Alex Malone is one of the oldest columnists for This Is Anfield and has been writing for us since 2001; He represented us on the Reds’ tour of the United States, interviewed two Liverpool legends and attended matches as a media outlet. Here is his story:
As I am a scouser living in Canada and have a season ticket for a long time at the time, Liverpool live matches for me are infrequent on those days and on our annual home visits.
So when Liverpool traveled to North America, my spouse, my daughter and I saw them. From our home on Vancouver Island to the East Coast of the U. S. In the U. S. , there are 18 hours of door-to-door vacations; however, it is for Liverpool viewing, so distance is only an inconvenience and not an impediment.
For this tour, we plan to attend the matches against Arsenal and Man United. These would be the first live matches for our daughter Kayleigh, 7, from Liverpool. It will be a delight you will never forget, and at the time of writing this. Piece, 4 days after the last game, still talks about it and still sings Liverpool songs.
The added bonus of this field trip is the honor of representing this page online to the media. This included exclusive and private press meetings and interviews with two true Liverpool legends. This is my moment representing This Is Anfield in the United States. We’ll communicate on this later.
In the last ten years, American interest in the Premier League and Liverpool FC has skyrocketed.
There are more than 60 Liverpool Official Supporters’ Clubs (OLSC) in Canada and the United States, and many more are unofficial but seeking official status.
This substantial support for Liverpool across North America translates into unprecedented support for our club in these preparatory matches. I have yet to attend a Liverpool game in the USA. In the U. S. , Liverpool enthusiasts didn’t vastly outplay opponents, and that includes games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and two games against Man UnitedArray.
As an example, the Man United match in Colombia, it is estimated that Liverpool fans outnumbered United fans in the stadium by a ratio of around 65:35.
Having been personally involved in organising three other weekends of LFC fan events since 2019 in Las Vegas and Vancouver (on two occasions), we (my spouse Heather and I) have built an amazing ‘fan family’ with close friends living in Liverpool. the world. United States and Canada.
Many of them attended those games and flew in from towns and cities across the continent. Liverpool enthusiasts from all 50 states in attendanceand from each and every Canadian province. Many more had come from as far away as Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe, and more.
Through a variety of social media, phone calls, word of mouth, and texting, we were able to “find” each other and meet at the same venues, fan zones, and pubs in Philadelphia and South Carolina. The party atmosphere at its peak, free-flowing beer and Liverpool anthems, performed live by Marc Kenny and Jamie Webster, further increased the party atmosphere.
The Liverpool fans were in a very good mood. It was an atmosphere of joy and coexistence among all the fans. Old friends hugged, kissed and cried at the same time as their friendships were renewed into users and new friends became events. Fans who had traveled alone found themselves with more new friends than they could possibly stay. That’s being a Liverpool fan and it’s unique.
No other club has so much fandom and connection. No other team has enthusiasts gathered in giant teams all over the city.
Fans from other clubs are placed in isolation or in small groups. It’s a fact that you probably won’t find pubs packed with opposition supporters as often as Liverpool supporters. It’s a pleasure to be a part of, a pleasure to watch, and an environment like no other. It’s hard to explain how special this is.
Ah, Philadelphia in July. If you need to enjoy excessive humidity, this is the ideal position. As he left his hotel, he was greeted by a wall of warmth. After 50 meters, he was sweating profusely. I can only believe what it was like to play even forty-five minutes in these conditions. Logically, the players had to take several breaks to drink water throughout the match.
Before the game, our 7 year old son was excited to meet and hug Liverpool’s mascot, “Mighty Red”, who probably did the worst job of burning down Philadelphia by getting caught in that outfit!
In the end it was time for kick-off and Liverpool, as we all saw, came out on top in the first half with a magnificent display and then kept Arsenal at bay in a well-drilled moment.
Dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, I found myself in the same lift leaving the stadium as former Arsenal player Stewart Robson, who works for ESPN and who had opted for a full Italian outfit, blouse and tie in those sweltering conditions. as bad as the subpar Mighty Red, but right behind it.
Liverpool deservedly won the game and next time I will avoid the post-match press meetings with the managers and head coaches.
Playing This Is Anfield in the media is an honor and one I am incredibly proud of. This comes with the benefits of being present at Arne Slot press conferences, potentially interviewing players from the “mixed zone” and the immense honor of personally interviewing legendary players. players.
