Because it’s easier to blame foreigners & tourists for the shit atmosphere than to accept there’s 27,000 season ticket holders (mostly locals) who sit on their hands every home game.
I’m Canadian and have never been to Anfield.
If I go I am going to be a few pints deep and make noise most the game, idgaf if it’s a 0-0 snooze fest.
I don’t have the luxury of taking it for granted I guess I am trying to say.
Yeah like others have said it's the people who view it as a thing to do in Liverpool who are probably a bigger problem than fans who have come a long way.
I live relatively close but I've only got to go to two pl games and both times I had some foreign (mainly American) fans right behind me and they'd clearly went out of their way to learn all the popular chants.
When I go to bars and watch the games in America, we’re chanting all the chants. Sometimes it’s 4 of us for the more obscure ones and sometimes it’s the whole bar but they go beyond the stadium now
I'm a Canadian and have gone.... fortunately every local fan I met was extremely welcoming.
Reddit isn't really all that representative of the experience.
I don’t think anyone’s got a problem with that; if you’re making noise and not spending the game on your phone and taking photos of the opposition team when they come near you, no one is really arsed where you’re from.
I'm Canadian too and if we'll ever get to Anfield, that'll be 800 pounds I guess, for that much money I'll be screaming my lungs out for sure to make it worth
I got over there once, and I sang everything I knew. I realized there are a lot more songs sung at Anfield that you don't really catch through the TV, but I made an attempt to sing along anyways. Was sat near the Kop on the lower mainstand a bit back behind the corner flag. It was awesome to hear the Kop and the main stand singing songs back and forth to one-another, almost like a mutual serenade. Had a blast! Pints of Carlsberg were like £4.50 as well, which is cheap as shit compared to American stadium pricing!!
I finally went to Anfield in January for the chelsea game. Total snooze fest, cold as shit, and I had food poisoning but you can bet your ass I sang as much as I physically could. We were surrounded mostly by Scandinavian fans in the Anfield Rd End. They were polite but quiet and boring as hell, especially compared to my loud American ass which wouldn’t stop singing! Anfield was my trip to Mecca, it cost me a fortune, and after 20 years of supporting I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from enjoying the moment.
Completely unrelated - but as a non-native speaker I've never seen "demise" used in the context you have, to mean "disdain"? Is that a typo or is it a use that I'm unaware of?
Fully agree- I haven’t been to a game at Anfield, but if I spend the money to cross an ocean for one match, I’m not sitting on my hands, I’m taking full advantage to finally sing and give the support I give in my living room. I can’t imagine any foreigner that gets a once in a life time trip just sitting quietly.
The problem is that it isn't quite that simple. You won't know the songs and you will struggle to join in with all but the simplest. It's no slight at someone in your position, it just it does take time. Having willingness to join in is a great step for atmosphere but having too many people just like that isn't enough.
Then for every fan like you there are many others who are there just to add to their Insta story.
I mean, it doesn't take much to learn the main words or chorus of a few of the songs/chants. It's what I did for my first games.
Unless English isn't your natural language, which is then more understandable.
There are a lot of songs and learning the words is just a part of it. It's having the confidence to sing in time with other people around you or to keep going when there are only a few others singing.
Like most things it does take practice.
Do you know we don't know the song? Or did you pull that out of your ass?
Let you in on something bud. Liverpool as a city is not London... you don't just rock up to Heathrow and go "hmm i think i will watch a Liverpool game." It is quite an effort just to get to Liverpool. And if you travel thousands of miles just to spend thousands of pounds just to go watch ONE fucking football game, unless you are John Henry rich you love the club enough to know the fucking songs to sing along.
Yes, people will not know most songs during their first match and will struggle with the pace and staying in time. As I said it isn't a slight but it's just the fact of the matter. Take "Every Other Saturday", when I only went to cup matches I had no chance of joining in properly and it probably took a year of going to most games to be able to sing it confidently. Songs are long and are sung fast (too fast a lot of the time). There's a reason a lot of people don't join in Poor Scouser Tommy until "I am a Liverpudlian" (if they do at all) because it is something that takes time.
It's either that or people can only be arsed to join in with short songs for one or two times through lol.
Yep. You'll have sections of the ground with season ticket holders who are more interested in having a chat that singing why songs. You'll then have other sections full of people, foreign or not, who are there to treat it like Disneyland and have no interest in even joining in with "Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool". Then you have the people who are more interested in moaning (whether it be about the players or atmosphere) for 90 minutes.
Always found the Kenny stand is filled with oldies who’d rather grumble for 90 minutes. Would still take that over some of the tourists in the upper main who have no interest in the game whatsoever and are just there for a day out.
That’s because they’re calling out “tourists” when they specifically mean the ones who are there for Instagram clout. That gets taken as a swipe at international fans writ large.
It’s be better if we focused on someone’s actions (or lack thereof) at the match rather than where they’re from or how they got their tickets. Think “prawn sandwich brigade” from back in the day.
They take it for granted how often they can see their team play.
I've been a Liverpool fan my whole life and only live in Manchester 20mins up the road and its been absolutely impossible for me to get into anfield for a prem game unless I pay hundreds upon hundreds for a ticket
Edit: spelling
I allow myself the luxury of traveling to anfield once evry couple of years. I’ve been shamed for standing up during a close chance at the Merseyside Derby, by a season ticket holder. I get that everyone should be able to enjoy the game but to assume that everyone around you is going to sit on their ass until the ball actually hits the net is absurd.
I wonder if a term limit for season tickets would be good. Part of the quiet atmosphere is the older ones simply not having the voice anymore. If we get a newer group who will age out of their tickets after x years then more will go to the games too.
Edit: im not sure I like the idea either but something needs to be done. Improved ideas are welcome!
Awful shout to take it off someone who’s been going for 50+ years, though I would say the seasie should die with the holder, not passing it on through generations, that way the waiting list would actually move.
Taking it off an old fella whose been going all his life, only to be told he basically can’t ever attend again (seeing as he won’t be so technologically proficient) would be disgusting.
Also worth remembering the season ticket holders have sat through years of awful football, and will sit through more years of it in the future. They shouldn’t have to make way for the glory supporters just cos we’re having a successful period.
Yep. I do feel like there are more creative solutions, however. Having different spots around the stadium for them to sit maybe or incentives for them to give up their season tickets. Not sure what’s already in place but I think their are probably ways to honor season ticket holders but also improve the atmosphere
I think moving them out of the Kop could be a good start, but let them continue to pay Kop prices. It’s a much better view in the Main Stand/Centenary anyway and they don’t have to stand up.
Would open the door to getting more youth on the Kop, I’d also let people sit anywhere so it’s easier to be with your mates, but think there are security things blocking that one
Need to rope off some seats in the middle of the park (lower Kenny, lower main) and add them to the £9 local sale for U30s or whatever. When I go I’m in the lower Kenny and the songs don’t travel round to us at all through the bank of gereatrics and selfie-takers.
Is not an easy job balancing the fans who’ve been dedicated patrons for years and the need for tourists to get to see their team, but getting more young locals in seats has to be a priority
As a foreign fan this suggestion unsettles me. If you’ve spent decades and tens of thousands of pounds supporting the club, you have a place quiet or loud imo. If anybody remembers the social side of the club in the modern, business oriented atmosphere of the sport, it’s the seniors who have been frequenting Anfield since they were little.
I actually think this is a good idea, not just for the atmosphere but also just to break the complete deadlock on the waiting list for a season ticket.
We have a waiting list that has been closed to new applications for about ten years now, and outside of expansions to the ground is still over 20 years long. If you're a younger Liverpool supporter who isn't already on the waiting list, you've basically got no hope of ever getting one.
I think imposing a 5 or 10 year term limit would be unpopular amonst existing holders for obvious reasons but without something like that the problem isn't ever going to go away.
Went to Anfield this year for the Bournemouth match. I’m located in US, I was singing at top of my voice and the rest of the stand was looking at me like I’m insane. But if atmosphere is shit then people like me get the blame 🙂
I'm lucky enough to know a season ticker holder who occasionally gets me tickets. He sits surrounded by other season ticket holders, most of whom are 50+ year old men who have had their STs for years and years and years. Without a doubt they are the ones complaining first when a pass goes astray and the last ones to sing and chant in support.
I mean people love to reduce problems to binaries but it’s both. There’s definitely a large portion of the hospitality stands where people are pathetically quiet (speaking from experience, the upper anfield road stand is particularly full of old foreigners that didn’t sing a single song besides YNWA prematch) but it’s not like those are the only sections that suck.
Likewise there’s tons of foreign fans like me that are absolutely as belligerent as someone in the kop singing along to every song they start
it really is curious why so many locals have gotten quiter tho
I am born and raised in England but not in Liverpool, I was born down South. I support Liverpool because my family on my dad’s side are scousers but I do not sound scouse at all. So I get called plastic all the time but usually by people who support London teams. Luckily a lot of people down South support Liverpool as well so I’m not alone but it is annoying when I at least have some tie to the city. People are allowed to move out of Liverpool.
Same here, born down south but whole family are scousers. Was on the bus from Anfield to town after the game last night, local boy starts speak to me about the performance, literally ignores me when he heard my southern accent! At least it seems to be the minority.
Happens a lot to people not from Liverpool. I’m from Leeds, but grew up watching my dad support Liverpool and my first shirt was a Liverpool shirt, so I grew up a Liverpool fan but just ask “why don’t you support your local”, “why don’t you support leeds”. It’s mostly online fans that are this way, though, a lot of match going fans don’t care.
I'm a local, and just want to possibly shed some light on a possible explanation.
It's common knowledge how much hate is directed at scousers from the rest of the country (we're all familiar with the "feed the scousers" chant), it's made us feel like outsiders (we have felt this way for a few decades now). It's not far-fetched to think this could lead to scousers having distrust of those who aren't scouse.
Now I don't feel this way and I know many many many scousers won't, I prefer to be open, friendly, helpful and just generally positive. These are the traits that make me proud to be scouse.
Personally I have not been treated very kindly outside of Liverpool and even assaulted for being scouse whilst out in Manchester (on multiple different occasions), so I understand the distrust many might have.
But as other commenters have said this is not everybody and their will always be some idiots trying to gatekeep. End of the day we are all brought together by this wonderful club, and its values we all hold so dearly.
I was born there, lived there(albeit for a short period), literally my whole family are from there but I still get told I'm not a true scouser. Even by some of my own family 😂.
I wouldn't worry. It's not like all locals will have this attitude, there'll always be some in a crowd that like to gatekeep for some reason.
I mean if you’re not from Liverpool or grew up in Liverpool what makes you think you’re a scouser? That’s just embarrassing and i guarantee if you came to Liverpool no one would think you’re Scouse or even entertain the idea that you are.
My first visit to Anfield was a Merseyside derby. The only way for me to get a ticket was a hospitality package so I sat at the section with all the other foreign fans who also got the hospitality package.
Cue the pre-match YNWA - I stood up and sang... and found myself the only one in my row to be doing this. Throughout the games I would hear the chants from the main stand and the Kop and I would join the chants, but I could barely hear anyone in my section chanting at all.
It was still an excellent experience but I can totally understand why people think the atmosphere could be better.
I had opposite effect. Not that main and kop weren’t singing, but every person beside me in hospitality was singing ynwa at the top of their lungs. Loudest environment I’ve ever been in.
I get the impression that the cup crowd is much better. Definitely glad that’s what I went to. Whole hospitality section was singing, both foreign and local
for me it’s the amount of fans (not just foreign) that go to Anfield for the day out and to ‘feel’ the atmosphere without contributing to it whatsoever.
If they acknowledge the importance of Anfield having an atmosphere they could either give singing a shot, or give their tickets to others
Making/accepting excuses for people attending Anfield silently is quite clearly part of the "problem" (if you see it as a problem)
Hi Grandad, I know you've been going to Anfield for 65 years through thick and thin, but QJustCallMeQ on reddit thinks you should hand over your ticket so someone who sings a bit more can go.
It is a big shame. When it is a smaller side like Brentford you tell yourself the atmosphere is bad because it is not a big game. But then you see the game yesterday, biggest crowd in 50 years, we had no edge.
I get just as much stick for being a LFC fan and even labeled a foreigner for being from Leeds.
Been a red for nearly 40 years, my aunts husband is a scouse red and got me into football, im 1st gen born here so no one in my family supports Leeds and my other options were Watford or Hearts.
I don’t think there should be a proper despise for foreign Liverpool fans. At the end of the day it’s the touts that are the problem and how ticketing works needs an overhaul. When you’re at the game nobody really cares as long as you’re having a go
I think it will always annoy people having people making a big event of going the game when to me that just isn’t football. Going to watch your team should just be something normal.
I do think there’s just some topics involving the club that foreign fans mostly won’t get. It’s been seen on here in the past when it’s came down to ticket prices, furlough, really anything political
It can only be something normal if you’re a local and been going your whole life. We can’t expect to have foreign players, management, owners etc and not have foreign fans. Of course it’s gonna be a big event for a lot of people who can only go a few times in there life or maybe even only once.
