Author Topic: The Great Paul Walsh  (Read 7263 times)

Offline kavah

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The Great Paul Walsh
« on: July 31, 2015, 03:36:16 am »
On being sent off in the League Cup semi-final against Southampton in 1987

It was a bad-tempered game and I was in a frustrated state of mind because the goals had dried up for me.
So when I got the ball from a throw-in and was clattered from behind by Kevin Bond I wasn’t best pleased.
We had a bit of a grapple but no more as I backed into him and though it was handbags at that point, he crossed the line when he leant in and spat in my face.
I checked to see that the ref wasn’t looking and then turned around and smashed him as hard as I could in the face.
What I hadn’t noticed in my eagerness to plant one on him was the linesman, who was stood about five yards away and saw the whole thing.
I was sent off and I was waiting for my bollocking in the dressing room when Kenny walked in after the final whistle. We’d drawn 0-0 and he said, ‘Wee man, you know you were wrong don’t you?’ I nodded, waiting for the inevitable, then he said, ‘But if there’s one person I don’t mind you smacking, it’s that t---.’”


slow motion 10.50 - 11.50

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/61ZM6HHe72I" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/61ZM6HHe72I</a>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=718&v=61ZM6HHe72I

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/paul-walsh-life-liverpool-fc-9761347
« Last Edit: July 31, 2015, 03:55:34 am by kavah »

Offline kavah

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« Last Edit: August 15, 2015, 10:54:46 am by kavah »

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2015, 07:06:50 am »
Does anyone have the book?

Paul Walsh: I was a drunk in my last Liverpool season and dressing room row with Dalglish that got me transfer listed

Paul Walsh has more reason than most for remembering Liverpool against Manchester United clashes.

He scored an injury time equaliser in an FA Cup semi final in the best atmosphere he ever experienced at Goodison Park to secure a reply (“the place just went mental. It was a massive moment”), the return though sadly lost 2-1 and the chance of fulfilling a childhood dream and playing in the cup final gone.

And it was against the old enemy that the striker’s stunning season in red in 1985/6 came to a shuddering halt, in a clash with United’s Kevin Moran which cost him almost the rest of his season and a place in an all-Merseyside Cup final against Everton.

Walsh had scored 18 goals in 25 matches at the start of that season and still managed to end up in the PFA team of the year, despite playing just two games after February 9.


For the former Reds striker though the real villain of the peace was not Republic of Ireland international Moran, with whom he tangled to rupture his ankle ligaments, but the subsequent efforts of the Anfield hierarchy to sort it out.

“It was just an accident. We jumped and my leg got caught between his and it turned my ankle round. I was having the best run of my life,” recalls the 52-year-old Londoner. “Having to keep Kenny (Dalglish) happy, keep him off the pitch because sometimes he was sub and would bring himself on for me.
I had four months of ultrasound and the machine wasn't even working

“I was looking at the run-in towards a League title and a potential FA Cup final and it all just disappeared in that instant.

“I genuinely wanted to please Kenny and wanted him to think I was a good player but I never really knew if I had that approval. I’m not sure I ever did because he was happy to let me go in the end and brought other players in and put them in front of me. Only Kenny has the answers, I haven’t.

“I wanted to stay at Liverpool, I was having my best run but I got the injury and the medical situation at the club was diabolical and didn’t help me recover quickly.”

For a club that was dominating the British football world in the 1980s, the response to injuries at Anfield did seem even beyond “old-school”.

Walsh says: “If you had an infection of any sort, you got red or black penicillin. If you got any sort of knock, you got an anti-inflammatory. But if you had anything worse than that, they’d just treat it without knowing what it was.

“For physios you had Roy Evans and Ronnie Moran – if they thought it was maybe something worse they’d sent you to the surgeon and he’d try and work out what it was.

“With my injury, I’d ruptured my ankle ligaments but I’m just having treatment as if it’s a sprain. I’m having ultrasound for four months and the fella comes round to test the machine and says it’s not even been working!

“I had two or three weeks of treatment and then I’m back running, trying to get fit. I don’t even know I’ve ruptured my ligaments. Kenny begged me to play in a game against Sheffield Wednesday (end of March 1986). ‘Wee man just give me an hour’ he said but I could barely run.

"I was suspicious of his motives in playing me. When you were injured at Liverpool you still got all the bonuses and I think that pi**ed him off. By playing me he was saying I was fit and so I wasn’t entitled to the bonuses when I wasn’t in the team. I never got another one.

“The next season I went in and saw him about the bonuses which were £125 a point in the first team and he said ‘I’ll give you the next one’. That next game was an early round of the League Cup and the bonus was £15 per leg! Typical Kenny he was giving me £30 of a bonus.

“I found it really difficult being injured. When the lads won the FA Cup semi against Southampton at White Hart Lane, coming back on the coach I wanted to be happy for my team but personally I knew I probably wasn’t going to be involved and I found it really hard.”

