The Liverpool Way

For the first time in nearly five years Liverpool are playing in the European Cup tonight. The European Cup is a huge part of the history of Liverpool Football Club, and has played a part in their traditions and culture - both on and off the field of play. From Olympiacos, to Saint-Etienne, right back to Anfield in 1965 when the Kop broke out into a musical chorus of "go back to Italy" - at a time when other English fans were still coming to terms with chanting their club's name and clapping - the legend of Anfield has been defined by it's European nights.

Liverpool beating Inter Milan at Anfield in 1965

I decided to write this blog after it was announced by the club that Jordan Henderson is the new vice-captain of Liverpool. To me, this is something the club has done that is very right. Jordan Henderson, with his hard work, determination and commitment to cause, as well has his humility and down to earth nature, is everything a Liverpool player should be in the mode set out by Bill Shankly and continued by the Boot Room tradition. Bill Shankly would have liked Jordan Henderson, and for a Liverpool player there is no higher praise than that. However, whilst I was thoroughly pleased with this decision, I then thought there is one negative to come from this, and that's the way Jordan Henderson's name will be read out by Peter McDowell before tonight's match. I am expecting something along the lines of "and please give a huge, momentous, fantastic, LFC family warm Anfield welcome to your new vice-captain, Joooooordan Hendeeeeeerson!"

"For a player to be good enough to play for Liverpool, he must be prepared to run through a brick wall for me then come out fighting on the other side."

I have nothing against Peter McDowall. I've met him when he did a seminar at my uni and he is a really nice bloke. But he is not from Liverpool, he is from the Wirral and supports Tranmere Rovers. I'm not sure how much of his pre-match team reading is off his own back and how much is instructed, but sometimes I wonder whether he truly understands the Liverpool way. The epitome in difference of this for me came before the 2005 Carling Cup final when Liverpool played Chelsea. The pre match announcers from both clubs were going to read the teams of their respective clubs then introduce the club songs. First the Chelsea announcer came out, he looked like the DJ from a kids party, and he acted like one as well. He conducted the Chelsea fans as he read out the teams, ad libbing different titles and credentials to different players to get a certain reaction. Then on came Blue Is The Colour, the perfect example of a modern football song. Then out came George Sephton, dressed smartly in a suit and tie - it was a cup final after all - and he read out the Liverpool team, the same way he had at Anfield for the past 40 years. Every name read in the same tone, no special treatment for any player. They all play for Liverpool and are all of equal importance, we are a team and no one player is bigger than the club. Then on came You'll Never Walk Alone, probably the most iconic symbol of the history and tradition of Liverpool Football Club. The Liverpool Way. That is the difference.

The voice of Anfield George Sephton

This may seem silly to some people, but to me, someone who has been going to Liverpool games for 18 years, George Sephton reading out the teams before a game is almost as important a tradition as You'll Never Walk Alone. Before the first game of this season against Southampton, Peter McDowall was not present for whatever reason, and George took over his duties and read out the teams. It was so refreshing to hear him again, and it gave me the feeling that only an Anfield matchday can. That was until a man in a giant bird suit ran on to the pitch and started frolicking around on the sacred turf.

George Sephton has never been a player, or a manager, or done any sort of job at Liverpool that people may deem important. But he is a scouser who has been at the club for half a century, and in the role he does he makes sure he keeps it in fitting with the philosophy laid out by Bill Shankly. Bill Shankly once said "This is a team of skill and character, with men eager and ready to do any job if it's for the benefit of the club". Jordan Henderson fits this, George Sephton fits this. We, as fans, should try and fit this. I mentioned before how the Chelsea announcer was like a DJ at a kids party, and football seems to be increasingly more like a kids party. It started with Soccer AM and is now continued by the 'football banter' pages on twitter. The clubs organise childish activities for the fans, and the fans respond with their childish chants and songs and general behaviour. During the summer when Liverpool were being linked with Real Madrid's Isco, these football banter pages I mentioned where posting the lyrics to what they said could be Liverpool's new song if they signed him. It went "Let's all have a disco, Sturridge, Sterling, Isco... Lallana-na-na..." and a lot of our fans seemed to think this was brilliant. I swear if I ever would have heard that song at Anfield I would have given up going the game. Again, that is the difference between what other clubs deem acceptable matchday behaviour and what I'd consider to be the Liverpool way.

It may seem archaic to some for me to suggest the club and fans continue to function in ways set out by Bill Shankly and the Boot Room, but to me it's important so I don't lose the club I love. At the end of last season I felt more connected with Liverpool than I have for a long time, the style of play on the pitch being matched by the spontaneous mass gatherings outside Anfield to welcome the team, the vast amount of flags and banners inside the ground, and the atmosphere in general. We were doing the things the Liverpool way. Yet so soon after that a few slight incidents have started to make me feel like the club is slipping away a bit. £59 for a ticket to see Ludogorets, Mighty Red being given a matchday role, and this even started to make me worry about the new stand we are building. I'm worried we will have a middle tier hospitality section that is empty for half the game whilst the corporates indulge in their complimentary meal. Just like Wembley, just like The Emirates. I am worried we are becoming like everybody else.

These men told us how to do it, why change?

A lot of people did not see the whole Mighty Red thing as an issue. They then tried to turn it into a local vs none local fans debate. Well personally I feel if you think men in big animal suits have a place at football you epitomise everything scousers already feel about wools. A mascot has no place at Anfield. Bill Shankly wanted Anfield to be a fortress. He wanted teams to see the "This Is Anfield" sign then be greeted by the roar of the Kop. He wanted his captain Ron Yeats to wear all red and look like a colossus. What do you think Bill Shankly would have said if they'd asked his colossus to stand next to a man in a big bird suit? 

This Is Anfield... and here's some cock in stupid suit

Sometimes I feel like there is someone at the club who knows nothing about Liverpool, but is making decisions on what we do. "Have you heard the way Chelsea get the fans going when they read the teams? Why aren't we doing that?" "Have you seen the way Manchester United and Arsenal have mascots in stupid costumes like the match is taking place at Disney Land? Why aren't we doing that?" I don't know if they think they're going to make the matchday experience more fun and exciting for everyone, but I don't think they've considered the fact Anfield is the way it is for a reason. We like it that way, we like it our way. We like it the Liverpool way.

Tonight we return to the European Cup. Anfield returns to the European Cup. The place where it made it's name, the place where it's legend was created. Are we going to act like we're at a children's party, having our cheers orchestrated by the club? Or are we going to do what we used to do, what we've always done, and create our atmosphere The Liverpool Way? 

@adamheath