When my boss said I could drive the team bus, it was fantastic ...
A year to the day since Liverpool clinched the European Cup, Dawn Collinson revisits the fans who hit the headlines along with their footballing heroes
WITH almost a million pairs of eyes on him, Brian Moore was as close to European glory as any of the winning Liverpool team.
But, while they raised the cup on the top deck of their homecoming bus, and basked in the adoration of amass of fans,Brian had his mind on only one thing - the road.
Behind the wheel of the double-decker, it was 31-year-old Brian's task to transport the team on their victory lap of the city, from the Rocket safely back to Melwood.
And for alifelong Reds fan, it was four hours he will never forget.
In fact, right up until the day of the parade, he was due to drive the press bus ahead of the players. But when he arrived at work his boss at the Southport depot, Bill Francis, offered a swap.
"When he said 'I'll let you drive the team bus' I nearly fell over," laughs Brian. "I've watched Liverpool since I was a kid and to be that close to them on that day was incredible."
Brian picked up the players at the Rocket and from that moment, he admits it was absolute bedlam.
"I was enjoying it but I really didn't take a great deal of it in at the time," he remembers. "It wasn't until the next day, looking at all the papers and watching the tape from the TV, that it really sank in."
His main task, he recalls, was to keep a steady slow speed en route.