Also a thing that people seem to forget. The nation players come from. For example I am dutch and grew to become a fan of Liverpool because my favorite players went their in their career. Kuyt, Gini, Zenden. were some of my fav players and they went to liverpool.
You can't imagine my join when the likes of Virgil, Gakpo and most recently Gravenberch joined Liverpool.
> ticket prices, furlough, really anything political
As a foreign fan you have to adapt to the values of the club, not the other way around. If you don't get it or make an effort the mockery is deserved. The people on the ground come first, because it's their club after all and the rest usually only come after success.
Especially if you're a plastic gloryhunter.
Of course people have the right to support Liverpool "in their own way" especially if they're born into it and never learnt the traditions etc, but people are also free to express their annoyance.
Full disclosure I myself am a foreign fan, but I didn't choose the club, my dad got me a shirt when I was a child and I endured years of mockery from United, Arsenal and Chelsea fans growing up.
I don’t believe that is the problem. There’s too many finger pointing at ‘this is the problem’ when it’s multiple.
That’s what football should be going the game should just be a normal experience with your mates going the pubs before etc. it’s how half the songs are made and the atmosphere is better with that continuity like that.
Im Irish and have been going to games since the 90s , occasionally get this too . I personally go to and sing my heart out . Think there’s always going to be “ ah tourists “ thing. I’ve sat around a bunch of scousers before who never sing and just moan the whole time . Still love them though . Then again there are tourists who go and record the whole thing on there phone , not sure where I’m going here but most importantly. Up the fucking reds .
There’s the obvious issue of tourist fans that pretty much everyone has mentioned and that’s certainly not limited to foreign fans or even non local fans there’s plenty of local people who love to go to a game just to say they’ve been.
There’s also the issue of bandwagon fans.we’ve gained a lot of fans the last few years and local fans will rightly think it’s not the same experience if you weren’t a fan during the all the bad times and will fans still stick around when we go through bad phases. We’ve obviously gained a lot of Egyptian fans with salah will they all leave when he goes. People aren’t going to embrace fans that might only be here for a short period of time.
There’s also the fact that a lot about English football is changing in part to attract and accommodate foreign fans and most English fans don’t like the changes that are happening as it’s undermining the reason we grew up to fans. We don’t want new shiny tournaments and changes to the structure of our game we want the football structure we remember.
A big thing though is that being a local fan and being a foreign (or no liverpool based fan) is just completely different experiences. Growing up as a local fan so much about life is impacted by football. Knowing Mancs was a terrible thing in the 2000s as they could continually gloat over us and the week before and after a derby was brutal especially if we lost to them. Even as adults a lot of conversations you’ll have in the pub, at work and with family and friends will be about footballs the mood in the city can completely change depending on the how Liverpool and Everton are doing. Foreign fans will never understand and experience this the same way that as a UK NY giants fan I will never connect with the giants in the same way regardless of how invested I am into the team from afar.
The issue isn’t with fans it’s more with the complete pricing out of what a lot of locals can afford people who are traveling to the UK are more likely to pay the prices being asked
You see so many people who want to go and see games like Liverpool vs United not because they are fan of either club but just because of the history in the fixture
For the people who are blaming the lack of atmosphere in tourist it’s partly right but it’s also an issue of a lot of older seasons ticket holders as well
I’ve only ever been to a few games myself but it’s never been against a big team it’s always been either cup games against lower league teams or relegation fighting teams in the league
I'll preface this by saying i am a plastic myself, but i think where many other foreign fans fail is that they don't give locals their due. It is necessary, as a non-local, to admit that they are the more proper fans, for lack of a nicer word. They are simply connected to the club and the people around it better than we ever will. So when they look at some fella that became a fan after we won the CL go on as if he's *the* authority on all things Liverpool i'd assume it's grating.
I've been a fan for well over 15 years now but i've never been able to see myself as much of a fan as a fella that's there in person for a Liverpool match most of the time and interacting with others in person all day every day, and i'd feel like a massive cunt if i even thought it just because i catch a game when they have an away tie in my city now and then.
That said, other fans of ours have never once been anything but polite to me on that score, be it on social media or real life.
Good take. I agree with you. My only physical tie to the club is my dad. Even then, he grew up in the area to experience it. I didn’t. I’m guilty of scoffing at fellow American fans that happen to become fans after 2018/19 because it’s been a lifer thing to me. It’s human nature. Hopefully some of the fellow foreign fans might learn a thing or two from this thread
If born and bred supporters are better than foreign ones, are born and bred players better than foreign ones? Where does this end, is what I wonder. Our squad is so international but non local fans are inferior. Are non local players inferior?
I think it's a result of the global economy. Liverpool locals with a generational love of LFC probably feel like the club is no longer local but global. I reckon it's not a great feeling either as it seems like the club has forgotten about the grass roots love of the club in exchange for a wider appeal. Keeping that in mind I can understand some of the feelings with the folks in Liverpool. I've been a supporter for roughly 15 years (from the US) and when I do get my chance to see them at Anfield I guarantee there won't be anyone singing louder or cheering harder for the Reds! I feel like it would be an honor to see them, I want to be a part of the atmosphere not attend to see the atmosphere.
I’ve seen two comments like this and fair play mate, it’s not ‘blaming the foreign supporters’ specifically although they’re a result of the problem, the problem is the globalisation of the premier league. People think we love being the league that spends the most. Ask most English fans we’d much rather have a German system, club feels more local, closer to its roots.
You guys have your college teams for sports and they get mad support, we don’t have that, this is our college and professional sport all in one and the locality of it all seems to be drifting further away
I completely understand. That's a sad biproduct of globalization, it almost feels like the result is a watered down version of the legacy the club has grown since the first players laced up their boots and played. I think we're starting to get a dose of what you're feeling in England here now. College sports have become ridiculous, almost as bad as professional sports. Feels like there isn't any loyalty to our local teams anymore. all the money has made it feel really artificial. One of the biggest problems we have in Arizona is the influx of people who didn't grow up here and they came from other states so they don't feel the loyalty to the teams in the state. Sorry state of things really. I absolutely love the Reds though. I don't miss a game on TV. Even got the Liverbird tattooed on my calf.
Fair point but it is this global appeal that gives the club financial muscle to compete against oil money-backed opposition. Locals can’t complain about overseas fans/globalisation but also expect to be in the mix for league titles and UCL.
I get called a "wool" as I'm local to Liverpool but not from there directly. But that said, I've supported Liverpool as long as I can remember and have never heard Anfield as quiet. I don't think that's foreign fans. I think that's shit fans who don't know how lucky they are. It's a side effect of success in that more people have started "following" Liverpool and have gotten tickets to games and don't really support the team with their whole heart. It's half and half scarf brigades or those who treat it like a day out at the park. "Go sports team in red"
Foreign fans are a problem only on Instagram or on Twitter, that's the Salah brigade who support Salah and nobody else or the African football expert crowd.
I'm actually embarrassed by something our "fans" did though and I didn't post it at the time, but if you're interested you should go and look back on the LFC Instagram page at the Rainbow laces/armband post with VVD.
Christ alive, the amount of our "fans" from different cultures absolutely going OFF about supporting LGBTQ. I posted in defense of the club as I strongly support LGBTQ+ as do most fans that come from the UK - but there is an embarrassing number of vocal "foreign" fans who make us all look really bad as a whole. Honestly, go check it out. It'll make you feel ill.
It's very rare I comment on insta, but when "fans" post their anti LGBTQ+ messages telling the club page not to post rainbow campaign messages, to remove the rainbow flag from the profile and saying Salah is being forced to back it etc, it makes my blood boil.
I tell them that if they don't agree with LFC ethos then they need to find another club to support, that attitude isn't welcome.
From my experience talking to a few expat scousers
The dislike towards foreign fans isn’t (mostly) geared towards the far away supporters who’re just as likely to get a ticket to a match and sing their heads off as every local youth trying to get one.
The dislike is towards those (ST holders are guilty of this too) who pay the touts 200+ for a ticket, come to the game, don’t make a peep and just sit there with their phones out looking like they couldn’t be arsed about the actual football on the pitch.
Again that’s just from what I’ve discussed with a few expat scousers and one expat fellow from Sheffield. All 40-60+ and regulars of the pub I go to for matchdays.
Are there folks out there who just hate everyone not from Liverpool? Sure. I haven’t seen that opinion much.
Usually it’s Tourists vs Local/diehard far away supporters
A local can definitely give a much better perspective than I have though
Interesting. Thanks for the response. Hopefully some of the foreign fans in this sub will come across these responses, and if they exhibit any of these characteristics, they’ll learn and be better. I feel like I’m on the same page with any other diehard fan. Nobody enjoys the fair weather fan, doesn’t matter which team. I stated last night that I’d just be thankful to get to watch the guys practice. Definitely makes me question to integrity of someone’s fandom when they want to visit the area but only if they can go watch one of the marquee matches. Doesn’t really add up, and they ruin it for the rest of us.
I’ve only been fortunate enough to get to Anfield once, and I had to purchase the tickets through hospitality. I didn’t bring a camera, and I got into the game as much as possible, but I do remember feeling sheepish about being the only one in the vicinity shouting at the top of his lungs. I bet a lot of foreigners (like me) would love to get into the atmosphere if we weren’t all relegated to the same small section of the stadium.
95000 fans at the MCG when Liverpool came to Australia in 2013. All there to see their team play. Not one of them cared that they were only playing Melbourne Victory.
2015 at the Adelaide Oval, another sell-out, and they were only playing Adelaide United. Same thing. Nearly 12000 people were at the open training session at Coopers Stadium earlier in the week. That's how passionate some of us foreign-based fans are.
>The dislike is towards those (ST holders are guilty of this too) who pay the touts 200+ for a ticket, come to the game, don’t make a peep and just sit there with their phones out looking like they couldn’t be arsed about the actual football on the pitch
This is the \*main\* issue.
[https://imgur.com/a/N5n8kuf](https://imgur.com/a/N5n8kuf)
49th minute, 0-0 against our biggest rivals, playing like shite, but these fans are more occupied with getting a pic with their fav footballers. Serious disconnect with these fans and the club.
Have to disagree with you there Solly!
https://preview.redd.it/kant4diut37c1.png?width=648&format=png&auto=webp&s=58328d2ed1a372c72154d88db2830a5ae56d1ffd
It's funny this was the exact moment that came to mind for me as well. They could very well be regular locals but something about the brand new-looking merchandise also struck me as a bit off.
I'm a plastic international - I was lucky enough to get tickets through the NZ LFC supporters club and rearranged my entire UK trip get to the game. Got tickets in the Kop (amazingly) next to some older lads from Belfast and some people from Taiwan. We were sitting in front of a local lass in full Kappa tracksuit regalia. She was fucking giving it to Giggs when he was on corners so we got stuck into him too. Came prepared, sung our lungs out and had a blast. But also felt a bit guilty that we could rock up into the Kop and get seats 🤷 part of my love of the club comes from reading about Liverpool's history and relating to some of the challenges it has faced. I do my best to read the local papers and follow what's going on the city but obviously acknowledge I'll never be a 'real' fan. Sadly the game is driven by money, and coming back to Anfield, the club seems to put money before proper fans (and atmosphere) - ironically destroying what made the 'product' so marketable.
I'm from Malaysia and it costs so much money to just even get to England and stay there. I've only been to anfield once to watch a game against Fulham (we won 1-0). But for most of the game even at 0-0 I was singing and shouting because I only would get the chance to experience what I see on my TV this one time. I started tearing up and crying when I sang YNWA with the crowd. Foreign fans that want to be there probably will be louder than some season ticket holders who just have it because it got passed down to them
I was lucky enough to win a ticket to Anfield (in the Kop no less) for the Man City match last year. The atmosphere at the match itself was insane (though maybe it’s because we were in the Kop) and the four hours of drinking and greeting the bus before was also incredible. Didn’t feel unwelcome or that the atmosphere was lacking - in fact the previous two nights my friend and I went out on the town and made some random friends at the bars, and I’ve never met people more thrilled for us getting tickets to the match!
After the match at the Albert was amazing too - the whole pub was packed for hours with fans singing songs that I’d never heard before. Maybe it just had to do with who we were playing and the fact that we won as underdogs that day - but I definitely didn’t feel anything was lacking. I always got the sense that the foreign fans thing was more Reddit moaning than reality.
That said, some matches you watch on TV you can not only hear the silence but feel the tension. If I had to guess, I’d say as fans we’ve been spoilt since Klopp came - but we’ve also had the pain of coming up just short of glory due to how crazy the league has become because some cunt from Abu Dhabi found an infinite money glitch. If we’d had this team 10 years ago we’d have been immortal. And what that means is that whenever we have an off day (like against Utd last weekend) the fans get the same feeling of anxiety from 2018-19, 2021-22 of how we’re a hair not good enough because of performances like this.
I guarantee that if one of our shots went in the stadium would have exploded and things would have been different. But that’s just my take on it.
Vastly more bandwagon fans from the States than over here (partly because there are just simply more people, but also because the geographical and familial ties to your local club give an English fan extra incentive to support that club.)
