https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nToZhd3fudY
Herds first visit to Anfield on his birthday as a teenager ,witnesses this cracker of a match played on a mudbath pitch .
Laden with birthday money I set off on my own in my brand new sheepskin coat from Chatham about 9.30 whizzing through Victoria and up to Euston ,catching a special at about 10.45 .
Id never been there and neither had most of the people traveling but there where thousands making the trip that day.
At Lime Street no one seemed to know where to go or what to do , some started walking but i followed some lads and we got the bus from across the street , huge mistake.
Bus drops people off outside the Kop crawling with mousers who by know knew the cockney bastards were coming ,and a Boy with a sheepy doesn't come from liverpool where they were dressed like tramps.
After some jostling I managed to walk down the side to the Anfield road end just as large groups of Arsenal start to arrive and all go in . The anfield road end isnt segregated and many in there thought they would attack the cockneys but we had 3 or 4 thousand in there and took the back making quite an noise too ,something not done at that time .
Match was topsy turvy but I remember Alan ball getting abused by the Liverpool fans all through the match so when he rammed in the penalty he was pretty chuffed .
Radford the King got the 2nd and it was game over ................but not for us !
After the match the scousers went beserk and the Arsenal support seemed to melt as we walked down the road. There was no things as escorts and the coppers just laughed as the liverpool piled in all over the place ..... people just sort of kept their heads down and tried to blend in but I walked all the way back down scotland road and back towards lime street with in a highly nervous state.
Just when Lime street was in sight and I thought it was safe I walked down the road with st Georges hall on the right when a bunch O'scallies came out of an amusement arcade and tried to mug me for my sheepy . I was terrified but I was more terrified of my dad who would have blown a gasket if he knew id gone up there on my own . Quick as a flash i popped my automatic umbrella and in the nano second of surprise as they stood back i brushed 1 aside ran back to lime street faster than linford christie on steroids !
But to my horror when I got there people were getting mugged as they tried to board the train to london which was on platform 1 some of them were even on the train .........no barriers on platform 1 then !!!!!
By now though id built up such a head of steam and adrenaline so I jumped on the train and promptly locked myself in the toilet.
Eventually the train pulls out and we start the journey home however I didn't come out and till we had crossed the Mersey estuary at runcorn just to be sure.
Ive been to anfield many times but this was the scariest, but we won and in my eyes I had won too ,losing a brolly was considered a worthy sacrifice for my lovely sheepskin coat !
Next day my dad comes in my room and asked me how my day was before he headed off to Golf as usual and I made up some old bullshit and then he notices something on the floor ...........yesterdays programme from anfield ..........the game was UP !
5 Years later the Herd came back with his pals for a league cup semi..........this time there was to be no more mr nice guy !