Football

Introduction
*Peel first became interested in the sport when at public school in Shrewsbury, playing in the right-wing position. He continued to play unofficially, for example for the Radio 1 team, but did not follow professional football until he began supporting Liverpool FC. He also followed the fortunes of Ipswich Town (also referred to by him under their nickname 'The Tractor Boys'), since Sheila was a fan, although she was surprised when he said he would pick her up at 5 p.m. for their first date only after hearing the football results.
 * As further evidence of his devotion to Liverpool FC, John named his children Alexandra Mary Anfield; Florence Victoria Shankly; Thomas James Dalglish; and William Robert Anfield Ravenscroft.
 * When asked to name a luxury as part of his contribution to Desert Island Discs, John chose a football and a wall to kick it against.

Liverpool FC

 * Peel began supporting Liverpool in 1950 at the age of ten.

"'At the first boarding school I went to, there were about 80 boys. Seventy-eight of them supported (Manchester) United, I supported Liverpool and there was one boy who wasn't interested in football. So my prejudice against United has been lifelong.'"
 * John dated his support from the time when they played Arsenal in the FA Cup Final and lost 2-0: this caused him to place a ban on that team's supporters coming to Peel Acres (with the exception of Robert Wyatt and Alfie), which was "lifted" in the mid 1990s.
 * His long-standing idol from the team was Bily Liddell, whose portrait hung in the dining room at Peel Acres: an autograph signed on a newspaper flier by the player was kept in his father's old desk and John referred to it as 'perhaps the most sacred item I own.'
 * Sheila relates that when they first moved to Suffolk, John was a regular attendee at Liverpool's home ground of Anfield, until work commitments prevented him from doing so (although he made half-hearted attempts to get a season ticket when William was at university).
 * They were both present at the Heysel stadium disaster] on May 29 1985 at which 39 people died. He did not go to another match for several years as a result. He was also heavily affected by the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, when 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives.
 * Terrace hero Robbie Fowler was latterly a great favourite in the Peel household, and John was outraged when the striker was sold to Leeds United in November 2001 for £11m. When the news of the transfer broke on 27 November, the Pig conspired with producer Louise by telephone to keep this from John until the end of his programme that night, fearing he would talk about it too much. Peel made his thoughts clear on the following night's show, 28 November 2001: "I've supported Liverpool for over 50 years and I don't think I've ever been as upset or outraged by anything that they did... In our family we're heartbroken by it."

Meadowbank Thistle

 * In Scotland, Peel's preferred team was lowly Meadowbank Thistle (relocated and renamed Livingston FC in 1995), whose matches he would try and catch if he could. Why?

"Entirely because a group of extremely droll supporters invited me to join them for a match and subsequently took me to Hampden Park where 300 benighted souls - and that 300 includes the Queens Park enthusiasts - huddled together on the open terraces across which snow stormed and the wind shrieked in a manner that would have had Amundsen sucking his teeth apprehensively. 'Give us an F,' they roared. 'Give us an I, give us an S, give us a U, give us an L,' they continued. 'What does that spell?' they wanted to know. 'Fisul!' they concluded. How could I have doubted, even for a moment, but I stood and suffered with the very cream of mankind?"

Known Fixtures Attended

 * JP more often than not detailed the football matches he had been to, with his reactions.
 * 10 May 1978: Liverpool vs Bruges, Wembley Stadium, European Cup Final. Winning goal courtesy of Kenny Dalglish.
 * 06 October 1979: Liverpool vs Bristol City, Anfield, Division One. A 4-0 home win for Liverpool. Mentioned on the show on 08 October 1979.
 * 08 December 1979: Aston Villa vs Liverpool, Villa Park, Division One. A 3-1 away win for Liverpool. Coming out of the ground after the match, Peel describes being involved in a fracas with some home supporters, during which he received a karate kick to the chest. Mentioned on the show on 10 December 1979.
 * 27 May 1981: Liverpool vs Real Madrid, European Cup Final, Paris (see Liverpool's Night Of Victory and 28 May 1981 show). Alan Kennedy scored the only goal of the match.
 * May 29 1985: Heysel Stadium, Belgium, 1985 European Cup Final. Despite the tragedy mentioned above, the match was played to avoid further violence (although it is clear that Peel and Sheila had already left for their own safety). Juventus won 1-0 after a penalty by Michel Platini.
 * 30 August 1999: Ipswich Town vs Barnsley. 6-1 win for Ipswich.

