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1. Why you were looking
forward to going to the ground (or not as
the case may be):
I was looking forward to go to Anfield as an
away supporter for a while and as soon as the
fixtures were published in the summer, this
fixture was the first to catch my eye. I have
always wanted to view the famous Kop from the opposite end and
witness the sea of red scarves and hear 'You'll
Never Walk Alone' bellow out around Anfield
before the start of the game.
2. How easy was
your journey/finding the ground/car parking?
I travelled to Liverpool with the official
supporters coach, so we found Anfield pretty
easily as the coaches park just round the corner
from Anfield Road. As for the journey, we
managed it in just under two hours and the
stadium is visible from where the coaches are
parked, and the away section is about 100 yards
away.
3. What you did
before the game pub/chippy.... home fans
friendly?
As soon as the coaches were parked, we could see
that the Arkles Pub was packed with Wolves fans
and they was spilling out onto the street. So
decided to head towards the Flat Iron Pub which
is just down the road from the Arkles heading
away from the stadium. The Flat Iron is a rough
looking pub from the outside but inside
it is brilliant, it was welcoming to
Wolves supporters but there was only a
handful of Wolves supporters in there. We
socialised with the Liverpool fans and stayed in
there until about 2pm. We then headed towards
the stadium and came across a fantastic chippy
that was very cheap, I would massively recommend
the chips with curry sauce, which was fantastic.
There was no trouble whatsoever outside the
stadium and both sets of fans mixed in the
streets.
4. What you
thought on seeing the ground, first
impressions of away end then other sides of
the ground?
We then got to the away turnstiles and had a
quick look at the Hillsborough Memorial which is
situated right next to the away section in
Anfield Road. Anfield looks dated outside and
inside, but this is why its so famous and makes
Anfield what it is. The concourse is very small
and was not really suitable for the 2000
travelling Wolves fans. When at our seats, the
stands are so close and compact which generates
a fantastic atmosphere! But the leg room was
tight! We was allocated the left side of
the bottom tier and there were Liverpool
supporters in the upper tier, i witnessed no
disruption from Wolves and
Liverpool supporters.
5. Comment on the
game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies,
toilets etc..
The first half saw a dreadful performance from
Wolves and we found ourselves 2-0 down going
into the break. The atmosphere was great at the
start with 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and
the Wolves fans were in full voice. But when the
game is underway, the Liverpool supporters were
silent and the only noise was coming from the
Wolves section. At half time I decided to go for
a pie and a pint but the concourse was really
really packed and it took me 15 minutes to get
to the front of the queue to find out they stop
serving beer at 4pm (for a 3pm kick off) and
hardly had any food left. This angered many
Wolves supporters, especially missing Stephen
Fletchers goal which he scored just after half
time. The stewards were very helpful and there
was no trouble between stewards and spectators,
the toilets were basic and compact but that is
what I would expect for an old, historic
stadium like Anfield.
6. Comment on
getting away from the ground after the game:
Getting from the stadium was fairly easy and we
were back on the coach 10 minutes after the
final whistle. We got back to Molineux at about
7.30pm.
7. Summary of
overall thoughts of the day out:
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my day out at
Anfield even though the Wolves lost. I mainly
enjoyed mixing with the Liverpool supporters in
the Flat Iron Pub before the game and witnessing
'You'll Never Walk Alone' before the start of
the match. Was gutted to miss Fletcher's goal
because queuing in the concourse but overall a
brilliant day out and I will definitely be
returning to Anfield again, hopefully with
Wolves if we avoid relegation!
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