How my Liverpool FC love affair started.

Article by Asif.

Okay guys, my first ever attempt at writing an article so go easy on me this follows on from Jerry’s excellent article on our star strikers 

FA cup final 1974 Liverpool v Newcastle , I had just returned from an overseas trip with my parents two weeks prior after suffering a serious injury by getting three fingers severed off my right hand and after nearly bleeding to death having them reattached with no anaesthetic and then three days later amputated again with no anaesthetic (because they didn’t have any)

I would have been 5 years old in August that year and was suffering a lot of pain, emotional stress and serious mobility issues with the right hand and arm. So I didn’t have anything really to be happy about that is until…

My father used to tell me about how good George Best was, but he also used to tell me about Kevin Keegan the rising superstar so he sat me down with him to watch the 1974 FA cup final v Newcastle 

Given my injuries I had become quite a restless child ,But Dad tells me that was one of the few times that I’d sat down for the whole 90 minutes and just watched in awe of the team in grey (LFC) as we only had the black and white television in those days which had been left behind by the previous tenant as we couldn’t afford to buy one 

I can honestly still remember to this day all the goals and especially the first one when Keegan scored, suddenly all the trauma and pain was forgotten and replaced with immense joy and a new hero , from there on I was hooked on Liverpool FC especially when they lifted the cup at full time with a 3.0 win , what a feeling that I will never forget all that pain and sadness was forgotten in an instance, suddenly life wasn’t so bad 

My family were extremely poor in those days and it took me about 14 months to recover from my injuries with multiple weekly hospital visits , we lived in High Wycombe and had very little but somehow in the following weeks my father managed to get me a white t shirt with king Kevs photo and Keegan 7 on it printed on it , I still have it put away somewhere to this day and I still watch highlights of that game occasionally thanking my dad for getting me started 

When I started school in September 74 there were only two Asians in our year and we used to get beaten up and bullied and called nasty names on a regular basis , so one day after yet another bout of racist bullying and being ridiculed as the freak with no fingers , I came home and told dad I hate all white people , to which he just laughed and said but son you have posters of Keegan the white man on your wall and your posters of your team is full of white players but you do not have a problem with them , A very valuable lesson learnt as then It was explained to me that there are good and bad people in every race and don’t generalise which thankfully put an end to my brief bout of racism at an early age 

We then moved to Birmingham in 76 and being a more mixed city things were better , in school we all wanted to be Kevin Keegan and Liverpool FC because they were the team , my dad who had and now started his own business and we were slowly getting financially better off also bought me an Admiral England shirt with Keegan on the back (shoddy print but did the job) , suddenly I was very very popular as wow he has Keegan on the back of his shirt 

After enjoying a few good years of LFC success and witnessing the epic partnership of Toshack and Keegan , came the dark day when King Kev announced he was leaving 

I was 8 years old and it felt like the world had ended , I cried for days because this team and particularly my favourite player in my favourite team that had lifted me through a horrific childhood accident that nearly killed me and all the bullying and racism whilst living in poverty , our superstar was now leaving and my beloved Liverpool would fall apart without him 

Thankfully the disappointment didn’t last long, although worried and apprehensive at first his replacement as we know became our greatest ever player and I’m grateful that I got to see King Kenny ‘s whole career as well , something I wished at the time would last forever 

In summary in my darkest days as a kid , it was Liverpool FC that lit up my life and started my journey as a lifelong fan and there is the reason why King Kevin is my all time favourite player , someone who gave me hope and joy when we as a family literally had nothing