[Picture of Pete's Kop friends: Ali (G) Hamidi, Anne-Marie and Chris Burns. Picture taken in Barcelona].
Is the same mentality towards building a new stadium? Are you against it or do you see it as a necessity for Liverpool to progress?
This is a very difficult question, because in my professional life as a sports center manager change is important. I don´t see myself as a manager of leisure, I see myself as a manager of change. In my heart as Liverpool supporter I am a true traditionalist. I do believe you will be cutting part the heart of Liverpool by moving. I hope we can find a way to develop the existing stadium although I recognise the need for a bigger stadium. I spoke to the Lord Mayor of Liverpool on the Spanish steps in Rome before the Roma game and he told me a new stadium will be built. I think it is important there is a definitive Kop. At the moment it looks like you have this non-restrictive view which is great. But it is so important to have a definitive area which is the Kop, whether it is slightly raised or partioned off in some way where you can say I´m still in the Kop. I told the Lord Mayor that for me to be endorsing this it would be on the proviso that would guarantee like for like seated positions. We are a community within a community so it is important. You can see how emotional I can get about Hillsborough but strangely it may see seem and I hate to offend people who I have worked with and lost friends and relatives. By saying I still do do believe it is room for standing stadiums but it’s how it’s managed and designed. It is a loss of atmosphere. At European games we have not sat for one minute. It seems to be for some reason an unwritten law that you automatically stand. I don’t know who controls it but it just happens. But I do think it will always remain seated.
I remember that you described to me once the 2-0 victory over Roma in the away as the single most enjoying experience you had as a Liverpool supporter.
I think because I didn’t know I would be going until the day before. It was one of those unique situations where everything literally fell into place. I couldn’t really afford to go because it cost over 200 pounds. A friend of mine from Blackpool phoned and he was going with his friends and brother. The brother had a job interview and couldn’t make it but he bought and paid for his ticket. He couldn’t get a refund because it was too late. He phoned me and said the guy wants 80 quid for his ticket so in the same ways I helped my friend in some way it’s reciprocated. Would I fancy coming to Rome? Of course I said, it would be fantastic.. All my friends had gone the day before ‘Sorry Pete, we will try to get you a programme... it won’t be the same without you..’ really making an effort. I thought I won’t tell them.
The day before Wednesday I was flying over. Great atmosphere in the airport. Great flight to Rome. The weather was good. On the bus to the center.. left, left, took a right and ended at the Spanish steps. Bumped into some friends from Wales, who told me where Ali, Mark and Anne-Marie would be. Met them! They were astonished. They couldn’t believe it. Singing on the Spanish steps. Everything was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Seeing Alan Hansen, winding him up. The banners were great. The stadium was immense. Looking from end to end it was almost misty. It was almost like the game didn´t matter. The Liverpool fans were getting more and more confident. In the end the Italians were looking at us in awe. We against these thousands of Italians. Michael Owen scored. Liverpool fans went crazy. Then there was a silence. All looking at each other. Did this really happen? I am saying ‘slap my face’, then it happened again. And at the end of the game we were coming out of the ground just euphoric. I was there one minute and here the next. It was like a dream.
That’s the kind of thing you do for your friends, we Kopites.
I know the image of the Kopite you are trying to translate to other people. I am not telling you this to score points. I am saying this because it is important to understand that people like me would do the same. I am not a person easily taken advantage of because I know my own mind. I think I have a good understanding of people. I can spot a genuine person and I will respond accordingly. As you know we got to the Worthington Cup final and as you can say imagine my phone never stopped ringing. 'Pete, Pete could you help me get some tickets. Do you know anybody?' I have helped people in the past and I would never ever nor my friends make money from this. We either give tickets away or sell them at face value for what we paid for them. As you can imagine for the cup final it was impossible. I had a situation where I got an e-mail from a friend in Norway who had always said to me it was his life-long dream to go to any cup final. We had discussed this many many years ago. I really felt for this guy because he used to be an officer in the United Nations and had not been long back in Norway since being stationed in Macedonia. So he had some difficult times and I thought it would really be really nice if this guy to have some light relief and go to the final. Try as I may I couldn’t get this guy a ticket. I e-mailed him and said ‘Book your flight and we will sort something out for you´.
On that basis he books his flight to come to Liverpool. He stays over for a couple of days over at my friend’s Chris because he has got more room in his house than I had. We had arranged to go with coach from Liverpool Football club to Millennium Stadium, with me, Chris, Chris’ son, Anne-Marie in the wheelchair, Ali G and I bought all the coach tickets and the cup final tickets in advance. It was a group of 26 people going together and we all queed early from six o’ clock in the morning to make sure we get all our seats in the Millennium stadium together. All the time when we were queing, making the arrangements I knew I wouldn’t be going because I wanted him to have my ticket. He didn’t know it was my ticket but I wanted him to have it more than anything. I knew if I forewarned him he wouldn’t take it. It wasn’t until in the morning when we were due to leave Liverpool, I called Chris on his mobile phone and told him that he actually got my ticket but not to tell. He had just to make some excuse I couldn’t go. The coach left and I watched the final at home on television. I was absolutely gutted because it was such a hard thing to do but I convinced myself it was the right thing to do and I know this guy would be eternally grateful for the rest of his life. That’s the kind of thing you do for your friends, we Kopites.
