The last time Charlie Adam appeared at Anfield, the midfielder netted in front of the Kop and was then applauded from the field by the home crowd having finished on the winning side.
But while Adam will hope for more of the same this season, it is a completely different landscape that awaits the likeable Scot.
From no longer having to wash his own kit and having almost 40,000 turn up for simply a training session, the 25-year-old acknowledges life at Liverpool is a world apart from that of former club Blackpool.
Adam, though, is fully prepared for the greatest culture shock of all.
“The big thing is we need to win every week,” he says. “That’s the expectation. Maybe at Blackpool last season we got away with not winning every week.
“Now being a Liverpool player the expectation is on you to win the game and everyone is coming to beat us.
“Last season it was different. It’s a big challenge and having to win week in, week out is something I am relishing.”
Such are the great expectations being placed on the shoulders of Adam, who was officially unveiled yesterday as one of Liverpool’s new summer signings alongside Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Alexander Doni.
Yet it’s something with which Adam has previously been accustomed having cut his teeth as a youngster with Rangers in Scotland.
“The expectation here is to win ever week but I’ve been used to that since I was young,” says the midfielder. “Nothing changes. I was at Rangers at 14 or 15 and knew the club well, but the opportunity to play regularly enough to cement a place wasn’t there, which is why I left.
“People said it was a step down going to Blackpool but I saw it as a step forward.
“We know what we want to do next year. It’s important as players to win as many as we can.
“The expectation is to do that every week and we have targets ourselves but we’re not going to discuss them because if you don’t manage it you fall on your face. We will do our business quietly and everyone will know if we’ve done it at the end of the season.”
Adam’s previous appearance at Anfield came last October when his penalty set Blackpool on their way to a surprise 2-1 win over a Liverpool team plumbing the depths of Roy Hodgson’s tortuous reign.
The Scot celebrated beating Pepe Reina from the spot by placing his finger to his lips, but he says: “That was not something against the Liverpool fans, because they were incredible.
“They clapped us off at half-time, back on for the second half and again at the end after beating their side on their own pitch.
“To stand up and clap us off was incredible. As players we spoke of that throughout the season, about what happened that day, because it showed everything about what these fans are all about.”
Of course, Adam could have been resident a lot sooner, his proposed transfer on deadline day in January ultimately failing to transpire.
And he admits: “It was hard to deal with in January. When you get the chance to come here, you want it to happen. It never did but the people in Blackpool respect the way I dealt with it. I got on with it and tried my best to keep them in the league.
“But we failed and that’s the thing I will always remember – I got relegated at Blackpool and I can’t hide from that disappointment. For me to then get the opportunity to come here is incredible.”
Liverpool, though, never lost interest the player, and he was afforded the personal touch when Blackpool finally agreed an initial fee of £7.5m in July – a lift off Kenny Dalglish to Melwood for the signing of his contract.
“It was nice to be picked up by him – it doesn’t happen too often, getting picked up by Kenny Dalglish and taken to the training ground to sign for Liverpool,” says Adam. “I’ll try and put a couple of performances in for him to repay him for that!
“But that shows the kind of man he is. He’s so down to earth. He’s achieved such a lot in the game but still has that buzz about coming back in again and I’m just fortunate to have the chance of working with him.”
Liverpool’s intervention last month spared Adam from at least one chore. “I did two days in pre-season with Blackpool and, for the first time, we didn’t have to wash our kit then,” he explains. “I think the lads are back to washing their kits again now though.
“That was the way the club was run, and I have total respect for that. It’s not a problem washing your own kit, it’s part and parcel of life, and I wouldn’t complain about it... though it’s been good to have someone else do it at Liverpool.”
Having been red-carded on his debut for Blackpool in front of 7,500 in a home defeat to Doncaster Rovers in February 2009, Adam’s first experience as a Liverpool player was the recent tour to the Far East where the club’s fanatical following was made clear.
“Getting promotion with Blackpool was incredible but at the end of the day the Premier League is the biggest in the world and it’s an honour to have the opportunity of playing in it for two seasons on the run now,” he says. “No disrespect to Blackpool, but the size of this club is enormous. It’s one of THE top ones in the world, one of the elite.
“There aren’t many who would get 40,000 fans watching a training session, 80,000 watching a friendly. The reception in Asia, the whole thing, was incredible and shows the size of this place.
“That’s the expectation of being here. You look at the history of the club, with Bill Shankly and onwards they have always won trophies. It’s just massive and a real honour to have the opportunity of playing for them.
“Every player in the dressing room sees it as an honour to pull on that red jersey and hopefully I will be successful too.”
