“It was the finest exhibition I’ve seen the whole time I’ve played and watched the game. You couldn’t see it bettered anywhere, not even in Brazil.” - Tom FinneyLike, I suspect, many of you I am quite the nerd when it comes to Liverpool. On my laptop sits a spreadsheet, sadly untouched in recent times, where once I went through and listed every match I have ever attended, detailing the result and the scorers. I could bemoan the fact that in recent years I haven’t been to nearly as many games as I’d have liked. But I won’t. That’s because for me, I was fortunate enough to attend games during the time when we fielded one of the greatest sides in our history.
There was a brief false start – my first two visits in 1984 ended in defeat. I was banned for a couple of years. I was given a final chance in the Spring of 1986 and we trounced Birmingham en route to the Double (Gary Gillespie hat-trick stats fans). That game saved me, I was ‘in’! The first season where I attended 3 matches happened to be the 1987/88 season and what 3 matches they turned out to be:
Everton 2-0 (McMahon & Beardsley)
Arsenal 2-0 (Aldridge & Beardsley)
Nottingham Forest 5-0 (Houghton, Aldridge, Gillespie, Beardsley, Aldridge)
How’s that for your first semi-regular season of matchgoing? All at the age of 8 and 9. I often think that’s what’s given me a more laidback attitude than some posters when we have our bad runs. It’s like being taken to a few concerts as a kid and seeing The Beatles at Shea Stadium, Hendrix at Woodstock or Radiohead at Glastonbury rolled into one and just presuming this was the norm. What was the banner lifted from James’s Sit Down?... “If I hadn’t seen such riches I could live with being poor.” Except I think I can live with it. The memories still burn on, maybe made all the stronger because I was at such an impressionable age. It’s why John Barnes will always be my favourite player.
You have two choices when you’ve seen such highs: you can rage at anything and everything, demanding all our future players and managers live up to such high standards or you can puff your cheeks, sit back and wonder how anyone can be expected to live up to that.
Onto the game itself. It’s one all of you have probably seen in its entirety (if like me you were a proud owner of The Mighty Reds VHS – the first video we ever owned) or at least some highlights on youTube or LFCtv. If you haven’t then stop reading this immediately and go and search for it. It’s magic!
To give you some context, the fixture was played in April 1988 with Liverpool way clear of everyone else at the top of the table and just games away from sealing a 17th title. One of the best of the rest were Nottingham Forest – one of only two sides to beat Liverpool that season a fortnight earlier, and our victims in the FA Cup Semi Final just the previous weekend. Both games had finished 2-1 and in the modern era you can be sure it would have been defined as some sort of season defining trilogy. This was a Forest fan managed by Brian Clough when he was still operating at a high level and contained some of the most promising youngsters in England in the likes of Stuart Pearce, Nigel Clough, Neil Webb and Des Walker (don’t snigger, they were all decent back then!). Liverpool went into the game on the back of their worst League run of the season. Just 1 win in 4 with two defeats (the only two we’d suffer all season).
I remember approaching the ground with usual butterflies and a fear that our bad run might continue. Given how successful we were back then I was always remarkably pessimistic about how our games would go. I used to love the pre match back then – the giant tin of Crown paints in the centre circle, the players warming up and acknowledging the songs from the Kop. The sheer size and scale of the Kop swaying all over the place as the occasional fainter were passed over heads and down the front to the waiting St Johns Ambulance men. George reading out the teams…all this was a great preamble and took my mind off the game itself. Whenever they kicked off I was a bag of nerves. More nervous than Marouane Fellaini at an Edward Scissorhands convention.
Vs
From the outset it was clear I needn’t have worried. Liverpool were utterly majestic. You’ll have seen already the comments from Tom Finney saying it was the greatest performance he’d seen. Watching the game again to research this it struck me how much everyone was amazed by the performance. Some of the lines from John Motson on the TV commentary backed up this assertion (this was back in the day when Motson was still considered to be a good commentator and not just a bewildered old fool).
