Guest blog'Liverpool is a family and it's one that I will be eternally grateful to be a part of'

I first started supporting Liverpool as a very young child. My dad has a cousin, Anne, who grew up in Liverpool and would visit him in Ireland every summer, bringing him kits to wear and so he began supporting Liverpool. When I was born, one of the first things I was seen adorning was a Liverpool kit and to me it doesn’t get much better than that.

The first player I idolised at a very young age was Michael Owen and I distinctly remember destroying a new Reds jersey with a brown marker attempting to put ‘Owen 10’ on the back of it.

My real love affair began with Liverpool in 2005, however – Istanbul to be exact. I was eight years of age and I remember the excitement my whole family had watching the Champions League final against AC Milan. As you can imagine, the first half was met with a lot of disappointment and tears in the house, but the second half brought emotions that I hadn’t really experienced yet in life (apart from maybe on Christmas Day and even still, I think this was better).

I became totally and utterly obsessed with Liverpool and one man in particular – Steven Gerrard. Captain. Leader. Legend. The things that man did for the club as I was growing up was nothing short of miraculous. He was the closest thing in my world to a real-life superhero. What a role model for a young boy to aspire to be like.

He came from humble beginnings, always the hardest worker on the pitch, rising to every occasion, leading his team into battle over and over again. He scored the most incredible goals when we needed them most and more often than not he was doing the work of two or three men and dragging our club over the line with him. He was everything to me and still is someone I look up to dearly.

It helped that my best friend growing up – Liam Murphy – was a diehard Manchester United fan along with his entire family. I revelled in the rivalry and thoroughly enjoyed the back-and-forth bragging rights that would occur. Although in those days, it was mainly a one-way street with me taking the brunt of most of it.

This didn’t bother me, though. Even as a young boy, I understood that Liverpool was my club and whether we were fighting for titles and Champions Leagues, or finishing mid-table, I would have to deal with it and continue to support my team every time they stepped out onto the pitch.

I played a lot of football myself growing up and did so right up until I started playing music with Amble. I even managed a few Sligo Rovers trials in my day, though Gaelic football often got in the way of things and, to be honest, I could never choose which sport I loved more and that was always going to be frowned upon in both sports. It is one of the only things that I regret about Amble. It is my inability to continue to play sport at a competitive level as it brought me the most fulfilment of anything in life prior.

My first time going to Anfield was a day I will never forget. My dad took myself and my brother over to see Liverpool play Manchester City in 2011. We drew 1-1 with Charlie Adam scoring and Mario Balotelli got sent off. We sat pitchside and I even managed to get a brief appearance on Match of the Day that night… well, my right shoulder did, but still – what a moment!

I have been to Anfield many times since and every single time, no matter what stage of life I’m in, I return to my younger self. I’m always giddy with excitement and it’s the pure joy of what the next 90 minutes could bring.

The turbulent years we went through under different managers made the ones that would follow in my late teens and early twenties even sweeter. The Jürgen Klopp era – the greatest era of football in my lifetime that Liverpool has been involved in. The love I have for Steven Gerrard could only ever slightly be matched by that of the love I have for Klopp.

The high-intensity football, turning us all from doubters to believers, and creating a true identity of what it meant to be a Liverpool supporter once again. I think for most fans it was the comeback in the Europa League against his former team Borussia Dortmund that made us all sit up and dream that maybe we could be onto something special here.

In the years that followed, I experienced some of the greatest moments of elation I have ever felt (including playing in front of thousands of fans with Amble) watching his teams and my club win time and time again – the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup and we won it all under that man.

I am and will always be a Liverpool supporter and if I am ever lucky enough to bring children into this world, they too will be Liverpool supporters, end of discussion. Liverpool is more than a club, it’s a religion, it’s a language, it’s a way of bringing people of all walks of life together to support the same cause. Liverpool is a family and it’s one that I will be eternally grateful to be a part of.

• Amble’s new single ‘The Swell’ is out now - listen here