FeatureBehind the Badge: The son of a Liverpool icon who combined his life callings
Working in Liverpool's medical department is a blend of two callings in life for Dr Max Thompson.
The 34-year-old always knew from childhood that his profession in adulthood would be centred around serving for the greater good.
But the other passion the son of Phil (yep, that one) has always carried concerns the institution his dad served so brilliantly for decades.
"It literally couldn't have worked out more perfect, to be honest," the Academy doctor, flashing a smile, says at the AXA Training Centre.
That said, it wasn't always the plan for the Scouser.
Like most reading this, Max's first ambition was to follow his dad in becoming a professional footballer.
And like most reading this will know, those dreams quickly fall by the wayside.
Max recalls: "I don't think I ever really clocked it but my dad must have been thinking, 'Not a chance.' Because I remember getting a little bit older and going, 'What do you think I'll do?' I remember him saying, 'I think it'll be your brain that makes you money, son.'
"He was absolutely spot on because I was always far too slow!
"It was really, really young that I decided I wanted to be a doctor, and I think it kind of just stuck."
And so he set out on a challenging and laborious journey to fulfil that professional ambition.
Before that, though, he would enjoy an extremely privileged view on a period fondly remembered in Liverpool's recent history.
Max, obviously, has no memory of Phil Thompson the league and European Cup-winning Reds captain, rather the assistant manager to Gerard Houllier from 1998 to 2004.
"Until then I don't think I'd really ever clocked on to the magnitude of it," he explains about growing up as the offspring of such a club icon.
"I went to school around the corner from Melwood, so my dad would come and sometimes pick us up and we'd go round and have our lunch at Melwood.
"I'd be sitting there in my school uniform and there was Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler and all them sitting there having something to eat. Then you think, 'This is mad.'
"It was great obviously because you've got to go and see them winning all these things and going to all of these trophies.
"There's actually a photograph of me on the back of the open-top bus parade. I think there's Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher either side and then if you look very carefully, you can just see a lad with a little bowl head just popping my head above the railing."
Max's behind-the-scenes access may have, subconsciously, inspired him to pursue the path he would ultimately go on.
Sharing another tale to Liverpoolfc.com for our Behind the Badge series, he remembers: "I think the first time I ever clocked that football clubs have a doctor is that I actually tripped over a tent peg in Calderstones Park and my dad came and picked me up from Calderstones and took me to Melwood.
"Doc [Mark] Waller, who used to be the doctor at the time, sewed my leg up. I've still got a big scar on my leg now.
"I found it a bit mad and almost strange that there was a doctor who was based there full-time. That was my first ever experience of it. But even after this, I'd never considered tailoring my career progression through medical school and beyond towards anything like that."
The five years of medical school he undertook were, fittingly, at the University of Liverpool, with then the hope of becoming a surgeon.
It was only while acquiring a Master's at University College London in sports and exercise medicine that he twigged there could be a way to combine his enduring devotions.
What followed was the beginning of an extremely exhaustive, eight-year training programme with the NHS that has culminated in becoming a fully qualified consultant in emergency medicine and trauma.
That process has only now reached its conclusion and had to be combined with Max's employment at Liverpool.
"It works out about three days a week at the NHS and three days a week at Liverpool," he says. "But it's kind of nice because when I'm at the NHS, I'm thinking about being here. And when I'm here, you're like, 'I'm ready for a bit of chaos now at the hospital.' They marry up quite well, the two of them.
"Even before I was doing this [at Liverpool], I was doing my NHS work. I think that's why I kind of loved emergency medicine, because you really are in the coalface of it and you're getting to see a bit of a meaningful difference in what you're doing is for the people of the local area in which you've grown up. I really, really love doing that.
"And then in my spare time, I was spending all my money just following Liverpool home and away with my brothers.
"So when the opportunity came up to sort of marry the two together, I was like, 'This couldn't be more perfect.'"
A chance meeting with former Academy doctor Jim Moxon in the gym next door to the Kirkby facility set Max on his trajectory in 2019.