My first chance to interview Sami Hyypia at a hotel in Philadelphia. The location was a wet rooftop at 8:30 in the morning on the day of the Arsenal match. Although I have been lucky enough to meet many former Reds in person, this is the first time I have met Sami. With the microphone connected and the camera running, I got to work.
Sami is a person who is sometimes personal, so I wondered what the interview would be like. My fears evaporated once we sat down to talk. Sami had no idea about my questions, so her answers were refreshing and novel. You can see and hear the interview, how humble and original it is. If I went into the interview with any apprehensions, I left feeling that Sami was a friend.
My second interview was with the legend John Barnes. I once ran an online poll to choose among fans the “greatest Liverpool player of all time” and John came up on the spot, Sir Kenny.
Although I had been told that it was a “joy” to interview John, I have to admit that this time I am a little more nervous.
We met in a hotel convention room and JohnArray, unsurprisingly, very energetic, especially at nine in the morning. It’s as comfortable in this setting as you’d expect and my only challenge is answering questions!
For me, a fan for more than 55 years, having the opportunity to sit down and chat with Sami and John is the honor of my life.
Being in the press boxes of American stadiums is a surreal experience, with LFC TV staff, former players (now commentators) huddled together and media from Liverpool FC, Arsenal and Man United in attendance. The team’s colors may not be worn and the consumption of alcohol will not be allowed.
The Philadelphia press box is well located, with decent prospects and seats. This is not the case in Colombia, where I saw the typhoon clouds more clearly than the players. To say that we had our heads in the clouds would be more accurate than metaphorical!
All that was forgotten as Liverpool continued to score. It was fun to see the reactions of the United Stand representatives in front of me when the goals went through Onana. Celebratory fireworks and jumbotron lit up the Carolina skies after each goal.
The highlight of my fit day is delighting the media at Arsenal’s post-workout press conference with Arne Slot.
I had mentally asked my question from the final whistle and had to hope that no one else asked it before me, if I even had the chance to ask it at all. Fortunately, no one did and when the press officer pointed out Me for the penultimate question, some other life memory created on the spot.
In the ‘mixed zone’ that followed, there were too many journalists and some players crammed together, so I might see a lot of Liverpool icons just a few metres away from me, but I might not get close to them. None to comment on this time. Well, it was just Sami and Digger’s interviews and Arne Slot’s question.
Two hours before the game, thunder rumbled, the skies opened up, and the crowd was caught in pouring rain, as you can imagine.
American stadiums are usually outdoors, so there’s nowhere to hide. As in Philadelphia, Columbia had a wall of moisture, this time with more mosquitoes. This was also accompanied by that impressive barrage of aerial fireworks after every Liverpool goal and sporadic roars of thunder and lightning throughout the game.
The selection of Columbia, South Carolina, for a game of this magnitude was strange. The city has around 140,000 inhabitants and the university stadium houses 77,000. As a small city, it lacks public transportation infrastructure to accommodate 77,000 fans, most of whom arrived from out of town and therefore relied on taxis, Ubers and buses to get around. It was, by all accounts, a nightmare!
At the start of the match, he estimated that less than half of the fans had arrived at the stadium on time. When the time came, it was full, and the rest joined the game on the spot. To see so many enthusiasts miss out on such a giant component of the adjustment is a real shame.
Either a large and apparent organizational/logistical ball fell through either club, or they didn’t pay enough attention or care to paying customers.
It has not improved. Leaving the stadium was almost impossible. Most roads were cordoned off by a barrage of police cars with flashing lights as another 77,000 people tried to find a way out of the chaos and return to their hotels. The match ended at 9:30 p. m. local time. My spouse, 7, and I returned to our hotel, about six miles away, at 1 a. m. ; 3 and a half hours to cover six miles. We were not alone. It’s the same experience for almost everyone.
But at least we were already on our last leg: just the 18-hour adventure back home!Two and a half hours after returning to the hotel, the alarm sounded and we sleepwalked to an almost empty airport.
Almost everyone at the airport was sporting Liverpool t-shirts and as we approached the only stall open for breakfast early in the morning, my wife suddenly pointed out a guy in a gray t-shirt sitting alone at a table in a quiet position. It’s John Barnes!
We went to say hello and he, of course, remembered us from the day before and came to pick up our daughter to give her one last hug.
The best ending to a whirlwind of six days. A golden sky indeed.
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