Tai Do’s heart sinks.
The journey from Georgia, a state in the southern United States, to the UK is complete. No more staring at a screen and painfully checking the distance to destination. He is finally in the correct country with a long-held dream just about to become reality.
Then a message arrives that sends shivers down his spine: “Do you have an Apple or Android?”. A correct answer would ease any nerves. “Android,” he replies. And from there, the panic sets in.
Tai, a 32-year-old, originally from Vietnam, started supporting Liverpool in 2007 and, for a while, was an administrator for the LFC Supporters Club Facebook page in the Asian country. This year, he decided he would finally attend a game, ideally with his wife, Sarah, and perhaps even his kids, who sing, “Mo Salah, running down the wing”, each night before bed.
The itinerary pretty much wrote itself, and when two match tickets were apparently secured for £1,500 with four months to go until the fixture concerned, excitement started to build. Yet here he is, outside the stadium on gameday and still with no tickets.
This is the story of those who made the journey to Anfield for the first time during one of Liverpool’s most emotionally-charged campaigns in Premier League history — and just what it meant to them.
Fans at Anfield on the final day of last season (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Inside Anfield, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are getting ready for their penultimate home match of the 2023-24 season, against Tottenham Hotspur.
Tai and Sarah, however, are outside Anfield.
The sights are those they have seen thousands of times on the internet and television, though the sounds and smells are new. Stanley Park is alive and kicking. Everything is wonderful…
Except for those tickets.
Ordered on a website that “looks legitimate” and had been successfully used by a friend who supports Tottenham, a message now arrives from the seller saying they can’t send the tickets to an Android phone.
Tai keeps his cool.
The starting XI has already been announced. Salah is back in the starting line-up after his minor bust-up with Klopp at West Ham United a week earlier, when he was left on the substitutes’ bench. The clock is seriously ticking.
Thirty-one minutes until kick-off…
Thirty minutes…
Twenty-nine…
The wait goes on. Seventeen years of dreaming have come down to this.
Is it a scam?
Then, peering around the corner of the club shop is the ticket seller. Awkward hand gestures and some uncomfortable eye-contact follow. He hands Tai a pair of unlocked iPhones with matchday barcodes in the Apple wallet.
“I was expecting paper tickets,” Tai laughs, relieved.
He’s told to return to the same meeting point at full time to hand the phones back.
“Not going to lie, it was all rather nerve-racking. But we got there,” Tai says.
Tai and Sarah Do (Tai Do)
For most of last season, a ticket to watch a Premier League game at Anfield was the hottest in town.
With expensive delays to the completion of the Anfield Road Stand, Liverpool’s home stadium was operating at a reduced capacity during the first half of the campaign, limiting the availability of seats. That made it even tougher for touts and resale websites to get hold of spares and move them on for higher fees — admittedly not the worst thing. Liverpool have a huge global fanbase, though, and many living outside the UK rely on such methods to get tickets.
Oleh Matviyishyn did not want to take the risk.
So for his maiden trip to one of the sport’s most iconic venues, early in the season, he has booked a hospitality package directly through the club’s website.
A decent start to the season has raised expectations. Liverpool drew with Chelsea on the opening weekend, then beat Bournemouth and Newcastle United. Darwin Nunez is hot. Klopp looks re-energised. Oleh’s decision to pay the extra money for Aston Villa’s visit on September 3 seems smart.
The flight over from East Newark, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, was free of stress.
Oleh Matviyishyn (Oleh Matviyishyn)
On arrival, the UK traffic causes some issues. He gets to the stadium far later than expected. Everything is a rush. “The line was huge to get in,” he says.
In a frenzy, Oleh cracks an expensive pair of sunglasses while sprinting up the stairs.
“I thought I was going to miss You’ll Never Walk Alone!,” he says. “It’s the reason I became a Liverpool fan when I was 10 years old. It was the song during the (2004-05 Champions League final) win in Istanbul. I’d never heard anything like it and I can still remember the goosebumps down my arms. Hearing it at Anfield led to the same emotions. It was hard to hold back the tears.”
Oleh ends up having a day to remember. The early Dominik Szoboszlai half-volley, a goal for Salah and other stand-out moments that put the shine on a 3-0 win. “Trent (Alexander-Arnold) made this crossfield pass to Luis Diaz, and honestly, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
And those sunglasses? “They were somewhat salvageable at LensCrafters, but they’re still a bit crooked,” he laughs. The memories, though, remain razor-sharp.
