Woods’ love for Liverpool is partly down to his dad, Dale, who was once a steward at Anfield, while brother Connor, 26, was once a member of Liverpool’s academy and currently plays for Warrington Town in the National League North.
Saturday will not be the first time Woods, who grew up in Skelmersdale, west Lancashire, will set foot on a Liverpool pitch.
He remembers being chased off the pitch at Anfield after seeing his brother playing for the academy.
“I was only five years old, I jumped over the wall and ran further,” he laughs. “I was just running around. My mom and dad were screaming at me to get lost.”
Around the same time, he took a photo with the Champions League trophy, shortly after Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool beat AC Milan in dramatic finale from 2005.
Woods also recalls growing up meeting Ian Rush, Liverpool’s record goalscorer with 346 goals.
“I was in Liverpool with my mum and I took a photo with him,” he says.
Rush’s name appeared in the cult film A TV milk ad from the 1980s featuring two young Liverpool fans.
One tells the other that Rush told him that if he didn’t drink milk he would be good enough to play for Accrington Stanley, who were playing in the Northern Premier League at the time the advert aired.
A second fan asks: “Accrington Stanley, who are they?”, to which the first fan replies: “Exactly.”
“Yes, I saw it,” Woods says of the ad. “It’s funny because every time I mention to someone that I play for Accrington Stanley, they always bring up this ad.”
