If Only by Simon Turner

Author:Simon Turner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2017-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

Bob Paisley’s Liverpool started the 1980s as they had ended the previous decade, winning the 1979/80 First Division title and then another European Cup in 1981 with a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid. The winning goal was scored by the side’s left-back, Alan Kennedy, who was another of Paisley’s 1978 acquisitions, having first caught his eye with an impressive performance in Newcastle United’s FA Cup Final defeat to Liverpool four years earlier. Kennedy’s greatest asset was his pace and he used it to great effect when attacking on the overlap or chasing down opposition wingers. There were more technically proficient players in the Liverpool side but no one could ever doubt Kennedy’s commitment or his ability to do something impulsive and unexpected. Indeed, his goal against Real Madrid came after he ran at their defence late in the game, catching them unawares.

Playing on the opposite side of the defence in that victory was Paisley’s first signing as Liverpool manager, Phil Neal. He had been offered the chance to sign for Bill Nicholson’s Tottenham Hotspur when he was a schoolboy but stayed on at school to get his ‘o’ levels, lest he should not make the grade in professional football. Neal joined his local side, Northampton Town, instead and spent six seasons with them before getting the chance of a lifetime with Liverpool.

Neal repaid Paisley’s faith in him handsomely, becoming one of the club’s most decorated and dependable players. In the ten seasons between 1975/76 and 1984/85 Neal missed just one out of 420 league games, once even playing with a broken toe, so keen was he to keep his place in the side. While Neal wasn’t a particularly spectacular player he rarely put a foot wrong and his ice-cold demeanour made him a steadying influence on the side, also serving him well when taking penalties which he did effectively for many years. Neal went on to become one of the most successful English players of all time, winning an incredible four European Cups, eight championships, four League Cups and one UEFA Cup, with only the FA Cup eluding his grasp.

The Liverpool side that beat Real Madrid included several players that were nearing the end of their careers, so Paisley brought in a number of new faces for the 1981/82 season. One of them was the sometimes eccentric, occasionally brilliant, but always entertaining, Zimbabwean goalkeeper, Bruce Grobbelaar. He was signed from Canadian side Vancouver Whitecaps in March 1981, having been spotted while playing on loan for Crewe Alexandra. Paisley originally intended to play him in the reserves until he was ready to take over from England keeper and Anfield legend Ray Clemence. Grobbelaar wasn’t the quiet, retiring type and he warned Clemence that he would soon have his place in the team. Clemence had been the first-choice goalkeeper at Anfield for over a decade but saw enough of Grobbelaar’s performances in the reserves to see that there was substance behind the Zimbabwean’s boasts. The unnerved Clemence didn’t even wait for the new season to start, asking Paisley for a transfer and subsequently moving to Tottenham Hotspur.

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