The blonde hair, the beaming grin, the arms raised in celebration after another moment of seemingly effortless brilliance.
For those old enough and lucky enough to remember Kenny Dalglish in full flight during his stellar playing career, the sight of Fernando Torres in a Liverpool shirt thirty years after the iconic Scot’s arrival at Anfield brought back a host of treasured memories.
Their playing careers in the blood red shirt followed distinctly different trajectories of course.
Dalglish’s debut season concluded with him chipping a precious winner against FC Bruges at Wembley which retained the European Cup for the Reds and set the platform over the coming next half dozen years for a new level of dominance on home soil and abroad, eclipsing even the substantial triumphs which came before, ahead of him then taking over as manager (initially whilst still a player) and furthering his legend in a manner on and off the pitch which transcended mere football.
Torres, meanwhile, broke the Premier League goals record for an overseas signing in his opening campaign and continued to cut a swathe through defences for some time afterwards as Rafa Benitez’s side sought to end a near two-decade wait for an Anfield league title but, in no small part due to the catastrophic impact of then owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett which ultimately took Liverpool to the brink of bankruptcy, never won a trophy of any sort in his time at the club and within three and a half years had signed for one of the Reds’ bitterest rivals in deeply unsatisfactory circumstances.
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Their times at Anfield aligned for the briefest of periods as the process of rebuilding from the wreckage left by Hicks and Gillett got underway with one memorable afternoon in the Black Country, eleven years ago this weekend, standing out as a tantalising glimpse into what might have been had the Spaniard been able to be persuaded to give Dalglish, by now installed at the Anfield helm for a second time, and the new regime sweeping through Anfield a chance. It would also prove to be a weekend which would have far-reaching consequences for the modern footballing media landscape.
One of the biggest hopes held by Liverpudlians when Dalglish made dreams come true by returning as manager, initially on an interim basis just shy of exactly twenty years after his shock resignation in February 1991, was that he might be able to revitalise one of the most exhilarating talents seen at Anfield in years who had been dragged into the general malaise around him.
After joining for a club-record £20.2m in July 2007 from his boyhood club Atletico Madrid, ‘El Nino’ had immediately won hearts and minds on the Kop and far beyond with his electric pace, sublime skills and unerring eye for goals.
After his record-breaking 33-goal opening campaign, his second season saw his involvement hampered somewhat by injury but he still was a key component in Liverpool’s most credible title challenge since the league championship trophy last resided at Anfield in 1990.
But despite wracking up a then-club record Premier League points tally of 86, beating Manchester United home and away and only losing twice all season, Alex Ferguson’s men managed four points more to win their third title in a row and draw level with Liverpool on 18 apiece, and the following 2009/10 campaign saw the damage done by Hicks and Gillett’s deceitful ownership come into stark view as the wheels really began to come off both on and off the pitch.
Benitez was sacked after a seventh place league finish and the appointment of former Fulham manager Roy Hodgson as his replacement was a brutal indictment of the club’s sharp fall from grace and ability to compete for the top prizes.
Torres’s body language betrayed his disillusionment, notably in the insipid October 2010 Goodison derby defeat to an Everton side (themselves 17th in the league) which left Liverpool mired in the relegation placings despite Hodgson claiming it was his side’s best performance of the season, although ominously the Spaniard summoned his abilities to score twice against reigning champions Chelsea at Anfield a fortnight later in a surprise 2-0 Reds win.
The Merseyside derby loss had been Liverpool’s first match after Hicks and Gillett’s despised ownership had been finally brought to an end with the completion of the takeover by Fenway Sports Group (then known as New England Sports Ventures) and, with performances and results still dire as 2011 began, Hodgson was relieved of his duties as manager and replaced - initially on a caretaker basis - by Dalglish who raced back from a cruise with wife Marina in the Middle East to take charge of the Reds’ FA Cup third round tie at Manchester United so quickly he left his laundry behind on the ship.
The sight of him of saluting the 9,000 Liverpudlians at Old Trafford immediately infused a sense of hope and identity back into everyone with LFC at heart and, despite a 1-0 defeat that day and 2-1 loss in his first Premier League match back in charge three days later at Blackpool, Dalglish’s mere presence along with the firmer financial footing the club was now and the promise of squad bolstering in the January transfer window, which was now open, hinted at better days ahead and fostered a new mood of optimism.
After a 2-2 draw in his first match back at Anfield in the return Merseyside derby against Everton, the Scot took his new side to Molineux - where Liverpool had been without a win since Dalglish himself had bagged a brace in 1979 - still in search of the first victory of his second spell in charge with the Reds only four points clear of the relegation spots but also only four points adrift of Europa League placings.
With skipper Steven Gerrard serving the final match of a three game ban after his sending off in the cup tie at Old Trafford, Dalglish made just one change from the side which had drawn with the Toffees, bringing Christian Poulsen into the midfield in place of Jay Spearing.
The Black Country side were themselves in trouble, rooted one off the bottom of the table with only 21 points. Their only away win of the campaign remained the 1-0 triumph at Anfield only three and a half weeks earlier on one of the darkest days yet of Hodgson’s ill-fated tenure, but the fundamental changes in mentality which had taken place at Anfield since his departure became rapidly evident after Liverpool overcame a nervy start, and nowhere apparently more so than in the form of the reinvigorated Torres.
After months of lethargic and seemingly disinterested performances, the Spanish hitman served notice of his intentions on 21 minutes when he latched onto a Raul Meireles through ball and turned his marker before having a left foot shot saved by Wayne Hennessey.