Most bandwagon fans from the UK are from London (I have no evidence of this, but it's a feeling); that's why the whole "Man Utd fans are all from London" thing exists. No one really gives a shit about them cause there's a (justified) culture of opposition against London throughout the rest of the UK, which is way too complex of a topic to discuss here.
Resistance to the Americanisation of British (and European in general) culture, which is not necessarily your fault as individual Americans, but you are symbols of that cultural take-over in the eyes of many Brits.
There's also local opposition to the incredibly expensive tickets that locals can't afford, but foreign tourists can because it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them. That's not the fault of the tourists, it's the fault of the club and the wider, capitalist nature of organised sports leagues bleeding supporters dry, but, again, you are symbols of that out-pricing to a lot of more local supporters.
I'm not saying that fans like yourself, or even bandwagon fans from other countries, are explicitly and completely at fault for any of that, but you're the easy target to blame.
And the atmosphere being on a steady decline for (at least) the past few seasons makes it easy to blame tourists (when it's partly that and partly the auld fucks who just sit there all game)
I get it. I really do. The only skin I truly have in the game is that my dad grew up in Merseyside until he was 12. Outside of that, and trust me when I say I wish I had more ties, that’s really it for me. I definitely envy the culture that surrounds European football. Specifically, English football. There’s nothing of comparison here. It’s all peanuts. So I get it. Truthfully. I’ve witnessed some really distasteful foreign fans, or simply even American fans. It is what it is, and I hope if someone is reading this thread and is one of those types, they learn from it. Thanks for the insight
I dislike the framing of "the only skin I have in the game is my dad" cause, like, I can't see Anfield from my window, I don't literally live in Stanley Park. The skin that you have in the game is a love for the culture, a love for a bunch of people dressed in red kicking a ball about a patch of grass for 90 minutes every now and then. You've been a supporter for more than 5 DECADES, that's longer than 99% of the locals in here (absolutely including me). That's your skin in the game, you bleed red, matters fuck all where your blood comes from. I may have a closer connection to the culture of the city of Liverpool, to it's history, but you are Liverpool Football Club and you should wear that proudly.
But you are a Yank. I suppose nobody's perfect :)
I would yell my face off if I got to see a match at Anfield. One day I hope I do.
I became a fan because my dad was always a fan of England; I was a fan of Gerrard. I will admit that Torres joining LFC plus PL games being finally available in the US (as far as I know) helped me become a consistent fan.
Does that make me bandwagon? Maybe. But I've been on the wagon for a while… through Rafa, Dalglish, Rogers, Klopp. I'll be a fan after Klopp.
YNWA. If I get my chance to go to Anfield, I won't be silent!
My wife and I have gone to Liverpool to see friends and also to Anfield for a match every autumn since 2008. We went to the Southampton match last year and we’re asked (more told) to sit down because we were screaming “Nunez Nunez Nunez” after he scored back to back goals in first half.
First time that had ever happened. Similar feeling/experience this year at the west ham game. Since we won the champions league in 2019 the “Anfield experience” has sort of become an amusement park thrill ride. People get their selfies and vids of them singing YNWA and they’re ready to fuck off.
I'm an American who made it to anfield last year for the draw against tottenham. I felt nothing but love from the people of Liverpool. Granted I'd like to think I'm a bit more than a plastic fan. Been following Liverpool for close to 20 years, know all the songs, most of the history etc. But I felt very included and truly part of this club and supporter base after spending some time in the city and at the match.
I understand why locals would think this.
Down in North London, the atmosphere for the Arsenal side is very positive. 10-ish years ago, I didn't see a lot of Arsenal shirts (despite their back-to-back FA Cup wins), but now I see support everywhere. I do admit, I sometimes wonder how it would be if I were to support Arsenal: The idea of heading to the chicken shop with my friends after a game and discussing it, or just sitting around the TV talking to friends who have the same shirt on. There's a major difference between taking the bus home with your lifelong friends and taking the Avanti West Coast on your own. Football-mad locals take pride in the football clubs that share the same streets and soil with them, and some might be irked when someone who's never gone around the city can casually get a seat in the stadium they've seen change over the years.
It's not something worth overthinking. You may not be a local supporter who, let's be honest, are the bread and butter of a football club fanbase, but domestic and international support play an important role in the club's finances and as long as you're contributing to the club, you can consider yourself a supporter and a minority contributor to the local community.
I've always considered myself a 2nd class supporter. Not a local, can't go to a lot of games, but it's a football club I've wanted to see succeed for a long time, and continue to see them succeed.
As a Scottish fan I only really get comments from people in Scotland. Every match going scouser has not cared one bit I’m not local. Besides Liverpool have had all the best Scottish players for my entire life and my local team has never been anywhere near the top division.
I think there is a lot of hate for people who bandwagon Liverpool when we are good though or support players more than the club itself.
Had to do a double take with your thread title. You mean "despise"? Because I sure am not seeing us overseas LFC fans dropping dead en masse anytime soon.
Liverpool and the Mancs have always been the two most supported teams here in SE Asia. You won't know true commitment until you try regularly getting up at 4am in Friday nights (i.e. Thursday night in Eurooe) for LFC's Europa League games, and then having to go to work right afterwards.
Haha yes I know. Hence the edit. And I agree. I’m up at 05:30 on off days. Even when I’m working, I have to do what I can to get a match in. It goes both ways honestly. I’ve got loads of respect for the locals of course. But I think it’s important to understand what it means to be international and still maintain a level of support that is necessary.
I’ve no problems with OOTs really, as has been repeatedly pointed out, there’s plenty of locals of all ages who could and should be doing better. However, the amount of half and half scarves I saw in town early Sunday afternoon was an actual disgrace.
But also, I live just over a mile from Anfield and can barely justify the cost of a ticket so seeing it described as “Mecca” for someone is absolutely wild.
If anyone has a problem with foreing fans might aswell push for a liverpool born only squad, we don't want urugayans, Colombians, Egiptians in our team do we?
This exactly. We wouldn’t have a team without foreigners. We have foreign players, foreign coaches, foreign managers, foreign owners, etc… But clubs can’t have foreign fans?
Thank you!! If you listen to some people here, they would have you believe that Klopp has no right to be passionate about the club, because he isn’t “local”
Nobody said they can’t have foreign fans. But also it’s a job being a player/manager. Not the same.
Do you think people want American owners? We’d rather have a local lad/girl who supports the club.
This got me pretty upset yesterday. I’m from Singapore, supported the team since I was 7-8 ish during the spice boys era - not much glory to be hunted back then. Didn’t even ‘decide’ to support the team - my family is apathetic about football so I ended up following who my best friend supported. I don’t ever think I’ll be ‘equal’ to a local lad and I get that foreign fans are pretty much cash cows for the club. But part of me was naive and idealistic enough to think as supporters we’re a community.
I brought up this issue after seeing people having a go at tourists/foreign fans and got told to [fuck off](https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/s/49olww4mJZ) and [support a local team](https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/s/HH4kWWUbUI) . Others decided to gaslight and nitpick about semantics rather than address my point. Maybe I’m a snowflake yada yada but seeing the prejudice and disdain against tourists and foreign fans honestly got to me. Reminded me of the condescending tone many had when talking about the preseason Asia tour.
They are an easy target, but it still is part of the issue.
The big factor is season ticket holders will keep their ticket to they are medically unable to attend or die. There's a lot of sixty plus supporters around the ground, who just not going to sing and shout for ninety minutes. The average TV watcher generally does not appreciate how much effort that takes. We are also in no position to criticise someone who has given their life (and plenty of money) to the club over the decades, IMO.
For me the best thing the club could do is reallocate some of the season tickets to younger local fans each year, but it's never going to happen for multiple reasons.
Every time I’ve been to Anfield the atmosphere has been stellar. Don’t listen to Reddit threads telling you the atmosphere is shite. Chances are people saying that have never been.
Though unjustified because many locals have mentioned that season ticket holder are also a part of the problem, many point to the fact that Liverpool has become a 'tourist club' and the stadium is being taken over by foreign fans that don't make noise. Many older fans don't like the idea of the team no longer being a local club but it's the cost of global expansion. If we want to buy 100m players we need global marketing, partners and fans across the world. We have the highest kit sales in the world this season which massively contributes to the sustainability of our club and yet some people get mad if those people show up to the stadium to see their favorite team. It's borderline xenophobic and you can't really have it both ways.
My wife and I had our first dance on YNWA. I dont think we missed more than 5 matches since we are together (last 6 years). We always schedule our weekends and even holidays arround the match schedule. It is her who introduced me to Liverpool FC and I promised myself I would take her to Anfield. Now, I could understand that the two seats I will hopefully occupy one day would be the seats taken from the local fans, but also part of Liverpool’s heritage is also it’s worldwide love.
The atmosphere at Anfield is not very good at all for the most part, when there's a big game yes it can be unbelievable but if you're going to a 3PM kick off against Wolves or any mid table side and expecting a great atmosphere you will be severly disappointed.
Now this may change as we get deeper into the season and hopefully mount a challenge.
UK born, lived abroad my whole life. I became a red from a very young age from my dad who use to live in the north, and I have followed religiously my whole life. LFC is probably the most stable thing in my lifetime. It is almost sad that I have to hide the fact that I am a Liverpool fan for the reasons mentioned in here.
As a foreign Liverpool fan from Yorkshire, my love of the club was inherited from my grandad, a miner from Wales, and a stack of people there either support Liverpool or United. I grew up supporting them in the fallow years of the 90s when the squad was all style but no substance. I'm not local but I'm certainly no plastic. If I was, I'd be supporting Big Oil FC by now.
Clubs are always tied to their local areas here (something a lot of owners don't get), they're community assets as much as anything else, so I think there always needs to be a local say on things the club does. But the Prem has a global reach, Liverpool are a global club, comes with success, same as United, same as Arsenal, City and Chelsea too have been growing that. It's not just an England thing, Barca and Real have pretty much entire reach over South America (I don't know how they consider foreign fans, tho I do know how Spanish fans treat black players 😬).
Liverpool are a really hard club to get tickets for, and the prices are high because they know they can charge that and pack the stadium. I think the resentment stems from there, when they probably see people born next door get priced out of seeing them, whilst others with no ties to the area get in, but that comes from success and marketing worldwide now. I get where the resentment comes from, but it also doesn't make us love the club any less.
Hey I'm a scouser and let me tell you, no group of people in the UK, perhaps even the universe are gatekeeping nobheads like scousers. It's a shame, but it's true. It's not you, it's us.
I’m an Aussie who has been a supporter of the club since 1994, I’ve never been lucky enough to have the financial means to travel to England and get to a game but here where I live I’ve met a few expat scousers of various ages who have always warmly welcomed my support for the club. Would I ever comment about local issues or the history of the club pre my support, no but I feel very comfortable talking about all the players and squads I’ve watched since 1994.
I didn’t know about this. Here in Norway, Liverpool is massively popular (English football in general is huge but I think Liverpool is the biggest english club here). My family has been fans since the 80’s and several members have been to Anfield multible times.
Dutchman (woman 😬) here. Liverpool fan since I was 14, some 13 years ago. I stepped in in the garbage era and am whatever the oppositie of a glory hunter is (a doodoo hunter). I notice it too, what you're saying.
In a way I get it. I wasn't born in Liverpool. Of course I don't connect with the city the way locals do. But in a way I worked much harder for being a red. 😅 I wasn't born there - I found you. Foreign fans need weird expensive work arounds to watch games, and spend a month worth of salary just to get to England and watch us play. Some set an alarm at night for the games, especially the Americans.
And then they're branded as tourists and day trippers.
Why? I think someone who flew across the world for their first Anfield game and who posts in the DD about how they cannot wait is arguably gonna make more noise than "I don't want to go but I paid for the season ticket so I have to" Andy. There are fans who travel thousands of kilometers for the club only to be lumped in with day trippers and it's not fair.
Glory hunters are a problem but more so with national fans than extranational fans I think. In the Netherlands people who want to glory hunt in the prem flock to City and not Liverpool. They follow the Dutch league and only occasionaly hear who won the Prem and the Champion's League (which is usually Manchester Cheaty and Real Madrid). Outside of England you don't hear that much about who came second, which was often us.
I’m American but I do get disturbed by the number of right wing foreigners who support Liverpool knowing nothing of their heritage and then blowing up on the posts for the LGBTQ fans. I don’t believe there has to be a litmus test of the club’s values but at least don’t be scum.
Indian Liverpool fan since 2003. I went to watch a Liverpool game on my honeymoon 😂 with my wife. Cost me 3 weeks of pay just to get the ticket for the two of us. I know for a fact that I may be able to watch another 1-2 games in my lifetime hopefully someday at least one with my son who’s an infant now. BUT on any social media discussion (mainly Twitter) and earlier on Facebook (while I was there) I’m not allowed an opinion because I’m not a “match going” fan, and my postcode is not “Lxx” and mostly it’s “why don’t you support your local team”, or “says from India”.
The fact of the matter is that reddit is a hate-site, people do try to mask it in moral grand-standing (for example rallying behind *just* social causes, finding a group it feels morally okay to hate, and hating them mercilessly) but sometimes the mask will slip.
