The brother of a lifelong Liverpool fan who met Bill Shankly and Jurgen Klopp has paid tribute to the "most fantastic person I've ever known".
Garry Renshaw, from Old Swan, passed away recently aged 64 after being diagnosed with motor neurone's disease. At the Real Madrid game on Tuesday, a flag on the Kop was dedicated to his memory.
His brother Bryan told the ECHO that Garry had an "amazing life". Leaving school, he found employment at Robinson Willie, who built gas fires in Old Swan.
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Later, he worked for Liverpool City Council as part of Resonate, a service providing music lessons and equipment to schools across the country. He first attended a Liverpool game in 1967, when he was around eight years old in the old boy's pen.
From there, he was hooked. Garry, along with Bryan, "went everywhere" following their beloved team. They had the privilege of watching Liverpool dominate domestically and conquer Europe in a way never seen by a British team before.
They were at Wolves in 1976, where Bob Paisley clinched his first league title as Liverpool manager. They travelled to Paris in 1981, where the Reds won their third European Cup in a 1-0 win against Real Madrid.
Most cherished of them all though was Liverpool winning the league title in 1973. A 0-0 draw with Leicester on April 28 clinched the First Division.
Bill Shankly had built a second great team, and a 13-year-old Garry ran onto the pitch to celebrate with his adored leader. Bryan said: "It was typical of Garry, he had bottle in him. I never would have done it. "
He added: "He ended up on Match of the Day that night. It's just incredible."
A young Garry with "luxurious" long hair, celebrating in jubilation with other Liverpool fans is preserved in history thanks to this picture. Then, towards the end of his life, he managed to meet another legendary manager.
Bryan explained: "He meets Shankly, his whole life goes along, then he meets another icon in Klopp." The family got in touch with the club late last year amid his ill health, and arranged a visit to the training ground.
"Once we got there, the staff at Kirkby made him so relaxed and comfortable. It was such a privilege."
Bryan wasn't expecting too much from the visit, thinking they'd get to meet some academy players. He and Garry were shocked when members of the first team arrived to see them both.
"Suddenly, you had Virgil van Dijk, Thiago, Fabinho, Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold. Then Mo Salah walked in, who was unbelievable.
"Then we saw Harvey Elliott, who's only 18 but the maturity out of him was incredible. You could tell it wasn't forced at all."
Then to top it all of, Jurgen Klopp walked in. Bryan described Klopp as "absolutely fantastic" with Garry.
Garry may have had a different hairstyle by now, but still proudly wore a t-shirt with the picture of him and Shankly on the pitch. Bryan said he nervously pointed this out to Klopp after he had spoken to his brother.
He explained: "Jurgen looked at Garry and went, 'is that you?' When Garry said yes, Jurgen replied, 'you've been the barbers a few times since then haven't you?'"
Bryan said everyone "burst out laughing, including our Garry". Klopp walked away with his trademark "booming laugh".
He adds: "It's such a special moment that I'll never forget. Him and the players are so busy but they were so generous with their time."
Garry was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in autumn 2019, shortly after he had watched Liverpool win the Champions League for a sixth time in the Cross Keys pub in Liverpool City Centre. This condition naturally restricted what he could do.
Garry loved exercise and going out in Liverpool. However, Bryan said he "never moaned" about his illness to anyone apart from Bryan.
He explained: "He was a very proud man. He didn't like fuss."
More than anything, Bryan remembers Garry as someone with a "wide circle of friends". He met his wife Diane in 1981. He was loved by her, his wider family, friends and anyone he came in contact with until the end.
Byran said: "At the funeral earlier this week, there was all sorts of people there. We had a choir from Notre Dame Catholic College, where he was based with Resonate.
He added: "There were loads of friends of his there, some of which he'd known since school. The fact he'd first met these people 50, 60 years ago and they still loved him, it's a testament to the man he was."
Another tribute was paid on Tuesday night at the Real Madrid game. On the Kop, a banner was raised paying tribute to Garry.
Bryan praised the Spion Kop 1906 who put the flag together free of charge. He said: "It was so generous of them. Our Garry would have been made up with that."
For Bryan, his memories of Garry are happy ones. He said: "He was more than a brother. Someone at the funeral said to me, 'he's the best man ever known'. And he wasn't alone in saying that.
Bryan added simply: "He's the most fantastic person I've ever known".
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