One of the big clubs...

Whether they will win the league or not this year, they will still be watched by supporters all round the world.

Interesting this week to read chairman Ralph Krueger talking about his discovery of the popularity of our sport.

Liverpool regularly go to places as far away as Australia to play to packed houses, and I well remember in fact a boomerang being delivered, not thrown, by the postman to The Dell along with a wooden spear from Africa and a headdress from an Arab country after we won the FA Cup.

Football is having a bigger impact than ever with television companies vying for the product, as we have seen with the latest massive deal done.

My memories of Liverpool go way back to when I had just taken over at Doncaster Rovers and the cup draw took us to Anfield.

I had a very interesting conversation with the great manager Bill Shankly, and he did me the honour of inviting me into the boot room afterwards, which I visited many times after that during my time in Southampton.

To meet people like him, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and all was as good an education as any young manager could get.

Even though they had probably just hammered your team, they were very hospitable.

My best memory with Saints was when we won a game at Anfield 1-0 in November 1981.

One of Liverpool’s own legends, Kevin Keegan, was playing for us.

Kevin didn’t score on the day, it was young Steve Moran, but whilst no one there was happy with the result, the invitation to join them in the boot room was still there afterwards.

Another name who will always be revered at Anfield is Jimmy Case.

He left Liverpool after a career of nearly 300 games and many honours, such as four league titles, three European Cups, one UEFA Cup and one League Cup.

He joined Brighton before becoming one of three signings I made just before I myself left Southampton.

Kevin Bond, Mark Dennis and Jimmy were all free transfers.

I signed them for their experience – in Jimmy’s case, he was then about 31-years-old.

It looked like it was his last move.

But apart from seeing me off, by staying at the club for the next six years, he carried on at various other clubs in the area and was 44-years-old when he finished playing at Bashley.

He showed why he had been such a terrific player at Anfield by his 100 per cent effort and the youngsters around him learned by just watching him in training and playing alongside him.

He typified what Liverpool was all about – passion and pride.

Another individual I worked with who had that same connection was Phil Neal, who was on the England staff in my time there.

He probably has the same, if not more, medals than even Jimmy but just quietly got on with the job.

In those days they thought it was a privilege to be picked for a team such as the Reds.

In recent years they have not dominated so much with other upstarts such as Chelsea and Manchester City, admittedly with lots of money being ploughed into them, pushing them off the pinnacle.

Under Brendan Rodgers they are starting to regroup and, as we know down here, he signed quality players.

He took what seemed about half the aints team who had finished so well last season.

It’s always interesting when an ex-player returns, such as that day when Keegan turned out at Anfield.

He typically got a terrific welcome from the home crowd, who will never forget the fantastic games he played for them and the effort he always put into his game.

I’m sure that our crowd will show the same respect, particularly to Rickie Lambert, who was so revered that whilst no one wanted to see him leave they agreed his dream of going back to his boyhood club should not be denied.

But history and everything apart, if you look at the present instead of the past the final run-in is now taking place.

It’s generally assumed Chelsea and Man City are blocking the way to the top two positions with the other two Champions League places still accessible for a number of clubs, two of which are at St Mary’s tomorrow.

I suppose my happiest memory connected to Liverpool was when we finished second, only three points behind them, in the 1983/84 season.

Whilst that may not be possible this year we wouldn’t mind so much if they finished third and we were fourth.

But there are a few other clubs such as Arsenal, Manchester United and even Tottenham that will have something to say about that.

You could say about seven or eight clubs are aiming for European qualification and similarly that number looking over their shoulder in their battle to stay at least fourth from bottom.

This, of course, is what makes the Premier League so attractive, so exciting and so popular all around the world when the television cameras beam a game such as ours to far away places this weekend.