Liverpool’s Anfield home is a stadium widely associated with noise and passion. But, for a few years now, the experience of attending games there has been a topic discussed among those who do so regularly.
On the past two weekends, back-to-back 3pm Saturday fixtures there against teams who are not considered immediate rivals gave some insight. In the shock 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest, it is widely accepted the supporters did not play their part in helping the team, perhaps through surprise at the scoreline.
However, during the 3-0 win over Bournemouth this Saturday, the atmosphere was better — and not just because Liverpool were winning. There was a genuine effort to get behind the men in red down on the pitch and to silence those who call out the supposed underwhelming experience of a modern Anfield matchday. One of the supporters interviewed for this article hoped Saturday would be so good it would end any need for The Athletic to write about it.
Yet a section of the away following up from the south coast felt it apt to chant, “Two-nil (up), and you still don’t sing” when Luis Diaz scored his second goal of the match midway through the first half. The travelling Forest fans a week earlier roared, “Where’s your famous atmosphere?” — a song heard often from the stadium’s away end in recent years.
Such throwaway banter does not happen without reason. In short, there’s an expectation to be blown away by a matchday at Anfield. The occasional song about in-form players does not quite cut it, although the new chant for Ryan Gravenberch to the tune of This Girl — previously used to honour midfield predecessor Georginio Wijnaldum — has the hallmarks of a classic.
Every supporter spoken to for this article said they would like the atmosphere to be better but pinning down exactly what is to blame for the reduced noise levels is difficult.
English crowds, typically, are reactive. New Liverpool head coach Arne Slot, having been questioned on the topic by The Athletic in the press conference before the Bournemouth game, said: “We as a team, and as players, have to be aware of the fact that fans need something to get behind. The only thing I can ask the fans is if we don’t show up enough, maybe they can help us and say, ‘OK, it looks like it’s not their day, let’s help them’, by singing, cheering, or whatever they can come up with.”
Slot wants Liverpool fans’ help if the team are struggling (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
The demographic at Anfield has changed.
In a stadium with a capacity of 61,276, there are only 28,000 season-ticket holders and the average age of matchgoing fans is rising. With more than 30,000 names on a waiting list, it is difficult to get a seat in the ground and the price of tickets now puts many off.
The “too many tourists” discussion has grown because Anfield is a bucket-list experience. On any matchday, there will be first-timers soaking up the surroundings. Some of these people will be lifelong Liverpool fans and others will be there just for the occasion. Those fortunate to get a ticket when the place is rocking will have memories for life.
Anfield may have fallen a little flat in recent years but Les Lawson, chairman of the Merseyside branch of the Liverpool Supporters Club says: “I’ve been going since the 1970s and it’s a myth that the place used to be bouncing for all home matches. It’s always been the case that it would be flatter against the lesser clubs, and we’ve only played Brentford, Forest and Bournemouth at home this season.”
Les sits in Block 104 on the Kop and has been a season-ticket holder for over 40 years, after his father, Eddie, introduced him to the club when Bill Shankly was manager. Like many others, the 61-year-old recognises a need for more youthful faces at games: “The lack of young people is a factor. When I started to go to Anfield on my own, when I was 13, you could just queue up with your mates and pay on the gate. Now you can’t go at that age unless you are accompanied by an adult, and it’s also much harder for youngsters to get hold of tickets in advance.”
Spirit of Shankly (SOS), the supporters’ union, discussed the atmosphere with the club on Sunday. SOS has previously campaigned for a “young people” section within the stadium, believing it would help lift the broader crowd during some of a game’s quieter moments.
Suggestions were put forward to create this section in the new Anfield Road Stand but instead, a hospitality area was prioritised, which is great for bringing more money into the club, but doesn’t particularly help the matchday atmosphere. SOS is also in favour of a migration scheme, where older supporters not interested in singing move off the Kop to seats in another stand. This has already started to happen.
Paul Khan, the chair of SOS who first went to Anfield as a three-year-old in 1966 and sits on the Kop, says: “There is an issue with the atmosphere and we’ve raised that with the club. In the 1970s and ’80s, the atmosphere was so good because people would gravitate together if they were like-minded people and that would help. It’s hard to get that togetherness these days, because getting a ticket is so difficult.”
Even the area in Block 106 of the Kop — originally designed for those passionate about singing — has lost its edge.
Perhaps the bigger question, though, is: how important is the atmosphere?
John Gibbons, 42, has been a season-ticket holder since 1992 and sits in the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand, where he used to attend games with his father, who has now passed away. John likes to sing but sometimes he’ll just chat with his friends, believing that “quiet is better than negative”.
Some fans say there is an issue with the atmosphere at Anfield (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Would he like the atmosphere to be better?
“Yes,” he says. “But what do we do with it? Is it to entertain ourselves? Is it to entertain those watching on the TV? Or is it to help the team win? Because if the purpose is to help the team win, then we’ve been doing a brilliant job. The Forest game was the third (Premier League) home game Virgil van Dijk has lost at Liverpool (since signing in January 2018). It’s early days under Arne Slot, but under Jurgen Klopp our home record was phenomenal.”
John is also a leading voice on The Anfield Wrap podcast. He tries to promote a simple message through that platform to those who pay to watch Liverpool.
“What I would like our fans to consider is, when we go into the ground, are we trying to create a positive atmosphere for the team to win? That’s slightly different to how we talk about atmosphere,” he says. “I’m not particularly bothered about going through every song in the songbook and going through every verse of Poor Scouser Tommy so it sounds nice on the telly. What I’m concerned about is making it good for our players and harder for the opposition. When the Liverpool atmosphere is the best, we’ve seen teams crumble.”
John has his opinions on what’s right and wrong at Anfield — “I don’t like people leaving (games) early, it’s s***,” he says — but when asked if the amount of non-locals, or tourists, is contributing to the issue that so many people are now talking about, he says: “When we’re selling so many corporate tickets and then saying that won’t help the atmosphere, there’s a misunderstanding. I don’t necessarily agree with it from a moral point of view. You’re restricting the amount of tickets people can afford from a price point, but in relation to the atmosphere, I don’t think it’s the problem. These people just want to see Liverpool and will pay whatever they can to do so.”
Les agrees.
“Some people point the finger at too many corporate guests or too many day-trippers but it’s a whole range of factors,” he says. “You get corporate-ticket holders who are just there to be entertained, but others in those seats are just passionate fans who can afford to pay. Pricing is also an issue. Lots of passionate fans can’t afford to go to Anfield every week and have to pick and choose their games. Those who live far away have to make even greater sacrifices to follow the team than someone who lives in the city.”
Sitting together in a group is a struggle these days because of the demand for tickets. That affects the atmosphere because “nobody wants to be going to a game and sitting on their own, or starting songs on their own. It just doesn’t work,” says John. “It’s hard for young people to go to games, sit together and drive the atmosphere, and we know they are the ones who are needed.”
Getting back to winning ways in these early weeks under Slot after a blip late last season has raised expectations and with Liverpool now back in the Champions League, there’s plenty to get excited about. At times in that 2023-24 campaign, the Anfield atmosphere was electric when the team were in the title race and during the final games of Jurgen Klopp’s reign.
Five of Liverpool’s next six home games will be under the lights, which makes a huge difference. There’s a feeling, shared across other stadiums, that 3pm on a Saturday is not the best kick-off time to generate a good atmosphere, and that the biggest challenge is finding a way to get supporters pumped up for such occasions.
John says: “We’ve got an 8pm coming up against Aston Villa (on Saturday, November 9) and I’m sure that will be brilliant.
“I can tell you now, nobody is going to be moaning about the atmosphere after that.”
(Top photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
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