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9 unusual facts about Anfield


1979–80 Aston Villa F.C. season

3 May 1980: Liverpool clinch the league title in their penultimate league game of the season by beating Aston Villa 4–1 at Anfield.

FC Gomel

In the first leg they lost 0-1 and lost again away at Anfield in the second leg 3-0.

FC Unirea Urziceni

In the first round, at Anfield, Liverpool won 1–0, and at Bucharest, Unirea lost again, 1–3.

John Houlding

The first football match at Anfield was on 28 September 1884, when Everton beat Earlstown 5-0.

Olympiacos F.C. in European football

They went to Anfield to play the last match against Liverpool and in order to progress they had either not to lose, or to score and not lose by more than one goal difference.

R v Wallace

The address given was in Mossley Hill, a district of Liverpool several miles from Wallace's home in Anfield.

The Boot Room

The Liverpool Boot Room was a room at Anfield, home of Liverpool F.C., during the 1960s - early 1990s where the coaching staff would sit, drink whisky and discuss the team, tactics and ways of defeating the next opposing side.

Despite Bennett being the only one of the five never to manage the club, it was he who remained at Anfield the longest.

The Maybes?

All the members of the band are from the Anfield and Kensington districts of Liverpool, and were close friends before the band started.


1971–72 Manchester United F.C. season

Due to Manchester United being banned from playing their first two home matches in Old Trafford, after hooligans had thrown knives into the away section at a match at the end of the previous season, their opening "home" games were played at Anfield and the Victoria Ground.

Chris Lawler

He again tasted the disappointment of defeat when he played in the 1971 FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal, but that was all put behind him when Liverpool earned a League title and UEFA Cup double in 1973, The Reds beat Arsenal by 3 points in the league and fought off a fightback by Borussia Mönchengladbach after The Reds had won the first leg 3–0 at Anfield Gladbach fell just short winning the 2nd leg 2–0 thus Liverpool gaining a 3–2 aggregate victory

Elton Welsby

It was the task of future BBC Director-General Greg Dyke to oversee the coverage and he entrusted Welsby as presenter of The Match, anchoring numerous dramatic matches over the next four years-most notably Arsenal's 2-0 win against Liverpool in the last game of the season which saw the Gunners snatch a last minute winner at Anfield.

Fred Geary

In the summer of 1892, Everton move out of their original home at Anfield after John Houlding, the leaseholder of the stadium, purchased the ground outright and proposed increasing the rent from £100 to £250 per year.

Gary Gillespie

In 1990–91, with the absence and eventual retirement of Alan Hansen due to injury, Gillespie was once again a regular in the centre of the Anfield defence.

Gillespie took a while to settle in, mainly because world-class defenders Mark Lawrenson and Alan Hansen were ahead of him, but eventually he got into the team, making his debut on 7 April 1984 in the 2–2 League Cup draw with Walsall at Anfield, he became a regular during the 1986–87 season.

Joaquín Sánchez

In the following campaign's UEFA Champions League, Joaquín appeared in all six group stage games for Betis, including the 1–0 triumph over Chelsea and a 0–0 draw against Liverpool, at Anfield (third-place finish, UEFA Cup "demotion").

John Eustace Jameson

Born in Ireland, the son of John Jameson of Anfield, County Dublin, he was educated at Sandhurst.

Neil Mellor

Mellor also scored a vital goal and set up another during Liverpool's match with Olympiacos at Anfield during the group stage of the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, which Liverpool went on to win.

Phil Boersma

Always on the fringes of the first team, mainly due to the Keegan/Toshack partnership and a youngster called David Fairclough, Boersma failed to make an impact on the 1975/76 season for the Anfield club and Bob Paisley allowed him to leave Liverpool in the December of '75.

Stagecoach Merseyside

The buses were launched at Anfield by Tom Wileman, Stagecoach Regional Director, and Liverpool FC legends Phil Neal, Alan Kennedy, David Fairclough, Ian Callaghan, Chris Lawler and David Johnson.

Stanley Park Stadium

In October 2012 new owners Fenway Sports Group announced their decision to redevelop and expand the current club stadium Anfield (in a similar way that they redeveloped Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox) rather than proceed with the planned new stadium.

Steve Harkness

He left Anfield to join up with old manager Graeme Souness at Benfica on 9 March 1999 for £750,000 – He only lasted five months in Portugal, however, before Brian Kidd paid £400,000 to bring him to Blackburn Rovers on 26 August 1999 – three months after their relegation from the Premier League and one day before Harkness's 28th birthday.

Vicky Gomersall

She originally reported on events in and around the North West, and lists being at Anfield on the day Emlyn Hughes died as her most memorable assignment.

Victoria, London

Archibald Leitch who was renowned for his work designing football stadiums including Craven Cottage, Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, Ibrox and White Hart Lane among many others, had offices were based at 53 Victoria Street (they too are long gone), and the street as a whole housed many consulting engineering firms until the 1970s.


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