Liverpool 2 Tottenham Hotspur 2

Premier League

Sunday 4 February 2018

‘pool pages

The context

This would be John’s first time at Anfield. The number of tourists with similar ambitions – along with our aversion to ridiculously inflated prices – had made arranging things rather difficult. But thanks to our friend Pete we were Spurs fans for the day, and a Premier League price cap on away tickets meant this privilege would set us back far less than any daytripper.

The history

fast-growing

When Edward Kemp laid out Stanley Park in 1870 it provided much-needed recreational space for fast growing suburbs. Anfield – until then mostly open countryside – was rapidly sprouting respectable red-brick homes; their factory-worker tenants could now enjoy extensive formal gardens, the ornate Gladstone Conservatory, lakes, fountains and even a horse-riding circuit.

Mersey

These quiet streets gave way to crowded slum housing where Everton Valley fell away past Scotland Road’s busy courts. Liverpool had done well out of first slavery and then the Industrial Revolution; nine million emigrants would eventually sail for America from its eight miles of docks, which by 1900 were turning over two hundred million pounds annually.

Star date

Numerous passenger companies fought over lucrative transatlantic trade. The White Star Line was known (among wealthy patrons at least) for luxury; Cunard, meanwhile, prioritised fast crossing times. Each new arrival from overseas brought much-needed employment. At one time an estimated 25,000 Liverpudlians relied on the docks for their living.     

grand

Expanding railways revolutionised both travel and commerce. George Stephenson’s showpiece Liverpool-Manchester line was the world’s first inter-city route; passenger trains ran to Crown Street station in Edge Hill until its grand new terminus could be built at Lime Street, while ropes took freight along a steep, mile-long tunnel between there and Wapping Dock. 

goods yards

Goods yards soon spread along eight miles of waterfront. Subterranean cabling also connected Waterloo Dock with Edge Hill, with various other routes going northwards through Bootle. When Liverpool Central station opened – providing services to Manchester Central, Hull and St Pancras – its shallow cutting ran just three feet above the Wapping tunnel’s roof.        

innovative

Passenger traffic also thrived. Narrow gauge tracks ran beneath the Mersey, and an innovative overhead railway served every commercial wharf from Toxteth to Seaforth. This carried twenty million people annually. The suburban route between Canada Dock and Edge Hill, meanwhile, was particularly welcomed by football enthusiasts visiting Everton’s new ground at Anfield.

stands

Everton were Football League founder members. They had rented land beside Stanley Park and built facilities for twenty thousand people, but arguments with landlord John Orrell over rising costs – followed by an abortive takeover bid from Orrell’s friend, rebel committeeman John Houlding – saw them move out in 1894. Houlding subsequently created his own breakaway club, Liverpool, to play there instead.  

grand design

This second-hand home felt respectably urban. Some nearby roads – Alroy, Coningsby, Sybil, Tancred, Lothair – were named after novels by Benjamin Disraeli; others became popularly known as “the V streets” thanks to names such as Venice, Venmore, Vimiera and Vienna. Architect Archibald Leitch designed a decoratively gabled Main Stand, while open banking – the Spion Kop – took shape behind one goal.

classical

It became Anfield’s focal point for the next seventy years. A vast roof went up after Liverpool won successive Championships in 1922 and 1923, while extensions added at right angles behind each corner flag meant 30,000 people could now be accommodated there. Decorative glazing maximised natural light, and elegantly functional staircases perfectly set off Walton Breck Road’s prosaic entrance.  

rebuilt

Fans had to wait until 1947 for another title win. Jack Balmer and Albert Stubbins scored fifty goals between them during 1946-47, but eight rather average Second Division seasons quickly followed; a FA Cup defeat against non-League Worcester City was particularly unfortunate. Things slowly began to improve when former Huddersfield manager Bill Shankly arrived at Anfield, and his rebuilt side went up in 1962 before winning the League just two years later.

final countdown

Shankly’s socialist inclusivity met Beatlemania at its tidal flood. The Sixties swung while Kopites roared out Merseybeat hits, swaying along to Gerry Marsden as their resurgent team won another League title and two FA Cups. Nineteen consecutive seasons’ European football started in 1966 with a Cup-Winners’ Cup final defeat against Borussia Dortmund.

boot boys (Mirror Archive)

A storage area beneath Anfield’s main stand became the famous “boot room”. Shankly often used it to discuss team matters with coaches Reuben Bennett, Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan. His informal, practical approach underpinned Liverpool’s training philosophy over five decades, producing forty major trophies as Paisley and Fagan each became manager in their turn. 

talisman

Talismanic striker Kenny Dalglish took over from Fagan in 1985. Various carefully-chosen signings – who helped win three more Leagues and two FA Cups – looked set to create another enduring dynasty. But Liverpool lost revenue because of Heysel and its consequent European ban, while Hillsborough’s tragic events four years later badly affected everyone at the club.

last hurrah

Both disasters brought significant changes for English football. None proved particularly favourable to Liverpool. The Premier League era watered down many factors – local support, menacing atmosphere, straightforward tactics, refereeing decisions with no cameras present – that had long benefitted them. A consolatory championship won by Dalglish in 1990 remains their last.

The journey 

scale model

Black cabs cruised empty streets like basking sharks as we drove through Kirkdale. Residents-only restrictions mean the days of “mind yer car mister?” have long gone, but I still swerved plenty of opportunistic scalls in high-viz renting out abandoned streets and other peoples’ driveways. It seemed far wiser to park at the secure – yet curiously fish-like – North Liverpool College.

