In the second half of his weekly piece, John Aldridge covers old club Tranmere Rovers and their start to the season, as well as the anniversary of his final Liverpool appearance.
It’s not looking good for another of my old clubs. It’s a dreadful start.
I’m not familiar with Tranmere Rovers’ current politics, Ian Dawes – I feel sad for any manager who is fired – but it’s a results game, and it is what it is.
What is the next step? They just need to get back on track with whoever comes in, attempt to restore faith in the players, devise a method to get them out of this situation, and work their way back up the table.
There’s still a long way to go in the season; they just need to get those things right, and I’m confident they’ll be OK.
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But that occurred to Tranmere a few years ago, and they don’t want to be in that situation again and be kicked out of the Football League. That is the very last thing you want. It was a dreadful experience that cannot be repeated.
I’d also like to relive another memorable period in my career. I played and scored in my final match for Liverpool in front of the Kop on this night precisely 34 years ago.
It had been one of the most difficult evenings of my life. I grew up in Garston dreaming of one day playing for Liverpool and donning the No.8 jersey in honour of Sir Roger Hunt.
I’ve done it, and I’m really proud of myself and my family for doing so.
The conclusion of the game was so emotional because it was the final day I knew I’d play at Anfield as a Liverpool player.
I knew the Kop adored me; I’d scored 63 goals in 104 games and couldn’t keep it up. The Kop adored me because I was a local guy, and I adored the Kop and Liverpool.
I was pushed out the door and there was nothing I could do about it; I was on my way to Real Sociedad and it was the best 104 games of my life because I was playing for the team that I had always wanted to play for and that youngsters still want to play for in this day and age. You miss playing football in general, you grew up just kicking a ball, but you miss playing for Liverpool in particular.
Management was excellent, but it does not substitute playing football, and I missed being a part of that amazing squad. I was simply humbled to have been a part of such excellence with the guys we had and the way we went about it.
We should have won two doubles at the same moment, which would have been amazing. We were beaten both games and were eliminated from Europe, but it was an incredible team to play for.
