Guest blog'Football was my first love and Liverpool was the perfect club for it'

I can't remember when I started being a Liverpool fan, but I also can't remember not being one. I was told I watched Istanbul when I was five, but believe it or not, I can't remember it.

Funnily enough my first real concrete Liverpool memory was losing to AC Milan in the Champions League final a couple years later. It was heartbreaking - imagine seven-year-old me in floods of tears, sat two feet from our telly, fists clenched and my bottom lip wobbling as Filippo Inzaghi scored his second. Dirk Kuyt pulled one back but that almost made things worse for me, that glimmer of hope was all too much and I cried for about an hour after the match.

Most of the next decade was like that as a Liverpool fan. There were so many 'nearly' moments. We had players that I idolised and a couple big results at certain times, but very little in the way of trophies and success. I started writing Harry 'Fernando' Lyon on my school books at the start of the year. Other than Stevie G [Steven Gerrard], I thought [Fernando] Torres was the coolest footballer in the world.

I would have changed my middle name to 'Steven' but that's my dad's name and besides it was nowhere near as cool as Fernando. I remember non-uniform days in primary school demanding that I must wear my entire kit if anyone is to take me seriously. One term I actually wore shin pads to school, and I remember kicking them against the table legs in double maths when I inevitably got bored.

Football was my first love and Liverpool was the perfect club for it. I'm not from the city and I took a lot of stick from all my mates for supporting the Reds. Allegations of glory hunting and plastic fandom were a regular occurrence with everyone else supporting Sheffield Wednesday or Sheffield United. It was my grandma's fault. She was born in Bootle and then moved to the Peak District later in life, where she had my dad, who then passed down the Liverpool connection to me. He liked football but never loved it like me. It was literally everything for the first few years until I found music.

I think music and football have always been bedfellows in a sense. There are not really any similarities between them, but you'll seldom find a passionate football fan that's unmoved by music and vice versa. I think there's something in the community that they both create. A place for expression, passion and togetherness. Neither are perfect but, really, what is? I do think gigs and football matches deserve credit for being two of the few places you can see grown men crying their eyes out, hugging strangers and experiencing genuine elation. When I first discovered music, I remember feeling similarly to how I did with football. It was like a new language. It was all mine to start but then it began connecting me to others.

Being a Liverpool fan in more recent times is a far more rewarding experience. It was interesting when Jürgen Klopp came in because suddenly there seemed to be this quietly decided, unwavering belief from anyone invested in LFC. It felt like there was a trajectory and we were all on it. Those big moments where we missed out no longer felt like the last chance we'd get. Losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League final, as horrible as it was, it didn't feel as heartbreaking as the 2014 Premier League season or even the 2007 Champions League final because we all knew that team and manager would win something.

Of course, it's easy to say that after we did win those things, but I think most Liverpool fans would know what I mean by that. When he left it was the first time there was an uncertainty about Liverpool again, but with that said Arne Slot made winning the league look pretty easy!

I remember my manager telling me that my track Extra.Ordinary was being added to the Liverpool official Spotify playlist. Even as a fully grown adult I still felt dead giddy that I, in some way, got to be part of something to do with the club. I've never been to Anfield, and it's been one of my dreams since I was a kid. The idea of hearing my song played there is just completely off the scale. I think I put tickets to a game at Anfield on my Christmas list for five years straight when I was a kid but for one reason or another it never happened. I have a bucket list of things that I want to achieve in my music career: headlining festivals, playing certain venues, recording in certain places, but seeing Liverpool at Anfield is up there with any of those.

There are so many reasons why Liverpool FC is one of the best clubs in the world. The players, the history, the fans, the stadium… but I think what sets it apart is what it stands for. The city has stood up for itself arguably more than any other in the country and this echoes throughout everything the club stands for. The compassion, love and togetherness that is woven into LFC is what makes it special to me. In the best times and in the worst times it is never less than a privilege to be a fan of LFC.

• Harry Lyon’s debut EP 'Porcelain' is out now - listen here