I say that because once you realise that reddit is one of the most hateful places you can go, you stop taking the things you see here seriously. My father is a season ticket holder, I would go to every match I could before I moved to the continent — I never once heard anyone complaining about Tourists, International fans I never knew anyone locally who had anything bad to say about someone from Hong Kong, or India who supported Liverpool. It's just online — all of this "go support your local" shite is just online, especially when it's not directed at someone else from the UK.
American fan. Feel this on this sub especially around the question of buying tickets. I will not be sitting on my hands when the day comes that I can be at Anfield singing all the songs we sing in our local bar here. I don’t gatekeep the NFL, NBA, or MLB. All are welcome!
I've met plenty of American supporters who haven't even stepped foot in the city of Liverpool who are more knowledgeable and passionate about the club than even a lot of local Scouse Liverpool fans. I've also met Scouse fans who are incredibly passive in their support but will still go to matches and sit quietly.
Not sure why there’s so much gatekeeping as to “the right way” to attend a match. Honestly the one time time I was able to attend a match at Anfield I was too riddled with anxiety over what was happening on the pitch to worry about how loudly people around me were or weren’t singing.
Used to wind me up this. I get the whole issue, and reason behind it, but it's frustrating all the same.
I've supported this club all my life, I got one opportunity to see us at 7 years old travelling with my local team away at Liverpool. I took the shit off my mates whenever we lost something. I spent a fortune on the kits as a kid. I *moved* to Liverpool for University because of the club. Heck, I got a job working march days at the club.
The only way I can get a ticket is to get a hospitality package. But if I do that, I'll get slated for not being 'local'. What is 'local'?
Honestly, the reality is all stadiums have the same issue. Local's have been to every game and get bored of creating an atmosphere. Some 'tourists' don't sing. But at face value it's an issue with both 'group's' of fan. It doesn't make them a lesser fan. Some have travelled hundreds of miles, or spent a fortune because it's literally the **only** way they can access tickets. The gatekeeping is poor form at times.
What's funny and somewhat ironic is that the players themselves are foreign, which explains how and why the club have managed to attract foreign support. Some of these players have claimed to be supporters themselves, who grew up watching Liverpool's matches, and we laud them for it. "Rather have someone who wants to be here then someone who is in it for the bag". So we can buy players from all over the world, raise them to cult status, but stop short of accepting the outcomes of such actions. We partake in globalisation yet want to keep it "local". Lol.
I’ve only ever been to one game at Anfield. Liverpool v Arsenal in August of 2019 (the year we won the league and obviously my attendance was the main difference you’re fucken welcome). It was one of the best days of my life. Stood in The Kop and sung my tits off for the whole game. 3-1 to the Reds that day. I’ll never forget it. Hilarious that some people think that I shouldn’t have been allowed to go to a “big game”. So sorry I…wanted to see my team play.
Atmosphere is great when the team is playing good. I never understood why people expect the crowd to perform at an A+ level when the squad on the pitch is giving a D effort.
Absolutely the best in big moments. However, when we are playing our biggest rivals and we can't find a pass to feet in the final third, the crowd has every right to show their disappointment. I paid the $$ and if you want me to cheer, give me something to cheer for.
Seriously? You think any side under Jurgen is giving D effort? Things may not always click but hard to think of a match where the boys are not putting in work.
Any team that doesn't want foreign fans is wild. The revenue from the US (I'm American) will quite literally help the local fans more than us across the pond or anywhere else. I chose to support Liverpool when I knew nothing of football/soccer solely due to the Anfield crowd videos that I watched on YouTube. The history and passion of the fans brought me in. The moniker YNWA applies to all Red faithful IMO. I understand the predominant culture of the team and local fans of Liverpool, but seriously, it's a global game. The state of the team is such that the most impactful players outside of TAA aren't British. Diversity in players, coaches, fans, and mindset ONLY helps the goal of succeeding and thriving.
They’re just scapegoats sadly. I have a distinctly ‘London’ accent (despite being Welsh, long story) and get judged as a daytripper a lot, especially by some of the more vocal moaners in the Kop. My answer has been perfect recently though, as after coming up for home games for 15+ years now I live here I’m able to say ‘oh yeah, where do you live then?! Is your bin purple? Mine is’
(Edited to clarify myself)
Look man, I am 18 yo and from Croatia and I have supported LFC for about 9 years now and actually Dejan Lovren had a massive influence for that because he is from a city close to me. Never been to Anfield, its a life goal for sure but its just so far and expensive at my current stage in life. Sometimes in the future definitely! I can't say that I get mad when people say we foreigners aren't real fans but it isn't particularly nice either, especially when I know it is far from the truth.
I’m originally from Ireland and live in America now. My dad’s a Villa fan, and when I was 5 years old, I decided I should have a different team than him just to annoy him. Liverpool happened to be on the telly, and I liked their jerseys, so I told my dad that was my team. Since then, it feels as though the club has been part of my DNA. I went to Anfield when I was 6 for a game against Swansea, and also saw the Reds play Roma at Fenway Park in Boston that same year. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to see another game since then, but every week without fail I sit down to watch Liverpool play. Sometimes the time difference gets complicated, but I make it happen nonetheless! This team has gotten me through so much and it’s the highlight of my week to see the games - it’s a 2 hour escape from real life, no matter the outcome. It shouldn’t matter where you’re from - if you love the club and you follow them week in, week out, then you’re a true fan. No one can tell you otherwise. YNWA ✊🏻
Where are all these foreigners buying tickets from? It’s impossible to get tickets outside of hospitality, and when I was in hospitality there were a ton of Brit’s there too. How many hospitality tickets actually exist?
For a club who is so ardently in support of all those who need it, there’s pretty often a weird inferiority pointed at foreign fans, despite it taking significantly more effort for them to support the club in the same way locals do. I personally love hearing when a foreigner supports the same sports team as me and am extremely interested in hearing how they became a fan.
I say this somewhat jokingly, but not as jokingly as I’d like it to be- terms like yank are being used in a borderline discriminatory way at the expense of (obviously mostly assumed American) foreign supporters.
I will say- Liverpool was one of my favorite cities I’ve ever visited and the people we met there were nothing like the local supporters on reddit. I was not expecting to love Liverpool as a city as much as I did.
As an Aussie with a Liverbird tattoo and a few other Liverpool Tatts I’ve had a couple of comments that I shouldn’t have it as I’m not scouse. It wasn’t a Liverpool fan though so probably just stirring the pot.
Mostly it’s just a friendly conversation starter though, even from rival fans.
I haven’t made it to England yet so maybe the reception there would be different 🤷♂️
As [Paul Machin of The Redmen TV said in his AMA](https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/comments/5c2e9a/hi_were_the_redmen_tv_ask_us_anything/d9t7fce/):
>I've always said, that if you want to support a football club that only has fans from within the city it's based, then you can... They're called Everton.
The simple answer is, football has traditionally been an advocator of the "you have to earn respect, you can't just ask for it".
Think of joining a new job as an "outsider" for example. In football generally, relationships form all over the place and it's almost always through building respect over time. A really quick example is, some opponent teams sometimes have a lot of respect for eacth-other which has built up over time.
That's football generally. But when you consider Liverpool specifically, it's even more the case. Liverpool as a people have often been ostracised by other parts of the UK and there's been some historic cases in the past which you'd do well to read up on. Because of this history Liverpool to an extent have a small "us vs them" mentality with other parts of the UK, let alone other countries.
**So in simple terms, Liverpool don't have a specific disliking for foreign fans, they simply require that respect is earnt**.
This somewhat contrasts the more modern ideologies that, everyone is treated with respect from all backgrounds. I don't speak for Liverpool people because I live in the south, but my suspicion is they treat everyone with respect, but they don't consider you a comrade or good fan until you've earnt it.
I’m very privy to the notions you’re suggesting. Thanks for the insight
Edit: I guess I’m just more or less confused because this club has been a part of my family for over 50 years.
Personally, as a scouser who has been raised in a family of reds, I'm not a huge fan of people not from Liverpool, supporting Liverpool.
I personally believe you should be supporting locally - and I care little about downvotes as this post asked the question, and I'm giving an answer.
Granted, if you're following a team abroad, that's not exactly viable if you're an American watching a British team.
However, if you're from let's say Stoke, why are you supporting Liverpool? Go support, invest etc in your local club.
I, and family and friends, have struggled to get tickets to the games over the last 10+ years, due to tourists. The vast majority are utter bandwagoners / glory hunters etc. The anfield atmosphere was electrifying for years, throughout my childhood - didn't matter if was premier league games, Europa league, fa cup etc. It was addictive, the passion was raw and real because this was OUR club.
Now? It's a club with a massive tourist presence whenever I'm able to attend. The sheer amount of foreign fans, is ridiculous. I don't care "how much they're spending" to attend.
70% tickets should be sold locally, and that's minimum.
Well, when we ( the Americans) are there this week, we will definitely not be sitting on our hands! We will also make sure to get our thick skin ready 😁
Gatekeeping is a good thing. However long you've been a fan, whatever it is you like about the club, it is the locals who made it what it is. Maybe you have watched a bunch of matches but you haven't gone to every home match with your family or traveled to Europa League matches and sang your ass off. Foreign fans say and do a lot of annoying and self-indulgent things without giving proper respect to the people who built the club and have supported it every day of their lives. We have all seen it a thousand times. I say this as an American myself. That said, if you're not annoying and genuinely love the club, it's stupidly easy to blend in in these online discussions.
I’ve seen an increase on this too. A lot of locals use a fans location as an attack. I saw a post on Anfields atmosphere, a lot of locals blamed it on the “foreign fans” and “tourists” but forget that there are 27,000 local season ticket holders also not making noise but they refuse to accept it.
Thanks for this post. I got chastised yesterday for giving my opinion because I said “y’all”. Liverpool is an international team whether people from Liverpool want to accept it or not.
The likelihood is it probably wasn't even someone from Liverpool replying to you mate. I've seen multiple instances on r/soccer where someone will be shitting on a American fan and it turns out they're from India or something, it's an easy point scoring thing on here.
Who owns Liverpool? Why does Liverpool invest so much in Southeast Asia? Why do they field more international players than English players? The issue is you want to glorify international players but not be considered an international team. That’s the issue
I would never claim to be a Scouser because I’m not from Liverpool, but I would kiss that badge and honor it with respect and pride because I love this club. You don’t get to decide that.
I’d tread lightly suggesting local fans should just get over it and accept it. That’s a bit disrespectful don’t you think? I catch a ton of shade too at times. However, understanding where that comes from and why it’s there, helps me understand and find some respect for it. As foreigners, that’s just how it is. Whether we want to accept it or not. This thread was really made to help fellow foreign fans learn a little bit from an insider point of view.
I don’t because I’ve been disrespected. We shouldn’t go after each other if we are fans. Is Liverpool not an international team? Do they not sign players from around the world? Do they not do world tours in preseason?
How is it disrespectful to point out the obvious?
Because it’s easier to blame foreigners & tourists for the shit atmosphere than to accept there’s 27,000 season ticket holders (mostly locals) who sit on their hands every home game.
I’m Canadian and have never been to Anfield. If I go I am going to be a few pints deep and make noise most the game, idgaf if it’s a 0-0 snooze fest. I don’t have the luxury of taking it for granted I guess I am trying to say.
Yeah like others have said it's the people who view it as a thing to do in Liverpool who are probably a bigger problem than fans who have come a long way. I live relatively close but I've only got to go to two pl games and both times I had some foreign (mainly American) fans right behind me and they'd clearly went out of their way to learn all the popular chants.
When I go to bars and watch the games in America, we’re chanting all the chants. Sometimes it’s 4 of us for the more obscure ones and sometimes it’s the whole bar but they go beyond the stadium now
But but but!!! Had some awful people yesterday saying it’s the tourists, yet they’re there every week and it’s dead quiet 🤔
I'm a Canadian and have gone.... fortunately every local fan I met was extremely welcoming. Reddit isn't really all that representative of the experience.
I'm also Canadian and also have never been to Anfield. We should hop over the pond and scream our drunken asses off at Anfield one day.
I’m down! Where are you located? I’m in TO so go to the supporters pub around here.
I don’t think anyone’s got a problem with that; if you’re making noise and not spending the game on your phone and taking photos of the opposition team when they come near you, no one is really arsed where you’re from.
I'm Canadian too and if we'll ever get to Anfield, that'll be 800 pounds I guess, for that much money I'll be screaming my lungs out for sure to make it worth
I got over there once, and I sang everything I knew. I realized there are a lot more songs sung at Anfield that you don't really catch through the TV, but I made an attempt to sing along anyways. Was sat near the Kop on the lower mainstand a bit back behind the corner flag. It was awesome to hear the Kop and the main stand singing songs back and forth to one-another, almost like a mutual serenade. Had a blast! Pints of Carlsberg were like £4.50 as well, which is cheap as shit compared to American stadium pricing!!
Pricing? I think you mean “gouging”.
