George Sephton, for 53 years the man behind the microphone at Anfield, was held at gunpoint at three consecutive European Cup finals. He talks of the Heysel disaster, how it unfolded, the aftermath and the long term effects of Heysel and Hillsborough on Liverpool FC.
We discuss the Hillsborough survivors’ trauma, some of the causes of the Hillsborough disaster, how the Police caused the crush outside the Leppings Lane turnstile and Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield’s incompetence. The cover up, and finally we get the truth but not justice.
Arrivederci Roma
Those great European nights, Internazionale, St Etienne, Barcelona 2001. UEFA Cup final v Alaves in Dortmund. Gary Mac, Michael Thomas and other Reds stars.
Applauding Leeds United and Arsenal winning the League Championship at Anfield. Throwing Tom Watts (Lofty from Eastenders) out of George’s box.
Chelsea 2005, Anfield bouncing, 6 added minutes, Eidur Goodjohnsen, Mourinho caught out lying,
Barcelona 2019, YNWA, Imagine, George’s music choices. Paul McCartney, Teardrop Explodes,
Our guest is Alan Harrison whose grandfather Herbert Roberts was vice chairman of Liverpool FC and was part of the recruitment team that selected Shankly. He approached Matt Busby for permission to speak to Jimmy Murphy, the Man Utd coach, and, the manager of Wales. Later, Alan’s s uncle Eric Roberts was Bill Shankly’s favourite club chairman.
Hear how Liverpool offered players to Man U after Munich. Why Busby left Anfield under a cloud. Busby recommended Shankly, who had previously rejected LFC because he wanted control, including selecting the team. How Shankly convinced us we could overcome a 5-1 first leg defeat at Ajax while wearing an away kit at home and changing to an all red kit.
The Scottish connection, Ian St John , Ron Yeats, Tommy Lawrence and Willie Stevenson, plus Reuben Bennett and Shanks. Heavy metal Shankly football. Clinching promotion. Going to away games with a mate aged nine. Melwood - watching the A, B and C teams. Liverpool women’s football team. Shankly makes a brief first report to the board. Shankly defends Ian St John sent off at Fulham for knocking out an opponent.
Alan is stadium announcer at AFC Liverpool, playing at Marine’s ground in Crosby. He was nearly offered the job as stadium announcer at Anfield, but George Sephton beat him to it. We also talk about Gerry Byrne, captain Ronnie Moran, Alf Arrowsmith, George Scott, players’ injuries, Bob Paisley medicine man and, Alun Evans slashed, why Peter Wall was sold, Emlyn Hughes, Alec Lindsay, reserve team matches, and Lindsay’s Wembley goal.
From Bulgaria to Italy to Anfield
Tour guide Mario joins host Mark, and talks about: getting a job at Anfield, his first LFC experience, a Michael Owen hat trick against Sheffield League Cup on TV. First live LFC game, Roma away. First home match attended Roma 2005 and at home in 2010 against Sunderland.
Roy Hodgson as manager, Wolves home, the worst home performance ever. Anzhi from Russia. Barcelona ECL semi final – the excellent performance in the away leg, losing 3-0. Half time substitution and team shake up. Gini’s scores 2 and the corner taken quickly. Kompany’s worldy goal for City at Leicester.Barca European semi finals, 1976 and 2001, Johann Cruyff,
Anfield myths, This Is Anfield sign, Isle of Man
Michael Owen – Liverpool’s greatest striker of the 21st century? Comparison of Own v Torres, Suarez and Fowler. 2001 FA Cup final.
Wonder goals, Own v Argentina, Maradonna v England, Fairclough v Everton
Steven Gerrard the legend, recognised by Gerard Houllier as a youth player. GH brings Liverpool into the 21st Century, helps France win the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but fails to qualify for 94 when Houllier was national manager.
Bulgarian football – CSKA Sofia, Georgi Asparoukhov star of Bulgarian team at Goodison in 1966 World Cup. Balon D’Or winner Hristo Stoichkov.
Robert Zatz joins host Mark Kerr to talk about his first match at Anfield in January 1956 v Leicester City, seeing Billy Liddell and Alan A’Court and our managers Don Welsh and Phil Taylor. Then Bill Shankly arrives and brings in the great Scots, Yeats, St John and Stevenson. He tells us how football was more attacking in 1950s and 60s, the promotion season 61-62, Roger Hunt, Leyton Orient.
Back in the First Division 1962-3, the first league derby match for 9 years, 73,000 at Goodison Park, Roy Vernon, Kevin Lewis. Mersey beat music. FA Cup semi final disappointment against Leicester City, our bogey team, Gordon Banks, on the football specials trains.
