Coach Jurgen Klopp has banned six Liverpool stars from touching the famous ‘This is Anfield’ sign when entering the tunnel before matches.

The iconic “This is Anfield” sign has been revered throughout European football since it was first installed by Bill Shankly some 50 years ago. The late Scottish player was the legendary coach of the Merseyside team from 1959-1974. He brought to the traditional room of Anfield 10 different large and small titles, including 3 English championships and the 1973 UEFA Cup.

This sign is meant to capture one of Shankly’s most famous quotes: “It is there to remind our players who they are playing for and to remind our opponents who they are playing against. Who!”. During the past half century, the sign has been replaced three times but still retains its historical status today.

In the past decade alone, it has witnessed Liverpool’s 19th English Championship, 6th Champions League, 9th League Cup, 8th FA Cup, 4th Community Shield, and first Club World Cup fairy.

The current squad ceremonially touches this famous sign as they enter the field at each match. However, with Klopp, there are six Liverpool players who still do not have the privilege to do that. They include rookies in Summer 2023: Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo, Ryan Gravenberch, and January 2023 signing Cody Gakpo and young player Stefan Bajcetic.

Why is that? We need to go back to 2016, when in his early days in charge of Liverpool, Klopp said: “I told my players not to touch the ‘This is Anfield’ sign until they won something! It’s a sign of respect. I touched on it when I was Dortmund coach but we lost 0-4.”