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You may not know Peter Carney, but you will certainly know some of his Liverpool banners that have become iconic on the Kop.
The majestic pre-match displays at Anfield don’t happen by magic and Carney plays a big part in creating the environment that pushes the Reds on.
For 50 years, he has been making Liverpool flags and banners to show his support for the club in times of tragedy and triumph.
Here we spoke to Peter Carney to find out more about his Liverpool Life…
My first Liverpool match was…
Chelsea in the third round of the FA Cup on January 22, 1966 – got beat 2-1.
Hadn’t held the cup in 70 years and the first game the next season, got knocked out by the team they beat in the semi-final.
I would have been six and a half. I got two bob (two pounds) off my aunty and went on my own in the boys pen.
I’d been before that with my dad on his shoulders. We used to go in at three quarters time or half time, but that was when I was pre-school.
We had to take turns because I had two older brothers, so we couldn’t all go on his shoulders.
I started supporting Liverpool because…
It was just what you done as a kid, you know; you played football and you wanted Liverpool to win.
I remember the day after Liverpool won the cup on my sixth birthday and the day after, I got sent for the papers.
My mother had to come out looking for me because I took so long to get to the shops and back, and I was sat on the wall down the street, reading the match report with all my mates, all the kids sitting round me by the wall.
Of course, Liverpool was going through such a transformation then. In part of my life, my dad went the match as a St John Ambulance man.
The first banner I made…
Was for the FA Cup semi-final replay in 1974. I’d been to the original game and I didn’t have the money or the wherewithal to got to the replay, so we sat out the back of the flats next door to where I lived with the radio.
I got a bedsheet and drew LFC in straight lines with a ruler and pencil, and then painted the letters with paint, so that was the first one.
We took a Union Jack to Wolves, 1976, and Bruges but it was enormous so we gave it away for a bottle of vodka!
The next one was 1981. I made a flag for Paris ’81, ‘Allez Les Rouges’, so they were the early banners I made.
If you could relive one Liverpool game, which would it be?
Barcelona was something else, I seriously think that’s become the greatest night at Anfield ever. That was just remarkable.
If you could relive one season supporting Liverpool, which would it be?
Up to winning the league.
When they played Aston Villa in November, I knew then this was the year we were going to win the league.
I’ll never forget that game at Aston Villa because for five minutes that day, Man City could come to Liverpool the following week, beat Liverpool and go top of the league.
And then, in another five minutes, it completely turned round. I think Man City were playing West Brom and they were 1-0 up, then West Brom equalised then Liverpool equalised, then Liverpool went in front within 10 minutes.
Before then, I just believed that’s when we were going to win the league. I took the banner, ‘Jurgen-a believe us’, in his second full season.
When I first took it, I hadn’t finished the painting on it.
Despite the COVID, the fact they were gonna win the league, it was another six months before we had the close-down.
At the end of January, when Salah scored against Man United, 2-0. I just laughed all night because Liverpool battered them.
My three guests from Liverpool’s past or present for a dinner party would be…
Dalglish has got to be one, hasn’t he? I think Houllier, I had got a lot for Houllier. He never got half the credit he deserved in my mind.
And of course, Shankly. You’d have to have Shankly there wouldn’t you, if that were possible?
Thanks again to Peter Carney for sharing his Liverpool Life. You can follow him on X @soccrinthecity.
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