After being given his first opportunity, taking up a role of part-time physiotherapist for the younger age groups, seven seasons on, he's now medically responsible for more than 200 prospects in the Academy set-up, under the leadership of Dr Raj Subbu.
"I know lots of people want to go into elite sports because they see the glamorous side of it, they see you're going to different grounds in different countries and think you're around players and all that," says Max.
"But what they don't think of is if I'm doing my NHS job and you're working Monday to Friday, doing late shifts, on-calls and night shifts, is that I'll actually be going straight from the hospital and then coming here to the training ground and doing my other job.
"It takes a very understanding partner to let you carry on doing those things. It just ends up a ton of hours.
"The difficulty was obviously not wanting to ever give this up but also I had my NHS commitments that I needed to continue doing, learning my trade there.
"There'd be times where I'd be in the NHS in the emergency department all night. I'd finish there, change into my kit, drive here and then start and then cover like a morning session between 9 and 11 or 12, and then go home and sleep."
Demanding, yes, but rewarding to boot.
He's been at the club long enough now to see some of the potential climb through the ranks and hold their own on the grand stage with the senior team.
Conor Bradley, Jarell Quansah, Jayden Danns and Rio Ngumoha are the first examples that spring to his mind.
With a chuckle, Max says: "I feel a bit young to say it's a proud-dad moment but it is!
"You see them make their debut and you're like, 'What a moment for them.' That's where it really feels rewarding.
"You become so personally invested in these lads because you have the emotion of the football but also you see them on a day-to-day basis, so you really, really want them to succeed.
"Particularly when you've had long periods and seeing these lads in their lowest moments when they've got these injuries and they're thinking, 'Am I ever going to come back, or if I do come back will it be the same when I come back? Have I lost my opportunity to strive on and make that impression to move on to the first team or move up from the U16 to the U18s, get a scholarship, get a pro [contract]?'
"It's a lot for them. But it makes it all the sweeter when they do get through."
Of all his experiences as an employee of LFC, one moment stands head and shoulders above the rest.
A turn of fortune gave Max the opportunity to work last season's Premier League title-clincher versus Tottenham Hotspur.
He took a place in the home team dugout at Anfield – as he had done on the odd occasion in that campaign – and then joined the celebrations that followed.
Look closely and you'll see him in the line of players and staff in front of the Kop for the triumphant rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone.
"I have looked at it and thought, 'Should I have been there? Really, if life was fair, I shouldn't have and it should have just been a moment for my colleagues Jon and Amit, but unfortunately Amit couldn't be there, so I stepped in. However, it would have been more weird for me not to celebrate with the others, if you want.
"I remember I was standing next to two of my colleagues and just saying, 'I cannot believe that this is happening.' I was completely overwhelmed by it all.
"I've never missed games, even as a fan and I've sat in that same seat in the lower Main [Stand] with my three brothers and I'd not seen us lift that trophy. I'd always said to them, 'I can't wait to see us lift that trophy in person.'
"I didn't think I was going to be on the pitch when we won the league! But it was still nice because when we actually lifted the trophy, I was there with my brothers.
"But that moment of being on the pitch, I went home to my partner Bella and I said to her, 'I'm just letting you know right now that the birth of our first child and our wedding day will not come close to that.' Which I don't think went down very well!"
It's an experience his dad went through seven times in his distinguished playing career.
Phil was there that April day against Spurs, too, and Max could kind of relate to one of his dad's footballing triumphs.
Max finishes: "I actually just looked down to the left corner flag and my dad was there doing LFCTV.
"So I ran over to him to give him a hug and someone had captured the photo from the stands of just me and my dad standing on the pitch hugging and then sent it to me.
"I think it is my favourite photo of me and my dad. I absolutely love it. That was a really nice moment.
"It was lucky for me because that was a combination of both a life moment and a career moment, do you know what I mean? I mean, that's amazing for any Liverpool fan. But it's a career milestone and a huge thing to tick off in your bucket list of life experiences. It was like, 'Yeah, that's made that all worth it.'
"Hopefully that's not the end because I'm only 34! I hope that there's many more of them to come."