A woman has decorated her house with Liverpool FC paraphernalia and cut-outs of certain players to support the club in its quest for a historic quadruple.
Emily Farley, 67, decks out her home in Everton with Liverpool regalia every time the Reds get to a final or are in the running for a trophy. With the club able to pick up four trophies this season, she has gone all out.
Having won the Carabao Cup, Liverpool will face Chelsea in the FA Cup final and Real Madrid in the Champions League final - as well as hoping to overturn a three point deficit and pip Manchester City to the Premier League title - over the next month.
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The display features cardboard cut-outs of Jurgen Klopp, Jordan Henderson, Mohammed Salah (donning a crown), Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, as well as flags, bunting, posters, cut-out trophies and a portrait of James Milner.
Emily, who watched the club lift the European Cup in Rome in 1977 and Paris in 1981 but cannot make it to any of the finals this season, told the ECHO that decorating her home is her way of showing support for her beloved Reds.
She said: "I've been doing it for years. Every time we get into a final, they go up. A s I can’t make it to the final, this is my way of supporting them."
The decorations have only been up for a matter of days but Emily has received plenty of compliments already. She said: "A man came over to see them and he was over the moon. On Saturday, someone was offering me money to cover the cost of stuff I’ve been buying. They said ‘you make people happy by seeing it and that's what life’s about’."
The ECHO spoke to Emily shortly after Manchester City beat Newcastle United on Sunday (May 7) to go three points clear at the top of the league table and denting Liverpool 's quadruple hopes in the process. However, she warned people not to rule Jurgen Klopp's side out of the running and thinks that City could slip up between now and the season's end.
"I don’t think the Premier League is out of our sight, but if it is, there are two finals to look forward to", she said. " It’s not often that a club is competing for everything come the end of the season."
Emily previously decorated the front of her house in June 2020, when Jurgen Klopp's side were about to secure the club's first league title in 30 years. That year's display featured two new items - replica Shankly Gates and a red Liver Bird - in tribute to her husband David, who died in August 2019.
The gates and Liver Bird are back again this year and Emily said that David would have loved to be able to see this Liverpool team in the running for three more trophies.
Asked if it was the finest Liverpool side she has ever seen, Emily answered: "My era was Roger Hunt, Ian St John, Ron Yeats - they were my team, but this is the best. They’ve got strength, fast movement of the ball and the way Jurgen has them playing is working a treat."
Though it is Salah, Henderson, van Dijk, Mane, Firmino and manager Klopp who get the life-size cut-out treatment, James Milner is the squad member that Emily appreciates the most.
She explained: "I haven’t got a cut out of Milner, but a gentleman on Facebook gave me two portraits - one that he painted for my husband and he gave me that surprise one of James Milner. I said that James Milner was my favourite because he fights for every ball and gives 100% in everything he does."
The Yorkshireman's passion and commitment encapsulates this Liverpool side, Emily said. She now hopes that her passion for the club, represented by her decorations, is matched by other fans.
She added: "I hope other people’s Liverpool flags are going up now, whether I’ve kick started it or not. My neighbours are about to put theirs up - they’re pensioners - aged 92 and 97. Their grandchildren are coming around to put some of their stuff up."
"I was told I’m very dramatic, doing all this, but I’m not. It’s not dramatic, it’s the love for Liverpool. And seasons like this are few and far between."
