Liverpool FC is about the future

The future’s looking bright for Liverpool FC. Since clinching the Champions League last year – a 2 – 0 victory over Tottenham – they’ve bagged the FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and the honour that evaded them for so long: a domestic league title, won with a record-breaking seven games still to play. Not bad.

Now, and in line with all that future-bright stuff, the club has unveiled a brand new away kit courtesy of new sponsor, Nike.

It’s bold, it’s blue (or teal) and is the 28^th away jersey in the club’s storied 128-year history. We’ve seen orange, lime green, yellow, even a classic silver iteration in the late 80s. But whatever your poison, this is the club’s future. Get excited.

THE FACE travelled to Liverpool to capture the kit on young fans from the area, and to speak to them on their hopes for the future of the club and city.

How do you see the relationship between the club’s past and its future?

Ooh, that’s quite an ephemeral question, that. I see it only getting better from now. I mean, we won the Champions League, won the Premier League…

What are your predictions for the next 10 years of Liverpool FC?

To be amazing. That’s my prediction. 10/​10.

What impact do you think the club’s current success will have on the future of the city?

I think it’ll bring a lot of new life to the city. Liverpool is a global club, really, so you do get a lot of international fans coming and bringing different cultures to the city.

What are your hopes for Liverpool’s future?

It seems at the moment it’s quite deprived. It just needs something to give it that edge.

Who’s your pick for a future club captain?

I couldn’t give you one, I’m sorry.

What’s more important to a club: heritage or future?

I’d say the future, because the past is the past. The future is what’s coming.

Where do you see Liverpool FC in five years’ time?

Olivia: Champions of the world.

Sophie: The only way is up, for me. This is really the start of something mega. I feel like we’ll be here and we’ll be at the top. There’s nowhere else to go.

Olivia: Also, definitely massive investment in the youth teams. Trent, Curtis, all the kids that we’ve got coming on…

Sophie: More Scousers on the team.

What impact do you think the success of the club will have on the city?

Sophie: We won the Premier League for the first time in 30 years and we were in lockdown, and the city still came together. I think we really needed that boost after everything the city’s been through, but also the footie team as well. Thirty years of hurt, and it feels as though from now on, more investment in the city, more people coming and visiting, more people taking us seriously.

Olivia: I think it’s aspirational for young working-class boys to see…

Sophie: Like Trent and that.

Olivia: The city’s ingrained in that working-class community mentality. Obviously you know we don’t buy The Sun – we know how to boycott right wing fascist media. We know how to vote for a good government.

Sophie: Consistently red.

Olivia: Consistently Labour. Our constituency is run by a woman of colour and it’s just so good that finally, a city that’s always gone against the grain…

Sophie: Is on top.

Who’s your pick for a future club captain?

Both: Curtis Jones.

Sophie: And Trent, 100%

What’s more important to a club, heritage or future?

Sophie: I don’t think you can have one without the other. You’ve got to come from somewhere to go somewhere. We couldn’t have had the future we’ve got coming if we didn’t have the pain behind us – from everything that we’ve been through as a city, as a football club, everything that we’ve experienced. That is gonna set a fire.

Olivia: And we’re going to keep going with that.

Where do you see Liverpool FC in five years’ time?

As the best team in the world.

What impact do you think the success of the club will have on the city?

Huge [impact] on younger supporters growing up. They’ll have a team to look up to and idolise.

Who’s your pick for a future club captain?

Curtis Jones.

Why?

He’s young, he’s talented, and he’s got a long way to go.

What’s more important to a club, heritage or future?

Future. I feel like heritage is old, and the future is unknown. It’s more important.

You both met at a match, right?

Yeah, we met about five or six years ago. Now we go to every game together.

Where do you see Liverpool FC in five years’ time?

Sam: Champions of everything, still.

Paul: I think Jürgen Klopp will stay for the next five years. We’ll have won the Premier League at least three times, and two European cups.

What impact do you think the success of the club will have on the city?

Sam: Major success in the city. It’ll bring a lot more tourism in.

Paul: It’ll be good for the economy. The team doing well can only be good for the city.

Who’s your pick for a future club captain?

Both: Trent Alexander Arnold.

What’s more important to a club, heritage or future?

Paul: A mix of both.

Sam: Future for success, but you need heritage to build the future on.

Where do you see Liverpool FC in five years’ time?

Hopefully still at the top of the pile. I’d like to see them being able to keep up that consistency.

What impact do you think the club’s current success will have on the future of the city?

Obviously the bigger the club goes, the more people come into the area. That’s obviously going to boost the economy and redevelop other parts of the city.

Who’s your pick for a future club captain?

Trent Alexander Arnold.

What’s more important to a club, heritage or future?

Heritage. You’ve got to stick by your roots – if you lose your roots, you lose what you’re about as a club.