I was born and grew up in Liverpool 8 (Toxteth). Myself and a group of friends decided to all support Liverpool. Our fathers were all at away fighting in WW2 so there was no fatherly influence as to whether we would support Liverpool or Everton. Our big influence in the decision was that we all loved Billy Liddell. He was our hero.
When my dad returned home from the war he gave my brother John and I the money to go to watch our first game, Liverpool vs Everton. That was in 1946 and I was nine years old.
When we were a little older we would go to watch the games, even when we were relegated to the second division. Looking at the Kop goal we would stand at the right back of the Kop over the tunnel for the supporters entrance.
I remember an article in the Echo newspaper saying that we would sign Bill Shankly and about a month later we did. He was an immediate influence. We had reached a point where he had to drop Billy Liddell and he struggled with that but explained to the supporters that it was necessary.
In the late 1960's the club announced that they would make some season tickets available for the fans in the Kop. I applied and I managed to get my Kop season ticket. I only gave it up when my family and I moved over here.
When we moved over here it was impossible to get a game on tv. We couldn't even get the scores. One of my sisters would send me the Liverpool Echo pink with all the info I needed. It stayed like that until the mid eighties when we heard that the pubs were able to show one game per week. We asked the John Bull pub to show them and they agreed. We paid $10 dollars to watch a game. There would be about twenty of us watching, all ex pats. We had no idea what game would be on but we just went and watched. Most of those guys are still around supporting Man. Utd, Newcastle, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool. I made some great friends during that time and they are still going today. It was also the time I first met our fellow Pasadena Reds supporter Mel.
It was during this time I started a supporters group called the California Reds on the internet.There was only about a dozen members but some were in San Francisco, San Diego and LA. Mel also joined that group.
Around 1995 the owner of the John Bull sold the pub to some guy who made it clear he was not a big football fan. He was more inclined to switch over to a restaurant. It was clear to me and the boys that we were going to lose our football venue. One night, while celebrating my sixtieth birthday with my wife in went into Lucky's and spent the rest of the night trying to talk Dave Farnsworth into showing the games on at Lucky's. He was all for it but it took a long tome to persuade his business partner to go along with it. Finally it was agreed that the pub would show whatever game was on and we would pay $10 a game. I also had to persuade the guys from the John Bull that he would show all the games that came on and that we couldn't rely on the John Bull anymore. Some came in immediately and others came when the John Bull stopped showing the games. The next target was to try to get Americans to come and watch the games.
It was at this time I changed the name of the group over to The Pasadena Reds on the internet.
My favorite game on tv was when we beat Inter Milan in Istanbul in 2005. It was one of the craziest, nerve racking games ever. On the morning of the game I was informed that my sister had passed away back in Liverpool. I was really down going to the game but after we had won it I was really picked up again. I flew out the following morning to Liverpool.It was around this time that the game was becoming more popular and we were seeing more Americans coming into Lucky's to watch the games.
In 2016 I told some members of the group that I was going to apply to LFC for us to become an OLSC. I contacted LFC and they gave me the guidelines to apply. We had to establish a management team so it was agreed that Armen, Efren, Giuliana, Russell and Chris would become board members. We made the application and after some time were informed by LFC that our application was successful and the now official Pasadena Reds was up and running.
It's been a fun journey with having players like Luis Garcia doing a presentation for LFC when we playing in the Rose Bowl and Ian Rush in the Mexican restaurant on Colorado Blvd doing another one. Being interviewed on Redmen tv with Chris Patton about the fantastic turnout of our Pasadena Reds supporters and Chris's fantastic barbecue.
Our group is still growing but it still is the most friendly and welcoming group you could wish for. We have made lots of friends from other groups both close in LA, Carlsbad, San Diego and across the country.
YNWA.
