 UNLESS Birmingham City’s Martin Taylor decides to pop into Eduardo’s north London local for a swift half, it would be hard to imagine a more ill-judged pub visit than the one which took place in Anfield on Saturday evening. Rumours of Tom Hicks junior going for a pint at the Sandon – the very place where Liverpool’s most hardcore support congregates before and after matches – would have been almost impossible to believe had I not seen it with my own eyes. In a display of bravery beyond the call of family duty or crass stupidity and insensitivity, depending on your point of view, Tommy waltzed into the packed watering hole without a care in the world. Well, he was surrounded by a team of burly minders, so what is there to care about? Hicks arrived outside the Sandon an hour after he watched the team his dad so controversially owns beat Middlesbrough 3-2. Emerging from a silver people carrier, he enjoyed a cigarette outside before pulling out a camera and taking pictures of the exterior of the pub, the birthplace of Liverpool FC. Even while he was puffing and snapping away, his security were never too far away from him. Someone had clearly warned them young Tommy may not be too popular in L4 given the way his father is viewed by the vast majority of Liverpool’s fans. As supporters looked on, some oblivious to who this well protected individual was and others all too well aware, Hicks junior then told his bodyguards he fancied a drink and walked into the pub. The Sandon may not be a coliseum and it may not have contained any lions but there was an inescapable feeling Roman-style blood sports were about to take place. Having avoided the main bar, Hicks junior went to the slightly less crowded middle bar and ordered a pint of lager for himself and soft drinks for his always on-duty security guards. As soon as he spoke, ears began pricking up and people quickly realised the identity of Texan in their midst. It isn’t exactly difficult to spot a sharp-suited American in a pub full of Adidas Samba wearing locals after all – and word spread around the boozer quicker than news of a goal against Man United. All of a sudden, the bar was packed as fans flocked from all corners of the Sandon to see if the seemingly unbelievable rumour sweeping the pub was true. And it was. At first, Hicks junior had nothing more troublesome to cope with than a few direct questions as to why he was there, what his dad was doing with the club and whether or not they were about to sell out to DIC. Such polite questioning reflected the shock that someone so closely connected with the least popular man at Anfield – apart from Gary Neville – would have the chutzpah to turn up in their midst. One fan took it upon himself to press Hicks junior on what was going on and interrogated him Paxman-style for a full five minutes. But while that was going on, the mood was turning increasingly nasty as anger replaced the shock. | 
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