Barwick: My Reds passion

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Brian, it's fair to say people know you but they might not know how big a Liverpool fan you are. Tell us why this club means so much to you...

This autumn I celebrate 50 years of watching the club, which is a pretty significant anniversary for me, and a slight worry as it tells me I'm at least 50 years of age and a bit more besides! In that time, I've watched the club rise from the second division - the old second division as it was - to being champions of Europe, several times over, and become what many people call a worldwide brand. So I've seen the growth of the club, its reputation become global, and much more importantly than that, I've watched some fantastic football matches, with some fantastic footballers. And bizarrely I've watched them from all sorts of weird and wonderful different places.

Could you ever have imagined, right back at the start, this club would take you on so many journeys and become such an integral part of your life?

No. I call the last chapter of the book the 'Magic Thread' and the magic thread for me is the fact every June the fixtures come out, every August the season starts and every May any football team, whoever you support, have had either a good season, an indifferent season, or a bad season. They've had some type of season and within that captured a set of adventures that will stand out. Something will stand out in the season and become part of the memory bank. For me, it's been a consistent source of fun - and not just with Liverpool. I'm very committed to Liverpool, but I actually love the game and I think it has been really kind to me. It's a really important part of a lot of people's lives.

Tell us about your first memory of watching Liverpool...

Well, my first memory is Liverpool v Leyton Orient in October 1961. I think people are probably telling porky pies (lies) if they know exactly what their first game was, but all the indications tell me that was my first Liverpool game, although I probably don't remember it as well as the second, third or fourth (game). In those days, you had to do what the players did - you had to serve your time in the reserves before you got in the first team.

So for the first couple of years, I spent most of my time watching the reserves. It helped that my dad could take me to the games and bring me back, because he was a policeman and walked around the side of the pitch. So I did have this rather remarkable thing of being one of the few people who have been escorted into the ground!

History tells us now that supporting Liverpool in 1960s was a great time to start - the club was about to take off...

It was a very special time, and you were part of it - you felt part of it. And the Shankly thing was real. I've been blessed through professionally meeting some of the seriously biggest names in world sport, but I still put Shankly top of the pile in terms of people I've met who inspire me. Through my work I have to do public speaking and I often talk about leadership, about the power of leadership and how there's all different types of leadership. I haven't met anybody who has inspired me as much as Bill Shankly.

I never played for him, I just watched his football team. He did it different ways - he did it in small ways. In the sixties I used to go with a mate to watch the team train during half-terms. These weren't big corporate or sponsors days, these were get the 68 bus down there and you were allowed in days. There would only be about 25 to 30 of you - there wouldn't be 400 - and he (Shankly) would always come over and have a chat. You'd think it lasted 20 minutes, but it probably lasted two minutes - but it was a really special two minutes, and it allowed you to go home that evening and when your mum would say when she was making the tea, 'What did you do today?', you could reply, 'Oh, I had a chat with Bill Shankly, and he said Roger Hunt might not make it Saturday and the Saint has got a bad ankle!'

I later saw him in a different light when I watched him give a talk at Liverpool University for the law society. The place was full of people who were used to having all the top legal brains, but he just took the mood of the room. He didn't talk what would now be called 'corporate jargon', he really inspired people about leadership. And then there was the simple fact that when Liverpool came home with or without the FA Cup, he could stop a crowd from singing and chanting by raising a finger. It was quite remarkable actually - I can't think of anyone who's got remotely close to him.

I suppose over the 50 years you've seen almost all of the club's great players and servants. Who stands out? Who are your favourites?

Dalglish for me is the best player, and I say that for several reasons. Firstly he was a fantastic footballer and secondly he played every week. I think I say in the book, the only rotation he was involved in was turning the centre-half inside out! Thirdly, he played as a manager as well - and believe me, his introduction of himself into the back end of the season in 1985-86 won Liverpool the double. So I'd have to put him right at the top of the pile.

I was just too young to see Billy Liddell. I did actually see him play, but not in the context of competitive football, but you've got to believe Billy Liddell would be up there. After that there's John Barnes, who was a very, very special footballer, and Steven Gerrard. Steven's still got a few chapters to go and he may run Kenny very close at some stage.

Then it's about the players you grow up with, when you're nine, 10, 11 and 12 years of age and the players all seem eight-foot tall. My favourite side of all from that era was Lawrence, Lawler, Byrne, Milne, Yeats, Stevenson, Callaghan, Hunt, Smith, Thompson. I loved Roger Hunt because he scored lots of goals. He missed the odd one as well, but he was always in a position to score and that's a very good habit. Of course, he was also an England World Cup winner.

My other favourite player from that era was Peter Thompson - a brilliant winger who used to beat the full-back twice and thrice! He probably only needed to beat him once, but he was a showman and a great, old-fashioned winger. I liked Tommy Smith too - a fantastic defender, who played across two eras. There are plenty of great footballers there, and there's also Rushie (Ian Rush) who just scored, scored and scored.

As well as all the great players you've seen, you've also witnessed the great nights and moments. Which stand out for you?

