The Diversity of The Liverpool Supporter Base

To answer this, you have to go back not only into Liverpool Football Clubs history, but into the history of the City of Liverpool itself.

Liverpool Football Club from the very date of its inception in 1892, had a very large supporter base.  It was a place of refuge for the city's workforce, who wanted a break from their daily grind on a Saturday afternoon. It was also a relatively new sport for a while, with Rugby and Cricket being the main ones. As these things go though, it caught on and Anfield would be full to the brim on a Saturday afternoon with the pubs in the surrounding area enjoying a roaring trade.  Families at that time were large and you simply followed what dad did and when he felt you were old enough you went to the match with him and a new supporter was born

Time marched on and the Bill Shankly era arrived at the club and although nobody realised it, major changes were afoot.  The most major one of course was that Bill became a father figure and not just a football manager.  You were now part of the Liverpool family and treated as such.  Everything the club and the team did was to ensure that family was always a happy family.  It worked and so the massive support that the club enjoys today began to be passed down through the generations.

The City of Liverpool over the last couple of centuries has been pulled apart by several governments to such an extent, that its inhabitants have moved on to seek a better life somewhere else. The one thing though they have not forgotten is the Liverbird that lives in their heart.  Liverpool is also a major seaport and many of the city's young men saw it as an escape from what in the 20's and 30's can only be described as a squalid way of life (If I have offended anybody here, I apologise).

My own dad was one of those, who after being brought up amongst the Irish Liverpudlian community in Scotland Road, decided after spending his life playing on the ferries, that the lure of the sea was the life for him.  He served in the Royal navy sailing out of Liverpool during the war and after being demobbed still hankering for the sea, joined the Merchant Navy.  He joined the crew of the Queen Mary and met my mum who was a passenger on one of the trips from New York.  Now mum was a Southerner and as their romance blossomed, she made it clear she would not move to the North West.  Dad not wanting to lose her moved down South but kept his love for Liverpool Football to the fore.  I was the eldest so from that fateful day in 1965 when he introduced me to the club, he ensured I became part of the Liverpool family and to this day I still am.

Do I live in Liverpool, unfortunately at the moment I do not.  I still live down South, but come up to Anfield for games as often as I can.  A lot of people would class me as a visitor, but I am not.  I have Liverpudlian blood in my veins. I have a Liverpudlian accent, the Liverbird is etched on my heart and the City of Liverpool is the place I call home, indeed I know my around Liverpool better than I know my way around London

Fast forward to the twenty first century and with the advent of cheaper and faster transport links, as well as Satellite television, those that chose to leave the city are now back in touch with their beloved club.  They can educate their sons and daughters about their beloved club, back home because of this as well as ensuring that a visit to Anfield is part of the holiday plans.  This of course means that another generation of Liverpool Supporters are born.

We also now have the internet and Liverpool Football club is one of those that have embraced its emergence by ensuring that it has a Club site where all the information regarding the club is in one place, which means that with the scroll of a mouse supporters all over the world can find the information they are looking for be it players names or when the next game is on.  They also took the step to introduce a TV channel which is available with most satellite packages, as well as setting up this social networking site, which is where you and I the club's supporters can interact without shall we say outside interference.  Over the last five years several social networking sites have been set up, most notably Facebook and Twitter, where due to the worldwide technology used, supporters can either talk to or message each other.  Liverpool of course being a forward thinking club, have joined this revolution so that no fan wherever he may be in the world, is without the right information.

The club of course realising the global growth of the Liverpool supporter base began to market the club abroad, albeit not successfully at first, but under the stewardship of Ian Ayre, there has been a massive turnaround and Liverpool Football Club is making inroads into the massive support it built up abroad not only through Liverpudlians moving on, but through the great Bill Shankly and his European Cup winning teams.  There is now a massive market in the sale of merchandise and anything to do with the club, so much so, that ex-players go abroad to play games to ensure that its supporters can see those players that they possibly stare at night after night in photographs at home. It does not matter what team they came from, to the supporter who does not live in Liverpool 4, they are seeing their idols.  What also helps now of course is that most of the pre-season games are played in Europe or the Far East, again ensuring that the clubs far flung supporters can see their idols.

So to all those of you out there, that feel you have to live in Liverpool 4 to support the club, you do not. You can live anywhere in the world and as long as the Liverbird is etched on your chest then you are indeed a Liverpool supporter