Sportsmail's team of reporters will take you behind the scenes of what life is like on pre-season tour with the Barclays Premier League clubs travelling the globe this summer.
Shortly before 2pm in the grand ballroom of the One World Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, a smartly dressed man took to a podium, cleared his throat and put unique slant on the simplest request.
'Ladies and gentlemen, can you please switch off your mobile telephones, as the Press conference is about to start,' he implored. 'It would be quite disrespectful to interrupt the living legend that is Kenny Dalglish with the theme from The Lone Ranger or anything by Lady Gaga.'
Silence, please! Dalglish looks bemused at the press conference in Kuala Lumpur
Given the assertive tone of his voice, everyone awaiting the Liverpool manager’s arrival did as they were told. But, in some ways, it is a shame there was not one renegade in the audience.
After all, having been sighted at a Boyzone concert earlier this year with Andy Carroll, it would have been intriguing to find out whether Dalglish is a closet Gaga fan too. Instead, all we got to see was his ‘Poker Face’ when the first question about Stewart Downing arrived.
No matter. The locals adore Liverpool and if the welcome Arsenal received was overwhelming, the one received for Dalglish and Company following their midnight flight from China was on another level.
Asian experience: Liverpool have moved on from China to Malaysia
More than 600 supporters were waiting for the squad in the hotel lobby at 6am and a tight security line was needed to allow the likes of Jamie Carragher, Dirk Kuyt, Charlie Adam and Carroll a straightforward passage to get their rooms. The lifts, not surprisingly, have been guarded all day.
If anything, the number of fans milling around One World has risen with each passing minute, all desperate to get a glimpse of their heroes – even staff from the club’s media department and website receive huge ovations when passing through.
An idea of how popular Liverpool are in Malaysia can be gauged from the number of people who will attend an open training session at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil later – more than 60,000 are expected and the stadium will full to its 80,000 capacity for Saturday’s friendly.
Dishing the Dirk: Kuyt and Daniel Agger speak to the press
Arsenal, by contrast, had 30,000 at their training session on Tuesday, while just over 40,000 saw them beat the Malaysian XI 4-0 on Wednesday night. This, perhaps, is what it was like in the Swinging Sixties and the days of Beatle-mania.
Which, rather neatly, brings us back to theme of music. In China, Carragher played to the audience on a promotional appearance by leading his team-mates Kuyt, John Flanagan and Maxi Rodriguez in a rendition of the club’s You’ll Never Walk Alone anthem.
The feeling remains, however, that the club’s vice-captain missed a trick. In a feature on the official website recently, he confided that Neil Diamond’s classic 'Forever In Blue Jeans' is his karaoke song of choice. Now seeing him belt that out would really have made for fascinating viewing.
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