Becoming a Liverpool fan at birth was something that would change my life forever. My dad was a Liverpool fan and my grandad an Everton supporter – it was safe to say that my allegiance was going to be a family tug-of-war until I was of an age to realise it would be a mistake to support Everton.
At a young age, my grandad bought me an Everton shirt and somewhere, probably hidden away in the depths of the Chandley family loft, is a picture of me. Everton kit on back. Not knowing what the hell was happening. Like a life-sized action man. Being dressed in an outfit completely against his will. Tragic.
Fast forward to now, and a lot has changed. I’ve done school, got a job, I live independently but most importantly, my dad clearly clipped me around the ear and I’ve hated Everton ever since.
Supporting Liverpool is brilliant. I love it. Aside from the odd Hodgson-sized misadventure, it’s generally a good time. I like being a supporter of Liverpool, it’s like a fucking massive gang. We’re all in on this secret, like the meaning of life, and everyone else isn’t. But this leads me onto my next point: Liverpool – we’re everyone’s least favourite club.
Success brings many positives. Happiness is one of them. Alcohol is another. One massive thing success brings as a football fan is the ability to give a bit to other teams’ fans. It lends you the confidence to give someone a bit of shit. But this type of behaviour doesn’t have you loved by other fans. In fact, they have ended up hating us.
Liverpool during the 70s and 80s were the team to beat. During the 80s, the Merseyside football scene was the place to be. It was Liverpool v Everton v Everyone Else, and it brought our trophy cabinet to maximum capacity. The turn of the next decade, however, Liverpool began to suffer. Yet the fans continued to have a laugh. They continued to enjoy their football in our little corner of the world that wasn’t England. Our little corner of the world that was Liverpool.
Success dried up but our sense of humour, our sense of entitlement didn’t. We continued to expect the league title, expect the world, even when we had been left behind by Arsenal and United. The 2000s only served to feed our lust for success, and for a club seen as unsuccessful, we did our fair bit of trophy-hunting last decade. This served to fuel the fire of hatred that other fans threw to us.
Success aside, there really does need to be another reason why fans seem to have a huge distaste for Liverpool. Well, let’s have a think.
Firstly, I’d like to go back to my earlier point. Being a football fan is, as much a sporting organisation can be, like being in a big, massive club. You’ve got a place where all other like-minded people can go to and discuss the latest happenings of said club, without the need to bore other people who aren’t really members of this club. Liverpool, though, is a bit different. Liverpool isn’t really a club at all. It’s a society.
Rarely do you find a football club with as much going on as you do at Liverpool. We have dedicated unofficial clothing lines. We have podcast after podcast and we have fan opinion written in the form of articles on websites and messages on mega-forums in dedication to our society. Other teams have this, but we have it all over and over again. This brings me to the core of my point. Our fans feel part of something, kind of like a cult. We are ensnared in this culture of ‘the Liverpool way’ – and other people don’t get it.
For what it’s worth, I don’t want anyone to try and get it. I spent a long time building up my knowledge of the club, its players and its history to have someone tell me simply that “Scousers are [insert naughty word here]” and end it at that. Other fans don’t like it, though, because they can’t define what being Liverpool actually is.
When I was in school, there was a group of popular kids. A group of people who the whole social system seemed to revolve around. These people mattered because of pure luck. They wore Kickers and had a nice bag and walked around like they mattered and everyone else just had to put up. I hated that. I didn’t get it. I didn’t see what these people knew that I didn’t, so my default position was to just ignore them. To dislike them. That’s what it’s like for fans of other clubs.
They don’t get us. They don’t get that we have a history so unique that if you wrote a story about it people would deem it unrealistic. As a club and as a city. Our city is welcoming of outsiders, as is our club. But it doesn’t suffer naysayers with any degree of sympathy or acceptance. You don’t like us? Jog on then. And never a second thought runs through our head. We have a strength built up from being a city, a club, being held back in one way or another. That brings a set of people together. It forms the bond so strong that it’s tough for others to understand. So instead of try, you don’t. You just dislike.
Secondly, Liverpool fans are often mocked for their focus and addiction to history, yet it’s an appreciation similar to that which goes on in most clubs. The only difference is they appreciate play-off finals and winning the Championship. We talk about how winning the cup five times means that we own that piece of silverware. We talk about things that matter. Why stop remembering?
You will find fans saying “We won [insert cup here] XX years ago and you don’t hear us still going on about it, do you?” – and what? That’s not our problem. Go on about it, if you want. We certainly aren’t stopping you. If I was a Blackburn fan I would never shut up about winning the Premier League title before Liverpool with their own King of the Kop as manager. If I was a United fan, I would always obsess over that 1999 Champions League final. That was absolutely bananas, that game. Why must there be a sell-by date on talking about success? Being successful is boss, whenever it is. If you don’t like it, jog on.
There’s probably other reasons we’re not best liked. Our ex-players are everywhere. We’re massive. We attract attention because we’re a hurricane of a sporting establishment. But in other words, and most importantly:
Opposition fans hate us because they want to be us.
