LIVERPOOL, England – From the door of his home in Anfield, Sue Humphreys had a seat for fame, pain and shame at Liverpool Football Club.
Humphreys, 69, has never noticed another view from a townhouse in which his circle of relatives has lived for a century.
“I’m very lucky to be so close because you can see how much it means to people,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a little embarrassing, but it’s amazing. Absolutely amazing.”
With his face bathed in the red glow of the flares 50 yards away, Humphreys watched Friday morning as enthusiasts celebrated Liverpool’s England champion for the first time in 30 years.
“We never thought it would be that long,” he says. I said, “Never.”
Celebrating the titles had become a formality here for Humphreys’ team and family. Space is forged in the club’s history. Bob Paisley even lived with Humphreys’ parents in his playing days. He has become the club’s successful manager.
Six English titles were won through Paisley in the 1970s and 1980s, while Liverpool was up to english football. Jurgen Klopp can now enjoy flattery to present his first prize, increasing his prestige in the red part of Merseyside.
Being so revered sits uneasily with Klopp when discussing legendary predecessors Paisley, Bill Shankly and Kenny Dalglish, who won the team’s last English championship in 1990.
“We don’t have to compare myself to those iconic characters,” Klopp said Friday. “I came from Germany, I’m four and a half years old, I love the city, I love the club, but there’s no comparison possible, and it’s not necessary.”
Klopp was wearing a hoodie with champions on his chest. A few hours earlier, he had danced into the evening with his players after Manchester City’s 2–1 loss to Chelsea, securing Liverpool’s Premier League trophy with seven games to spare.
“I called my circle of relatives 10 seconds before the final whistle,” Klopp said. “We had a FaceTime call. I told them I enjoyed them, they told me they enjoyed me. It’s sad I can’t be with them. I told them to put the phone on the table and leave it on. It was a wonderful moment.
Relief mixed with bliss after having overcome so much. The Reds last season collected enough points — 97 — to normally clinch the title, only to be denied by Manchester City by a single point.
“It looks like there’s almost been a curse on the spot,” Gareth Roberts of the podcast and The Anfield Wrap said. “How far we were hit there and failed to arrive several times.”
This time it was a procession that was only stalled — and nearly thwarted — by the coronavirus pandemic that led to an unprecedented shutdown of British society.
“I know a lot of other people here in Liverpool and they tell me exactly what it means to them,” Klopp said. “So I don’t underestimate him. It’s huge. Absolutely huge. When you have a successful football club in town, it gives a boost to other people. Right now in the world, every city wants an elevator.”
Klopp’s affinities to Liverpool have been profound. That’s why former Borussia Dortmund coach is already registered to lead the world champions, European champions and now England until 2024.
“From the first day we clicked, the welcome for me was great,” Klopp said. “I knew about expectations but immediately I felt people wanted to give us time. I love the way they see life. I love the way they want to be different in a very special, good way. I love the Scouse soul.
“Many Scousers are intelligent people of Array. I come from a domain where no one understands a word outside, and Scouse is similar.
Fans also see Klopp as a left-wing social timbre of a port city that produced the Beatles and sometimes felt politically and economically isolated from the strength and wealth of Westminster.
“We call on managers, we almost need them to be a political figure,” said Roberts, a lifelong fan. “The other football professions are not the same. We need you to say the right things. You need them to worry about the city, the other people in town, and it does. His policy was very smart with Liverpool and he embraced that. “
It is a city that has also had to suffer not only the unimaginable pain associated with Liverpool FC, but a long quest for the world to know the fact of the deaths of 96 enthusiasts in the weigh-in at hillsborough stadium in the 1989 FA Cup semi-final. End.
“The cover-up around Hillsborough, the long crusade for justice,” Roberts said, “all those things have fueled Liverpool’s character and identity and created the other people we have here. But in the end, it’s a worried and friendly place.” Increasingly, the football club also reflects this.
The connection with the club has never been more vital, as enthusiasts are unable to attend the games because COVID-19 restricts Anfield to three hundred key people.
“This city is dazzlingly music and football, either thing means excitement,” Klopp said. “It’s global for them. It’s global for me. It’s just exceptional.”