Robert’s friend Kevin Keegan, superstar, Keegan & Toshack, Keegan & Dalglish, Manchester United matches 1977, 1962 & 1960. Players fighting, agents and wage negotiations. Johnny Morrissey sold to Everton behind Shankly’s back.
Tales of Kevin Keegan. The infamous 1974 Charity Shield, dirty Leeds, the battle of Goodison Park, Bremner & Giles.
How George got the job as Anfield stadium announcer, George’s first match – and Kevin Keegan’s, nearly champions, 1973 champions and UEFA Cup winners, UEFA & VAR stupidity, 1,500 home matches, FA Cup winners 1974, Newcastle Utd & Malcolm MacDonald, This Is Anfield, Jurgen Klopp vs Brendan Rogers, Shankly retires, Paisley takes over, Ian Rush, Stuart Hall, Manchester United play a home match at Anfield, talking about ancient computers, Eggheads TV quiz show, Pete Wylie “Heart As Big As Liverpool,” You’ll Never Walk Alone, Gerry Marsden at Celtic.
You can buy George Sephton’s book here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Voice-Anfield-Fifty-Years-Liverpool/dp/1838952683
If you have enjoyed this episode please share it with your family and friends, these podcasts cost money to record, edit and host, please buy me a coffee, https://buymeacoffee.com/sweetsilversong
Please comment on our website www.sweetsilversong.co.uk or email us at admin@sweetsilversong.co.uk
If you have been affected by the Hillsborough disaster or by the Champions League final in Paris, reach out to the Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance https://www.hsa-us.co.uk/
Author Jeff Goulding continues talking with host, Mark Kerr, about his newly published book, Klopp’s Last Stand. We talk about the manager's last two seasons at Anfield, culminating in Jurgen’s proudest achievement, the youth players winning the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea.
We paused to remember Gerard Houllier and his annus mirabilis of 2001, winning five trophies in six months.
We finish with Klopp’s final game against Wolves at Anfield and his farewell public appearance at the M&S Arena in Liverpool.
Jeff then mentions his next project, a biography of Liverpool’s longest serving manager, the legendary Ton Watson, the first man to win the Football League championship with two different clubs, including Liverpool’s first two.
Book links:
Read George Scott’s biography, also written by Jeff Goulding, The Lost Shankly Boy, https://amzn.eu/d/09qgDZe
If you have enjoyed this episode please share it with your family and friends, these podcasts cost money to record, edit and host, please buy me a coffee, https://buymeacoffee.com/sweetsilversong
Please comment on our website www.sweetsilversong.co.uk or email us at admin@sweetsilversong.co.uk
Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance https://www.hsa-us.co.uk/
Klopp’s Last Stand Part 1
Host Mark Kerr talks to Jeff Goulding the author of several books about Liverpool FC, most recently, Red Odyssey, a four volume social history of the club. The conversation centres on the fourth and final volume of this series, Klopp’s Last Stand, which tells the tale of the final four years of his tenure at Anfield.
2020-21 Season Annihilation at Villa, the Derby match wrecks the entire season, the bleak midwinter, injury crisis, defensive frailty, winning at Old Trafford, Allison’s goal at West Brom, Allardyce’s reaction, Neviile gobsmacked as we finish third. Klopp ages visibly.
The importance of supporter representation. Rafa Benitez – “We know where you live.”
2021-22 Season Moving across Stanley Park. The Torres transfer. Carabao Cup 2022, the final against Chelsea. A tale of two penalties. Consoling Kepa and Karius. Champions League final chaos in Paris
Book link: https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/klopps-last-stand
If you have enjoyed this episode please share it with your family and friends, these podcasts cost money to record, edit and host, please buy me a coffee, https://buymeacoffee.com/sweetsilversong
Please comment on our website www.sweetsilversong.co.uk or email us at admin@sweetsilversong.co.uk
Read George Scott’s biography, also written by Jeff Goulding, The Lost Shankly Boy, https://amzn.eu/d/09qgDZe
Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance https://www.hsa-us.co.uk/
Host Mark Kerr talks to fellow Anfield tour guide Bob Williams and to the subject of the biography, The Lost Shankly Boy, a book that tells of his five years as a Liverpool player.
In this episode: Shankly resigns, Paisley the unknown trainer, Ronnie Whelan brought back to earth, St John finds out he is dropped, Shankly’s big regret, injured players Chris Lawler, Gordon Wallace, the Back Room Boys, Heysel and Hillsborough, trauma of survivors, hooliganism, facilities improve, state of pitches, Klopp’s legacy, Getting a Man Utd kit for Christmas, team uniform, a boggy pitch, the Kop starts singing, Anfield expanded but at what cost to local supporters? Shankly siege vs Klopp press, Mo Salah & Luis Suarez.