My favourite match is November 1970, Liverpool 3 Everton 2, Anfield. Everton were the reigning champions and had beaten Liverpool 2-0 at the backend of the previous season. Liverpool had to start changing their side, so it was a young team, a different type of side. It was 0-0 at half time with nothing much happening, then Royle and Whittle scored for Everton. In fact, Royle and Whittle were the two guys who had scored in the previous March.

Then, and I checked this up the other day so I can say it with some confidence, that it was in the 69th minute of the game that Liverpool got a goal back through Steve Heighway. It was a near-post finish and everyone thought it was a fluke, but he did the same thing in the Cup final later that season. Next, Toshack in his second game for Liverpool, rode on Brian Labone's shoulders and headed home for 2-2 and the place went bonkers. We can all remember how loud the Kop was - but this was really loud!

Then Chris Lawler, who had this uncanny knack as a full-back of turning up in the opposition's 18-yard box and scoring - he scored 50 goals for Liverpool, and not one was a penalty - netted in the 84th minute, so there were three goals in 15 minutes of a game that spun on its head. That's my favourite match, then you go onto the likes of Rome and Istanbul - remarkable games.

We spoke about Kenny Dalglish before, and you mention he is someone you have grown to know as a person as well. How special is that friendship to you and how pleased are you to see him back at the club now?

Well, I've probably known Kenny Dalglish for 30 years. For a lot of that time, we've bumped into each other two or three times a year. When I worked with the BBC, if there was a Liverpool story to be produced for Football Focus, they would invariably send me. So I got to know Kenny really well, I got to know his family, and I got to see him as a great footballer but I also saw him during the Hillsborough period as a great human being. Then, of course, he finished and I never thought he would come back.

I had the bizarre scenario of sitting next to him at a few games last season, in the first half of the season - but he hasn't asked me to sit next him since! I was really pleased he got a chance (to come back). I was slightly nervous for him in truth because he'd been out of management for some time, although I've never met anybody who has a more encyclopaedic knowledge of the game. He used to come into the BBC quite a lot when I was there. We would have about 12 screens showing football from all over Europe for a roundup at the end of Sports Night, and he would know of virtually every player and had the uncanny knack of not missing a goal.

The thing that most amuses me, and that I love about him, is his reaction to a goal - it can be from 30 yards out or from three inches, but he's got the widest smile. His smile is wider than the Mersey and it's just fantastic to see. I was up the other week watching Liverpool play Bolton - he enjoys the goals more than the goal scorers!

I suppose over the years, through your professional life as well, you've lived the dream...

I've had a go - I've had a real go. I've taken some professional risks, calculated risks I have to say, but it's given me access to the inner sanctum of football. It's meant on occasions I've had to be nonpartisan and understand what that truly means. I've managed to pull that off 98 per cent of the time. But it's given me, on occasion, a little bit of breadth in terms of understanding you can lose a game as well as win a game and professionally probably carry the same degree of hurt. I've had a lot of fun.

In your book, you talk about before the 2006 FA Cup final when you were on the pitch with the two sets of players and thinking, 'I've got to stay impartial!' That was just part of the job at the time...

Yes it was, absolutely. In the book I say I don't believe one West Ham player probably thought I meant it. I thought I'd got away with it, but I believe in commentary John Motson said ‘Brian Barwick, a lifelong Liverpudlian!' To be honest I've never ever hidden it, and my accent partly gives it away, but also I think it's fairly reasonable to follow a football club - and if you're involved at the top end of football in some way it's likely that you've supported a club. If you're in the top echelons of the arts world, you probably like opera, ballet, and music.

I've also respected everybody else's right to support a football club. Even at the FA we all supported different clubs. One of my pals there was Trevor Brooking, and it was quite evident that not only did he play for West Ham, but he supports them too. It's part of it.

Looking ahead to the future as a Liverpool fan, are you excited?

Yes, I think there is a positive mood around the club - off the field and on the field. It's had its problems, but I think Kenny has galvanised the players and the supporters. I think the owners have backed the judgement of Kenny and Damien Comolli.

There have been a good set of players brought in, allowing other players to leave the club, so I like the balance of the squad. I've thought in recent seasons we didn't have enough game changers on the bench - but now you look at the bench and there are real options. I'd like us to have a real good run in the league. It's still early and you've probably got to accept the fact there are other squads there that are more mature and developed, and some that have cost a lot more money.

One of the things that Liverpool aren't involved in this season, rather surprisingly because they always are, is Europe and that could be quite significant in the second half of the season. The likelihood is, given all previous history, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea will all get to the back end of the Champions League. Manchester City - who knows? But they might as well and that means they're going to play a lot more games, be on the road a lot more, and it may just give Liverpool a chance. I think a Champions League place is almost a minimum requirement for me.

I'd also like us to have a serious run in one of the cups and play at the new Wembley, because I was part of it. It was on my shift that we opened it, and Liverpool still haven't played there. The previous Wembley was nicknamed 'Anfield South' and I think it's about time Liverpool got to a cup final. That's where I set the bar for the club.

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