By the time of that first all-Merseyside Cup Final, Walsh had recovered enough for a place in the 15 but didn’t make the 12-man teamsheet on the day and a recent discovery has left him further bemused by his manager’s views towards him.

“There was the 12 and then there was me, Sammy Lee and John Wark. You only get a medal if you played in them days but about a year ago I found out Kenny got John Wark a medal. Why? Warky played about six games that season and I’d played 25 to 30.”
Kenny accused me of not trying - my response got me transfer listed

Walsh believes a major dressing room row at the start of the double winning season may have been part of the decline in his relationship with Dalglish, one that was never likely to be perfect given he was bought by Joe Fagan as the King’s ultimate successor.

“We were playing Oxford and Ronnie Whelan came off after 20-odd minutes and I was on. We come in at half-time and he lurched towards me and said I wasn’t even trying.

“Well I wasn’t having that. I don’t care who he is. That’s insulting where I come from.”

Walsh’s expletive-laden response led to him being transfer listed – and a message from Dalglish was sent down the bus on the way back.

“I had played 70 minutes and he sent Roy Evans down the bus to say I was in for training on the Sunday. I knew Roy thought he’d been unreasonable, so he just told me to come in and ‘have a bath’ and go home which I did. I probably spent all the time slagging him off because I had that in my locker. If I was going, i was going to go in a blaze of glory, on my terms.”

Walsh was a flamboyant character in an age that was made for them. He lived in the Wirral with plenty of fellow Reds for company.

“We had a great social life, everyone liked a night out. Stevie Nicol was over there, mad Bruce, Barnesy came, Craig Johnson was over there, Spackers, Jan was over there. Initially me, Warky, Jan and Kevin McDonald all lived in the George Hotel so we had a great introduction, we had company. Sammy Lee was a mate of mine.

“I probably went out with Stevie Nicol more than anyone else, he was a fantastic player and a good lad. They were all already winners and I was trying to be a winner with them.

“But Joe Fagan bought me and Kenny took over after the Heysel tragedy and that changed my destiny.”

Walsh played the first half of that ill-fated European Cup final – a hernia injury forced him off – but he remains angry about the organisation of a game which would cost 39 supporters lives.

“I had been playing with a hernia for three months and Joe Fagan let me play but not train. It made me feel on top of the world because he wanted me in his team even with an injury, that’s how important he thought I was.

“At the game I remember driving up to the stadium and thinking ’what a dump this is’. It just went from bad to worse. We knew people had died. They made a decision to play the game and it wasn’t until afterwards you hear so many people had died.

“I remember a group of us being on the pitch afterwards looking at the wall which collapsed and Michel Platini came past carrying the European Cup and just shrugged his shoulders. If UEFA had done the their job properly it would never have happened. There is a twinge of bitterness when I see European Cup finals in these magnificent stadiums now.”

Walsh admits that his last season at Liverpool was one he regrets, with his professionalism levels dropping.

“My last season at Liverpool I was a drunkard. I never played a game. All I did was travel with the team everywhere and get pi**ed. I wasn’t playing football except in the reserves. When he rang me up and said ‘we’ve agreed a fee with Tottenham’ I said ‘yeah’.

“I had got into bad habits to console myself. I went out. Kenny took me everywhere but never even put me on the bench. I had to go, I wasn’t wanted.

“But listen, It’s 30 years ago, it doesn’t matter now.”

An hour in Paul Walsh’s company is a fascinating run through tales of Anfield at the height of Liverpool FC’s powers. You can share them too in his new book: Walshy: Wouldn’t It Be Good’ on sale now. RRP £16.99, available for just £11.99 on merseyshop.com or call 0845 143 0001

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/paul-walsh-drunk-last-liverpool-10039014



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Offline G1 Jockey 4(betfair)

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2015, 03:25:20 pm »
was at that game.
thanks for the vid.seemed a better punch at the time.
Freedom of Speech unless you get shouted down and abused by the in-crowd.

Offline kavah

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #4 on: November 30, 2015, 04:05:34 am »
^ right hook, quite fast like :D

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2016, 08:48:03 pm »
Cheers.

Will always be remembered for that goal he bundled in at woodison in the semi vs utd,insane couple of games,lots of trouble before & after each game when for me,the hatred was at its peak.
The replay was forgettable-if Nicol had buried a great chance we'd have been on our way to wembley,another segregated stand where missiles flew all night..


Offline red vinyl

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2016, 10:02:35 pm »
I went the replay at Maine road and all the Windows were smashed and all the seats threw out on our bus,it did have a Sharp electronics advert down the side of it though. Got a proper right hook of a copper getting off the bus at Oxford road. Walshys was better as i seen it coming.

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2016, 10:26:06 am »
I went the replay at Maine road and all the Windows were smashed and all the seats threw out on our bus,it did have a Sharp electronics advert down the side of it though. Got a proper right hook of a copper getting off the bus at Oxford road. Walshys was better as i seen it coming.

