Liverpool FC Cult Heroes , livre ebook

Pitch Publishing Ltd - Leo Moynihan

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149 pages

English

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Liverpool FC Cult Heroes is devoted to 20 players who, over the years, have won a special place in the hearts of the Anfield faithful - not necessarily the greatest footballers, but a unique brotherhood of mavericks and stalwarts, local lads and big signings. The cast list alone is enough to stir up memories and tug at the heartstrings of any Reds fan - Elisha Scott, Billy Liddell and Joey Jones, Craig Johnston, Jamie Carragher and Luis Suarez - recalling how these charismatic personalities ignited passion on the terraces. Find out which Red icon was left at a motorway service-station as a prank. Which striker was involved in a punch-up with Italian waiters after a European Cup semi in Milan. And which skipper was carried through Lime Street station on the shoulders of fans. Discover and delight in the magical qualities of these 20 mere mortals elevated to cult status by the Red half of Liverpool.

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Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	31 octobre 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781785310164
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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First published by Pitch Publishing, 2014 Pitch Publishing A2 Yeoman Gate Yeoman Way Durrington BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Leo Moynihan, 2014
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-90962-651-5 eBook ISBN: 978-1-78531-016-4
--- Ebook Conversion by www.eBookPartnership.com
Contents
Dedication
Introduction
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Alex Raisbeck
Elisha Scott
Albert Stubbins
Jimmy Melia
Ian St John
Ron Yeats
Emlyn Hughes
Peter Cormack
Ray Kennedy
Joey Jones
Steve Nicol
Craig Johnston
John Aldridge
John Barnes
Robbie Fowler
Jamie Carragher
Gary McAllister
Luis Garcia
Dirk Kuyt
Luis Suarez
J rgen Klopp
Bibliography
Photographs
To the 96 fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989
Introduction
The Kop is not the members enclosure at Ascot, and nor does it regret it.
Arthur Hopcraft, writer
J OEY Jones - that most wonderful of Cult Heroes - tells a funny story. In 1977, Liverpool played FC Zurich in the semi-finals of the European Cup. The second leg (an easy 3-0 win to secure a 6-1 aggregate win) at Anfield ends with Joey swapping his shirt with Swiss international, Rene Botteron. Joey has a few beers and goes home, his Zurich shirt very much still with him and now among his impressive collection.
A few days later, a guy walking along the street approaches Joey and says he s got hold of one of his shirts. How did you get that then? asks Joey.
My missus is a cleaner at the Holiday Inn and she was clearing up in one of the rooms and found it. One of the Zurich players had left it behind.
Joey Jones - and his shirt - might not hold a massive amount of sway in European circles but walk among a group of Liverpool fans and ask who ate the frogs legs, who made the Swiss roll and who then munched on Gladbach, and you will only get smiles and dreamy tales of Rome and a left-back called Joey Jones.
Cult Heroes don t have to have opponents queuing up to bag their shirts. Some might but mostly they aren t about that. Cult Heroes and the affection they garner isn t as simple as the goals they score or stop. The Oxford English Dictionary explains the term by suggesting a Cult Hero is, Greatly admired by a small audience or is influential despite limited commercial success. It s a basic definition that can t try to explain the sometimes unexplainable reasons a football fan can take to a player, but it does help get to the bottom of why some of the greatest men ever to pull on Liverpool red aren t in the next few hundred pages.
Writing a book on Liverpool that includes the word HERO but doesn t include chapters on Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Steven Gerrard, Roger Hunt or Billy Liddell did cause the odd sleepless hour or so, but here s the thing; those players were universally idolised, they were heroes, they were legends, they were the best. Cult Heroes? No.
In this book I wanted to explore other players who have hugely contributed to the club s rich tapestry of success and history, but who also tickled something extra in those who came to watch them.
Take Jamie Carragher. Anfield, May 2005. The Champions League semi-final. Chelsea are in town and Jose Mourinho is getting as frustrated as his strikers as Liverpool resolutely defend their early one-goal lead. Mourinho steps from his dug-out and chastises Luis Garcia. The Portuguese thinks he s diving.
Now, the run to Istanbul is famous for many amazing goals, blocks and saves but Carragher marching over to the Chelsea manager and reminding him that his old Porto team was the most cynical he d ever seen, is as memorable for other reasons. Then, when Carragher is finished, he tells the Chelsea manager to fuck off . See, that sort of thing stays with fans as much as the goals and the blocks and the saves.
