonly known, is a stand at one end of the ground where the most passionate Liverpool fans sit. It is named after a battle in the Boer Wars where some men from Liverpool lost their lives. This is where most of the singing and chanting comes from during the game. As we walked towards the Kop, 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was blasting from a speaker beside the Kop.

'You'll Never Walk Alone' is the anthem of Liverpool Football Club. It was written by Rogers and Hammerstein specifically for the club. It is sung by Liverpool band, Gerry and the Pacemakers. It is played before every home game and most of the stadium will sing it.

The official tour ended at the Kop, but there was a museum in the stadium which was free. We went into the museum and spent about an hour in there. In the museum were more amazing photos and you can see alll the trophies Liverpool have won.

After visiting the museum, Kellie and I went to the restaurant inside the stadium named 'The Boot Club'. It's a nice restaurant but the service was very ordinary. I ordered a burger and Kellie ordered some Lamb Koftas. It took over half an hour for the food to come and when it did, it didn't taste all that great.

After eating, we met up with a friend of Kellie's who works at the club and she showed us a corporate box. These boxes cost 75,000.00 Pound a year. They are fairly basic inside and have a balcony where you can watch the game from. It is an awesome view, from here you can see the entire field.

I also received a bag with various Liverpool merchandise in it. After the Corporate boxes, we went and looked in 2 different function rooms. The Paisley room and the Shankly room. These rooms were decorated in red and white (Liverpools colours) and had images and quotes of the 2 legendary managers, painted on the walls and windows. Kellie also mentioned to her friend about the service in the restaurant.

Once we had seen the 2 function rooms, we left the stadium and drove around the corner to find the Hillsborough Memorial on the other side of the stadium next to the Shankly gates.

The Hillsborough Memorial is a memorial to the 96 Liverpool fans who died tragically during an FA Cup semi final match at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield in the 1980's. An event that changed football and sport worldwide forever. There were thousands of fans who wanted to get into the game, but the stadium was already full. Ground officials opened the gates and when these people tried to get in, there was a surge into an already crowded stadium and people were crushed to death.

After seeing the memorial it was now time to drive to Kirkby and meet some of my family for the very first time. As we drove through some of the towns nearby on the way to Kirkby, it became clear that not all of Liverpool is a nice place. These towns are full of streets with council housing and are the poorer areas of the cities. Obviously, with poverty comes crime and one town, Norris Green, has the highest incidents of shootings in Liverpool.

We arrived at my grandfathers house and was greeted by my Aunt Katherine who lives with my grandfather. Katherine is a nice lady, very welcoming and warm. She offered us a tea or coffee and I had an orange juice as I don't drink tea or coffee. Obviously most of my Aunts and Uncles are now middle aged to retirement aged. It felt a little weird, at first, to meet them. They are family, but because we had never met, it felt like I was in a strangers house. 

After about 5 minutes my grandfather made his way downstairs and I shook his hand. My grandfather is 93 years old and I am amazed at how agile and spritely he is. He has some problems with his hearing, but other than that, it would seem like he is at least 20 years younger.

We all chatted, told stories and had some laughs for about 2 hours. Katherine brought out some cakes and scones. Just as we were about to leave, Katherine's husband John came home and I met him briefly. It was arranged that I would see them again at a family gathering at another Aunts house in 2 weeks time and Kellie and I went home. It was awkward meeting them for the first time and the fact I was tired didn't help either.

When we arrived home, Marcus had made a proper English roast dinner. It was amazing. One of the best roast dinners I had ever had. We had a few beers after dinner and I was pretty tired so went to bed at about 11:30 PM.