Matches Mentioned

 * Peel was fond of offering his view on (mainly) his team's performances, either post-match or sometimes during his shows.
 * 04 October 1977: Arsenal vs Liverpool, Highbury. 0-0 draw. “Sounds like a boring game at Highbury. Useful point, though.”
 * 28 December 1977: Chelsea vs Liverpool, Stamford Bridge, FA Cup third round. Peel begs for tickets for the upcoming match. Liverpool lost 4-2.
 * 22 August 1978: Manchester City vs Liverpool, Maine Road. Before playing Devo's 'Social Fools', which begins with a count of '1, 2, 1, 2', Peel says, "What sort of score are you boys looking for when Liverpool visit Maine Road on Saturday?" Liverpool won 4-1.
 * 03 April 1979: Liverpool vs Manchester United, Goodison Park, FA Cup semi-final replay. Peel claims he swore at an early age never to go to Everton's ground and therefore he didn't try to get a ticket for the big match there the following evening. Liverpool lost 1-0.
 * 30 April 1979: Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Nottingham Forest. Peel opens the show by thanking Wolves "for their good work tonight" in helping Liverpool toward what would be their 11th league title. They had beaten Nottingham Forest 1-0; Liverpool went on to win the league with an 8 point lead over Forest.
 * 10 September 1979: Liverpool vs Coventry, Anfield. The 4-0 home win the previous Saturday (8 September) is mentioned in passing on the show. "I'm beginning, I think, to be not so concerned about that poor start I must confess", comments Peel. Prior to this game, the fourth of the season, Liverpool had won one, drawn one and lost one.
 * 19 November 1979: Liverpool vs Tottenham, Anfield. Liverpool back on top of the First Division following a 2-1 win on Saturday (Nov. 17), so Peel starts Monday’s show in a good mood.
 * 07 April 1980: Manchester United vs Liverpool, Old Trafford. Complains about pretend Man U fans coming out of the woodwork after the weekend result, although for genuine supporters, “a 2-1 home win against the greatest team the world has ever seen is certainly something to be very, very proud of.” Peel is now on the hunt for a ticket for the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal in Sheffield the next weekend.
 * 08 April 1980: Liverpool vs Derby County. Show introduction: "Liverpool 3 Derby County nil, that's what you really want to know; Irwin, Johnson and an own goal. And it seems appropriate because Dalglish played a blinder according to our sports desk, that two of the bands featured tonight are from Scotland and the other one comes from Liverpool."
 * 10 April 1980: Liverpool vs. Arsenal, FA Cup semi-final, Hillsborough. Show intro: "Just two days to go to the showdown in Sheffield and I still don't have a ticket. Oh well, courage, fatty, courage, there's a show to be done." The result was a 0-0 draw and Liverpool were eventually knocked out after three replays.
 * 02 September 1980: Liverpool vs Bradford Ciy, Anfield, League Cup, 2nd round, 2nd leg. LFC won 4-0 over lower league opposition. Perhaps not as eye-catching as Watford 7 Southampton 1 the same night.
 * 08 April 1981: Liverpool vs Bayern Munich, Anfield, European Cup (semi-final, 1st leg). A 0-0 draw, displeasing John considerably.
 * 09 April 1981: After playing ‘Eve of Destruction’, Peel comments: 'As long as it doesn't come before the second leg in Germany, I don't really mind to be honest.’ (See above date. Liverpool went through to the European Cup final on the away goals rule after a 1-1 draw in Munich on April 22.)
 * 03 May 1982: Spurs vs Liverpool, White Hart Lane. 2-2 draw. Peel happy enough with the result: “Spurs were leading 2-0 at one stage. Himself [Kenny Dalglish] scored a couple of goals so at least we get one point out of that."
 * 10 July 1982: Liverpool vs Tottenham, Anfield. 3-1 home win. JP looks forward to new football season with radio commentary extracts of LFC clinching the Championship at the end of the previous season (1982-05-15).
 * 23 September 1982: Liverpool vs Southampton, Anfield. After Peel’s departure from the Late Late Breakfast Show, he looks forward to his first match of the season. It was a 5-0 home win.
 * 30 May 1984: Liverpool vs Roma, Rome, European Cup final. Liverpool win the European Cup on penalties after drawing 1-1 against Roma, minutes before the show started. Peel is incoherent with joy and David Jensen has to keep things moving until our host can recover his composure a bit.
 * 04 December 1984: Liverpool vs Coventry, Anfield. "Evening again, fun seekers. Tonight's big match, the score was Liverpool 3 Coventry 1 all four goals scored by Liverpool - Wark two and Rush for Liverpool and Hansen own goal for Coventry."
 * 03 June 1985: JP's first show since the events at Heysel the previous week starts on somber note.
 * 17 March 1986: Watford vs Liverpool, FA Cup (6th round replay). Liverpool won 2-1 after extra time, with Peel following the commentary during his show: "Sorry Elton and the rest of you. This is a bit more like it, isn't it, really, frankly. Let's face facts."
 * 29 December 1986: Liverpool vs Manchester United, Anfield. Norman Whiteside scored the only goal to defeat the home team, prompting John to grumble, "Affectionate greetings to everyone except Norman Whiteside, again."
 * 19 March 1990: Manchester United vs. Liverpool, Old Trafford. JP: "Tonight's programme is dedicated to Ronnie Whelan, scorer of the best own goal I've ever seen." The Liverpool midfield player had scored at the wrong end in a 2-1 away win for Liverpool the previous afternoon.
 * 21 March 1990: Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool, Division One. A League match that was shown live on ITV that Wednesday evening, allowing Peel to watch from the studio and comment on the action. Spurs won 1-0.
 * 11 April 1992: Liverpool vs. Portsmouth, FA Cup semi-final, Highbury. Liverpool had grabbed a late equalizer to draw 1-1 against the Second Division side the previous weekend: "Better not mention Portsmouth at the moment, I think." LFC would eventually win through to the final after a penalty shootout in the replay on April 13.
 * 19 December 1992: Liverpool vs Coventry City, a 5-1 defeat. "I mean, I know man was born to suffer, but there's got to be a limit."
 * 16 May 2001: Liverpool vs Alaves. UEFA Cup Final, which Liverpool won 5-4 in extra time while Peel was on air. An emotional Peel can barely speak afterwards: "Liverpool have won... I can't speak."
 * 20 September 2001: Ipswich vs Torpedo Moscow, a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the UEFA Cup, round 1. The Pig was in attendance. "Ipswich extremely unlucky not to win."
 * 09 October 2001: Liverpool vs Grimsby, a 2-1 defeat in the League Cup. "The most embarrassing result I can remember since Worcester City beat Liverpool sometime probably in the Fifties... just unbelievable."
 * 23 October 2001: Leicester v Liverpool, a 4-1 away win in the Premier League the previous Saturday, in which Robbie Fowler had scored a hat-trick. Peel says that he spent much of the weekend celebrating it. "That third goal... my god!"
 * 04 December 2002: While Sheila and Alexandra were at Anfield watching Liverpool vs Ipswich compete for a quarter-final place in the Worthington Cup, JP was following the game whilst on air. His team's poor performance drew despairing criticism, i.e. "Do you know what I'd do? I'd say, you've got to earn the right to wear those red shirts, and until you do, then you can play in grey, or some other colour." Liverpool eventually won 5-4 on penalties.

