Never posted on here before, been a member for ages but always just been happy to read the good (and bad) posts. Got some time today - sorry if its a bit long (and boring). There is a point at the bottom - I promise!
Went the game last night and reading through this thread today, thought I would post on something that doesn't seem to come up in the thread which is the changing demographic of the crowd.
My first game was a midweek game at home to Wolves - around 77/78- my grandad got tickets for me a my dad and we sat in the third row of the Kemlyn at the Kop end. Not much I remember of the night. Sammy Chung was their manager, Dalglish knocked the feet out from under the referee with the ball and my mum made me wear pyjamas under my trousers. The overwhelming thing I remember is the Kop and the noise it created. I couldnt work it out. Why did it keep moving? Did they pass the words around to each other? Why werent they sitting in rows? How did they all know to sing at the same time? I was probably 5 or 6.
My first season ticket was in the Main Stand in 1985-86. It was sitting next to my grandad who bought the ticket for me after the old guy who had the seat died. The old guy (Joe Gittens, dont know why I remember!) had been ill for much of the previous year and I had been using the ticket, but once he died, my grandad bought the ticket for me - I was 13.
Following the Heysel and Bradford disasters, there was an amnesty on people changing names on season tickets as the club realised the number of tickets that were in other peoples names. My grandad and uncle had been on an assumed name in their tickets since the mid sixties, so we all changed our names at the same time.
The Main Stand was full of old men - or what seemed like old men at the time. They weren't particularly loud or raucous, some of them were foul-mouthed and would shout obscene things, they all had their particular player they didn't like (Ronnie Whelan mostly).
Some would shout funny things and that get a good reaction from the people around them. The final home game (I think) of the 86 season, we had been presented with the league and everyone was in good spirits. George on the tannoy asked for George Windsor to go to his nearest steward and the bloke in front of me shouted - 'he's been dead since 1952'. At 13, I hadn't got a fucking clue what that meant but it got a great laugh from all around.
I used to sit and watch the Kop, try and learn the words they were singing, but never actually felt like I could stand up and sing in the Main Stand. Thats not what the Main Stand was for. The overall feeling I have of the place is there were a lot of groans - and this is a crowd watching the best team in Europe. My Grandads favourite saying as we left - 'Jesus, we should have scored six'
At the end of that season, I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the FA Cup final and that was the first time I stood up at a game. I went in with my cousin, who had followed Liverpool all over Europe and he told me that being at Wembley was like being right in the middle of the Kop.
My Grandad bought my ticket again in 86/87 - it was 85 quid - but told me that I had to save up and pay for my own next year. At that point the Kop became a far better option - it was only 45 quid. My cousin took me in for the first time on the last game of the season - Rushie's last game. We stood down near the front so we were almost at pitch level - so close to the players and the action.
So from 87/88, I was in the Kop (and still am). I used to stand with my cousin near the front, behind the left hand post (Kemlyn side). That was the season Barnes arrived on the left, with Nicol playing behind him at left back. We were so close to them, you felt like you could shout to them and they would hear. That was an amazing season. If you look closely at the 5-0 game against Forest, you could see me in the crowd - almost a claim to fame I suppose. I was 15
Over the next couple of seasons, my grandad stopped going and a couple of mates also got Kop season tickets (they were easy to get at the time) and we graduated to the middle of the Kop. And it was just like Wembley. Every week. We were right at the centre, standing behind Barry and Dominic who sat on a bar in the middle and started all the songs. We started songs, we carried on singing when others finished, we sang and shouted and cheered and swayed and try to keep our feet. It was the best time. We'd be exhausted by the end. I fainted in one game and had to sit on the floor and get myself together while it all went on around me. And looking back its funny to think - this was all without a drop of alcohol!
(And I fully except that the kop of the late 80's wasnt a patch on the late 70's!)
And then there was Hillsborough and the Kop was seated and it all changed.
I was allocated a seat with my mates. Its a great seat. Block 105, 20 rows back, behind the left hand post (Kemlyn side). We must have started sitting there about 93/94ish. I was about 22 and I was surrounded by people of a similar age - maybe ranging from 20-35 years old. The atmosphere just wasnt as good as the kop of old - simple as that. There was still energy and singing and many games where we would stand the whole game, but the atmosphere was never going to be like the real Kop.
So nearly 20 years on, and I am sitting in the same seat and I would say that 80% of the people around me are the same people. When you are sitting with people over time, you dont see them age, but I suppose they have, just like me.
There are two lads who sit right infront of me, who used to be a right couple of scally's and for some reason I always see them that way. Earlier this season, one of them came with this young girl in her 20s and he was on his best behaviour, no shouting or swearing. The next game he was back to his old self and said to him - 'you werent like that the other night with your bird'. He looked at me funny - 'that was me daughter'. Fuck was I embarrassed!
THE POINT!
Anyway, all these guys are now older. I'm 40, and the guys around me must all be in their 40s and 50s. We dont sing now, we watch the game, we cheer when there's something to cheer, we shout dogs abuse when its needed. Overall, I would say we are positive and booing is frowned upon. There are players that people dont like (last year Downing, last night Shelvey) but there isnt booing or an overly negative vibe. Its just quiet. The guys who sit around me have moved on, they have jobs, families, stresses and going the match is an opportunity to relax a bit, not to be jumping around screaming and singing for 90 minutes.
And when I look back, its probably comparable to when I used to sit in the Main Stand. The problem is that the Main Stand demographic is now sitting behind the goal in the Kop (and probably throughout the Kop for that matter) and there is no easy way to manage or mend that to be able to create an atmosphere again. There is no where for the young supporters with the energy to start
It would be interesting to see the average age of a Kop season ticket holder today v. that of 1987. I would guess there is a 20 year difference and that as much as anything is going to destroy the atmosphere. It is difficult and expensive for youngsters to get a ticket - I dont see how that is going to change.
Add to that, the guys who sit around me (and by extension in the Kop generally) grew up in the 80's, they saw the best football in the country, the best players lifting trophies - we were the champions. And 20 years on, they have stuck with their season tickets, paid a lot of money and are not seeing players or performances that they used to. They are waiting for the day when we return to our rightful position - but that day doesnt seem to be coming any time soon. Little wonder there is frustration and a lack of atmosphere.
Just to finish, I think the saddest thing about the change is You'll Never Walk Alone at the start of the game. 25 years ago, this was really something to put a lump in the throat. George would play the song but by the end of the first verse, the Kop had picked up and taken over in its own time. The Gerry Marsden version on the tannoy faded away to nothing. It was FUCKING INCREDIBLE.
Nowadays, its like a dirge. The people in the ground sing along to the record. Standing there waiting for the song to pick up, waiting for Gerry to sing the words. Its almost heartbreaking. And as you look out at the thousands of flashlights going off you realise all the fucking day trippers just come for their digital photo of the Kop in 'full voice'. They've never heard full voice - fucking heartbreaking!
Anyway, I'm done now, longer than I thought, but what the hell - some great memories.
Cheers
