London (AFP)

George Sephton has never scored a single goal in the English Championship. But the oldest Premier League speaker, 74, has lived everything with Liverpool, from the Heysel tragedy to the title won this year after three decades of waiting.

Announce the players at the stadium microphone, promote groups from Liverpool before the match and launch the legendary "You'll Never Walk Alone" in the sound system, George Sephton has been doing it since August 14, 1971, the day when a certain Kevin Keegan made also his debut at Anfield.

He got the job by simply writing to Peter Robinson, the club president, that he could be a better speaker than the one at the time.

And he illustrated himself so well that several legends of the club paid tribute to him. "George is part of the history and tradition of the club, and if he left it would be more important than if I left," said Kenns Dalglish, player and historic coach of the Reds,.

"I was having dinner with my wife, daughter and stepson and they wrote to me to show me such sweet words from Dalglish. I figured after that I could die quiet," he says. to AFP.

Dalglish wrote the preface to his book, to be released next year, and famed rocker Elvis Costello left a note for the back cover.

"I don't need to write anything in between!" Jokes the speaker.

- Tragedies -

The other meeting that marked him for life is the one with Jürgen Klopp, the coach who brought the Reds to the top.

The day he introduced himself to Klopp, the German "had no doubts. He said to me:" You are the voice of Anfield! + When he recognized me, I realized again said I could die quiet, "says Sephton.

He now considers Klopp as the only one capable of competing with Bill Shankly, the legendary coach of the Reds in the 1960s and 70s.

But he who saw, behind his microphone, Liverpool win 12 titles of champion of England and nine of champion of Europe (six C1, three C3) also lived very closely the two tragedies which marked the history of the Reds .

On April 15, 1989, the day of the Hillsborough disaster which resulted in the death of 96 supporters in a crowd, his then 15-year-old son Rob was in the stands.

"Rob was there with a boyfriend and his father," recalls George Sephton. Liverpool faced Nottingham Forest in the English Cup semi-finals at the Sheffield Wednesday stadium.

They were able to get out of the crowded gallery in time. "They were lucky," he says.

George Sephton signed up for the victims of the disaster. "They say to me:" You are so kind to do this. "But I answer them:" Good God, I could have been the parent of a victim myself. "

- "But are you crazy?" -

He was present at the Heysel stadium, where 39 spectators lost their lives before the kick-off of the 1985 European Champion Clubs' Cup final, Juventus-Liverpool.

"It was the only time in my career that I was happy to see Liverpool lose," said George Sephton.

In the official gallery, he then argued with a UEFA delegate.

Despite the crowd in the stands, the match was kicked off.

The delegate of the European body then told him that they were about to announce that any invasion of the ground would result in the suspension of the meeting.

"I said to him:" But are you crazy? If you do that, at the first goal they will enter the field and it will be a butchery. I don't want to see that, "he recalls.

For the next season, he could lose his honorary title of oldest Premier League speaker if Brentford, still vying for promotion, wins his ticket.

Peter Gilham, Brentford's voice, "He's a great guy. We can celebrate our 100 years of combined service together," he smiles.

© 2020 AFP