Some of the players here are greats too. Carragher for one. Alex Raisbeck in the 1900s, Elisha Scott in the 1920s and 1930s, Ian St John, Ray Kennedy, Steve Nicol, John Barnes, Luis Suarez; they all make a great case for making an all-time Liverpool XI. They also offered something more. Something distant but fantastic. Something that is a step away from the great things they did with the ball.
I will have missed some out of course. People have got in touch and asked, Is Ronnie Rosenthal in then? Is Titi Camara in? How about Tommy Lawrence? Is Torben Piechnik in? Now the first three all have a case, but Piechnik? No. People mustn t get confused with a cult and a poor player. None of the guys in this book are that.
Writing about them all - and talking to plenty of them - has been a pleasure. By researching the likes of Albert Stubbins and Elisha Scott, I often felt like Kevin Costner in that wonderfully sentimental baseball movie, Field of Dreams . The more I discovered and the more I learnt, the more I was sure those old-timers in their baggy shorts and woollen jumpers had come out of the corn and were kicking a ball about in my garden.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it and yes, I hope you scream at some of the selections and demand to know why your favourite Cult Hero hasn t made the cut.
You ll Never Walk Alone.
Leo Moynihan, September 2014
Foreword
by Gary McAllister
W HEN I first arrived at Liverpool in the summer of 2000, I did so very much thinking of the players who had been at this wonderful club before me. Specifically, the Scottish players. I was ambitious and I wanted to win things at the club but I was also very much aware of what those players from north of the border had achieved over the years.
Ian St John, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Alan Hansen; legends in the game and I genuinely didn t want to let them down. I had it at Leeds too. I looked at the greats there; Billy Bremner, Eddie Gray and Peter Lorimer; you want to impress and live up to those standards.
Soon though, you settle and whilst you always want to win trophies and be as successful as you can be, I found I had a huge connection with the supporters at Anfield. There is something about the crowd at Liverpool. Yes, they are a knowledgeable lot, able to support opponents as well as rip them to shreds, and yes they are capable of making their ground so much more than merely a sporting arena; but there is something extra, something special.
Maybe it s because I won things at Liverpool but I do, to this day, feel a very real bond with the fans. I was lucky to celebrate with them. We won a treble and that open top bus in May 2001 was unbelievable. Scary but unbelievable. After that sort of acclaim and mutual appreciation, you can never let go. You have looked into the eyes of those fans and seen what the club means to them. You ve worked hard, you ve given the team everything and you have won a trophy, or in our case three. That s great. But then you also see what it means to the people and you are lifted even higher.
You can get good wages as a player, you can look at the medal collection and you can watch re-runs of glorious goals and games, but you can t beat that feeling you get when you see the pure joy on the faces of the men, women and children who have travelled all over the place to watch and support you. It might sound a wee bit romantic and a clich , but to be able to look back and think of those people, you do smile, and you say to yourself, That s why I did it. That was good.
A club like Liverpool gets under your skin and the place s heart and soul is that connection between player and fan. I got Scousers immediately. Having Robbie Fowler, Stevie Gerrard and Carra in the dressing room helped of course and from the off I enjoyed the company of the locals.
I remember once at Bradford, I had scored a free kick. Right in the top corner. Lovely. About 15 minutes later, we got another and once again I took it, this time missing the post by about a foot. As I strolled away, our travelling fans started to sing, You don t know what you re doing. That made me laugh. That is the sort of humour that connects us Jocks and the Scousers.
It s fantastic to be involved with a book like Leo Moynihan s that celebrates that connection between player and fan. To be considered a hero of any sort at a club as special as Liverpool Football Club is an honour, and to be in a book with Carra and Robbie again brings back a wealth of wonderful memories. Memories I hope you have as much pleasure reliving as I did playing for your football club.
Enjoy the book.
Gary McAllister, September 2014
Acknowledgements
I D like to thank Paul Camillin at Pitch Publishing. Delivery on this book certainly went into extra-time and penalties, so thank you Paul for your patience. Thanks also to Graham Hales, Duncan Olner, Derek Hammond, Paul Dalling and Alasdair Norrie for all their work on the project.
Thanks especially to the players for all the memories and for those able to talk to me. Thank you John Barnes, Jamie Carragher, Peter Cormack, Luis Garcia, Joey Jones and Steve Nicol. Thank you Gary McAllister for the great chat and for a great foreword. That s right up there with your derby goal and your baldy head mate!
Thanks so much to the following for their constant support and for their help in making this book possible: Frans Adelaar, Michael Aitchison, Tammy Aitchison, Matt Allen, Neil Atkinson, Patrick Barclay, Justyn Barnes, Ian Callaghan, Peter Etherington, Brian Glanville, Marty Flynn, James