 Fans would meet on Saturday lunchtimes in pubs near the ground to plan the entertainment and song sheets were handed out behind the goal. While "You'll Never Walk Alone" was adopted as the Kop's anthem, fans adapted the lyrics of other songs to create "When the Reds Go Marching In", "You've Not Seen Nothing Like The Mighty Emlyn" and "We All Live on a Red and White Kop". The humour and passion of the Kop became legendary, as well as the fans' generosity of applauding the visitors if the Reds had been fairly beaten. Kevin Keegan was surprised by one of the fans' rituals prior to his debut back in 1971. He recalled: "The self-appointed representative of the Kop came on the field to greet me. He gave me a kiss, and the smell of booze on his breath almost knocked me off my feet. "He needed a shave as well as his beard was rough. The police accepted this ritual whenever there was a new player. "This Kopite was a nice old fellow with no harm in him. He kissed me,then kissed the grass in front of the Kop and went back to join his mates in the crowd." In the 1970s the Kop changed as fans brought back continental habits from European away trips in the form of flags, flares and banners, including the legendary 'Joey ate the frogs' legs, made the Swiss roll and now he's munching Gladbach' in tribute to defender Joey Jones. There were also some structural adjustments as the outside stairway was rebuilt following the 1971 disaster at Ibrox. Further work was needed in the summer of 1987 and, as partof the project to strengthen crush barriers,some 750 iron rods needed to be piled into the ground. As workmen attempted to put a rod into one of the concrete steps the rod disappeared and they gazed down to see a 20 feet hole. A sewer at the bottom had collapsed and four inches of concrete and acrumbling layer of ash were all that stood between the Kop and disaster. Repairs even forced a delay to the home debuts of new signings John Barnes and Peter Beardsley. The Kop became a national shrine in 1989 in memory of the 96 fans killed at Hillsborough. Thousands came to pay their respects,covering the terrace in scarves and hats. The Taylor Report recommended an end to standing at top flight matches and the popular culture of the terraces came to an end. By the early Nineties the capacity of the Kop was down to 16,480. Its last stand as a terrace was on April 30 1994 and Norwich City's Jeremy Goss went down in history as the last player to score in front of the Kop as the Reds lost 1-0 in front of 44,339 fans. The terrace was demolished and replaced with an all-seater Kop Grandstand holding 12,000 supporters. The days of 27,000 fans packed in on great European nights may have gone forever but the Kop remains one of the most imposing structures in world football.
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