ORIGINAL LIVERPOOL 'THIS IS ANFIELD' SIGN SELLS FOR £115,000

The original "This Is Anfield" sign from Liverpool Football Club's stadium tunnel sold for £115,000 at auction on 9 September, fetching almost eight times its estimated guide price of £15,000. Auctioneer Budds said the final total reached £149,500 including commission and VAT, which it described as a record price for any UK sports stadium interior sign. The sign hangs above the passage to the pitch, and Liverpool players traditionally touch it before matches. The words were chosen by manager Bill Shankly in 1972 after he rejected "Welcome To Anfield" as too friendly.

The original sign was removed in the 1970s and given to Ronald Wilson, a former member of the club's boys' team. Wilson's family displayed it in the Rutland Hotel in Douglas, Isle of Man, from 1979 until 2000, before it passed to his children. According to Budds, former Liverpool player Roy Evans, who managed the club between 1994 and 1998, gave the sign to Wilson. The feature remained at Anfield during Liverpool's first two European Cup victories, in 1977 and 1978, and famous players including Alan Hansen, Kenny Dalglish and Frank McGarvey were pictured with it after joining the club between 1977 and 1979.

Shankly said the sign was intended to remind Liverpool players who they represented whilst acting as a form of intimidation for visiting teams. Former player George Scott said Shankly wanted opposition players passing beneath the sign to know they were "going into a cauldron and they weren't going to come out with a win". David Convery, head of sporting memorabilia at Budds, said the sign and superstition surrounding it added something "beyond the exceptional" in the world of sports memorabilia.