A sign that was once displayed at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium has sold for more than £100,000 at an auction on Wedesday afternoon
The original 'This is Anfield' sign
The original 'This is Anfield' sign(Image: (BUDDS/PA Wire))
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The original 'This Is Anfield' sign has sold for £115,000 - almost eight times more than the estimated guide price. The rectangular red sign, which includes the club’s name, the famous Liver Bird symbol, and the phrase 'This Is Anfield' was sold to a UK-based buyer on Wednesday afternoon.
The sign that hung above the players’ tunnel at Anfield during the 1970s had been expected to fetch between £10,000 and £15,000. However, the winning bid stood at £115,000, with the final total reaching £149,500 after commission and VAT.
Sports memorabilia auctioneers Budds said it was 'a record price' for any UK sports stadium interior sign. While David Convery, speaking on behalf of Budds, added: “We pride ourselves in bringing to auction historical and emotive football items.
“The sign with its exceptional photo-matched provenance and detailed family history had Liverpool fans worldwide bidding for what is a talismanic sign.”
The sign was first installed in a players’ exit-entry tunnel at Anfield by former player and Liverpool manager Bill Shankly in 1972.
Shankly said the message was a reminder to Liverpool players who they were representing and a source of intimidation for visiting teams.
The sign was replaced by a second one after 1979 and former Liverpool defender and manager Roy Evans gifted it to youth player Ronald Wilson.
And from 1979 until 2000 the sign hung in the bar of the Rutland, a hotel in Douglas, the Isle of Man, owned by the Wilson family.
It was then installed and had an aluminium frame fitted for preservation and after the hotel was sold the sign was then passed down to Ian and Lynn, the current owners of the sign, and was then placed into storage.
After years in storage it was displayed in Ian’s office at work from the mid-2010s until his retirement in early 2026. It was then permanently placed back into storage before the family opted to sell it.
Sir Kenny Dalglish once admitted that he was 'terrified' by the sign when he made his home debut as a Liverpool player in 1977.
Sir Kenny Dalglish touches the new This is Anfield sign
Sir Kenny Dalglish touches the new This is Anfield sign(Image: (John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images))
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“We were playing Newcastle in the first game I played,” Dalglish recalled back in 2016. “We drew 1-1 at Middlesbrough in the opening league game and on the Tuesday night Newcastle came.
“There was a boy called Tommy Craig, who was the first £100,000 teenager I had grown up with. He actually never grew up much – he was only about 3ft2!
“We played for Glasgow schools together and then for Scotland schools when we were 15.
“He was in the Newcastle dressing room. We came out to come down the steps and we got to the 'This is Anfield' sign. I said ‘That’s supposed to frighten you’. He said ‘Yeah’. I said ‘I’m terrified!’
“That was it, we went out and Ray Kennedy knocked one through in the second half, I went on and scored. It was special from that day onwards.”