Aye i was at both ties,its amazing how far we have come.
Those who attended both games should remember how crazy/intense they were,i was in the kippax-which was sorta like the gwladys st in design,missiles galore pelted us including a huge chunk of coal which fortunately missed everyone & hit what i can only remember as a central walkway & broke up-duly returned which is wrong but understandable.

Paul Walsh..difficult to understand how he never went on to be a legend here,had the talent no doubt.

Offline red vinyl

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2016, 09:54:43 pm »
And golf balls,potatoes,coins and just about everything was thrown at us that night. Your right DAVO we have come a long way!

Offline paulrazor

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #9 on: April 7, 2016, 11:33:50 am »
good info

didnt realize how badly he had fallen out with kenny

id like to have a read of that book
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Offline Jon2lfc

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #10 on: April 11, 2016, 02:38:18 pm »
I was a wee lad when Walshy played for us but I always seem to remember being happy when he came on or played. It was like a super-sub was coming on or something. He came across as a very classy and street-smart type of player. A good foil for Rushy.
Seeing that Panini sticker type image of him on his book's cover brought back some good memories of our successes in the footballing 80's!

Never knew of his run-ins with Kenny. Good post. Cheers.
To be fair to Kenny, Kenny was probably under pressure from above to limit cash outlay on players who weren't playing. Money didn't grow on trees even in them days!

Offline paulrazor

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #11 on: April 11, 2016, 02:39:49 pm »
the stuff about the ultrasound machines is laughable
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Offline phil236849

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #12 on: April 19, 2016, 09:13:40 pm »
30 years later, we would still welcome signing such a talent

Offline kavah

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #13 on: December 12, 2018, 04:10:06 pm »
Good to see him at the match last night, working with some of the other old players on match days.

Offline Wingman

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #14 on: December 23, 2018, 08:15:53 am »
He was a fantastic player, I was made up when we signed him from Luton. They had a decent front line in those days with Walsh, Stein and Hill. Imagine being the man signed to replace Kenny and wear the number 7 shirt at Liverpool, particularly with Kenny still a registered player.

My first match at Anfield was Liverpool v Norwich in Nov 1986. We won 6-2 and Paul Walsh scored a hat trick that day, Rushie got 2 and Steve Nicol the other. I tried to find some you tube footage but couldn’t, sorry.  He was a skilful 2nd striker but he was fairly prolific himself. He had flowing locks and advertised the Nike footie boots that I coveted as a kid - never got them though.

It’s a shame to hear about the problems he had with Kenny, and giving up on getting back into the side whilst boozing the season away. He was sold too early but then the 87 rebuild that brought in Aldo, Barnes, Houghton and our new no7, Peter Beardsley weren’t too shabby.

Offline kavah

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #15 on: November 7, 2019, 01:23:06 am »
Mike Nev From the TAW thread

Listened to the Alphabet Soup W episode today. Felt the lads didn't do him justice.

One of the myths about the 85/86 Double season is that Dalglish chose to return himself to the side for the run-in. He didn't. Walsh got a bad ankle injury against Man U (day he appeared with short hair having got rid of his iconic scallycut) and never recovered. Prior to that he was unbelievable (keeping KD out the team) for months.

He was also very good in first season (84/85) and scored after 12 seconds of his debut. 86/87 he didn't get as many goals but his standards were still superb.

To say it never really worked out for him is just wrong. He played in a European Cup Final and won a league title medal. Many very good Liverpool players over 30 years cant claim that.

This show at Goodison in 1987 is typical of him. A brilliant player. And having met and interviewed him on TAW a very nice guy who says what he thinks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMzkf3iB6fg

I'll stick Walsh in the same bracket as McManaman as totally underrated.

Mike Nev
« Last Edit: November 7, 2019, 01:25:31 am by kavah »

Offline paulrazor

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Re: The Great Paul Walsh
« Reply #16 on: November 7, 2019, 08:48:26 am »
I read his book, was a good read, he clearly just didnt get along with Dalglish and the medical situation was a joke at the club

Said the only time Dalglish really backed him was a red card against southampton, Kevin Bond i think it was spat in Walshy's face so Walshy decked him and Dalglish apparently said after he was delighted to see Bond decked.

But it seemed one of them situations where two people just dont like each other, even said there was some court case over a fight Walshy was involved in (some lads started on Sammy Lee in town and Walshy and co cleaned house), I think when it went to court it was thrown out or something, when it was done at end of 86-7 season Walshy said that Kenny asked him on the thursday or friday to put it behind him and go to the next game at Coventry hinting he would be in the team, in the end Walshy didnt even make the bench.

Was a good read as i like when a footballer doesnt go "its someone elses fault for everything i was that damn good"

He admits he made fuck ups, could have been more professional (he was taken off one game for spurs hungover).

Interesting he didnt rate Venables at all
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