Thanks Mum and Dad!!!!

To those of you who know nothing about the Legendary Kop, here is the lowdown.
It is one side of the Liverpool stadium, Anfield, where all the singing and chanting and atmosphere became legendary over the years. Every single game that is ever televised live from Anfield (Liverpool's stadium), the cameras point right to the Kop before the game begins as they sing "Walk Alone," with every Liverpool supporter waving his scarf back and fro and singing what is today known as our anthem.
Often the Kop has been referred to as our 12th man and rightly so. Some of the funniest chants and songs have come out of the Kop and the legend will live on and on a long time after Anfield finally says its last goodbyes, which by the sounds of it could be sometime in the near future if the investors are found to move it to Stanley Park.

Another thing that a lot of people are not aware of about British Football Stadiums is that most of the time they are literally wrapped around a few streets and usually, either houses back onto the stadiums or are right next to them. Of course the new stadiums don't do that anymore, but it is kind of a quaint original idea; really due to lack of space and no future thought due to heritage laws.

This pic on the left is of the street that runs behind the Kop and literally backs onto the stadium. I remember a few of the away supporters chasing us down this street until we hit the main road and all the Liverpool supporters, who then chased them back the other way. Kind of like an old Tom and Jerry cartoon, but oh so true!

I had a season ticket when I was 11 years old and it made me more football mad than I already was. My dad had been taking me to Jujitsu lessons for about a month, when he asked me once day, "Well Son, you have a choice. See I was on a list for the season tickets at Liverpool and one has come through. So, what do you want to do, carry on with your Jujitsu or go to the matches?"

Needless to say there was not even a moment of thought! The season ticket it was!
Originally 'cos I was so young, a mate of my Dad's had a son who was a lot older and I could go with him to the matches. It turned out that he missed a few due to a job or something, so I started going alone!!!! I wasn't going to miss the games for anything.

I would leave the match with about 5 mins to go so I could get a bus, as I was so small and young it would have been dangerous to leave when everyone let out (50,000 plus exiting the stadium!) You have to remember there were no seats then it was all standing . I used to stand on a cement wall because I was too short to stand, so I could see the games!

I had a season ticket for the Anfield Rd End, otherwise known as the Annie Rd End.
The four parts of the stadium are; The Kop, The Anfield Rd End, The Paddock and The Stand(which by the way was all seats... go figure with the name!)

At every game there were at least 50,000 and sometimes more. The atmosphere is something that I will never forget even to this very day. Even when the stadium became all seats and I went back to Anfield 15 years later to watch a game, I still got goosebumps as I walked through the entrance and saw the lovely green pitch with its immaculate white lines and great goals. It was just like being 11 all over again.

Another thing to remember is that Liverpool were the Kings of England in the 80s and 90s. We won everything including a couple of EUFA cups and 2 European Cups. We won the league 10 or so times and still to this day have more League Championships than any other team and we haven't won the Premiership since it changed its name from League Division One; That is over 16 years or so ago!!!!!!
They were the glory days and thanks to myMum and Dad, I was there.
Just a pic of him looking as suave as ever in his tuxedo!

By the way, my Dad was fortunate enough to watch the 1966 World Cup games at Anfield with my Mum's Dad, my Grandad McCarthy. He even saw the game when Korea booted Italy off the pitch and ended up wining 3-1 or something like that. It was one of the shocks of the '66 World Cup and my Dad was there!!!! Cool eh?

He is still football mad and is one of the luckiest men alive as my Mum loves football just as much as he does! They watch the games every weekend in Canada live on t.v. and always talk to me about them afterwards, here in Korea.

Do I have the coolest parents or what!!!!!!!!

One of the things that people's children tend to do, is always thank the mother or the father seperately for things that they were given or chosen for. The one thing that everyone has to remember is that BOTH parents are in on the occasion.... So, next time you want to thank either parent for something that one of them did or the other did for you, remember it was both of their decisions..... usually 99 percent of the time anyway.

So, I am thanking both of my parents for giving me a childhood that most kids would be so jealous of, especially a football mad Liverpool born lad who ate, slept and lived football 24/7.
Thanks Mum and Dad!

Needless to say I love Liverpool Football Club................. Forever!!!!!!!!!