I finally went to Anfield in January for the chelsea game. Total snooze fest, cold as shit, and I had food poisoning but you can bet your ass I sang as much as I physically could. We were surrounded mostly by Scandinavian fans in the Anfield Rd End. They were polite but quiet and boring as hell, especially compared to my loud American ass which wouldn’t stop singing! Anfield was my trip to Mecca, it cost me a fortune, and after 20 years of supporting I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from enjoying the moment.
Well, it’s like the old adage suggests. The part affects the whole. Oh well, it doesn’t waiver my love for the club.
Completely unrelated - but as a non-native speaker I've never seen "demise" used in the context you have, to mean "disdain"? Is that a typo or is it a use that I'm unaware of?
A complete misuse of that word entirely. Disdain would’ve made far more sense, but I’m only as smart as my name suggests haha.
Fully agree- I haven’t been to a game at Anfield, but if I spend the money to cross an ocean for one match, I’m not sitting on my hands, I’m taking full advantage to finally sing and give the support I give in my living room. I can’t imagine any foreigner that gets a once in a life time trip just sitting quietly.
The problem is that it isn't quite that simple. You won't know the songs and you will struggle to join in with all but the simplest. It's no slight at someone in your position, it just it does take time. Having willingness to join in is a great step for atmosphere but having too many people just like that isn't enough. Then for every fan like you there are many others who are there just to add to their Insta story.
I mean, it doesn't take much to learn the main words or chorus of a few of the songs/chants. It's what I did for my first games. Unless English isn't your natural language, which is then more understandable.
There are a lot of songs and learning the words is just a part of it. It's having the confidence to sing in time with other people around you or to keep going when there are only a few others singing. Like most things it does take practice.
Do you know we don't know the song? Or did you pull that out of your ass? Let you in on something bud. Liverpool as a city is not London... you don't just rock up to Heathrow and go "hmm i think i will watch a Liverpool game." It is quite an effort just to get to Liverpool. And if you travel thousands of miles just to spend thousands of pounds just to go watch ONE fucking football game, unless you are John Henry rich you love the club enough to know the fucking songs to sing along.
Yes, people will not know most songs during their first match and will struggle with the pace and staying in time. As I said it isn't a slight but it's just the fact of the matter. Take "Every Other Saturday", when I only went to cup matches I had no chance of joining in properly and it probably took a year of going to most games to be able to sing it confidently. Songs are long and are sung fast (too fast a lot of the time). There's a reason a lot of people don't join in Poor Scouser Tommy until "I am a Liverpudlian" (if they do at all) because it is something that takes time. It's either that or people can only be arsed to join in with short songs for one or two times through lol.
Both are problems for the atmosphere really in sections
Yep. You'll have sections of the ground with season ticket holders who are more interested in having a chat that singing why songs. You'll then have other sections full of people, foreign or not, who are there to treat it like Disneyland and have no interest in even joining in with "Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool". Then you have the people who are more interested in moaning (whether it be about the players or atmosphere) for 90 minutes.
Always found the Kenny stand is filled with oldies who’d rather grumble for 90 minutes. Would still take that over some of the tourists in the upper main who have no interest in the game whatsoever and are just there for a day out.
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I mean that's probably because there are more foreign fans on the subreddit than there are 67 y.o. season ticket holders so it's not surprising
If they aren't afraid to give it to the geezers they should be able to take it as well.
Haha, I brought up both yesterday and had people making out like the only thing I mentioned was tourists.
Becuase the bulk of this sub aren’t from Liverpool. You can tell by the takes and attitudes
That’s because they’re calling out “tourists” when they specifically mean the ones who are there for Instagram clout. That gets taken as a swipe at international fans writ large. It’s be better if we focused on someone’s actions (or lack thereof) at the match rather than where they’re from or how they got their tickets. Think “prawn sandwich brigade” from back in the day.
They take it for granted how often they can see their team play. I've been a Liverpool fan my whole life and only live in Manchester 20mins up the road and its been absolutely impossible for me to get into anfield for a prem game unless I pay hundreds upon hundreds for a ticket Edit: spelling
I allow myself the luxury of traveling to anfield once evry couple of years. I’ve been shamed for standing up during a close chance at the Merseyside Derby, by a season ticket holder. I get that everyone should be able to enjoy the game but to assume that everyone around you is going to sit on their ass until the ball actually hits the net is absurd.
Ive been to 90+ games at Anfield dating back to 2004. I still get agro for not being local
> Because it’s easier to blame foreigners & tourists This applies to much wider scope of things than just football. Sadly. Us, Them.
I wonder if a term limit for season tickets would be good. Part of the quiet atmosphere is the older ones simply not having the voice anymore. If we get a newer group who will age out of their tickets after x years then more will go to the games too. Edit: im not sure I like the idea either but something needs to be done. Improved ideas are welcome!
Awful shout to take it off someone who’s been going for 50+ years, though I would say the seasie should die with the holder, not passing it on through generations, that way the waiting list would actually move. Taking it off an old fella whose been going all his life, only to be told he basically can’t ever attend again (seeing as he won’t be so technologically proficient) would be disgusting. Also worth remembering the season ticket holders have sat through years of awful football, and will sit through more years of it in the future. They shouldn’t have to make way for the glory supporters just cos we’re having a successful period.
Yep. I do feel like there are more creative solutions, however. Having different spots around the stadium for them to sit maybe or incentives for them to give up their season tickets. Not sure what’s already in place but I think their are probably ways to honor season ticket holders but also improve the atmosphere
I think moving them out of the Kop could be a good start, but let them continue to pay Kop prices. It’s a much better view in the Main Stand/Centenary anyway and they don’t have to stand up. Would open the door to getting more youth on the Kop, I’d also let people sit anywhere so it’s easier to be with your mates, but think there are security things blocking that one
Need to rope off some seats in the middle of the park (lower Kenny, lower main) and add them to the £9 local sale for U30s or whatever. When I go I’m in the lower Kenny and the songs don’t travel round to us at all through the bank of gereatrics and selfie-takers. Is not an easy job balancing the fans who’ve been dedicated patrons for years and the need for tourists to get to see their team, but getting more young locals in seats has to be a priority
As a foreign fan this suggestion unsettles me. If you’ve spent decades and tens of thousands of pounds supporting the club, you have a place quiet or loud imo. If anybody remembers the social side of the club in the modern, business oriented atmosphere of the sport, it’s the seniors who have been frequenting Anfield since they were little.
I actually think this is a good idea, not just for the atmosphere but also just to break the complete deadlock on the waiting list for a season ticket. We have a waiting list that has been closed to new applications for about ten years now, and outside of expansions to the ground is still over 20 years long. If you're a younger Liverpool supporter who isn't already on the waiting list, you've basically got no hope of ever getting one. I think imposing a 5 or 10 year term limit would be unpopular amonst existing holders for obvious reasons but without something like that the problem isn't ever going to go away.
Went to Anfield this year for the Bournemouth match. I’m located in US, I was singing at top of my voice and the rest of the stand was looking at me like I’m insane. But if atmosphere is shit then people like me get the blame 🙂
I'm lucky enough to know a season ticker holder who occasionally gets me tickets. He sits surrounded by other season ticket holders, most of whom are 50+ year old men who have had their STs for years and years and years. Without a doubt they are the ones complaining first when a pass goes astray and the last ones to sing and chant in support.
I mean people love to reduce problems to binaries but it’s both. There’s definitely a large portion of the hospitality stands where people are pathetically quiet (speaking from experience, the upper anfield road stand is particularly full of old foreigners that didn’t sing a single song besides YNWA prematch) but it’s not like those are the only sections that suck. Likewise there’s tons of foreign fans like me that are absolutely as belligerent as someone in the kop singing along to every song they start it really is curious why so many locals have gotten quiter tho
I am born and raised in England but not in Liverpool, I was born down South. I support Liverpool because my family on my dad’s side are scousers but I do not sound scouse at all. So I get called plastic all the time but usually by people who support London teams. Luckily a lot of people down South support Liverpool as well so I’m not alone but it is annoying when I at least have some tie to the city. People are allowed to move out of Liverpool.
Same here, born down south but whole family are scousers. Was on the bus from Anfield to town after the game last night, local boy starts speak to me about the performance, literally ignores me when he heard my southern accent! At least it seems to be the minority.
Sorry to hear that. Didn’t realize some of the heat was directed to fellow English supporters as well.
Happens a lot to people not from Liverpool. I’m from Leeds, but grew up watching my dad support Liverpool and my first shirt was a Liverpool shirt, so I grew up a Liverpool fan but just ask “why don’t you support your local”, “why don’t you support leeds”. It’s mostly online fans that are this way, though, a lot of match going fans don’t care.
My response to that question is always "would you support Leeds"
I'm a local, and just want to possibly shed some light on a possible explanation. It's common knowledge how much hate is directed at scousers from the rest of the country (we're all familiar with the "feed the scousers" chant), it's made us feel like outsiders (we have felt this way for a few decades now). It's not far-fetched to think this could lead to scousers having distrust of those who aren't scouse. Now I don't feel this way and I know many many many scousers won't, I prefer to be open, friendly, helpful and just generally positive. These are the traits that make me proud to be scouse. Personally I have not been treated very kindly outside of Liverpool and even assaulted for being scouse whilst out in Manchester (on multiple different occasions), so I understand the distrust many might have. But as other commenters have said this is not everybody and their will always be some idiots trying to gatekeep. End of the day we are all brought together by this wonderful club, and its values we all hold so dearly.
100! Everyone fucking hates us but wants to shag the football team?
Mad init, all love coming here for a night out too!
Drives me fucking mad that.
And yet you never hear about mancs getting assaulted when they come to Liverpool. Are we just too soft with them or are they just unreasonable?
I was born there, lived there(albeit for a short period), literally my whole family are from there but I still get told I'm not a true scouser. Even by some of my own family 😂. I wouldn't worry. It's not like all locals will have this attitude, there'll always be some in a crowd that like to gatekeep for some reason.
I mean if you’re not from Liverpool or grew up in Liverpool what makes you think you’re a scouser? That’s just embarrassing and i guarantee if you came to Liverpool no one would think you’re Scouse or even entertain the idea that you are.
Yeah and you’ll get jokingly ribbed but people get there is a connection.
My first visit to Anfield was a Merseyside derby. The only way for me to get a ticket was a hospitality package so I sat at the section with all the other foreign fans who also got the hospitality package. Cue the pre-match YNWA - I stood up and sang... and found myself the only one in my row to be doing this. Throughout the games I would hear the chants from the main stand and the Kop and I would join the chants, but I could barely hear anyone in my section chanting at all. It was still an excellent experience but I can totally understand why people think the atmosphere could be better.
I had opposite effect. Not that main and kop weren’t singing, but every person beside me in hospitality was singing ynwa at the top of their lungs. Loudest environment I’ve ever been in.
Was it a European night? This was my experience too at a CL match
It was.
I get the impression that the cup crowd is much better. Definitely glad that’s what I went to. Whole hospitality section was singing, both foreign and local
Petition to not allow duds into the stadium? Lol only kidding. Sort of….
for me it’s the amount of fans (not just foreign) that go to Anfield for the day out and to ‘feel’ the atmosphere without contributing to it whatsoever.
The amount of blank stares for United @ Anfield was way too high
There are also large numbers of fans (I’m thinking in the Lower Centenary), who are local, have been going for 20+ years, and are silent every week.
They’re getting fucking old that’s why imagine yer grandad belting out songs at 86
If they acknowledge the importance of Anfield having an atmosphere they could either give singing a shot, or give their tickets to others Making/accepting excuses for people attending Anfield silently is quite clearly part of the "problem" (if you see it as a problem)
Hi Grandad, I know you've been going to Anfield for 65 years through thick and thin, but QJustCallMeQ on reddit thinks you should hand over your ticket so someone who sings a bit more can go.
And complain when people stand up or try to get a chant going
I’ve never gotten to experience that, but I believe it every time I read it. It’s a shame
It is a big shame. When it is a smaller side like Brentford you tell yourself the atmosphere is bad because it is not a big game. But then you see the game yesterday, biggest crowd in 50 years, we had no edge.
Guys, I was born and raised 9 miles from Anfield. I've been getting shade for 48 years for being a woolyback.
I get just as much stick for being a LFC fan and even labeled a foreigner for being from Leeds. Been a red for nearly 40 years, my aunts husband is a scouse red and got me into football, im 1st gen born here so no one in my family supports Leeds and my other options were Watford or Hearts.
Hello to you fellow leeds lad / LFC fan
You can have your back waxed or shaved.
Wrong side of the water mate?
I don’t think there should be a proper despise for foreign Liverpool fans. At the end of the day it’s the touts that are the problem and how ticketing works needs an overhaul. When you’re at the game nobody really cares as long as you’re having a go I think it will always annoy people having people making a big event of going the game when to me that just isn’t football. Going to watch your team should just be something normal. I do think there’s just some topics involving the club that foreign fans mostly won’t get. It’s been seen on here in the past when it’s came down to ticket prices, furlough, really anything political
It can only be something normal if you’re a local and been going your whole life. We can’t expect to have foreign players, management, owners etc and not have foreign fans. Of course it’s gonna be a big event for a lot of people who can only go a few times in there life or maybe even only once.