Anfield earlier this year (Joe Prior/Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Patrick Kerr, who moved to Singapore with his parents when he was young, is at Anfield for a lunchtime kick-off.
In south-east Asia, where he has now lived for almost 20 years, the Liverpool vs Everton derby kicking off at 12.30pm UK time would have been screened on prime-time evening television, so “perhaps a couple of beers watching it on my rooftop,” he says. Being here in the flesh on Merseyside however, it feels too early to drink before the game.
Patrick grew up wearing a Liverpool shirt and knocked around with Everton fans until his move abroad. He’s played football in the nearby parks but has never been inside Anfield… until now. The matchday smell of fried onions from the snack bars reminds him of his childhood but he feels there’s something missing.
“Honestly, the atmosphere was a little flat after the first few minutes. It feels like we’re just expected to beat Everton. Is that taking the p**s? Finally getting inside was great, because I’ve wanted this for so long, but I just expected a little more.”
Wild celebrations and dramatic scenes would have to wait.
After Salah’s two late goals that October day killed off 10-man Everton, Liverpool started to build momentum.
A draw away at Manchester City the following month sparked talk of another title challenge, and then came a game with all emotions: the 4-3 win over Fulham. Liverpool were 3-2 down with 10 minutes to go on December 3 before Wataru Endo, of all people, levelled the scores. Alexander-Arnold then popped up with a late winner and it was clear Liverpool were firmly in the race.
Capacity was still 10,000 down due to the Anfield Road redevelopment, but demand was rapidly increasing. The club decided to stagger the stand’s reopening over multiple games — first just the lower tier, then the upper — which meant capacity went up by 7,000 for the home match against Manchester United, improving the supply of tickets.
Laura Mullen, from Northern Ireland, squeezes into the New Year’s Day win over Newcastle, although her first Anfield experience is not perfect. Due to difficulties obtaining tickets, she sits alone, cheering as Salah scores another two goals in a 4-2 win, with other strikes from Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo.
Salah celebrates in front of fans after scoring against Newcastle (Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
“My partner got two tickets through a friend for him and his son, and I got one through another friend. Although we were not together, I was glad to be able to go with them to make memories,” Laura says.
The passion, singing, a visit to the club shop, the feeling of togetherness. The group had arrived early to take it all in and walked around each stand.
“The whole experience was brilliant and we’ve got photos to keep forever,” says Laura.
Then, on January 26, Klopp announces he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season.
His side are top of the Premier League, into the Carabao Cup final, about to play Norwich City of the Championship at home in the FA Cup fourth round, and are already through to the last 16 of the Europa League.
If getting hold of tickets for games at Anfield in 2023-24 had been difficult until this point, what happens next is no great surprise. Re-sellers bump up prices immediately. Supporters who haven’t attended for some time suddenly realise their opportunity to see Klopp in the dugout again is rapidly fading. Many feel the need to say goodbye after years of success.
Over in East Newark, Oleh thinks back to his visit a few months earlier. “It genuinely felt like he was going to stay forever. The only shame was that he did not do his signature fist-pump. I’m just glad I got a video of the crowd singing his name.”
For Tai, the announcement comes on the day before he finalises his itinerary for the Spurs game in early May. “The price went up dramatically overnight to the point where our friends were priced out of the move, but I felt this was the last chance to see Jurgen’s team at Anfield, so I pulled the trigger.”
GO DEEPER
From ‘Carousel’ to The Kop: How You’ll Never Walk Alone became a Liverpool anthem
It was fitting that the club were finally able to get the new-look Anfield Road Stand fully open with games remaining in the season.
Matthew Harper gets tickets for February’s home match against Burnley through the ballot. Waiting for updates from the ballot process can be long and demoralising, and Matthew, from Somerset, a county in the south-west of England, knows he got lucky.
Liverpool win, 3-1. “I was just in awe of the experience,” Matthew says. “The place was buzzing, and hours before kick-off you could feel how much everyone was up for it. Just to be stood there among my fellow supporters singing, chanting and cheering… even now it brings a smile back to my face.”
Seeing a victory helped, although Liverpool ride their luck against opponents who would end up being relegated until a late Nunez goal eases the tension.
