Liverpool celebrate Premier League success with fans in city centre parade

By Carl Markham, PA

Virgil van Dijk conducted the crowd while billionaire owner John W Henry sipped from a bottle of Carlsberg as Liverpool celebrated winning the Premier League with an estimated million fans on the city’s streets.

Red smoke cannisters were let off as the team’s open-top bus – emblazoned with the words ‘Ours. Again’ – crawled its way through the heaving mass of supporters who defied the rain to celebrate a record-equalling 20th championship.

They and the club had been denied this occasion when they ended a 30-year drought in 2020 due to coronavirus restrictions but they made up for the missed opportunity on a dank day by the Mersey.

The 10-mile long parade took three-and-a-half hours but the finale on the Strand was worth the wait for those who had gathered in the shadow of the Liver Building before 10am to ensure a prime spot.

Liverpool City Councillor John Hughes estimated in excess of one million people were attending, beating the 750,000 present for the 2019 Champions League parade.

Hundreds ignored police advice not to climb on structures – or adhere to the ‘no pyro’ request – as every vantage point, ranging from multi-storey car parks, scaffolding, rooftops, on top of petrol stations, traffic lights and lamp posts, was taken.

Head coach Arne Slot said it was the best day of his career. “By far the number one, far more than you could expect or dream of maybe,” he said.

“I won a few things before but this cannot compare with anything.”

It began at Allerton Maze in a relatively calm environment with Henry, in dark glasses and dressed in a red hoodie and poncho to keep out the rain, availing himself of the refreshments aboard the bus early on.

The players were taking Van Dijk’s advice to make sure they enjoyed the moment, with Toxteth-born Curtis Jones front and centre for most of the route alongside Dominik Szoboszlai and the departing Scouser Trent Alexander-Arnold at the back of the bus, standing on the seats to hold the trophy above his head.

Jones said: “Unbelievable. It’s my second one (title) but this one feels more special as I’ve played more of a bigger role in this.”

The first two-and-a-half miles raced by in 40 minutes with the streets fully lined but not packed. The remainder of the route was more of a crawl, often stop-start, and where the bus made the turn towards the city centre at the Jolly Miller pub the crowd was 20 to 30 people deep in places.

That had almost doubled by the time they reached the closing stretch where on-board DJ Calvin Harris, originally recruited by fellow Scot Andy Robertson for the 2022 cup double parade but requested by Van Dijk this time, cranked up the fans’ favourite tunes.