Get your coat on.
Get up, cup of tea, coffee, bacon sarnie, get ready.
Probably just get out of bed, get changed, get ready to go, get excited.
I think I'll never wear anything blue when we're playing.
Normally I'm like a caged tiger, I have to be doing something. Get the kids ready if
they're coming with us. Go down meet Lee, jump on the bus.
It's the first thing I think about, I'm posting on Facebook, it's often the highlight of the
week. Yeah it's a big part of my life.
Do my ritual in the boot room.
– I'm off now dear.
Three points Bill.
And off to the match I go.
You see little pockets of Liverpool fans around town.
The nerves kick in , especially for the big games.
I can't bear the last hour, waiting for kick off, I just want the game to begin.
I'm ready, why aren't they?
Imagine what them players are like, the nerves, we all get nervous.
It's always been a bit of a Liverpool pub.
The channel flicks over and then yes it all kicks in.
There's sort of a sense that you lose yourself for 90 minutes, the atmosphere of, of just
like a hundred people singing at the screen.
We're 270 miles away from Liverpool but I don't think we're any less Liverpool fans
because of that.
Lots of people can have an affinity to a place without being born and raised there.
Benny and Marcus put up all their posters and all those kind of thing, which is amazing,
it makes you feel at home I guess.
So there's a big kind of balcony on the half of the pub where we gather so we put all our
home made flags, and we put all those up all round the end of the pub.
There's also been people from Liverpool who have actually stumbled upon the pub and just
gone, "Wow, what the hell's going on here? This is just mad."
As a scouser who's come down these ways, as far south as possible, the fact that there
are people supporting Liverpool with proper diehard outlook makes me feel so much at home.
And they've helped me through a really tough time of my life and that's why Liverpool Football Club
should never be restricted to the postcode.
I always had a slight concern being gay and then setting up something like this. You know
there were certain attitudes expressed in the early days that I wasn't comfortable with
and I made a decision that I was going to challenge it and see how it went.
A good proportion of the Brighton Kop supporters are gay. The classic football supporter is
not someone that would naturally feel comfortable around gay people. I think it's a bigger society
question, obviously there is a big stigma around it in football but I don't think that
will shift until as a broader society it has become more socially accepted.
I think it's very stereotypical as well, I think people naturally fall to, "Oh lads,
lads, lads" You know and they think, oh football, pub, man, beer ... all things I love obviously.
Apart from men.
And this is Coutinho. (sings Coutinho-o-o-o)
When I first walked in to the Brighton Kop I was surprised how friendly it was, we've
made so many great friends. It's pretty cool.
Whenever you hear You'll Never Walk Alone, I just get super emotional about it.
The words are powerful and they're significant in people's lives. As soon as that kicks in,
the hairs just ooh, it's just emotional. That's the best way to put it really.
I think to have something that we all believe in, something central that we all care about
and are passionate about, it doesn't matter about anything else. But if you took everyone
that's there you know from a big crowd and you took our Liverpool shirts off and you
sat us down I don't think anyone would know what actually brought us together. Do you
know in that way because it is so diverse. There are as many women as there are men,
you know there's youngsters, there's slightly older people, it's really cool. It's really is.
We're not just watching Liverpool we're actually becoming more than that.
It's gone way beyond football now, we started a charity recently as part of the Brighton
Kop so we've got Kop Kits and we have charity buckets on the bar. The aim is to raise money
to buy kits for young people in the developing world and under privileged young people.
We've done Brighton Kop sports day every year, where families bring the kids along and we've
been to every one. The kids love it, It's brilliant. It's a great atmosphere.
We've set up the football team, won trophies, we've even done barbecues and film nights
and things like that you know when the football's not on to keep that sense of community going.
We're a family and that's what the Brighton Kop is about.
I'm bloody chuffed and I'm proud and I'm priveledged to be a member of this Brighton community.
We're on the right track and we're just gonna keep going with it.
We're recognised by Liverpool Football Club. I have a certificate with a signature on it
saying we're the real deal.
I went to Anfield last season and it only happened through the Brighton Kop.
We will have the opportunity to get people up to Anfield that haven't been before.
I just want people to get to go Anfield because if you're a Liverpool fan you should go to
Anfield at some point in your life.
Liverpool fans will come down here to watch Liverpool play at Brighton's ground and they've
got a ready made family to hang out with.
Community, friendship, fun. That's it.