I am not a native of Liverpool, nor do I hold a UK citizenship. In fact I was born around 1,300 miles away on a cold afternoon in Oslo, Norway. This was the late 1960s and colour TV was about to revolutionize the media world by pushing black and white pictures over the edge.
I was seven years old when my aunt went on a short holiday trip to London in 1975 and brought back two football shirts. One blue and one red. Her son got the first pick – and he chose the blue Ipswich Town shirt. The red Liverpool shirt was handed to me, and my mother almost immediately embroidered a number “7” on the back. She later confessed she had a TV crush on Kevin Keegan.
I grew up watching the weekly live match on Norwegian TV every Saturday during the football season – with my red shirt on – whether Liverpool played or not. As you can see, no Shankly, no history swayed me towards the red shirt – but it grew proud on me. After a few years it did not fit anymore, but I remember my mother ordering me a LFC mirror with pictures of all the trophies the club had won. Still, that was neither the reason for me falling in love with them.
And over the years the bond has been strong. I have been to Liverpool numerous times after my first visit there in 1982 with my family, then with the supporter club in 1986 and on my own for pre-season in 1991. I sold my flat, paid down the mortgage and took the profit and went to Liverpool for 10 days. Why? Because it was like coming home, or belonging to something special that kept a fire burning inside me.
At some point I started looking into the history of the club. I wanted to know more about the years before I was born, about the start – and all the years’ in-between. It has become a passion and the website, or blog you read this post on I have spent four years filling up with transcribed articles. There is not a banner or advertisement on my blog – why should I make money on something that has brought me so much joy and unforgettable moments throughout the years?
Now, 41 years after I got my first shirt – I am suddenly not worthy of being a supporter anymore. Even though I have lived in the UK since 2001. I am one of those being blamed for taking tickets for home matches away from the locals. I am a Scandinavian and together with the Asian we are the ‘black death’ of supporters.
If you do not know what I mean have a look at these:
This first post is from the very well-known and informative Liverpool Fanzine “Red all over the land”.
The other one is from “This Is Anfield.”
How can serious LFC sites/fan groups allow such comments/posts that can only spread hate towards other Liverpool supporters?
Oh well. There might be more important things in life than fighting to be worthy of a lost cause.
If you are a die-hard local with the same attitude described above, try to answer these two questions.
(1) Why are mid-weeks game almost never sold out?
(2) Do you know locals that have sold tickets on the “black market”?
"Play Up, Liverpool" 
I have just seen a post of yours on a scottishleague forum from 2013 regarding William White. I have details of his time at Woolwich Arsenal but only his year of birth not date. By all means contact me if you want the info I have but I doubt it is relevant to your Liverpool history.
Hallelujah Kjell! Well said! I often wonder this as well.. I have once or twice had to prove somebody that I was a proper Red .. after which I was told that I was an “adopted Scouser” which I guess is the highest compliment they can make. I sing and shout as much as anyone else while at the ground.. not star struck with a camera on hand.. it pains me when all foreigners are classified the same.. a Liverpool book by Derek Hodgson I got for Christmas ignited my passion …. fuelled by Kevin Keegan’s autobiography – I read both book numerous times.. just something happened inside me.. and the fire will forever burn.. we are proper reds as well as numerous non-Scousers I know.
Hi Kjell, Sorry to see that you’ve been annoyed by this nonsense, but please don’t let it get to you. The amount of time you must’ve spent on this blog is almost frightening, so no one sane could possibly doubt your commitment.
Neither of the social media posters have done themselves any credit there. What on earth is the iPhone shot trying to imply? That a “true” fan should be abusing a rival manager instead?
The one from the fanzine is economic twaddle – if every football club really was just down to, say, 40,000 locals who supported and that was literally it (ie no one else ever turns on their TV to watch the team either so all that money disappears), then they’d all go bust overnight. What that poster is unable to grasp is that, much as he may not like it, it therefore IS all the millions of other fans around the world who keep the club going, as they buy the merchandise and pay for their TV subscriptions. In blunt economic terms the local diehard aren’t that important – that’s not to be disrespectful, but just numerically realistic, as the locals are only ever a tiny minority of the total fanbase.
The point about these (implied) “plastic” fans being the first ones to jump ship if the team starts losing is the sort of tiresomely self-righteous rubbish that self-anointed “true” fans always say- yes, I’m sure some would drift away, but then again so would some of the locals as well! Winning football teams attract bigger crowds and losing ones smaller – have a look at Nick Hornby’s “Fever Pitch” and his estimate on how relatively small the absolute hardcore of any club’s support actually is. And anyway, if the true fans, of any club, would never desert their team, then who is it who goes on social media with comments like “I’ve been a season ticket holder for 20 years, but I’m not giving them any more of my money until the manager is fired/the football improves/they get rid of half the useless team” – is this plastics pretending to be season-ticket holding locals?
For the record, I don’t come from Liverpool but my father, who grew up in the actual district of Anfield and told me plenty of stories of Billy Liddell and the 1947 champions (amongst many others!), did, so is that enough to qualify me as a fan under such a silly concept as “Liverpool for locals” or not?