Bonus Tracks
1. Billy Liddell hat trick, Jimmy Melia gets the shock treatment, Gordon Wallace and the first goal on Match Of The Day, Viva Bobby Graham, sporting supporters, goalkeepers – Ray Clemence, Billy Younger, Bert Slater, Jim Furnell, Tommy Lawrence – and, Loris Karius.
2. YNWA 3. George Scott signs for Liverpool
If you have enjoyed this episode please share it with your family and friends, these podcasts cost money to record, edit and host, please buy me a coffee, https://buymeacoffee.com/sweetsilversong
Please comment on our website www.sweetsilversong.co.uk or email us at admin@sweetsilversong.co.uk
Read George Scott’s biography, The Lost Shankly Boy, https://amzn.eu/d/09qgDZe
Hillsborough Survivors Support Alliance https://www.hsa-us.co.uk/
Stephen Done returns, he was the club’s archivist and museum curator until he retired in July 2024. We discussed more Anfield myths and legends, including: You'll Never Walk Alone - when and why did we start to sing it, did Celtic or Man U sing it first? What is the best version of YNWA. The back room boys, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett, Ronnie Moran, Roy Evans, the Boot Room, the black books and inviting the opposition into the Boot Room. We moved onto Elton John at Anfield, his love of football and his total respect for LFC and why Kenny Dalglish signed John Barnes. Finally, Paul McCartney red or blue? And why is a Liverpool player on the Sergeant Pepper cover?
Stephen Don's books, some on LFC, and his Inspector Vignoles stories can be found here: Inspector Vignoles stories https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B0034OKJ78
Finally, if you would like to contribute to our recording and hosting costs, please buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/sweetsilversong
Stephen Done, recently retired as the curator of the Liverpool FC Museum and official club archivist talks about some of the stories and separates the truth and the myths.
The birth of our club, why did Everton leave Anfield, beer, myths about a return to Stanley Park, the club crest & the Shankly Gates, our Scottish roots and Alec Raisbeck our first superstar player. Shankly myths - the dressing rooms, the proposed triple decker Anfield Road Stand, the original Liverpool Football Club (not us). This Is Anfield – who put it up, when and why, plus a few stories, including Shankly and Supermac.
Once Bill Shankly arrived at Anfield, things changed rapidly. Host Mark Kerr, and fellow Anfield tour guides John Coburn and Bob Williams talk about how Liverpool gained promotion and established themselves among England's football elite.
This episode includes all of the following:
The 3-2 comeback derby match of 1970, Golden Goal, John Toshack, Chris Lawler, Steve Heighway, and Peter Thompson - the white Garrincha.
Ian St John & Ron Yeats sent off - see https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1kvrx - and Ian Callaghan’s one yellow card against Nottingham Forest in 1978
From nearly signing Brian Clough and Frank Worthington to Kevin Keegan, UEFA Super Cup glory v Hamburg, Tony Hateley and rumours about the Anfield postcode. The new team Shankly built with Ray Clemence, Larry Lloyd and Alec Lindsay. The captaincy changing from Tommy Smith to Emlyn Hughes and later from Sammi Hyypia to Steven Gerrard.
We look at the stylish Willy Stevenson, compare Ian St John to Roberto Firmino, and choose all time greats in John Barnes, King Kenny and Luis Suarez, culminating in our classic 5-1 win against Arsenal in 2014 - watch the match highlights here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-tP9FAbipo
Life at Liverpool FC has not always been 6 times European champions. There was a time before the Reds had won any European trophy or even the FA Cup. Host Mark Kerr, and guests John Coburn and Bob Williams discuss the dark days at Anfield followed by the golden dawn of Bill Shankly.
This episode includes all of the following: humiliating defeats at Birmingham City 9-1, Worcester City 2-1 and Ajax 5-1; double headers; Billy Liddell, Fred Molynueux, Bert Slater, Dick White, Alan A’Court and the impact of the arrival of Bill Shankly,
Own Goals by Sandy Brown, Tommy Wright, John McLoughlin and Jamie Carragher. Tony Hateley and the Anfield postcode, changing the kit colours, goalkeepers such as Tommy Younger, Bert Slater, Jim Furnell and Tommy Lawrence and ending with the great Billy Liddell.
