Alex Malone is one of the longest-serving columnists here at This Is Anfield, writing for us since 2001; he represented us on the Reds’ recent tour of the USA, getting to interview two Liverpool Legends and attend games as media. Here’s his story:
Being a scouser living in Canada, and long-time season ticket holder back in the day, live Liverpool games for me are infrequent these days and generally during our annual visits back home.
So when Liverpool travel across to North America, my wife, daughter and I travel to see them. From our home on Vancouver Island to the east coast of the US is an 18-hour door-to-door trip – but it’s to see Liverpool so the distance is merely an inconvenience not a deterrent.
For this tour, we managed to attend the two games against Arsenal and Man United. These would be our 7-year-old daughter Kayleigh’s first ever live Liverpool games. It was to be an experience she’ll never forget, and as of writing this piece four days after the final game she is still talking about it and singing Liverpool songs.
The added bonus on this tour was the honour of representing this website as part of the media. This included the press conferences as well as personal exclusive interviews with two bonafide Liverpool legends. It was to be my second time representing This Is Anfield in the USA. More on that later.
The Incredible Liverpool Family
Over the last 10 years or so, North American interest in the Premier League, and in Liverpool FC in particular, has skyrocketed.
There are over 60 Official Liverpool Supporters Clubs (OLSCs) across Canada and the US with many more ‘unofficial’ but attempting to gain official status.
This massive Liverpool support across North America results in unparalleled support of our club at these preseason games. I have yet to attend any Liverpool game in the US where Liverpool fans have not comprehensively outnumbered the opposition – and that includes games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and two games against Man United.
As an example, at the Man United game in Columbia, it is estimated that Liverpool fans outnumbered United fans in the stadium by a ratio of around 65:35.
Having been personally involved in the organization of three different LFC fan event weekends since 2019 in Las Vegas and Vancouver (twice), we (my wife Heather and I) have built up an amazing ‘fan family’ with close Liverpool-supporting friends all over the United States and Canada.
Many of them were in attendance at these games, flying in from cities and towns across the continent. There were Liverpool fans from all 50 US states and every Canadian province in attendance. Many more had flown in from as far as Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe and more.
Through a variety of social media, phone calls, word of mouth and text messages, we were able to ‘find’ each other and gather at the same locations, fan zones and pubs in Philadelphia and South Carolina. The party atmosphere was in overdrive, the beer was flowing and the Liverpool anthems, supplied live by both Marc Kenny and Jamie Webster, elevated the party atmosphere even more.
The Liverpool fan base was in fantastic spirits. It was an atmosphere of joy and togetherness across the entire fan base. Old friends hugged, kissed and cried together as their friendships were renewed in person and new friends were made throughout the events. Fans who had travelled alone found themselves with more new friends than they could keep up with. It’s what being a Liverpool fan is all about and it is unique.
No other club has a fanbase and a connection like this. No other team has fans who congregate in large groups throughout the city.
Other clubs’ fans can be found generally in isolation or in small groups. It is a fact that you won’t find packed pubs full of opposition fans to the extent you see Liverpool fans. It is a joy to be part of, a joy to behold and an atmosphere unlike any other. It is difficult to put into words just how special it is.
The Reds in Philly – and interviewing Liverpool Legends
Ah, Philadelphia in July. If you want to experience extreme humidity, this was the place to be. As you exited your hotel, you were greeted by a wall of heat. After 50 yards, you were sweating profusely. I can only imagine what it was like playing even 45 minutes in these conditions. Sensibly, the players were to have multiple water breaks throughout the game.
Before the game, our 7-year-old was thrilled to meet and hug Liverpool’s mascot ‘Mighty Red’ who had possibly the worst job in scorching Philadelphia being trapped in that outfit!
Finally, it was kick off time and Liverpool, as we all saw, excelled in the first half with a wonderful display then held Arsenal at bay in a well drilled second half.
Adorned in t-shirt and shorts, I ended up in the same lift leaving the stadium as ex-Arsenal player Stewart Robson who works for ESPN and had strangely decided on an attire of full Italian suit, shirt and tie in these stifling conditions. Not as bad as poor Mighty Red but a close second.
Liverpool deservedly won the game and my next stop was on to the post-game press conferences with both team managers/head coaches.
Representing This Is Anfield in the media is quite an honour and one I am immensely proud of. It comes with the benefits of being present at Arne Slot press conferences, potentially interviewing players in the ‘mixed zone’ and the huge honour of personally interviewing legendary players.
