The Retrospective Series Vol.5: 19th September 1981
Panini football stickers eh? ’Twas such an innocent time! Walking around school with a pocket full of “doubles” or “swapsies” and seemingly always having a dozen or so of the same sticker as your friends or, the lightening bolt, and that one final sticker that completed your album was in the hands of another! How many would you swap to get your holy grail or more pertinently, would you then run home to place that final sticker in a completed album and forget about school altogether? Who needed double geography when you’d completed a Panini football sticker album?
For any American or worldwide readers think baseball cards, but much less classy.
Anyway, the ground rules for my continuing series of retrospective match reports on Liverpool games of the past are a simple collection of games I’ve either never seen before or simply seen scant, snippets of highlights over the years and watching now, have intrigued me to put digital pen to digital parchment in appreciation of a fantastic game of the past that although does not and cannot match up to the “PlayStation Football” of today, still showcases the very best of decades now long past. So here’s my brief match report from a game from when I was just a wee boy of 9 years of age and all courtesy of a fantastic www.youtube.com channel run by a clearly devoted fan of the Red faith:
Dave Waller
This channel is about a football team - the greatest team you've ever seen. A team that played total football, won the…www.youtube.com
So why the intrigue for a game that ended scoreless?
(1) The all whites of Aston Villa were the defending League Champions whilst the all reds of Liverpool were the defending European Cup Champions.
(2) In just eight months time the roles would be completely reversed!
Liverpool would wrap up the League Championship on 15th May with a 3–1 win at home to Tottenham Hotspur whilst just 11 days later in Rotterdam, Aston Villa would upset the odds by defeating heavy favourites Bayern Munich 1–0 in the European Cup Final.
(3) The vast majority of the Aston Villa team that faced Liverpool in this game would triumph in Holland at the end of May 1982, minus an early injury to goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer. The reason for his individual inclusion here will become readily apparent shortly.
(4) The 0–0 draw would see the Reds of Liverpool just one place above the relegation zone, Aston Villa 14th, and although only five games into the league season, this would be portentous for both sides in a strangely topsy-turvy season all round.
(5) Despite the 0–0 score line, Liverpool hit the crossbar an incredible three times, the post once and Aston Villa were forced into two desperate goal line clearances.
(6) In an era of hard tackling football that would make today’s generation wince, there were rarely any bookings (yellow cards) or sending offs (red cards). In this feisty and heated game, we have two bookings for Aston Villa and Ray Kennedy incredibly sent off for a violent clash with Aston Villa’s pugnacious defender Allan Evans and both teams could count themselves incredibly fortunate not to have incurred more bookings or sending offs, especially Liverpool’s star man Kenny Dalglish.
(7) Again, despite the 0–0 score line, BBC commentator of the day John Motson would remark at the final whistle “What a fine advertisement for English football today from the European and English Champions”.
This “fine advertisement” was dished up by a home team Liverpool with just one change from their home league game with Arsenal two weeks prior and which forms part of this retrospective series and the article is linked below. Club record signing Mark Lawrenson was suspended and replaced at left back by the Reds regular in that position Alan Kennedy, with the rest of the team picking itself with either Liverpudlian born legends (Phil Thompson, Sammy Lee and Terry McDermott) and the trio of Scotland greats Alan Hansen, Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish. On the substitutes bench was a fresh faced Irishman who would spend well over a legendary decade with the Reds, Ronnie Whelan. The visitors from England’s self titled “Second City” Birmingham, Aston Villa, had a team for the ages. From Jimmy Rimmer in goal and a defensive line that contained the growling central defensive partnership of Allan Evans and Ken McNaught they also had a brilliant mix of grit and guile in midfield through captain Dennis Mortimer and the precocious winger Tony Morley and Liverpool born striker and all around pest up front, Peter Withe. The Liverpudlian would become an Aston Villa legend in just eight months time with the winning goal in the European Cup Final in Rotterdam.