Back by popular demand, George Scott, The Lost Shankly Boy, was described by Bill Shankly as the twelfth best player in the world. George Scott was one of five Scottish schoolboys signed by Shankly in January 1960. Alongside local lads Chris Lawler and Tommy Smith, George and his pals Bobby Graham and Gordon Wallace were known as the Shankly Boys.
In this episode we explore the characters in George’s memoir, including Ephraim Longworth and club secretary Jimmy McInnes.
We discuss:
Wembley tickets for the 1965 FA Cup final, Istanbul and Athens.
You’ll Never Walk Alone, Steve Heighway, Alf Arrowsmith, Roger Hunt, Ian Callaghan & Peter Thompson
The Shankly formation, Ian Ross at Bayern Munich, Shankly v Klopp, Shankly’s words, playing in South Africa, Tranmere Rovers and Brian Clough
The Anfield dressing rooms, the 1965 Inter Milan semi final
Steve Peplow, Vitoria Setubal, No Surrender, On the toss of a coin
Penalties - good and bad – Tommy Smith, Ronnie Moran, Gordon Milne
Shankly Hotel
Bonus audio after the main episode – how and why George came to write his book plus more Bill Shankly
Described by Bill Shankly as the twelfth best player in the world, George Scott was one of five Scottish schoolboys signed by Shankly in January 1960. Alongisde local lads Chris Lawler and Tommy Smith, George and his pals Bobby Graham and Gordon Wallace were known as the Shankly Boys.
We cover our first FA Cup final win, our first FA Youth Cup final and our first ever European tie.
George and host Mark Kerr discuss Gerry Byrne, Gordon Wallace’s two historic goals, Viva Bobby Graham, our first FA Youth Cup final against Harry Redknapp and John Sissons.
George’s wedding on the day England won the World Cup, Peter Thompson, Denis Law, George Best and St Etienne.
Shankly builds an Anfield dynasty, The Boot Room, Melwood Training with Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Reuben Bennett, a bastion of invincibility, the Kop, the band box and the pulpit.
We talk about George's fantastic book about his life at Anfield and and and afterwards, The Lost Shankly Boy, the link to buy the book is below.
https://amzn.eu/d/gm9xQqf
Was this the greatest night in the club's history? It was certainly the most memorable Champions League final ever. How did AC Milan dominate so completely and how did Liverpool manage to turn the tide and pull back a three goal deficit? Why did we field a side that had never played before? What happened at half time in the stadium, back home and how did some Evertonians celebrate in the city? Hear about the tactical changes, the heroes, the villains and the bewildered. Listen to two lifelong fans, John Green and Lee Birkett, who were in the Attaturk Stadum and Mark Kerr who watched it in his local pub.
You can watch the full match here: https://dai.ly/x2ikxi8
https://sweetsilversong.co.uk/
The legendary Tom Finney said it was one of the finest team performances he had ever witnessed, this extraordinary league match saw Kenny Dalglish's revamped Reds run riot at Anfield. This was the season after Ian Rush had joined Juventus and in came John Aldridge, John Barnes and Peter Beardsley. There were some fine performances from lesser lights like Nigel Spackman, Gary Gillespie and a rampant Ray Houghton. Nottingham Forest were no mugs, they were one of just two teams to beat Liverpool in the league that season, but not on this night. Three season ticket holders discuss the match, for Lee Birkett it was a right of passage - his first game without his Dad, for John Green it was his 25th season as a Kopite and as for the host Mark Kerr, he had to wait to watch it on Match Of The Day.
You can watch the full match here: https://youtu.be/uITSWaBwS7k?si=NthU0aDhAIpJsHwW
https://sweetsilversong.co.uk/
Sweet Silver Song is a podcast that tells you the stories of Liverpool Football Club, one of the world’s greatest teams, six times European champions and followed by over 770 million people worldwide.
My name is Mark Kerr, a lifelong Liverpool supporter, who has been watching my team since 1965. I will be talking to people who know this club, who work there and have played for it. Week by week, we will fill you in on the amazing stories that make our club the worldwide institution it is today.
We will talk about Istanbul, that Barca match and Borussia Dortmund at Anfield. But we will also talk about losing 5-1 to Ajax in the fog, a 9-1 defeat at Birmingham City and being knocked out of the FA Cup by a non league team in 1959!
We will remember the great players, not just Salah, Gerrard and Virgil, but our great Scots like Kenny, Graeme Souness and Billy Liddell, Welsh wizards like Rush, and local lads like Jimmy Melia, Jimmy Case and Jimmy Payne.
There are millions of stories about our great club and we look forward to sharing some of them with you.
https://sweetsilversong.co.uk/