Reds edge closer to their 13th League title with vital win at St Andrews
Retro Series Vol.25: Birmingham City 0 Liverpool 1, 8th May 1982.
Retro Series Vol.25: Birmingham City 0 Liverpool 1, 8th May 1982.
One of the many and rarely spoken about privileges of being a Liverpool fan is that players, especially so in the 1970s through to the latter part of the following decade, well they are always “our” players. Sure Bruce Grobbelaar played in goal for Southampton after leaving Anfield but he was always, as the song that often serenaded him in his Reds playing days, “Brucie Grobbelaar in OUR goal”. Today’s captain Graeme Souness would joyously lift the European Cup and hoist it one handed to a Roman sky as well as managing other football clubs, but he’ll forever be remembered as a Liverpool legend rather than for his post Anfield spell in Italy for Sampdoria. Phil Neal was signed from Northampton, Ronnie Whelan from Home Farm, Mark Lawrenson from Brighton, Ian Rush from Chester and Craig Johnston from Middlesbrough, but all are synonymous for playing virtually their entire careers for Liverpool, with Craig Johnston ostensibly retiring after leaving Liverpool and after a glittering and trophy laden career. On and on it goes. Ian Rush played for Newcastle United after leaving Anfield but he’ll be the Reds record goal scorer forever now, and his great mate Kenny Dalglish managed Blackburn Rovers to the Premier League title and were crowned Champions at Anfield on a poetic day of epic proportions for the Scotsman with the widest smile and most mischievous laugh in football. But there’s only one “King” of Anfield and that’s forever Kenny Dalglish.
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
With due and respectful thanks as always to the www.youtube.com channel linked above for recently uploading the highlights from this particular game, let’s just say the game was a bit of a stinker! With the Reds closing in on the 1st Division title and Birmingham City perilously close to relegation, there were only a handful of notable goal scoring chances contained within the 17 minutes of highlights kindly uploaded to Dave’s highly recommended channel but what struck me, aside from Graeme Souness’ lazy arrow strike of a pass over 60 yards with the outside of his right boot that fell perfectly into the stride of Ian Rush to smash a volley high into the roof of the Birmingham net for the game’s only goal, is that “The Blues” team today was a stellar line up in many ways and all with players I remember with long and occasionally successful careers away from St Andrews, and away from Birmingham City.
Goalkeeper Tony Coton was a young man here in the time machine of 8th May 1982, but I fondly remember Coton being a stalwart goalkeeping custodian for Manchester City and Watford. Both defensive full backs David Langan and Pat van den Hauwe had fantastic lengthy and somewhat iconic careers away from Birmingham City. Langan won the League Cup and played over 100 games for Oxford United whilst Belgian born and English raised van den Hauwe will forever be remembered as a rambunctious and tough tackling member of the incredible trophy winning Everton team of the mid 1980's.
One of the greatest of all footballing beauties is our own personal perspective and fanaticism and so each of the three Blues players to follow will each rouse fond (or otherwise!) memories in many teams around the English leagues to this day. Kevin Dillon for example would play over 180 games for Birmingham, 101 for Reading and over 60 for Newcastle United but I’ll always remember the tough tackling yet energetically charged and gifted midfielder playing in the blue of my hometown Portsmouth. I watched Dillon many times, and in at least 3 of the 4 divisions as he played over 200 games for my hometown on the south coast of England. Alan Curbishley played alongside Dillon in today’s game but I remember him as a running midfielder for Charlton Athletic and West Ham United can lay claim to his loyalty too, with Curbishley also managing both teams in the far away future of the 1990’s. In attack for Birmingham City today was the soon to be menace and towering presence of Mick Harford and the quintessential “nightmare to play against” central striker. A somewhat “journeyman” striker, Harford is best known for being that tall nuisance striker for the crazy gang of Wimbledon but is still to this day involved with the club that holds his sporting heart, Luton Town.
Perhaps BBC commentator of the day Alan Parry best summarised the events of this particular day in May 1982, describing a “disappointing first half” and “not a vintage Liverpool display” but a win is a win as they say in footballing circles and a win that gave the Reds a precious 2 point advantage over Ipswich Town at the summit of the 1st Division. A 1–1 midweek draw at Highbury and a 3–1 win against Tottenham Hotspur 4 days later ensured the Reds held off the failing and flailing challenge from Ipswich Town to wrap up their 13th English 1st Division Title, and all from 12th position in the league after a 3–1 home defeat to Manchester City on Boxing Day just under 5 months ago. Quite the incredible turn around.
Thanks for reading. My Liverpool FC archives contain a wealth of articles past, present and often personal, or you can find the three most recently published articles on their season hence far linked below:
Nunez at the double but Becker the unsung hero as the Reds sign off for the World Cup with a win
Liverpool 3 Southampton 1, 12th November 2022.medium.com
Kid Kelleher the Kop hero in the Carabao Cup once again!
Liverpool 0 Derby County 0, 9th November 2022.medium.com
Salah at the double to defeat a woeful Spurs. Reds climb to 8th.
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Liverpool 2, 6th November 2022.medium.com