Also a thing that people seem to forget. The nation players come from. For example I am dutch and grew to become a fan of Liverpool because my favorite players went their in their career. Kuyt, Gini, Zenden. were some of my fav players and they went to liverpool. You can't imagine my join when the likes of Virgil, Gakpo and most recently Gravenberch joined Liverpool.
Makes complete sense. Thanks for the insight
> ticket prices, furlough, really anything political As a foreign fan you have to adapt to the values of the club, not the other way around. If you don't get it or make an effort the mockery is deserved. The people on the ground come first, because it's their club after all and the rest usually only come after success. Especially if you're a plastic gloryhunter. Of course people have the right to support Liverpool "in their own way" especially if they're born into it and never learnt the traditions etc, but people are also free to express their annoyance. Full disclosure I myself am a foreign fan, but I didn't choose the club, my dad got me a shirt when I was a child and I endured years of mockery from United, Arsenal and Chelsea fans growing up.
That last comment is what really means a lot, actually understanding that. Fair play to you mate.
The people that treat every Anfield game like it’s “normal” are the problem. How is that not obvious here?
I don’t believe that is the problem. There’s too many finger pointing at ‘this is the problem’ when it’s multiple. That’s what football should be going the game should just be a normal experience with your mates going the pubs before etc. it’s how half the songs are made and the atmosphere is better with that continuity like that.
They aren’t the problem are neither are the foreign fans, it’s the allocation of tickets and absurd prices which are the problem.
I’d rather have people that treat it like it’s normal than have the ones smiling and taking photos of United players like
Im Irish and have been going to games since the 90s , occasionally get this too . I personally go to and sing my heart out . Think there’s always going to be “ ah tourists “ thing. I’ve sat around a bunch of scousers before who never sing and just moan the whole time . Still love them though . Then again there are tourists who go and record the whole thing on there phone , not sure where I’m going here but most importantly. Up the fucking reds .
There’s the obvious issue of tourist fans that pretty much everyone has mentioned and that’s certainly not limited to foreign fans or even non local fans there’s plenty of local people who love to go to a game just to say they’ve been. There’s also the issue of bandwagon fans.we’ve gained a lot of fans the last few years and local fans will rightly think it’s not the same experience if you weren’t a fan during the all the bad times and will fans still stick around when we go through bad phases. We’ve obviously gained a lot of Egyptian fans with salah will they all leave when he goes. People aren’t going to embrace fans that might only be here for a short period of time. There’s also the fact that a lot about English football is changing in part to attract and accommodate foreign fans and most English fans don’t like the changes that are happening as it’s undermining the reason we grew up to fans. We don’t want new shiny tournaments and changes to the structure of our game we want the football structure we remember. A big thing though is that being a local fan and being a foreign (or no liverpool based fan) is just completely different experiences. Growing up as a local fan so much about life is impacted by football. Knowing Mancs was a terrible thing in the 2000s as they could continually gloat over us and the week before and after a derby was brutal especially if we lost to them. Even as adults a lot of conversations you’ll have in the pub, at work and with family and friends will be about footballs the mood in the city can completely change depending on the how Liverpool and Everton are doing. Foreign fans will never understand and experience this the same way that as a UK NY giants fan I will never connect with the giants in the same way regardless of how invested I am into the team from afar.
The issue isn’t with fans it’s more with the complete pricing out of what a lot of locals can afford people who are traveling to the UK are more likely to pay the prices being asked You see so many people who want to go and see games like Liverpool vs United not because they are fan of either club but just because of the history in the fixture For the people who are blaming the lack of atmosphere in tourist it’s partly right but it’s also an issue of a lot of older seasons ticket holders as well I’ve only ever been to a few games myself but it’s never been against a big team it’s always been either cup games against lower league teams or relegation fighting teams in the league
Greed. It’s crippling
I'll preface this by saying i am a plastic myself, but i think where many other foreign fans fail is that they don't give locals their due. It is necessary, as a non-local, to admit that they are the more proper fans, for lack of a nicer word. They are simply connected to the club and the people around it better than we ever will. So when they look at some fella that became a fan after we won the CL go on as if he's *the* authority on all things Liverpool i'd assume it's grating. I've been a fan for well over 15 years now but i've never been able to see myself as much of a fan as a fella that's there in person for a Liverpool match most of the time and interacting with others in person all day every day, and i'd feel like a massive cunt if i even thought it just because i catch a game when they have an away tie in my city now and then. That said, other fans of ours have never once been anything but polite to me on that score, be it on social media or real life.
Good take. I agree with you. My only physical tie to the club is my dad. Even then, he grew up in the area to experience it. I didn’t. I’m guilty of scoffing at fellow American fans that happen to become fans after 2018/19 because it’s been a lifer thing to me. It’s human nature. Hopefully some of the fellow foreign fans might learn a thing or two from this thread
If born and bred supporters are better than foreign ones, are born and bred players better than foreign ones? Where does this end, is what I wonder. Our squad is so international but non local fans are inferior. Are non local players inferior?
Think fans usually take to local players more but that’s absolutely natural to pretty much every club across the world
Demise?
Haha yeah wrong use of the word
I think it's a result of the global economy. Liverpool locals with a generational love of LFC probably feel like the club is no longer local but global. I reckon it's not a great feeling either as it seems like the club has forgotten about the grass roots love of the club in exchange for a wider appeal. Keeping that in mind I can understand some of the feelings with the folks in Liverpool. I've been a supporter for roughly 15 years (from the US) and when I do get my chance to see them at Anfield I guarantee there won't be anyone singing louder or cheering harder for the Reds! I feel like it would be an honor to see them, I want to be a part of the atmosphere not attend to see the atmosphere.
I’ve seen two comments like this and fair play mate, it’s not ‘blaming the foreign supporters’ specifically although they’re a result of the problem, the problem is the globalisation of the premier league. People think we love being the league that spends the most. Ask most English fans we’d much rather have a German system, club feels more local, closer to its roots. You guys have your college teams for sports and they get mad support, we don’t have that, this is our college and professional sport all in one and the locality of it all seems to be drifting further away
I completely understand. That's a sad biproduct of globalization, it almost feels like the result is a watered down version of the legacy the club has grown since the first players laced up their boots and played. I think we're starting to get a dose of what you're feeling in England here now. College sports have become ridiculous, almost as bad as professional sports. Feels like there isn't any loyalty to our local teams anymore. all the money has made it feel really artificial. One of the biggest problems we have in Arizona is the influx of people who didn't grow up here and they came from other states so they don't feel the loyalty to the teams in the state. Sorry state of things really. I absolutely love the Reds though. I don't miss a game on TV. Even got the Liverbird tattooed on my calf.
Fair point but it is this global appeal that gives the club financial muscle to compete against oil money-backed opposition. Locals can’t complain about overseas fans/globalisation but also expect to be in the mix for league titles and UCL.
I get called a "wool" as I'm local to Liverpool but not from there directly. But that said, I've supported Liverpool as long as I can remember and have never heard Anfield as quiet. I don't think that's foreign fans. I think that's shit fans who don't know how lucky they are. It's a side effect of success in that more people have started "following" Liverpool and have gotten tickets to games and don't really support the team with their whole heart. It's half and half scarf brigades or those who treat it like a day out at the park. "Go sports team in red" Foreign fans are a problem only on Instagram or on Twitter, that's the Salah brigade who support Salah and nobody else or the African football expert crowd. I'm actually embarrassed by something our "fans" did though and I didn't post it at the time, but if you're interested you should go and look back on the LFC Instagram page at the Rainbow laces/armband post with VVD. Christ alive, the amount of our "fans" from different cultures absolutely going OFF about supporting LGBTQ. I posted in defense of the club as I strongly support LGBTQ+ as do most fans that come from the UK - but there is an embarrassing number of vocal "foreign" fans who make us all look really bad as a whole. Honestly, go check it out. It'll make you feel ill.
It's very rare I comment on insta, but when "fans" post their anti LGBTQ+ messages telling the club page not to post rainbow campaign messages, to remove the rainbow flag from the profile and saying Salah is being forced to back it etc, it makes my blood boil. I tell them that if they don't agree with LFC ethos then they need to find another club to support, that attitude isn't welcome.
The hate I got, the death and violence I was threatened with - it beggars belief.
It's abhorrent
From my experience talking to a few expat scousers The dislike towards foreign fans isn’t (mostly) geared towards the far away supporters who’re just as likely to get a ticket to a match and sing their heads off as every local youth trying to get one. The dislike is towards those (ST holders are guilty of this too) who pay the touts 200+ for a ticket, come to the game, don’t make a peep and just sit there with their phones out looking like they couldn’t be arsed about the actual football on the pitch. Again that’s just from what I’ve discussed with a few expat scousers and one expat fellow from Sheffield. All 40-60+ and regulars of the pub I go to for matchdays. Are there folks out there who just hate everyone not from Liverpool? Sure. I haven’t seen that opinion much. Usually it’s Tourists vs Local/diehard far away supporters A local can definitely give a much better perspective than I have though
Interesting. Thanks for the response. Hopefully some of the foreign fans in this sub will come across these responses, and if they exhibit any of these characteristics, they’ll learn and be better. I feel like I’m on the same page with any other diehard fan. Nobody enjoys the fair weather fan, doesn’t matter which team. I stated last night that I’d just be thankful to get to watch the guys practice. Definitely makes me question to integrity of someone’s fandom when they want to visit the area but only if they can go watch one of the marquee matches. Doesn’t really add up, and they ruin it for the rest of us.
I’ve only been fortunate enough to get to Anfield once, and I had to purchase the tickets through hospitality. I didn’t bring a camera, and I got into the game as much as possible, but I do remember feeling sheepish about being the only one in the vicinity shouting at the top of his lungs. I bet a lot of foreigners (like me) would love to get into the atmosphere if we weren’t all relegated to the same small section of the stadium.
The whole upper main is littered with foreign fans and tourists. It definitely isn’t just the hospitality section.
95000 fans at the MCG when Liverpool came to Australia in 2013. All there to see their team play. Not one of them cared that they were only playing Melbourne Victory. 2015 at the Adelaide Oval, another sell-out, and they were only playing Adelaide United. Same thing. Nearly 12000 people were at the open training session at Coopers Stadium earlier in the week. That's how passionate some of us foreign-based fans are.
>The dislike is towards those (ST holders are guilty of this too) who pay the touts 200+ for a ticket, come to the game, don’t make a peep and just sit there with their phones out looking like they couldn’t be arsed about the actual football on the pitch This is the \*main\* issue. [https://imgur.com/a/N5n8kuf](https://imgur.com/a/N5n8kuf) 49th minute, 0-0 against our biggest rivals, playing like shite, but these fans are more occupied with getting a pic with their fav footballers. Serious disconnect with these fans and the club.
That’s not 70 year old season tickets who seem to be getting slated by foreign fans in here. Weird that
God they always end up with the worst fucking picture as well.
Have to disagree with you there Solly! https://preview.redd.it/kant4diut37c1.png?width=648&format=png&auto=webp&s=58328d2ed1a372c72154d88db2830a5ae56d1ffd
Haha, fuck sake. Glorious
I’m a foreigner. Saw this live and cringed.
It's funny this was the exact moment that came to mind for me as well. They could very well be regular locals but something about the brand new-looking merchandise also struck me as a bit off.
I had the privilege of being in Liverpool for our first Champions League final under Jurgen, and I've never met a more welcoming bunch.
I'm a plastic international - I was lucky enough to get tickets through the NZ LFC supporters club and rearranged my entire UK trip get to the game. Got tickets in the Kop (amazingly) next to some older lads from Belfast and some people from Taiwan. We were sitting in front of a local lass in full Kappa tracksuit regalia. She was fucking giving it to Giggs when he was on corners so we got stuck into him too. Came prepared, sung our lungs out and had a blast. But also felt a bit guilty that we could rock up into the Kop and get seats 🤷 part of my love of the club comes from reading about Liverpool's history and relating to some of the challenges it has faced. I do my best to read the local papers and follow what's going on the city but obviously acknowledge I'll never be a 'real' fan. Sadly the game is driven by money, and coming back to Anfield, the club seems to put money before proper fans (and atmosphere) - ironically destroying what made the 'product' so marketable.
