Moores thanks fans

Liverpool chairman David Moores, who has been under fire for much of the past two years, thanked his wife Marg and the club’s fans for encouraging him to stay at the Anfield helm.

Moores, a very private man who rarely speaks in public, was overjoyed in the aftermath of Liverpool's fifth European Cup triumph.

He has had to fight off continued takeover speculation and a sustained assault on his Liverpool regime by major shareholder Steve Morgan.

The last two AGMs have seen a hounded Moores offer to stand down unless things improved on the pitch.

And as he stood in the bowels of the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, it was fair to say that Moores believed things had improved!

And the Littlewoods pools millionaire made it pretty clear he had no intention of giving up the reigns of the club he has idolised since boyhood.

He said: “It has been a tough year or so for me, but something like this certainly helps take the pressure off a bit. Everybody gets difficult times and you just battle through and believe you are right with the things you do.

“This club means the world to me and I am not going to let it go easily. There have been some tough times, particularly at the AGMs, and the pressure was telling on me and I did say I was thinking about going.

“It was difficult, but my wife said: ‘What are you going to do, the club is your life’. And that is true. But the fans have stayed behind me and been absolutely superb, that was something that also helped me through.

“The fans and my family kept me going, and I am just so pleased for everyone and proud of the team and our manager. It was a very, very special night for me.”

Moores spoke of his sheer delight at the club’s change of fortunes as they have reclaimed their place amongst Europe’s elite by bringing the glory days back to Anfield.

He said: “When I got married to my wife it was the greatest day of my life, but in footballing terms this is pretty special, absolutely magnificent.

“I keep thinking I am going to wake up and think it was a dream. But I have got to say that the supporters have been absolutely outstanding. Where in the world would you see support like we had in the final?

“It is not just a one-off, it has been continuous all season and they have been like a 12th man for us. I am proud of them and very grateful. They have been superb.

“Michel Platini said to me at half-time: ‘Mr Chairman, your manager is going to have to do a damage limitation job now’.

“And at the end, he came up to me and said he was sorry for saying that because ‘your club displayed great courage and you should be very proud of them’.

“They were so tired in extra-time, people were dropping like flies. I am proud of every single one of them.

“You can go right back to even the Graz game at home when we almost came unstuck, as well as what the lads did against Olympiacos, we have been the underdogs all through and we have proved everybody wrong.”