On this day, Peter Withe would have just one chance on goal with a tame header that was easily saved by Reds goalkeeping custodian, Bruce Grobbelaar but the clearest goal scoring chance of all fell to the speedy left winger Tony Morley. Running clear on goal and no defenders in sight, Grobbelaar had to race from his goal to smother his goal bound effort, drawing comparisons from the BBC commentator to the Reds legendary goalkeeper he’d recently replaced, Ray Clemence. Watching it back now 41 years later I was immediately struck by how accomplished the save was as well as smiling broadly at the mention of the epochal name of Ray Clemence when I immediately jotted down in my notes the name of the Reds current goalkeeping custodian, Alisson Becker. Amazing how the old adage of “The more things change, the more they stay the same” always rolls around again!
These two chances would be the sum total of the goal scoring efforts from the visitors as Liverpool simply ran the English League Champions ragged. In the first half alone, as well as Terry McDermott clipping the top of the crossbar, Liverpool, with Kenny Dalglish absolutely magnificent and literally everywhere and at the heart of everything positive from the Reds, forced Jimmy Rimmer into six separate and often brilliant saves. A scrappy beginning to the game gave way to a fierce drive from Reds defensive right back Phil Neal that Rimmer dived to his right to save well. Dalglish fed Sammy Lee before his drive was well saved again by Rimmer in the Aston Villa goal and from a Dalglish corner his fellow Scotsman Alan Hansen forced another fine flying save from the Southport born goalkeeper. Sammy Lee would be denied, again, as would Dalglish, again, and after a fine move involving Sammy Lee and Ray Kennedy. Right on the cusp of half-time Dalglish fed McDermott and his speculative cross come shot evaded Rimmer for once, but not the top of his crossbar, and the players headed down the Anfield tunnel with the score locked at 0–0.
The second half was much of the same but the one way traffic was now being dictated by Kenny Dalglish’s other Scottish partner in Red, Graeme Souness. First the affectionately known “Champagne Charlie” fed Ray Kennedy who’s cross was headed goalward by Terry McDermott, forcing yet another brilliant save from Rimmer. Moments later, and with the Aston Villa defence all over the place, Colin Gibson screwed a horrible defensive clearance onto his own crossbar, but Jimmy Rimmer’s ninth save of the match was arguably his best. Again it fell to the Scottish partnership of Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish as the former’s brilliant through ball was inch perfect for the latter with Dalglish sliding in to score only to find Rimmer diving at his feet for an incredibly brave and vital save. His tenth save was from a rasping Souness shot and his eleventh and final meaningful save thwarted David Johnson at his near post following a fantastic surging run forward from defence by Alan Hansen.
Following the sending off of Ray Kennedy, the ten men of Liverpool still poured forward and when they managed to beat Rimmer in the Aston Villa goal, they managed to hit the frame of his somewhat charmed goal. Graeme Souness was at the heart of a brilliant move that released Terry McDermott and, as Rimmer closed the angle, his delicate chip beat the advancing goalkeeping but not his far post and with just seconds left on the clock, Kenny Dalglish’s impudent and deft chipped free kick left Rimmer standing whilst the ball hit his crossbar and bounced to safety for a goal kick.
It was indeed a “fine advertisement” for English football and, come May 1982 and the end of the season, the Reds would be League Cup Winners at Wembley and English League Champions, and their visitors from Birmingham would be Champions of Europe and the sixth season in a row an English team had won “The Cup With the Big Ears”.
Thanks for reading. There are more in the retrospective pipeline for the weeks ahead but for now, can I draw your attention to three of the four previously published articles within this series?
Liverpool 2 Arsenal 0
The Retrospective Series: 5th September 1981medium.com
Everton 0 Liverpool 5 — November 6th 1982
“Ian Rush is leading Everton a merry dance” and according to song writing legend, through a Red River Valley too. A…medium.com
Tottenham Hotspur 2 Liverpool 0
“The Big Match” 30th April 1983. Despite the reverse, the Reds wrap up their 14th League Championship.medium.com