My first such opportunity was interviewing Sami Hyypia in a hotel in Philadelphia. The location was a wet rooftop patio at 8:30am the day of the Arsenal game. Although I have been fortunate enough to meet many ex-Reds in person, it was my first time meeting Sami. With microphone attached and camera rolling, I got to work.
Sami is a generally private person so I wondered how the interview would flow. My fears evaporated once we sat down to chat. Sami had no preview of my questions so his answers were refreshingly unrehearsed. You could see and hear from the interview just what a humble and genuine man he is. If I walked into the interview with any trepidation, I walked away feeling like Sami was a friend.
My second interview was with the legend John Barnes. I once ran an online poll for fans’ ‘greatest Liverpool player of all time’ and John came in second only to Sir Kenny.
Even though I had been informed that John was a ‘joy’ to interview, I have to admit, I was a little more nervous this time.
We met in a hotel conference room and John was, as expected, high energy, especially for 9am. He was as comfortable in this environment as you would expect and my only problem was fitting in the questions!
For me, a fan for over 55 years, to be given the opportunity to sit and chat with both Sami and John was an honour of a lifetime.
What it’s like attending as media
Being in the press boxes in American stadiums is a bit of a surreal experience, with the likes of LFC TV staff, ex-players (now commentators) milling around and media from Liverpool FC, Arsenal and Man United all in attendance. No team colours can be worn and no alcohol is permitted.
The press box in Philadelphia was well positioned, with decent view and seating. This was not the case in Columbia where I could see the storm clouds more clearly than the players. To say we had our heads in the clouds would be accurate rather than metaphoric!
All of that was forgotten as Liverpool kept scoring. It was fun to watch the reactions of the ‘United Stand’ website representatives in front of me as the goals flew past Onana. Celebratory fireworks and the jumbotron lit up the Carolina skies after each goal.
The second highlight of my game day media experience was the Arsenal post-game press conference with Arne Slot.
I had mentally crafted my question since the final whistle and had to hope no-one else asked it before me – if, indeed I would even get to ask it all all. Thankfully no-one did and when the press officer pointed at me for the penultimate question another life memory was made right there and then.
In the subsequent ‘mixed zone’ there were too many reporters and two few players milling around, so although I got to see many Liverpool icons just a few feet away, I was unable to approach any for comment this time. Oh well, just the Sami and Digger interviews and the Arne Slot question it was then.
Man United in Columbia… at the end of a storm – literally!
Two hours before the game the thunder roared, the heavens opened and the crowd was caught in as torrential a rainfall as you can imagine.
American stadiums are generally open air so there’s nowhere to hide. As with Philly, Columbia came complete with a wall of humidity – this time with added mosquitoes. It also came with that impressive barrage of aerial fireworks after each Liverpool goal and sporadic roars of thunder and lightning during the game.
The choice of Columbia, South Carolina for a game of this magnitude was a strange one. The city has a population of around 140,000 and the college stadium holds 77,000. With it being a relatively small city, it does not have the transit infrastructure to support 77,000 fans, the majority of whom were from out of town and so relied on taxis, Ubers and buses for transportation. It was, by any measure, a nightmare!
As the game kicked off, I estimate fewer than half of the fans had made it in to the stadium in time. By half time it was just over half full, with the remainder joining the game in the second half. Given the high prices for tickets, to see so many fans miss so much of the game was a real shame.
Either a massive and obvious organisational/logistical ball was dropped big time by both clubs, or they did not give enough consideration or care for the paying customers.
It didn’t get any better. Leaving the stadium was next to impossible. Most roads were cordoned off by a barrage of police cars with flashing lights as 77,000 tried to find a way out of the chaos and back to their hotels. The game ended at 9:30pm local time. My wife, 7-year old and myself arrived back at our hotel – about six miles away – at 1am; three and a half hours to travel six miles. We were not alone. It was the same experience for almost everyone there.
But at least now we were now on our last leg – just the 18-hour journey home! Two and a half hours after arriving back at the hotel, the alarm went off and we sleep-walked our way to a thankfully almost empty airport.
Liverpool shirts were adorned by almost everyone in the airport and as we approached the one early morning breakfast spot that was open, my wife suddenly pointed to a man in a grey t-shirt sitting alone at a table in a quiet area. It was John Barnes!
We went to say hello and he of course remembered us from the day before and he picked up our daughter for one more hug.
The perfect end to a whirlwind six days. A golden sky indeed.
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