Travelling Kop heading for London

Saturday, April 25 – 1914
If enthusiasm will win the Cup, Liverpool have a jolly good chance.

Something like 20,000 excited, shouting people left the city for London last evening, and the enthusiasm bubbled over into this morning, and filled one of the biggest trains on record, for the early football “special” which left Lime-street at 7.40 this morning carried 1,200 people. Eighteen coaches and a half had to be used to transfer the population of a “village” from Liverpool to London one swoop.

And the travelling village from Merseyside was very happy They did not seem to mind the crush, although in places they were packed like cigars in a box. But that was generally their own fault. They came in parties and refused to be separated; so if fifteen or sixteen people came together they crammed into one compartment, preferring to suffer the discomfort of standing or sitting on one another’s knees to the cruel alternative of splitting up and being unable to discus the possibilities of the match together; for these enthusiasts will talk football all the way up to town, and the bulk of them will talk about bringing home the Cup as though the match were already over and Liverpool triumphant. Many of these early folk had been working nearly all night, but enthusiasm buoyed them up, and they added their sleepy cheers to those of their fresher comrades.

Red And White.
It was a train of streamers. Every carriage blazed with red and white ribbons and rosettes. Portraits of the Liverpool team were stuck on the windows, and “Echo” badges bearing football battle cries were worn in nearly every hat or button hole. A young fellow with a bowler hat of red and white kept things merry as he leaned out of a window and chaffed the porters, breaking off every now and then with erratic suddenness to cheer the favourites. Some of the enthusiasts were moved to song and they sang “You made me love you,” while others chanted Burnley’s swan song, a doggerel, setting forth how Liverpool trounced their opponents and carried off the Cup. It went like this: –

“The Burnley men came like the wolves on the fold,
‘And their faces gleamed bright as the Klondyke gold;
To the football field they all wended their way.
To see their old foes at football to play.
But alas and alack, when they got on the field
And saw their opponents, they knew they’d to yield;
For they rushed them and pushed them until all were sore.
‘And beat them all hollow, as they’d oft done before.”

The 1913 song “You made me love you”

Of course, it was a bit premature, but while granting Burnley’s claim to fame, we all hope Liverpool are going to win. Some of the supporters were taking the Cup up to London with them. They had it pinned to their coats – a little facsimile of the trophy worked on a medal, and they seemed confident that they would bring home the “real thing” to-night.

Well Provided.
There had been little time for breakfast this morning, and some of the travellers were taking “a little extra” on the train. All had come well provided with provisions, as they would find it difficult to keep up enthusiasm on an empty stomach. Many pockets were bulging with sandwiches, and room was also found for not a few well-filled bottles. To show their loyalty, some of the enthusiasts had even packed the sandwiches in red and white paper.

It was a truly merry crowd. Among the excursionists were many lady supporters of the club who took a leading part in the display of enthusiasm. The train was half full by a quarter past seven, and it went out on time, twenty five minutes later, packed with people. They are going to cheer their side, and as the train puffed slowly out of the station they opened their lungs and showed what they could do. Liverpool certainly will not lack vocal support.

And if the voice should fail countless beribboned handbelts and rattles will make up the deficiency, with an even more noisy clamour.
(Liverpool Echo, 25-04-1914)

The Royal Cup Final