Callaghan: Why the Anfield dressing room was so special
As the 2015-16 season drew to a close Anfield bid a fond farewell to a famous old friend.
The home dressing room has a special place in the history of Liverpool Football Club, but with the opening of the new expanded Main Stand next season the present space will be replaced - leaving behind some truly incredible memories.
To find out just how special an atmosphere was forged within those walls, we caught up with a man who frequented it more than most over the years.
Ian Callaghan is Liverpool’s record appearance holder with 857 games in a red shirt and shared the famous coat hangers with some of the club’s finest players of all time.
It was April 16, 1960 when the 17-year-old Scouser first stepped foot inside the Anfield home dressing room as he was handed his debut by Bill Shankly.
He was Man of the Match as the Reds beat Bristol Rovers 4-0, too.
Legendary team talks from the likes of Shankly and Bob Paisley, right through to Jürgen Klopp, have been delivered in the famous quarters, and Callaghan insists the memories will stay with him forever.
He recently told Liverpoolfc.com from inside the dressing room: “I always get a bit of a buzz when I come here [the home dressing room] because this is the place I spent many years and getting changed here with some great players.
“Bill Shankly liked to bring personalities in [the dressing room] like Jimmy Tarbuck and Frankie Vaughan and I think he did this around 2pm just to relax the lads.
“By 2.15pm they would have disappeared and then it was down to what it was all about and going out onto that great pitch out there and playing.”
One myth Callaghan was keen to dismiss was the theory that the Liverpool players could hear the sound of the crowd from the dressing room.
He said: “You couldn’t hear the crowd as it was soundproof. It wasn’t until you went outside and went down the steps past the ‘This is Anfield’ sign that you could hear the crowd, which must have been a frightening experience for a lot of the teams.
“You would walk out, then the opposition would walk out, and you would see ‘This is Anfield’ and Shankly was always out there. He was out there looking at them [the opposition], eyeing them up and all that, so it was just a fantastic experience - it really was.”
Callaghan also revealed that the dressing room underwent a renovation in 1971, under the watchful supervision of Shankly as he put a more modern touch on the facility, which lasted right through until the end of the current season.
He added: “I remember coming back here in 1971-72 for pre-season training and Shankly brought us all into the dressing room. He was so proud of it and we were all looking around and thinking how fantastic it was compared to what it used to be.
“It wasn’t until later on that he noticed a hairdryer in the corner and he looked around and said ‘professional footballers using a hairdryer!’
“When you come back into this dressing room it means so much to me. The amount of time I spent in here as a player, I still pinch myself. I really do.”
Looking forward to the unveiling of the new home dressing room, the legend accepts things have to move with the times.
He added: “Things do change and you have got to go along with it. There are great memories but we have to move on.
“I’m looking forward to having a look around the new dressing room when it is built.”