You think Steven Gerrard's wonder strike against Olympiakos, making it 3-1 and enabling Liverpool to progress in the European Cup was a one off unique moment in our illustrious history?
You'd be very wrong.
It's 1977, March and we're playing the French side St Etienne at Anfield. We've lost the first leg 1-0 and it's currently 2-1 to Liverpool which means they'll go through on away goals.
Bob Paisley, having tried to fill the mighty boots of Shankly, finds himself sending on a substitute... one David Fairclough. Or as he's known to millions "Supersub" or as he's known to me "David carrot topped fucking wonder hero of a super sub, St Etienne you make me weep with nostalgia Fairlcough"
But's that probably just me.
You're in the in the 84th minute, and its not looking good for our European Cup hopes, when Fairclough picks the ball up, runs 20 yards nipping in and out of the French defenders' attention, his twiglet legs somehow glued to the ball, and shoots.
Shoots straight into the goal.
Bedlam. Sheer fucking bedlam. The Kop, more of a single bodied mass of sweat, ale and hope, roars into life, sending shock waves back across the Channel and across France. Somewhere in the distance, a German team called Borussia Muchengladbach look up and worry...
we won 3-1. Davey Supersub Fairclough once more scoring the most important of goals to take us through. (We beat Grasshoppers of Zurich 6-1 in the semi's and the Kop sang the score so loud the Radio 2 commentator said "Here's the score, no wait, I'll let the Kop tell you")
David Fairclough is not my most favourite player to grace the red shirt, he's not one that instantly leaps to people's minds when they look at the Hall of Fame of our club, for godsakes he only played 154 games for Liverpool, unfortunately playing in a team that started with John Toshack and Kevin Keegan, David Johnson and moved onto signing a certain Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish...
But he scored 55 goals. just under 1 in every 3 games he played a part in. And the reason he's on my list in this advent's calendar, is that he simply gave us some of our most treasured moments, and as a kid growing up listening to the footy on the radio, brought wonder and joy into my house.
You think Luis Suarez has the ball stapled to his foot? You think Torres in his pomp had it glued to el nino's toe? You've all now heard of the night Super Sub scored against St Etienne and cemented his and our name in European history... Well scroll to 3min 44' in on this You tube and sit back and watch Davey Fairclough waltz past 32 Everton players and score with just a wonderful wonderful goal...
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/TIsbR24T2qg?fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/TIsbR24T2qg?fs=1</a>]]>Davey Fairclough was known as Supersub because he came on and he scored. But when until you watch him play, you forget that he was so much more than that. His ball control, and stick thin legs reminded me of Steve Macmanaman, but in an era where shin guards meant you were just decapitated above the knee on the pitch. His positioning was wonderful, he was always in the right place, or appeared to be, and he looked ridiculous, like the most ginger haired guy you'd ever seen, like the nerdy kid down the road who hung about the chippy.
But he could play, and play beautifully. From his debut against Norwich, scoring the only goal, til his eventual parting in 1983, he was committed to the club, and must have gone through so many disappointments:
Bob Paisley wrote about having to leave him out in the '77 season, the FA Cup Final and the European Cup Final (he was a sub in the latter, but not the in Wembley final, as in those days you were only allowed 1 sub)
"On Friday morning we trained at Arsenal's training ground close by and then at lunchtime I announced the team. It was a moment I had been dreading, because I knew that for two men it would mean disappointment, and for one in particular it would mean heartbreak. Memories of the moment in 1950, when I learned I was left out of the Liverpool Cup Final side after scoring a goal in the semi-final, flooded back to me. My heart went out to Ian Callaghan, one of the greatest servants the club had ever had, when I named him only substitute, and I could have cried for David Fairclough, the hero against St Etienne, when I had to tell him that he wouldn't even be getting stripped." To be playing for the club when Keegan, Toshack, Rush, and Dalglish, even David Johnson who was an England forward at the time, were all playing in the prime of their careers, it must have been hard. Very hard. Yet Fairclough didn't do what most ego ridden strikers seem to do these days and head off to another club to get a game, he stayed and stayed true to his boyhood club. Loyalty or missing out? I'd say loyalty. He played in the golden era, when we won any and everything, and though he was injured more frequently toward the end of his career with us, he always wanted to push for his place.
He'll never be a player instantly idolised like those great strikers who are already cemented in the LFC history books, merely because he didn't play as much. But he's a favourite of mine and many many Liverpool fans for those goals he did come on and score. Like the Everton goal, and most of all, like that night. [i[that night[/i] when Liverpool beat St Etienne, one of the powerhouses of European Football and became part of the legend that is passed down the generations.
He hated being called Supersub and was much much more than that. In fact it was only 60 or so games that he came on as sub for, (less than half his total games for the club) but for us and him, it was the fact he almost always scored in those games, that the moniker sits on his shoulders.
Overall for me, its the skill of the man in an era of blood tackling and ogres playing in defence, its the determination of the man to waltz around the defences of the world, and the defiance to stay at a club overflowing in wealth of strikers, that makes him one of my favourites. He was one of the most skilful players we had, he was an unsung hero in many ways, but most of all he is David Fairclough, Supersub:
The young'un's have their Istanbul, we older, have a very cold cold night in March, many many years ago, against St Etienne when Supersub caused tremors across Europe with that goal.