The ground

stunning

Success under Shankly drove substantial ground improvements. Anfield would be largely rebuilt between 1963 and 1973. But the first new stand had to squeeze behind houses on Kemlyn Road, so that its roof pitched sharply upwards and made some rows unusable. These limitations nevertheless produced an attractive, angular design that was both architecturally stunning and provided good views.  

terraces

The wooden Anfield Road end was upgraded with concrete terraces and a modern cantilever extending around each corner. Capacity at this end rose well into five figures, but standing only survived here until Liverpool’s urgent need for more seats led to some hasty reprofiling. One claustrophobic wedge was left for away supporters on the Kemlyn Road side. 

garish

These two stands used to have League football’s brightest seats. Paisley – according to popular legend – became frustrated at losing sight of reserve-team players against the previous uniformly-coloured background, so they were refitted in blocks described by Simon Inglis as “a glaring shock…orange, ochre, violet, red, emerald green and cream.”

box-like

Leitch’s fine main stand also changed beyond recognition. Its distinctive barrel roof and wrought-iron gable were lost, while the seating deck doubled in size. A high, box-like cover now extended over both upper tier and paddock; this allowed Liverpool to replace the last surviving part of their original 1957 floodlight system with modern, gantry-mounted lamps. 

marooned

That narrow Kemlyn Road side could only be expanded by buying up adjacent properties. When Joan and Nora Mason wouldn’t leave their terraced home Liverpool callously demolished almost every other building on the street, leaving it surrounded by open wasteland with a derelict house either side for support. Passing supporters cheerfully abused the two old ladies for ten years until they finally sold up.

fair Kop

Lord Justice Taylor legitimised yet more ugly expansionism. The new Centenary Stand, incorporating Kemlyn Road’s original 1960s seating rake, was soon followed by a rebuilt and seated Kop. All this time Liverpool – ably abetted by Council planners with their own motives for hastening local depopulation – continued to stealthily acquire vacant housing stock. 

devastation

These properties were never subsequently sold. Many remained empty for decades; they became so run down that prices fell still further. Enthusiastic demolition eventually enabled Anfield Road’s long-awaited upper level to be built, followed by a vast new Main Stand seating 20,000. Today’s perfect yet soulless stadium now towers proudly above scenes of deliberately engineered social devastation.

walk on

Strangers once avoided the Kop. Most now head straight there to worship at Liverpool’s enormous shop, take advantage of numerous selfie opportunities and self-consciously drink overpriced lager served by authentic pubs that only open on matchday. We saw hundreds today, an awkward crocodile of replica nylon straggling along Walton Breck Road in search of something their very presence has destroyed.

cutting edge (David Rostance)

Irreplaceable Liverpool history disappears with every tinned-up street lost to the wrecking ball. Size has definitely not replaced substance; Anfield nowadays lacks excitement or individuality, and modern fans will never understand the sense of relief that was always felt when your brick-dented train finally left Edge Hill’s ominous cuttings behind. 

Flesh and wine

proper

For all Anfield’s managed decline there are still some proper boozers about. We found Pete in the admirable Grove Hotel, which somehow manages to survive despite almost every neighbouring building having been knocked down. Muggy heat misted its Victorian bar parlour windows as likely lads of all ages supped away the last hour before kick-off. 

pie spy

Homebaked also keeps going. This co-operative community bakery was previously known as Mitchell’s and sells particularly celebrated pies. Pete has long been devoted to them even though he lives several hundred miles away. It does, however, occupy one corner of a condemned street so may well – like everything else around here – be on borrowed time.  

The game

overhanging

Anfield’s cramped visitors’ corner isn’t a great vantage point. We stood at the back beneath its overhanging upper tier, getting showered with cement dust when Liverpool scored and fans above our heads jumped up and down. People watching TV in their living rooms back home had far more idea whether or not two late Spurs penalties were correctly awarded.

mighty Mo

Sky pundits were apparently unsure. But in any event Harry Kane hit one straight at Loris Karius and scored the second during added time. They bookended a goal of sublime individuality by Lucien-from-Liver-Birds lookalike Mo Salah, who pirouetted through the Spurs defence on ballet-dancer feet before beating Hugo Lloris at his near post.

Kane mutiny

Salah and Kane are this season’s scoring sensations. The former pounced to put Liverpool ahead before their visitors could properly settle. Matters then calmed down until Spurs took control of the game after half-time, deservedly equalising with Victor Wanyama’s thirty-yard strike in front of the Kop. Once those crazy final minutes were over we all agreed a draw felt about right.

Teams and goals

Liverpool: Karius, Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, van Dijk, Robertson, Can, Henderson (Wijnaldum 65), Milner (Matip 78), Salah, Firmino, Mane (Oxlade-Chamberlain 65). Unused subs: Moreno, Mignolet, Ings, Solanke.

Tottenham: Lloris, Trippier, Sanchez (Lamela 71), Vertonghen, Davies, Dier, Dembele (Wanyama 79), Son (Llorente 92), Eriksen, Alli, Kane. Unused subs: Vorm, Sissoko, Aurier, Winks.

Goals: Liverpool, Salah 3, 91; Tottenham, Wanyama 80, Kane 95.     

Att: 53,213