We are Liverpool.

The atmosphere at some World Cup games in Brazil was reminiscent of the old Anfield atmosphere

The 2014 World Cup was an unrivalled success on the pitch. The goals, excitement, and patriotism on display in Brazil created a footballing spectacle heralded as the best world cup ever by viewers. Aside from the actual football, one of the things that stood out for me was the depth and display of national pride shown by many of the teams. Many of the players were obviously passionate when singing their national anthems, Brazil and America standing out in my memory. The Dutch, Brazilians, and Colombians embrace their national strips with such vigour that the stadiums appeared to be decked out in their national colours. This was not the case with England (again! I know we possibly have the dullest national anthem, but even so, we always seem to embrace our national anthem with as much fervour as a wet fish.)

In my time following Liverpool, the loud, visible, and devoted support so noticeable at the World Cup appears to have died down somewhat. The first match I went to was in December 1998 against Newcastle United. I remember sitting in the Kop, chanting as best I could as a small 7-year old. I remember thinking that I was sat in a sea of red, loud, crazy strangers. And I loved it. Ever since then, I have attended as many matches as I could, home and away, and have even worked for LFC to be closer to the action. I have noticed, throughout this time, that the number of new shirts decreases season on season, that the number of chants I recognise reduces every year, and that the volume at Anfield has dropped so notably that ‘’Is this a library?’’ has been chanted at every home game I have attended in the past 2 years. Why?

Firstly, the rise in ticket prices since I first attended a match at Anfield is astonishing. For many seasons, I knew a ticket cost around £30, I remember it creeping over that in the ‘00’s. Tickets for the new season went on sale for my family today, averaging out at a mere £50 per match, per ticket. Not to mention the annual membership of £27 that was required to purchase ticket, or the requirement that we had to have attended 14 home games last season. The cost of following Liverpool has increased by so much that it is undoubtedly pricing some of the die-hard local supporters out of Anfield. Without the die-hard fans, the fervant support will surely decrease, right?

Secondly, the cost of a Liverpool shirt. I owned every single home shirt between 1998 and the 2013/2014 season. I used to get a shirt that was a bit too big, knowing it would last two full seasons. I used to love the unveiling of the new kit, and look forward to buying the new home strip, and deciding which number to get (a trend that ended when my favourite player as a youngster, Michael Owen left.) The release of a home kit once every two years softened the expense that every knew kit brings, and made the unveiling of a knew strip all the more exciting. Recently, this has changed, with a kit release every season. I didn’t used to mind the away shirt changing every year, and I never bought it, but I feel like it is a solely money-making exercise. I understand that football is a business, and that the sponsors of the kit want to generate as much profit as possible, but at some point, the delicate balance is going to become impossible to maintain.

Anfield has not been living up to its reputation in recent seasons

Kit prices have also increased hugely. I don’t remember how much my early strips cost, I was only a child. The first shirt I remember buying was the 2005 Champions league kit with the badges on the arms, and it cost £35 all in. I love that shirt, I still have it. Now, it costs £50. I don’t mind Warrior as a kit sponsor, the home shirts have been alright, and I like the simplification of the badge, but the cost and annual release has put me off buying a home shirt for the foreseeable future. I just attend matches in my old shirts, or in a random top. Even numbers, that used to be £10 for both the number and player name, has risen sharply. Paying per letter is a common occurrence in the premier league.

Kit sponsorship never used to bother me. We were always Carlsberg for as long as I could remember, and even though we switched from Reebok to Adidas for monetary reasons, I still didn’t mind. I feel like it should be an honour to grace the chest of the red-men, and that the ‘selling to the highest bidder’ mentality that has recently occurred has ruined our home kit. That may be naive, but that’s just how I feel. That said, if we’re going to part-take in this, we could at least do a little better at it. Our kit sponsorship deal is believed to be worth around £25million, a third of the amount Manchester United’s kit sponsor Nike pay them.

I want to be wary in how I approach the next point, because I do not think this is a bad thing about our club. In fact, I really like it, and I am so interested in the logistics and reasonings behind it that I studied it at University and completed my undergraduate dissertation on the matter. Foreign fans are most regularly seen supporting Liverpool at Anfield. Liverpool has a rich, successful history, and has played attractive football since the days of Shankly. The most successful period in Liverpool’s history, the 1970’s and 80’s, has attracted countless foreign fans, who now are of an age where many have enough disposable income to travel to watch their team play. Transport facilities have increased dramatically over the past 15 years, and the cost has been slashed so much that it costs less for me to fly to Rome, Barcelona, or Paris than it does to get the train to Newcastle, London, or Scotland (shocking, but true!) With more travel options, and cheaper access, it is unsurprising that there has been a surge in foreign fans regularly attending the match.

Atmosphere improved immensely in the second half of last season

Liverpool has the third largest fan base of any football team in the world. It is a great achievement, one which I certainly am proud of as a red. This means we also have a large number of fans that are not only not from this city, or country, but not from this continent. While these fans bring large amounts of money in corporate ticketing, and merchandise, language barriers often reduce the amount of chants and songs that are sung on the terraces, and the volume of these are significantly lower. I love hearing the variety of languages and accents that are on display at Liverpool games, and when I completed research for my dissertation, I got replies from everywhere, Bhutan to Uruguay, Botswana to Cyprus, but I can’t help wondering if this has contributed to a reduction in Anfield’s legendary noise.

Whatever the reason, I do have to say, that as the 2013/14 season progressed, and the team kept themselves embroiled in a title battle, the Anfield passion was reignited with a passion that I haven’t seen since directly after Istanbul. The cheering was getting much louder, there was more red on display, and the crowds of fans seemed to be more passionate and supportive than they have been in recent years. It’s fantastic, I feel as though the Liverpool I fell in love with are returning. As the Hillsborough inquest confirms what Liverpool knew all along, removing the tarnished reputation of the club, and the football on the pitch is reminiscent of a more successful time, Anfield feels like the fortress my parents always told me it was.

I hope this stays. I hope that the crowds get louder, and more passionate. I hope that the support for the team is reflected in the football they play. I hope that we win things, and that the new banners on the Kop, and chants sung round the stands are about our current success, not just our history.

But no matter what, We are Liverpool.