I talked about the Goodison Stadium tour we did here the other day, and now I'll tell you about the Anfield tour we did a
few hours before, and it will surprise most of you.
We weren't even sure that was one on at Everton, but we knew there was one at Anfield at 10.30am. I had an Everton polo
shirt on which was a bit cheeky, I suppose. There was a bit of banter at the start but everything went well. There was a bloke sitting at a desk with a pen in his hand and a writing pad in front of him who was a bit narky, and questioned the level of support EFC had. I wouldn't believe me when I told him that Everton virtually sell out every home match and I told him to
Google it.
Anyway there were about 25 of us and the tour guide was a jovial fellow who was very friendly with me and - it might surprise you - constantly spoke well of us. He asked us questions as we went through the 'big stand' and into to change rooms, the media interview room, etc. We didn't get down to the pitch because of some ground maintenance that was going on. He talked about their trophies and their history and one question was 'Who was the first club to win the league at Anfield'?. Nobody answered and thought I'd better keep quiet and he said 'Everton'. He then talked about the issues of Houlding putting up the
rent and Everton moving to Goodison, but was no mention of that popular myth there that they didn't pay the rent. I think he
even mentioned that Goodison was the first purpose built football ground in the world.
My mobile has the Everton crest on the screen and when we were in their changing room he was standing next to me
and I pointed it to Karius's shirt and said 'Is it alright if I take a picture of this'? He just laughed and slapped me on the back.
He'd already told us that went to Kiev.
I'll finish with this story. We were standing next to a big print of a player and he asked 'Who was the greatest goalkeeper, ever'. I couldn't see it and called out 'Elisha Scott', assuming he was talking about the Liverpool legend. 'No' he said it's
Neville Southal', the binman'. What else can I say?
When the tour finished I asked him if there was a Goodison tour on and he wasn't sure. I told him we were walking down
to find out and he asked if we were going through the park. I told him, no, I was going the same way as I did when I got
off the 27 bus at the end of Breck Rd when I was a kid. 'Oh, down Sleeper Hill, hope it's on and you enjoy it'. It was, of course - at 1.30pm and that ended a great day.