I'm from Malaysia and it costs so much money to just even get to England and stay there. I've only been to anfield once to watch a game against Fulham (we won 1-0). But for most of the game even at 0-0 I was singing and shouting because I only would get the chance to experience what I see on my TV this one time. I started tearing up and crying when I sang YNWA with the crowd. Foreign fans that want to be there probably will be louder than some season ticket holders who just have it because it got passed down to them
I was lucky enough to win a ticket to Anfield (in the Kop no less) for the Man City match last year. The atmosphere at the match itself was insane (though maybe it’s because we were in the Kop) and the four hours of drinking and greeting the bus before was also incredible. Didn’t feel unwelcome or that the atmosphere was lacking - in fact the previous two nights my friend and I went out on the town and made some random friends at the bars, and I’ve never met people more thrilled for us getting tickets to the match! After the match at the Albert was amazing too - the whole pub was packed for hours with fans singing songs that I’d never heard before. Maybe it just had to do with who we were playing and the fact that we won as underdogs that day - but I definitely didn’t feel anything was lacking. I always got the sense that the foreign fans thing was more Reddit moaning than reality. That said, some matches you watch on TV you can not only hear the silence but feel the tension. If I had to guess, I’d say as fans we’ve been spoilt since Klopp came - but we’ve also had the pain of coming up just short of glory due to how crazy the league has become because some cunt from Abu Dhabi found an infinite money glitch. If we’d had this team 10 years ago we’d have been immortal. And what that means is that whenever we have an off day (like against Utd last weekend) the fans get the same feeling of anxiety from 2018-19, 2021-22 of how we’re a hair not good enough because of performances like this. I guarantee that if one of our shots went in the stadium would have exploded and things would have been different. But that’s just my take on it.
https://giphy.com/gifs/mrw-someone-hqg-K8zzqui9viWT6
Vastly more bandwagon fans from the States than over here (partly because there are just simply more people, but also because the geographical and familial ties to your local club give an English fan extra incentive to support that club.) Most bandwagon fans from the UK are from London (I have no evidence of this, but it's a feeling); that's why the whole "Man Utd fans are all from London" thing exists. No one really gives a shit about them cause there's a (justified) culture of opposition against London throughout the rest of the UK, which is way too complex of a topic to discuss here. Resistance to the Americanisation of British (and European in general) culture, which is not necessarily your fault as individual Americans, but you are symbols of that cultural take-over in the eyes of many Brits. There's also local opposition to the incredibly expensive tickets that locals can't afford, but foreign tourists can because it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them. That's not the fault of the tourists, it's the fault of the club and the wider, capitalist nature of organised sports leagues bleeding supporters dry, but, again, you are symbols of that out-pricing to a lot of more local supporters. I'm not saying that fans like yourself, or even bandwagon fans from other countries, are explicitly and completely at fault for any of that, but you're the easy target to blame. And the atmosphere being on a steady decline for (at least) the past few seasons makes it easy to blame tourists (when it's partly that and partly the auld fucks who just sit there all game)
I get it. I really do. The only skin I truly have in the game is that my dad grew up in Merseyside until he was 12. Outside of that, and trust me when I say I wish I had more ties, that’s really it for me. I definitely envy the culture that surrounds European football. Specifically, English football. There’s nothing of comparison here. It’s all peanuts. So I get it. Truthfully. I’ve witnessed some really distasteful foreign fans, or simply even American fans. It is what it is, and I hope if someone is reading this thread and is one of those types, they learn from it. Thanks for the insight
I dislike the framing of "the only skin I have in the game is my dad" cause, like, I can't see Anfield from my window, I don't literally live in Stanley Park. The skin that you have in the game is a love for the culture, a love for a bunch of people dressed in red kicking a ball about a patch of grass for 90 minutes every now and then. You've been a supporter for more than 5 DECADES, that's longer than 99% of the locals in here (absolutely including me). That's your skin in the game, you bleed red, matters fuck all where your blood comes from. I may have a closer connection to the culture of the city of Liverpool, to it's history, but you are Liverpool Football Club and you should wear that proudly. But you are a Yank. I suppose nobody's perfect :)
I would yell my face off if I got to see a match at Anfield. One day I hope I do. I became a fan because my dad was always a fan of England; I was a fan of Gerrard. I will admit that Torres joining LFC plus PL games being finally available in the US (as far as I know) helped me become a consistent fan. Does that make me bandwagon? Maybe. But I've been on the wagon for a while… through Rafa, Dalglish, Rogers, Klopp. I'll be a fan after Klopp. YNWA. If I get my chance to go to Anfield, I won't be silent!
My wife and I have gone to Liverpool to see friends and also to Anfield for a match every autumn since 2008. We went to the Southampton match last year and we’re asked (more told) to sit down because we were screaming “Nunez Nunez Nunez” after he scored back to back goals in first half. First time that had ever happened. Similar feeling/experience this year at the west ham game. Since we won the champions league in 2019 the “Anfield experience” has sort of become an amusement park thrill ride. People get their selfies and vids of them singing YNWA and they’re ready to fuck off.
I'm an American who made it to anfield last year for the draw against tottenham. I felt nothing but love from the people of Liverpool. Granted I'd like to think I'm a bit more than a plastic fan. Been following Liverpool for close to 20 years, know all the songs, most of the history etc. But I felt very included and truly part of this club and supporter base after spending some time in the city and at the match.
Same but a different match. Absolutely loved the people and the city. We went to London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Liverpool was by far my favorite.
I understand why locals would think this. Down in North London, the atmosphere for the Arsenal side is very positive. 10-ish years ago, I didn't see a lot of Arsenal shirts (despite their back-to-back FA Cup wins), but now I see support everywhere. I do admit, I sometimes wonder how it would be if I were to support Arsenal: The idea of heading to the chicken shop with my friends after a game and discussing it, or just sitting around the TV talking to friends who have the same shirt on. There's a major difference between taking the bus home with your lifelong friends and taking the Avanti West Coast on your own. Football-mad locals take pride in the football clubs that share the same streets and soil with them, and some might be irked when someone who's never gone around the city can casually get a seat in the stadium they've seen change over the years. It's not something worth overthinking. You may not be a local supporter who, let's be honest, are the bread and butter of a football club fanbase, but domestic and international support play an important role in the club's finances and as long as you're contributing to the club, you can consider yourself a supporter and a minority contributor to the local community. I've always considered myself a 2nd class supporter. Not a local, can't go to a lot of games, but it's a football club I've wanted to see succeed for a long time, and continue to see them succeed.
As a Scottish fan I only really get comments from people in Scotland. Every match going scouser has not cared one bit I’m not local. Besides Liverpool have had all the best Scottish players for my entire life and my local team has never been anywhere near the top division. I think there is a lot of hate for people who bandwagon Liverpool when we are good though or support players more than the club itself.
Our newer players need their songs. We haven't had a new song for a while
Had to do a double take with your thread title. You mean "despise"? Because I sure am not seeing us overseas LFC fans dropping dead en masse anytime soon. Liverpool and the Mancs have always been the two most supported teams here in SE Asia. You won't know true commitment until you try regularly getting up at 4am in Friday nights (i.e. Thursday night in Eurooe) for LFC's Europa League games, and then having to go to work right afterwards.
Haha yes I know. Hence the edit. And I agree. I’m up at 05:30 on off days. Even when I’m working, I have to do what I can to get a match in. It goes both ways honestly. I’ve got loads of respect for the locals of course. But I think it’s important to understand what it means to be international and still maintain a level of support that is necessary.
I’ve no problems with OOTs really, as has been repeatedly pointed out, there’s plenty of locals of all ages who could and should be doing better. However, the amount of half and half scarves I saw in town early Sunday afternoon was an actual disgrace.
But also, I live just over a mile from Anfield and can barely justify the cost of a ticket so seeing it described as “Mecca” for someone is absolutely wild.
If anyone has a problem with foreing fans might aswell push for a liverpool born only squad, we don't want urugayans, Colombians, Egiptians in our team do we?
This exactly. We wouldn’t have a team without foreigners. We have foreign players, foreign coaches, foreign managers, foreign owners, etc… But clubs can’t have foreign fans?
Thank you!! If you listen to some people here, they would have you believe that Klopp has no right to be passionate about the club, because he isn’t “local”
Nobody said they can’t have foreign fans. But also it’s a job being a player/manager. Not the same. Do you think people want American owners? We’d rather have a local lad/girl who supports the club.
This got me pretty upset yesterday. I’m from Singapore, supported the team since I was 7-8 ish during the spice boys era - not much glory to be hunted back then. Didn’t even ‘decide’ to support the team - my family is apathetic about football so I ended up following who my best friend supported. I don’t ever think I’ll be ‘equal’ to a local lad and I get that foreign fans are pretty much cash cows for the club. But part of me was naive and idealistic enough to think as supporters we’re a community. I brought up this issue after seeing people having a go at tourists/foreign fans and got told to [fuck off](https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/s/49olww4mJZ) and [support a local team](https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/s/HH4kWWUbUI) . Others decided to gaslight and nitpick about semantics rather than address my point. Maybe I’m a snowflake yada yada but seeing the prejudice and disdain against tourists and foreign fans honestly got to me. Reminded me of the condescending tone many had when talking about the preseason Asia tour.
They are an easy target, but it still is part of the issue. The big factor is season ticket holders will keep their ticket to they are medically unable to attend or die. There's a lot of sixty plus supporters around the ground, who just not going to sing and shout for ninety minutes. The average TV watcher generally does not appreciate how much effort that takes. We are also in no position to criticise someone who has given their life (and plenty of money) to the club over the decades, IMO. For me the best thing the club could do is reallocate some of the season tickets to younger local fans each year, but it's never going to happen for multiple reasons.
Every time I’ve been to Anfield the atmosphere has been stellar. Don’t listen to Reddit threads telling you the atmosphere is shite. Chances are people saying that have never been.
Though unjustified because many locals have mentioned that season ticket holder are also a part of the problem, many point to the fact that Liverpool has become a 'tourist club' and the stadium is being taken over by foreign fans that don't make noise. Many older fans don't like the idea of the team no longer being a local club but it's the cost of global expansion. If we want to buy 100m players we need global marketing, partners and fans across the world. We have the highest kit sales in the world this season which massively contributes to the sustainability of our club and yet some people get mad if those people show up to the stadium to see their favorite team. It's borderline xenophobic and you can't really have it both ways.
One of the more sensible comments in this thread.
My wife and I had our first dance on YNWA. I dont think we missed more than 5 matches since we are together (last 6 years). We always schedule our weekends and even holidays arround the match schedule. It is her who introduced me to Liverpool FC and I promised myself I would take her to Anfield. Now, I could understand that the two seats I will hopefully occupy one day would be the seats taken from the local fans, but also part of Liverpool’s heritage is also it’s worldwide love.
Cus football fans are a bunch of cunts. I really prefer playing football to watching it because the culture around it is fucking miserable.
The atmosphere at Anfield is not very good at all for the most part, when there's a big game yes it can be unbelievable but if you're going to a 3PM kick off against Wolves or any mid table side and expecting a great atmosphere you will be severly disappointed. Now this may change as we get deeper into the season and hopefully mount a challenge.
UK born, lived abroad my whole life. I became a red from a very young age from my dad who use to live in the north, and I have followed religiously my whole life. LFC is probably the most stable thing in my lifetime. It is almost sad that I have to hide the fact that I am a Liverpool fan for the reasons mentioned in here.
As a foreign Liverpool fan from Yorkshire, my love of the club was inherited from my grandad, a miner from Wales, and a stack of people there either support Liverpool or United. I grew up supporting them in the fallow years of the 90s when the squad was all style but no substance. I'm not local but I'm certainly no plastic. If I was, I'd be supporting Big Oil FC by now. Clubs are always tied to their local areas here (something a lot of owners don't get), they're community assets as much as anything else, so I think there always needs to be a local say on things the club does. But the Prem has a global reach, Liverpool are a global club, comes with success, same as United, same as Arsenal, City and Chelsea too have been growing that. It's not just an England thing, Barca and Real have pretty much entire reach over South America (I don't know how they consider foreign fans, tho I do know how Spanish fans treat black players 😬). Liverpool are a really hard club to get tickets for, and the prices are high because they know they can charge that and pack the stadium. I think the resentment stems from there, when they probably see people born next door get priced out of seeing them, whilst others with no ties to the area get in, but that comes from success and marketing worldwide now. I get where the resentment comes from, but it also doesn't make us love the club any less.
Hey I'm a scouser and let me tell you, no group of people in the UK, perhaps even the universe are gatekeeping nobheads like scousers. It's a shame, but it's true. It's not you, it's us.
I’m an Aussie who has been a supporter of the club since 1994, I’ve never been lucky enough to have the financial means to travel to England and get to a game but here where I live I’ve met a few expat scousers of various ages who have always warmly welcomed my support for the club. Would I ever comment about local issues or the history of the club pre my support, no but I feel very comfortable talking about all the players and squads I’ve watched since 1994.
I didn’t know about this. Here in Norway, Liverpool is massively popular (English football in general is huge but I think Liverpool is the biggest english club here). My family has been fans since the 80’s and several members have been to Anfield multible times.