“There’s not a single fan who is not excited by that man,” Matthew says of the Uruguayan striker. As for Klopp: “He will never truly know what he has done for me and millions of others.”
It’s forgotten, sometimes, just how special someone’s first trip to Anfield can be.
Federico Huxhagen lives in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, and has watched games at La Bombonera, the similarly famous home of Boca Juniors, where supporters fill the stands an hour before games, set off fireworks and flares, and create one of the most hostile experiences in world football.
Federico Huxhagen (Federico Huxhagen)
Yet his experience in the 4-1 win over Luton Town on February 21 eclipsed anything he’d seen before. As Rob Edwards, the Luton manager, said: “We saw Anfield and Liverpool at its best.” Opposition players couldn’t hear their team-mates next to them, let alone instructions from the sidelines.
“It was deeply emotional to be at the stadium,” Federico says after years of wanting to attend. “There was a period of around 20 minutes in the second half when the fans did not stop shouting for a second to cheer the team on.”
Liverpool are behind at half-time, but run out comfortable winners. “I loved that my compatriot, Alexis Mac Allister played, in my opinion, the best game in a Liverpool shirt so far,” Federico says. “Getting to see Klopp’s iconic fist-pumps will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
The run continues.
Liverpool are still unbeaten at home, remain firmly in the title race and will soon be 2023-24 Carabao Cup winners. A 1-1 draw with Manchester City sends Arsenal top of the Premier League, but it remains nip and tuck. Defeat to Manchester United in the FA Cup hurts soon after, but a treble is still on.
Michael Esparza is inside Anfield for the first time. He’s a relatively new Liverpool supporter, just eight years in, and from his home in the U.S. state of Michigan he has watched some of the most memorable moments of the club’s modern history; the Champions League win in 2019, the Premier League title a year later.
“I never really thought about the possibility of visiting Anfield because of how successful the club has been, but it has been a bucket-list experience since I became a fan,” Michael says.
A visit to Cork, in the Republic of Ireland, in 2016 set him on his way — his cousin, Paul, and his cousin’s son, Patrick, spoke so much about Liverpool that the obsession rubbed off.
Michael is there to see Liverpool beat Brighton 2-1 at the end of March. “Feeling the emotion from the crowd was an unreal experience,” he says. “I’ve never experienced anything like the atmosphere at Anfield in any of the American sporting events I’ve attended.”
GO DEEPER
Liverpool’s road to a 60,000 home – via a Spaceship, Speke and the Parry Bowl
Such are the fine margins in a title challenge, it can all be over quickly.
Klopp’s fairytale exit does not happen. Liverpool run out of steam in the league as injuries build up and returning players fail to find their top form quickly.
Jack Glynn picks perhaps the worst three days of the season to visit the city, having watched on from the American city of Boston for over a decade.
The 24-year-old says he followed Liverpool “to be different” from his friends, who support Chelsea and Arsenal. If he’s not watching at home, he’ll be drinking Guinness in the Black Rose pub, or for a quieter atmosphere, at the Caffe dello Sport, surrounded by red Liverpool shirts.
A loose connection to the club’s Boston-based owner, Fenway Sports Group, helped Jack source tickets. He goes to the 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace on April 14, a few days before the Europa League semi-final exit against that competition’s eventual winners Atalanta.
Jack Glynn and his family – no, the big lad in the middle is not a relative (Jack Glynn)
He is in Liverpool for just four days, during which the club he supports lose two home games. They had been unbeaten in the season at Anfield all season up to that point.
“It was tough to watch all those shots missing but I still left with a smile on my face,“ Jack says. ”Won’t lie, I shed some tears during You’ll Never Walk Alone, and even now it gets me going a little.”
With the Hillsborough anniversary also taking place during his visit, Jack said that added to the emotion. He spent some time in the Albert Pub and joined in with those singing songs, even in defeat.
When it has been a dream to visit a sporting event for so long, often the performance or the result is irrelevant. It’s the togetherness, the cult, that fuels the feeling.
Laura, Oleh, Federico, Michael, Matthew, Jack and even slightly underwhelmed Patrick, all shared something in common and experienced a moment they had longed for at Anfield.
And Tai and Sarah? They ate fish and chips at Lobster Pot, did The Beatles tour and picked matching Liverpool tattoos. And they returned those iPhones.
(Top photo: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images))
