As Liverpool prepare to welcome Portsmouth to Anfield on Saturday, Pompey legend Mickey Quinn tells us about his lifelong love for the men from Anfield.
During the course of my career as a professional footballer I played for six different clubs but there is no doubt that Liverpool is MY team.
I'll always have a special affinity with Wigan, Stockport, Oldham, Portsmouth, Newcastle and Coventry but being a Liverpudlian is in my blood. It's something that has never and will never leave me.
As a kid growing up in the Liverpool suburb of Cantril Farm there was a fairly even split of Reds and Blues but I followed the Red path because of my dad. He'd supported Liverpool all his life and so I just carried on the tradition, although two of my brothers and an uncle supported Everton.
I remember being a fan since I was about three or four. I can't remember the first game I attended but it was during the Toshack/Keegan era. I started off in the boys pen then progressed to the Kop. I think it used to be about 50 pence then to get in and I'd go with a couple of my mates.
It was a bit minty to be honest and because it was tucked away in the corner of the Kop the view wasn't that good either. We were like caged animals wanting to escape into the actual Kop itself. In them days there was always a great sense of humour on the Kop, there really was. They gave a bit of stick out but it was humorous rather than vindictive.
Quinn on Kop King Keegan
Of all the players I watched as kid I'd say KK inspired me to pursue a career in football more than anyone else to be honest. When he was at his peak for Liverpool I was at that impressionable age and like a lot of other kids I wanted to be Kevin Keegan when I was playing football in the street. He was one of my idols and it's funny how our paths have crossed later in life, with him being a former manager of mine and through the horse racing.
The best game I ever saw as a fan was the St Etienne one in 1977. That stands out for me. It was such an exciting night but the most vivid memory I have of that night is the smell of piss as it ran down the back of my leg in the Kop! It was so jam-packed and the Kop was nearly always like that in them days. It was frightening at times, especially when I was a kid. When the crowd used to sway forward my bottle would go in case I got trapped against a barrier.
My heroes back then were John Toshack and Kevin Keegan, then later Kenny Dalglish. Tosh and Kev were a great partnership. John used to hold the ball up, flick it on and Kevin would run in to score.
Of all the players I watched as kid I'd say KK inspired me to pursue a career in football more than anyone else to be honest. When he was at his peak for Liverpool I was at that impressionable age and like a lot of other kids I wanted to be Kevin Keegan when I was playing football in the street. He was one of my idols and it's funny how our paths have crossed later in life, with him being a former manager of mine and through the horse racing.
As a kid my only dream was to one day pull on the red shirt like him. It was every kids dream to play for the club they supported but it was just my luck that I followed Liverpool. They were the best team in the country at the time so breaking into that side would have been almost impossible. I was invited down to Melwood for trials about four or five times, but there was that many kids there you'd only get about twenty minutes to shine and I slipped through the net. It was only after I signed apprentice forms with Derby County that there was a steward's inquiry at Anfield about how a local lad had got away.
That's life though and I got on with my career. In later years I was fortunate enough to play against Liverpool on many occasions. It was a bit weird really but at the end of the day I was a professional footballer and I had to do my best to score goals against them.
I can vaguely recall Portmouth's visit to Anfield in 1987. Pompey had just returned to the top-flight after a long absence but Liverpool were on a super run and we just didn't get near them. We were chasing shadows for 90 minutes. If I remember rightly, the return at Fratton Park was a lot tighter but Liverpool got the first goal then basically just knocked the ball about before getting another.
Quinn on playing against the Reds
I can vaguely recall Portmouth's visit to Anfield in 1987. Pompey had just returned to the top-flight after a long absence but Liverpool were on a super run and we just didn't get near them. We were chasing shadows for 90 minutes. If I remember rightly, the return at Fratton Park was a lot tighter but Liverpool got the first goal then basically just knocked the ball about before getting another.
Although we got relegated that season I really did enjoy that time and I learned so much, especially playing against the likes of Liverpool because they were different class at the time.
Thinking about it, I was never very lucky when I played at Anfield but I remember when I was a Coventry player I did a bit of damage to them at Highfield Road in a game we won 5-1.
I could have had four or five that game. We really did batter them. Graeme Souness was manager at the time and we walked all over them. I remember laughing at something with about four or five minutes to go and our manager Bobby Gould pulled me over to the touch line and said to me 'listen son, you've got to go to Anfield yet,' and how right he was. In the return game we got trounced 4-0!
But let's not dwell on that one. The 5-1 game is one I'll never forget. A lot of my family and friends came to the game that day. I remember going into the players lounge afterwards and they were gob smacked. They wanted me to do well but they never expected Liverpool to be beaten by such an emphatic scoreline.
The Everton supporters in my dad's pub that night couldn't buy me enough drinks but I readdressed the balance by scoring against the Blues and helping Coventry beat them the same season.
As a red-hot Liverpudlian there can be no better feeling than that!
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N150592051117-1315.htm