"I'll have to be quite quick," announces
Jamie Carragher as he strides into Liverpool Film Studios. "I've got to be at Toys 'R' Us for half two."
It's the day of the photoshoot to promote the club's stylish new away kit, and Carra is one of six players called as models.
For the next few hours, his body will not be his own as he's stripped, shunted, shifted and snapped from every angle.
If truth be told, such days are not the highlight of any player's calendar, especially as
Liverpool Film Studios are more Halewood than Hollywood. In fact, it's the kind of day when a trip to Toys 'R' Us sounds appealing.
But despite any anxiousness, Carra and his clubmates deal with the exercise as all good pros should: with a smile on their face.
lfc away kit 07/08To make things easier, the players' arrival times are staggered to save them waiting around.
First up is skipper Steven Gerrard. Off the field, he's undoubtedly the club's most in-demand player, so he knows the drill to a tee.
Among the shots lined up for the 27-year-old is a picture of him and the director holding a football aloft. Later, the director will be cleverly replaced with Kaka using a bit of Photoshop.
After being snapped in three different outfits, Gerrard's asked to do a short radio interview to be aired on kit launch day. Again, no problem, though he does reveal afterwards that he still gets freaked out every time he hears his own voice while driving.
As he's chatting away, Carra turns up, with
John Arne Riise and
Xabi Alonso hot on his heels.
Riise heads straight for the sofa, where he spies some handsome new Adidas boots – in yellow.
"You're not wearing them," chuckles Gerrard as he picks up a pair of complimentary trainers. "I'll not let you!"
Next in front of the camera is Carra, undoubtedly the most eager to see the new kit.
There seems to be a consensus among the players that yellow wasn't really their colour, so they're made up with the white, black and red number Adidas has dreamed up for 2007-08.
Just as well, really, as the kit took many months to produce. It all started with a brief produced by Adidas UK for their design team in Germany, including a lowdown on LFC, its history and, most importantly, its colours.
lfc away kit 07/08Ideas were then bounced back and forth until there were three or four designs ready to present to Rick Parry and Rafa Benitez.
So, what does Carra think of the final version? "Sound innit," he declares, before making his way to Toys 'R' Us.
By this time,
Pepe Reina and
Dirk Kuyt have arrived, while it's Riise's turn to take to the stage.
The Norwegian is another who knows exactly what's expected; though his warrior-like picture pose prompts Reina to offer the nickname Rambo.
The day is made much easier by the fact most of the personnel have private deals with Adidas. The only player with loyalties elsewhere is Carra, so, in order to prevent a conflict, he's never pictured in Adidas gear without his teammates.
With Riise finished, Alonso, Kuyt and Reina do their bit with equal portions of professionalism, and the entire shoot is complete in about five hours.
"They were all quite relaxed today," says Clive Evans, one of Adidas's men on the ground.
"To tell you the truth, there are no problem players at Liverpool – they're all first class."