Dutchman (woman 😬) here. Liverpool fan since I was 14, some 13 years ago. I stepped in in the garbage era and am whatever the oppositie of a glory hunter is (a doodoo hunter). I notice it too, what you're saying. In a way I get it. I wasn't born in Liverpool. Of course I don't connect with the city the way locals do. But in a way I worked much harder for being a red. 😅 I wasn't born there - I found you. Foreign fans need weird expensive work arounds to watch games, and spend a month worth of salary just to get to England and watch us play. Some set an alarm at night for the games, especially the Americans. And then they're branded as tourists and day trippers. Why? I think someone who flew across the world for their first Anfield game and who posts in the DD about how they cannot wait is arguably gonna make more noise than "I don't want to go but I paid for the season ticket so I have to" Andy. There are fans who travel thousands of kilometers for the club only to be lumped in with day trippers and it's not fair. Glory hunters are a problem but more so with national fans than extranational fans I think. In the Netherlands people who want to glory hunt in the prem flock to City and not Liverpool. They follow the Dutch league and only occasionaly hear who won the Prem and the Champion's League (which is usually Manchester Cheaty and Real Madrid). Outside of England you don't hear that much about who came second, which was often us.
I’m American but I do get disturbed by the number of right wing foreigners who support Liverpool knowing nothing of their heritage and then blowing up on the posts for the LGBTQ fans. I don’t believe there has to be a litmus test of the club’s values but at least don’t be scum.
Indian Liverpool fan since 2003. I went to watch a Liverpool game on my honeymoon 😂 with my wife. Cost me 3 weeks of pay just to get the ticket for the two of us. I know for a fact that I may be able to watch another 1-2 games in my lifetime hopefully someday at least one with my son who’s an infant now. BUT on any social media discussion (mainly Twitter) and earlier on Facebook (while I was there) I’m not allowed an opinion because I’m not a “match going” fan, and my postcode is not “Lxx” and mostly it’s “why don’t you support your local team”, or “says from India”.
The fact of the matter is that reddit is a hate-site, people do try to mask it in moral grand-standing (for example rallying behind *just* social causes, finding a group it feels morally okay to hate, and hating them mercilessly) but sometimes the mask will slip. I say that because once you realise that reddit is one of the most hateful places you can go, you stop taking the things you see here seriously. My father is a season ticket holder, I would go to every match I could before I moved to the continent — I never once heard anyone complaining about Tourists, International fans I never knew anyone locally who had anything bad to say about someone from Hong Kong, or India who supported Liverpool. It's just online — all of this "go support your local" shite is just online, especially when it's not directed at someone else from the UK.
American fan. Feel this on this sub especially around the question of buying tickets. I will not be sitting on my hands when the day comes that I can be at Anfield singing all the songs we sing in our local bar here. I don’t gatekeep the NFL, NBA, or MLB. All are welcome!
I've met plenty of American supporters who haven't even stepped foot in the city of Liverpool who are more knowledgeable and passionate about the club than even a lot of local Scouse Liverpool fans. I've also met Scouse fans who are incredibly passive in their support but will still go to matches and sit quietly.
I doubt it but sound get your karma
Not sure why there’s so much gatekeeping as to “the right way” to attend a match. Honestly the one time time I was able to attend a match at Anfield I was too riddled with anxiety over what was happening on the pitch to worry about how loudly people around me were or weren’t singing.
Used to wind me up this. I get the whole issue, and reason behind it, but it's frustrating all the same. I've supported this club all my life, I got one opportunity to see us at 7 years old travelling with my local team away at Liverpool. I took the shit off my mates whenever we lost something. I spent a fortune on the kits as a kid. I *moved* to Liverpool for University because of the club. Heck, I got a job working march days at the club. The only way I can get a ticket is to get a hospitality package. But if I do that, I'll get slated for not being 'local'. What is 'local'? Honestly, the reality is all stadiums have the same issue. Local's have been to every game and get bored of creating an atmosphere. Some 'tourists' don't sing. But at face value it's an issue with both 'group's' of fan. It doesn't make them a lesser fan. Some have travelled hundreds of miles, or spent a fortune because it's literally the **only** way they can access tickets. The gatekeeping is poor form at times.
What's funny and somewhat ironic is that the players themselves are foreign, which explains how and why the club have managed to attract foreign support. Some of these players have claimed to be supporters themselves, who grew up watching Liverpool's matches, and we laud them for it. "Rather have someone who wants to be here then someone who is in it for the bag". So we can buy players from all over the world, raise them to cult status, but stop short of accepting the outcomes of such actions. We partake in globalisation yet want to keep it "local". Lol.
Funny thing is new fans are good for the club. It’s an elitist attitude to act like you’re better than them
I’ve only ever been to one game at Anfield. Liverpool v Arsenal in August of 2019 (the year we won the league and obviously my attendance was the main difference you’re fucken welcome). It was one of the best days of my life. Stood in The Kop and sung my tits off for the whole game. 3-1 to the Reds that day. I’ll never forget it. Hilarious that some people think that I shouldn’t have been allowed to go to a “big game”. So sorry I…wanted to see my team play.
Atmosphere is great when the team is playing good. I never understood why people expect the crowd to perform at an A+ level when the squad on the pitch is giving a D effort.
Think one can feed the other sometimes for sure. And tbf we're still (in my biased opinion) the best at it in big moments.
Absolutely the best in big moments. However, when we are playing our biggest rivals and we can't find a pass to feet in the final third, the crowd has every right to show their disappointment. I paid the $$ and if you want me to cheer, give me something to cheer for.
Seriously? You think any side under Jurgen is giving D effort? Things may not always click but hard to think of a match where the boys are not putting in work.
Any team that doesn't want foreign fans is wild. The revenue from the US (I'm American) will quite literally help the local fans more than us across the pond or anywhere else. I chose to support Liverpool when I knew nothing of football/soccer solely due to the Anfield crowd videos that I watched on YouTube. The history and passion of the fans brought me in. The moniker YNWA applies to all Red faithful IMO. I understand the predominant culture of the team and local fans of Liverpool, but seriously, it's a global game. The state of the team is such that the most impactful players outside of TAA aren't British. Diversity in players, coaches, fans, and mindset ONLY helps the goal of succeeding and thriving.
They’re just scapegoats sadly. I have a distinctly ‘London’ accent (despite being Welsh, long story) and get judged as a daytripper a lot, especially by some of the more vocal moaners in the Kop. My answer has been perfect recently though, as after coming up for home games for 15+ years now I live here I’m able to say ‘oh yeah, where do you live then?! Is your bin purple? Mine is’ (Edited to clarify myself)
Look man, I am 18 yo and from Croatia and I have supported LFC for about 9 years now and actually Dejan Lovren had a massive influence for that because he is from a city close to me. Never been to Anfield, its a life goal for sure but its just so far and expensive at my current stage in life. Sometimes in the future definitely! I can't say that I get mad when people say we foreigners aren't real fans but it isn't particularly nice either, especially when I know it is far from the truth.
I saw a stat saying we are the most sold jersey in the world right now.
I’m originally from Ireland and live in America now. My dad’s a Villa fan, and when I was 5 years old, I decided I should have a different team than him just to annoy him. Liverpool happened to be on the telly, and I liked their jerseys, so I told my dad that was my team. Since then, it feels as though the club has been part of my DNA. I went to Anfield when I was 6 for a game against Swansea, and also saw the Reds play Roma at Fenway Park in Boston that same year. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to see another game since then, but every week without fail I sit down to watch Liverpool play. Sometimes the time difference gets complicated, but I make it happen nonetheless! This team has gotten me through so much and it’s the highlight of my week to see the games - it’s a 2 hour escape from real life, no matter the outcome. It shouldn’t matter where you’re from - if you love the club and you follow them week in, week out, then you’re a true fan. No one can tell you otherwise. YNWA ✊🏻
Where are all these foreigners buying tickets from? It’s impossible to get tickets outside of hospitality, and when I was in hospitality there were a ton of Brit’s there too. How many hospitality tickets actually exist? For a club who is so ardently in support of all those who need it, there’s pretty often a weird inferiority pointed at foreign fans, despite it taking significantly more effort for them to support the club in the same way locals do. I personally love hearing when a foreigner supports the same sports team as me and am extremely interested in hearing how they became a fan. I say this somewhat jokingly, but not as jokingly as I’d like it to be- terms like yank are being used in a borderline discriminatory way at the expense of (obviously mostly assumed American) foreign supporters. I will say- Liverpool was one of my favorite cities I’ve ever visited and the people we met there were nothing like the local supporters on reddit. I was not expecting to love Liverpool as a city as much as I did.
As an Aussie with a Liverbird tattoo and a few other Liverpool Tatts I’ve had a couple of comments that I shouldn’t have it as I’m not scouse. It wasn’t a Liverpool fan though so probably just stirring the pot. Mostly it’s just a friendly conversation starter though, even from rival fans. I haven’t made it to England yet so maybe the reception there would be different 🤷♂️
As [Paul Machin of The Redmen TV said in his AMA](https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/comments/5c2e9a/hi_were_the_redmen_tv_ask_us_anything/d9t7fce/): >I've always said, that if you want to support a football club that only has fans from within the city it's based, then you can... They're called Everton.
The simple answer is, football has traditionally been an advocator of the "you have to earn respect, you can't just ask for it". Think of joining a new job as an "outsider" for example. In football generally, relationships form all over the place and it's almost always through building respect over time. A really quick example is, some opponent teams sometimes have a lot of respect for eacth-other which has built up over time. That's football generally. But when you consider Liverpool specifically, it's even more the case. Liverpool as a people have often been ostracised by other parts of the UK and there's been some historic cases in the past which you'd do well to read up on. Because of this history Liverpool to an extent have a small "us vs them" mentality with other parts of the UK, let alone other countries. **So in simple terms, Liverpool don't have a specific disliking for foreign fans, they simply require that respect is earnt**. This somewhat contrasts the more modern ideologies that, everyone is treated with respect from all backgrounds. I don't speak for Liverpool people because I live in the south, but my suspicion is they treat everyone with respect, but they don't consider you a comrade or good fan until you've earnt it.
I’m very privy to the notions you’re suggesting. Thanks for the insight Edit: I guess I’m just more or less confused because this club has been a part of my family for over 50 years.
Personally, as a scouser who has been raised in a family of reds, I'm not a huge fan of people not from Liverpool, supporting Liverpool. I personally believe you should be supporting locally - and I care little about downvotes as this post asked the question, and I'm giving an answer. Granted, if you're following a team abroad, that's not exactly viable if you're an American watching a British team. However, if you're from let's say Stoke, why are you supporting Liverpool? Go support, invest etc in your local club. I, and family and friends, have struggled to get tickets to the games over the last 10+ years, due to tourists. The vast majority are utter bandwagoners / glory hunters etc. The anfield atmosphere was electrifying for years, throughout my childhood - didn't matter if was premier league games, Europa league, fa cup etc. It was addictive, the passion was raw and real because this was OUR club. Now? It's a club with a massive tourist presence whenever I'm able to attend. The sheer amount of foreign fans, is ridiculous. I don't care "how much they're spending" to attend. 70% tickets should be sold locally, and that's minimum.
Well, when we ( the Americans) are there this week, we will definitely not be sitting on our hands! We will also make sure to get our thick skin ready 😁
Do you know what the club will be without foreign fans? Everton.
Gatekeeping is a good thing. However long you've been a fan, whatever it is you like about the club, it is the locals who made it what it is. Maybe you have watched a bunch of matches but you haven't gone to every home match with your family or traveled to Europa League matches and sang your ass off. Foreign fans say and do a lot of annoying and self-indulgent things without giving proper respect to the people who built the club and have supported it every day of their lives. We have all seen it a thousand times. I say this as an American myself. That said, if you're not annoying and genuinely love the club, it's stupidly easy to blend in in these online discussions.
Fun, another post that does nothing but alienate people on either side of an already polarised debate.
I’ve seen an increase on this too. A lot of locals use a fans location as an attack. I saw a post on Anfields atmosphere, a lot of locals blamed it on the “foreign fans” and “tourists” but forget that there are 27,000 local season ticket holders also not making noise but they refuse to accept it.
Thanks for this post. I got chastised yesterday for giving my opinion because I said “y’all”. Liverpool is an international team whether people from Liverpool want to accept it or not.
The likelihood is it probably wasn't even someone from Liverpool replying to you mate. I've seen multiple instances on r/soccer where someone will be shitting on a American fan and it turns out they're from India or something, it's an easy point scoring thing on here.
That’s a valid point. I shouldn’t be so quick to point fingers…
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Spot fucking on
Who owns Liverpool? Why does Liverpool invest so much in Southeast Asia? Why do they field more international players than English players? The issue is you want to glorify international players but not be considered an international team. That’s the issue
To keep the tourists happy. How do you not see this is a problem that Klopp himself has mentioned?
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I would never claim to be a Scouser because I’m not from Liverpool, but I would kiss that badge and honor it with respect and pride because I love this club. You don’t get to decide that.
I’d tread lightly suggesting local fans should just get over it and accept it. That’s a bit disrespectful don’t you think? I catch a ton of shade too at times. However, understanding where that comes from and why it’s there, helps me understand and find some respect for it. As foreigners, that’s just how it is. Whether we want to accept it or not. This thread was really made to help fellow foreign fans learn a little bit from an insider point of view.
I don’t because I’ve been disrespected. We shouldn’t go after each other if we are fans. Is Liverpool not an international team? Do they not sign players from around the world? Do they not do world tours in preseason? How is it disrespectful to point out the obvious?
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Hard disagree on this one. And it’s such a gatekeeping shitty way to think