Grew up in Canny Farm and would regularly nip up to Melwood on the 12C. We would be courteous and wait outside looking up towards the Village for the coach to turn up from Anfield about 10:30, and the gate man would just wave you in after the players. The coach would park up in the side road outside and the players would disembark and walk in. We would stand at the side of the pavilion and watch them train, and all of the players and staff would happily sign autographs on bits of paper, footballs etc.
I reckon it would be about 1975 and players I remember include Keegan, Toshack, Boersma, Clemence, Lindsay, Emlyn, Cormack, Callaghan. I remember being there one time and it was that cold that my fingers were frozen and I couldn’t get the top off my pen or open my autograph book at the next empty page for the players to sign, and remember Tommy Smith, Ray Kennedy and Terry Mac walking past me in those big black jumpers, steam coming off them like thoroughbred racehorses as I struggled with my stationery. I remember the crunch of their boots on the gravel as they walked off to get back on the bus to Anfield, and I would get back on my bus home and ask for “a scholar” back to the Farm.
Incidentally, I remember the footy cards you got with a sliver of chewy around the same time and reading the player stats on the back of them eg “Height 5ft 10 inches” and “Weight 12 stone 6 lbs” etc and thinking at the time “Wow, that must be a man’s height and weight” and then you grow up to surpass that to achieve a height of 6’4” and a weight of 120kg and think “You fat fucker, you’d never have made it” 🤣🤣🤣
I also used to go into Roby Turf betting shop on Derby Lane in the Swan on my way back from the Jobby just after Sir Bob had retired, and he would just be sat there behind the counter with a zip-up cardie taking the bets. He would always give us an autograph when asked but never on a betting slip 😎
I also remember a fella climbing out of The Kop to kick a tennis ball past Clemence into the goal during the warm up before the game and then jumping back into The Kop. Can’t remember the year/s but recall seeing it more than once.