European Championship

 * 24 June 2004: Portugal vs England. England crash out of the European Championship on penalties following a 2-2 draw with Portugal. Peel gave The Fall's 'Kicker Conspiracy' back to back plays in the hope that it would lead to another England goal. "This has been a painful night. I really thought that we had a chance of winning it."

World Cup

 * 05 September 2001: England vs Albania (World Cup qualifier). Peel makes several references to England's 2-0 victory at St James' Park. Goals from Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler. "I'm 62 years old. Why do I cry when Robbie scores? Madness."

Guest Reviewers

 * From October 1993 onwards, the Peel show occupied a slot from 4:30 - 7 pm on Saturday afternoons on Radio One, trimmed by 30 minutes a year later so it started at 5 pm. This allowed Peel to read out and comment on the afternoon's football results as they came in. During 1994 at least, guest reviewers were invited to phone in their own match reports of games they had just witnessed. These included:


 * 11 December 1993: Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen gives a match report on Liverpool v Swindon.
 * 12 February 1994: Craig Scanlon, then guitarist of The Fall, gives his review of Manchester City v West Ham.
 * 03 September 1994: Jon Beast gives his review of Worksop Town v Fleetwood Town.
 * 10 September 1994: Eddie Lundon of China Crisis reviews Liverpool v West Ham.

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You'll Never Walk Alone
Main article: You'll Never Walk Alone


 * The second act ballad from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel was adopted by the Liverpool FC fans as an unofficial anthem in the early 1960s. It held great significance for John, generating in particular (unrealised) plans for an LP of cover versions by session bands.

Links

 * FourFourTwo magazine interview, 2003: Peel discusses Liverpool FC
 * Kicker Conspiracy: Peel at Prenton Park


 * Footnotes