LFC Dream Scene Booklet Preview

Liverpool Football Club
Dream Scene
Celebrating 125 years
of The Liverpool Way

Introduction
To commemorate its 125th anniversary, Liverpool Football Club commissioned renowned
international sports artist Jamie Cooper to create a truly unique artwork. He was given the
weighty task of creating a defining image that distilled the essence, spirit, past, present and
future of this great club. His magical 3 metre oil on canvas brings together 19 figures who
helped shape the Club during its 125 year history, plus 1 very special fan, into the Liverpool
Football Club Dream Scene.
This booklet reveals the creative inspiration and process behind the many stories woven into
the Liverpool Football Club Dream Scene.
In the artist’s own words:
“It is indeed a great honour to have been entrusted with this challenge
and responsibility. It is one that I take very seriously. As a professional
ex-footballer in my homeland of Australia, I have a deep understanding of
what a football club means to its community. A club like Liverpool FC has
meaning far beyond what happens on the field. It is a community, a family
that extends beyond the boundaries of the white lines.
I travelled across the world several times to meet with people in and
around the club to get a sense of what the Reds culture is about. I listened,
read and gathered information for months before any paint brushes were
picked up.
So why me… an ex-footballer from the other side of the world? Since
retiring from my playing career I have spent 20 years honing this
particular skill, creating images for professional sporting clubs in the U.S.,
Australia and now Europe, where players from several generations are
brought together into a Dream Scene. I painstakingly piece together 100s
of images from different times to create a believable scene where these
legends live and breathe together. They interact in a moment that is
surely every fan’s Dream come true.
My endeavour is to not only to bring them together, but to tell a story…
to imagine what these characters would have said to each other, what
tales they would have told and what personalities would have been
drawn together in this impossible gathering. As football fans, wouldn’t we
love to walk amongst them, to mingle with them as they celebrate playing
the greatest game of all.
Well come with me and imagine if you will…
… A very special gathering inside the dressing room in the New Main
Stand. Our founding father, John Houlding, has called together some of
the greatest personalities from across our 125 year history. We can see
the changing personal appearance of the players over time, in hairstyles,
the boots worn and even how they wear the 125th anniversary kit as they
gather in the Red’s inner sanctum. Some have also brought along objects
deep with meaning. This is now a magical room adorned with trophies
and cultural references from the club’s proud history. Imagine the
Liverpool FC legends from across the ages, plus the current manager and
captain, sharing their memories as the veil is pulled back on the greatest
scene a Kopite could hope for.”
Jamie Cooper - 2017

The Welcoming Committee – A meeting of the minds
Bob Paisley (1939-1983)
Jürgen Klopp (2015- present)
John Houlding (1892-1896)
Bill Shankly (1959-1974)
Tom Watson (1896-1915)
Bob Paisley’s astute gaze
invites us to join this magical
scene. He’s not saying a lot and
leaving the champagne alone.
Bob wants to remember this
incredible meeting of Anfield’s
finest. ‘He’s brought along one
of his record three European
Cups - that will do all the talking
for him.’
1

2
…but wait, ‘Boom!’
All the chatter is between Jürgen Klopp and
Bill Shankly trading talk of ‘sweat boxes’ and
‘heavy metal’ football, the conversation crackling
with quotable one-liners. Jürgen is probably
admiring Shankly’s 1970s tie and shirt combination
whilst Shanks offers a handshake, recognising a
man who shares his passion for the game.

Tom Watson rests a hand on Shanks’ shoulder. The Club’s first great
manager is happy to recognise our most famous, although Watson
might be gently reminding the Scottish master of great ideas, that it
was he who first had the idea of the red shirt... Yes, Watson laid the
foundations and built them well, winning the League twice and in no
small part by signing Alex Raisbeck.
He was sent
away clutching a
contract and an
ultimatum, to...
‘sign Raisbeck -
or don’t bother
to come back!’
3
John Houlding, former Mayor of Liverpool and founder of Liverpool
FC takes it all in. He awaits his fellows in the famous Boot Room
for what will truly be a meeting of the minds, perhaps reflecting
on how his support of a Sunday School football team back in 1877
resulted in the creation of two of the great names in football. His
legacy is huge, and there is much for him to discover. So many
players, so many games, so many titles and trophies, such a band of
supporters, all flowing from his original vision.

FROM ME TO YOU
Alex Raisbeck (1898-1909)
Steven Gerrard (1998-2015)
John Barnes (1987-1997)
‘Here you go, mate.
You’ll not have seen
one of them.’
4
Steven Gerrard hands Alex Raisbeck his Premier League captains
armband as they swap tales of inspirationally captaining the team at
opposite ends of the club’s history. Raisbeck proudly nurses the First
Division League Championship Trophy, having won ‘The Old Lady’
in 1901 and 1906. If Stevie feels a twinge of envy, Alex counters
with admiration as he hears about the ‘Miracle of Istanbul’ and the
‘Gerrard Final’.
John Barnes agrees. He knows all about winning, and both Gerrard
and Raisbeck want him to tell them once again about THAT goal.
Many think it the greatest scored by a Red at Anfield. It was on 17th
October 1987 against QPR, when Barnes was the undisputed star of
one of the greatest teams fielded in LFC’s 125 years, a team so good
it was described as like watching Brazil.

MUTUAL RESPECT
Kenny Dalglish (1977-1991, 2011-2012)
Billy Liddell (1939-1961)
‘I owe Bob Paisley more than I owe anybody else in the game.
There will never be another like him.’ Kenny Dalgish is explaining
to Billy Liddell, as these two footballing giants shake hands.
‘I feel the same way. Much of my success came about
because of Bob’s work at left-back feeding me. He was
an inconspicuous craftsman.’
I like the idea of great players from different times
introducing themselves in their prime. I imagine they
might talk about how they could have worked together
on the field, and what little secrets they could share.
Two modest men, held in the very highest esteem,
shake hands in mutual respect.
Friendly debate will continue about which of the two
men dubbed ‘King’ by the Kopites was the best of all
time. It matters not; both became exemplars of all
that is good in football on, and off, the field of play.
5
‘They named a stand after me,’ Dalglish admits with a cheeky
smile. ‘They named the club after me!’ Quips the man who turned
us into ‘Liddlepool’.