Ciaran Hanley

The victory parade started on the outskirts of the city and made its way slowly down to the docks were one million people waited to celebrate number six. As usual, I was watching Liverpool on the telly.  Chops and I talked about getting the overnight ferry from Belfast but I was the sensible one at 3 in the morning, mostly because I started to feel the effects of the triathlon earlier in the day. I couldn't even stay up another hour to watch what turned out to be one of the greatest shocks in boxing history when Andy Ruiz stopped Anthony Joshua. My mother in law told me she dated a Liverpool Echo photographer in the 60's and she produced a box with a photo of the 1965 FA Cup final victory parade he had given her. She gave it to me the day after Madrid as we all watched the victory parade as a family. There were incredible scenes when the bus entered the Strand - deafening noise, red smoke bombs going off, flags waving and so many people as the players swung scarves above their ...

The first game of the 18/19 season was at home to West Ham. As usual I was travelling over and back the same day. A couple of hours before kick off, I arranged to meet a man-child friend of mine called Seany in Liverpool where he had already been in the bar for several hours. He's another pal from home who'd emigrated to Australia. He was taking my other ticket on the Kop. Alisson was making his league debut and he got an almighty cheer from the home fans. Was this finally the final piece of the jigsaw? We hoped so. Fabinho was also signed as a designated defensive midfielder. We probably hadn't had a proper one of these since Mascherano. Standing on the Kop for the first time, Seany was very emotional, this was a big deal and then he was very hungry. He disappeared after the first 15 minutes and missed the first two goals. I don't know what or how much he ate but he was remarkably sober when he returned at the start of the second half. Liverpool went on to win 4 nil. S...

The summer of 2017 saw the arrival of one of the most important signings in the clubs recent history. Mo Salah was on Michael Edwards radar for years before he finally got his man. Salah chose Chelsea over Liverpool in the January window of 2014 but he only stayed in London for 12 months, another player, like De Bruyne who Mourinho couldn't get the best out of. A couple of loan moves in Italy followed before Roma agreed a permanent deal. He had two good seasons in the Italian capital and then Liverpool came knocking. I doubt many fans, Edwards or Jurgen Klopp predicted what happened next. Salah scored on his league debut, the first game of the season a 3-3 draw with Stoke and the goals just kept going in. What I liked about him was even though he missed chances, it didn't phase him and he missed a few. He had 15 league goals by Christmas and another 6 in Europe. I was due to go to the final Champions League game against Spartak Moscow but I was struck down with stomach pains th...

Jurgen Klopp’s assistant Zeljko Buvac let the cat out of the bag when he told a newspaper in his native Croatia that he and Klopp were heading to Liverpool. Carlo Ancelotti was also being touted and if I’m honest he seemed like the obvious candidate with his long record of success. Klopp was a bit like Rafa in the way he had taken Dortmund to the top of the Bundesliga above perennial winners Bayern Munich. I wasn’t well placed to have an opinion on Klopp as I’d seen one game against Munich in the 2013 Champions League final and I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about this Dortmund team which of course is completely unfair. What I do remember is Klopp taking his Dortmund team to training at Wembley via the tube. So when he breezed into Anfield in early October referring to himself as “The Normal One”, that wasn’t bullshit. There was an honesty about the new manager but also a total confidence in his own ability. He promised to turn doubters (like me) into believers and he would win ...

Kenny Dalglish was sacked by Liverpool 10 days after the FA Cup final. A League Cup and an eighth place finish were not regarded as success by the owners, Fenway Sports Group. Most fans accepted Kenny had steadied the ship but it was time for something new. Around this turbulent time I got a phone call from the club ticket office offering me a season ticket. 13 years after putting my name on the list, my boat had come in. There had been some work done under the Hicks and Gillett administration to unearth an almost mythical season ticket waiting list that I heard was a list of names on an excel spreadsheet which I found quite disappointing really. FSG took the bull by the horns and letters went out to ask if you wanted to stay on the list. I went home to visit my parents one day and the letter was there so I followed the instructions and retained my place. The other guys were now living in Australia or their wife was expecting their second child. Definitely living in a different world ...

While Jordan Henderson was making his England Under 19 debut, the exodus of stars from Liverpool began with Xabi Alonso leaving in 2009. We probably didn’t realise the good times were already over. Rafa brought in Alberto Aquilani to replace him. Could he be the first Italian player to make a name for himself playing for Liverpool? He’d have to overcome injury first. This wouldn’t be the first time signing an injured player would backfire on us. Glen Johnson joined for about 18m which was a lot of money for a full back but English players cost more than twice what they were worth at that time. Settle-ability was the best reason I received for why this was the case. The latest warning that all wasn’t well between owners and manager was when Rafa tried to sign a centre back to replace the long serving colossus that was Sami Hyypia. I know footballers are well paid but if any player deserved a testimonial it was Sami, especially when you consider we only replaced him when we signed Virgi...