All season the Barnes and Beardsley axis had been ripping teams to shreds and this game was perhaps the pinnacle of that particular partnership. Beardsley in particular was jaw droppingly good; weaving past defenders at will and threading eye of the needle passes like a previous incarnation hybrid of Luis Suarez and Phillipe Coutinho with a bowlcut and gap toothed grin. Barnes saved his best for the latter stages, skinning the young full back Steve Chettle at will, most memorably with a delicious nutmeg in front of the kop en route to teeing up the 4th for Beardsley.
The rest of the side were by no means just making up the numbers. Brucie in goal was a spectator for much of the night but still amused the Kop and showed he was an adept mathematician by correctly answering the “Brucie Brucie what’s the score?” questions on a number of occasions. At the back Hansen and Gillespie were the epitome of ball playing centre halves. One early foray from Hansen helped create the first goal. At full back, Nicol and Ablett provided valuable support. The engine room of McMahon and Spackman (brilliantly deputising for the injured Whelan) ran the show and on the right of midfield Houghton scurried here and there, all perpetual motion and passing and movement. Up front Aldridge “the poacher supreme” made the right runs knowing that silver service was all but guaranteed.
All the goals are mini classics in their own right and show what a complete side we were back then. I think a couple made the famous Goal of the Season shortlist that featured 10 goals all scored by Liverpool. In fact, in attending just those 3 games listed earlier I actually saw 5 of those contenders in the flesh.
1-0:Some brilliant pass and move and one touch passing sees Beardsley and Houghton combine for the Glaswegian Irishman to deftly clip the ball over Steve Sutton (who incidentally had a great game!)
2-0:
"and that is another superb Liverpool goal...and as with everything Liverpool do, it looked simple but it was of a quite stupendous quality" Deep in his own half Beardsley drops an shoulder, leaves two Forest players in his wake and sprays a glorious 50 yard through ball over the top for Aldridge to race on to and slot past Sutton. In comparison to the slick interplay of the first, this goal was a classic of its kind, a ruthless counter attack with defence turned into attack in a split second
3-0:
"another bewildering piece of Liverpool football" After a spell of relentless pressure and with Forest rocking on the ropes like a heavyweight slugger, a poor clearance from a corner is fed back to Barnes (check) who tees up Gary Gillespie to smash a finish high into the net at the Kop End before celebrating like a demented stick insect.
4-0:
"and the England forwards conspire again to produce another marvellous moment" A piece of Barnes magic sees him nutmeg Chettle, glide effortlessly into the box and tee up Beardsley for a goal his performance so richly deserved.
5-0: Aldridge completes the rout after a burst from Spackman and one-two with Beardsley tee him up for a simple tap in.
We could have had more. Barnes hit the post. Beardsley smashed one against the bar. Sutton made some great saves. We were relentless. We were insatiable. We were further words like that if you want to look them up in a thesaurus.
Arguably the result that evening was never in doubt from the moment we took the lead. Certainly when Gillespie made it 3 early in the second half it was a case of sitting back and watching the majesty unfold. We were amazing and we knew it. Forest knew it. Everyone in the ground knew it. It was a performance that “Show them the way to go home” was made for.
After the game, just to top off my luck, my Dad produced tickets that enabled us to go into the Trophy Room for a classic 80’s buffet and a chance to spot a few old players and staff. The buzz was palpable as people discussed the performance and where it ranked amongst the very best they had seen. To my young eyes I didn’t really have a huge amount to compare it too. But 25 years on, it remains the finest team performance I have ever seen. I’ve been fortunate enough to witness ‘bigger’ wins with more at stake. I was there when we won the Title in 1990 and I’ve seen us pick up a few cups. I’ve had higher moments of ecstasy (behave) as we’ve grabbed late winners or beaten bigger rivals. But I don’t think I’ve ever had the buzz, the sheer happiness to be watching a match in total relaxation whilst thinking “this is great”. My non Liverpool supporting mates love to chuck in the stereotypes about our support, and about our superiority complex. When I think back to this game and the others I witnessed that season I think – is it any wonder?! 25 years on (sigh), it remains my favourite game.
http://www.youtube.com/v/jy-uQT3AqyI