Ten minutes before the break, however, the Wolves keeper was left helpless when Meireles broke clear from a Poulsen pass and, with the home defence appealing for offside despite defender Ronald Zubar correctly being adjudged to have played the Portuguese midfielder on by assistant referee Sian Massey (officiating only her second Premier League match) waited patiently for Torres to appear alongside before squaring for the Liverpool number nine to tap into an empty net.
Pepe Reina had to be alert to deny Stephen Fletcher and Christophe Berra before the break but four minutes after the interval the Reds took a firm command of the match with a stunning goal that demonstrated the confidence beginning to return to the side.
Daniel Agger’s deep free kick towards the edge of the Wolves box was headed clear by Berra only to Meireles, having only notched his first Liverpool goal the previous weekend against Everton after going 17 Premier League games and 33 shots without scoring, unleashed a sumptuous first-time volley from fully 25 yards which flew into the top corner with Hennessy rooted to the spot.
Torres lashed home his second and Liverpool’s third in stoppage time from close range after good work from Glen Johnson and Dirk Kurt to seal his first double strike away from Anfield in 16 months and Dalglish’s first Premier League win as Liverpool manager, the boss describing it as “a good day at the office” and being particularly enthused by the efforts of his star striker whose performances and future had been subject to much debate in previous months.
"That was the best Torres performance since I've come in, not just in terms of his goals but his work-rate," Dalglish said after the match.
"It really helped us. He was fantastic, really worked his socks off. That will do for us every week."
One of the most enduring images of a successful afternoon’s work for Liverpool in the West Midlands was the Reds’ manager celebrating in the iconic pose seen so many times before and he laughed off suggestions nothing had changed by pointing out he now needed contact lenses, adding “I used to wear shorter trousers [in the past],” before explaining how his approach to the job would essentially be the same as it had always been.
"We just stand beside each other, and help each other. And we make sure that what we're doing, we're doing correctly. It's not dictatorial. It's just being responsible.
"Somebody asked if I thought that coming back would tarnish my standing with the supporters, and I said, 'Quite the reverse - if I hadn't come back I couldn't have been a supporter'.
"Because every time we need some help, we help each other. If people thought I could help in some small way, then fine. I wasn't thinking about myself. The same as what happened when I was given the job all those years ago. They thought I could be of help to them.
“Why? I never asked but it's up to them. I was just delighted they asked and there was no way I was going to say no."
One aspect of football which had changed significantly in the two decades since Dalglish was last in the manager’s chair at Anfield was the transfer market since the imposition of dedicated windows for player trading in 2002, as well as the hugely increased media coverage and demands, a facet of the job which had clearly never been one of the Scot’s favourites.
With the January 2011 transfer window having a little more than a week to run and the only movement at Anfield since his return being the exits of Ryan Babel to Hoffenheim for £6m and loan departure of David Amoo to MK Dons, Dalglish delighted many of his supporters following the win at Molyneux when, in response to a series of hectoring transfer questions from Sky Sports reporter Andy Burton that fans 'had a right to know what's happening', he replied:
"It’s a bit sad when you spin it onto the fans.
"We know more about our fans than what yourselves do, so we know how they want to be treated – and they know what we want.
“They want us to treat them with respect. And they want us to treat them the way Liverpool fans have always been treated by the club. If we’ve got business to do we’ll do it behind closed doors.
“I know what’s going on, but it doesn’t mean I’ve got to tell you.”
King Kenny was back and hopes were high that the final week of the window would see some serious business at Anfield.
And it did, although probably not in the way many fans were expecting or hoping.
Although January rumours of a move for Ajax’s Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez proved to have foundation when Liverpool agreed a £23m deal with the Dutch club, Torres’s deep dissatisfaction with the previous few years of decline at Anfield had not been sufficiently soothed by the changes in recent months.
In the closing days of the window, the Spaniard put in a transfer request and eventually got a British record £50m transfer to Chelsea, after Liverpool had reacted to the bombshell by making a barely-believable £35m swoop for Newcastle striker Andy Carroll in arguably the most dramatic transfer deadline day of the modern era.
By this time, there had also been further consequences of what had initially seemed to be a relatively run-of-the-mill Saturday lunchtime kick-off earlier that month in the match Liverpool had won at Molineux, which had been televised live by Sky Sports.
By the Saturday evening, reports emerged that presenting duo Richard Keys, who had worked on Merseyside with Radio City in the late 70s and 80s, and former Everton striker Andy Gray - the cornerstones of Sky Sports football coverage since it began in 1992 - had been recorded making sexist remarks about assistant referee Sian Massey after her closely-scrutinised but ultimately correct decision to allow Liverpool’s opening goal, as well as about West Ham United vice-chair Karren Brady.
The pair were permitted to host Sky’s ‘Super Sunday’ coverage the following day, but when another recording from Molineux came to light later that Sunday of Gray discussing Massey’s looks with Sky Sports reporter Andy Burton, Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis issued a statement describing Gray and Keys’s comments as ‘inexcusable’ and the pair were taken off the following night’s Monday Night Football programme.
It was rapidly turning into a huge story with 25-year-old official Massey now finding herself at the eye off a storm she had played no part in creating and, with TV cameras congregating outside the school where she worked, the S*n newspaper publishing an off-duty photograph of her on its front page and media accreditation requests soaring for the League Two fixture between Crewe Alexandra and Bradford City the following Tuesday she had been assigned to, she withdrew from the game at Gresty Road after discussions with referees’ chief Mike Riley.
A third clip, this time posted to YouTube, of Gray making inappropriate comments to Sky Sports colleague Charlotte Jackson in December emerged and he was sacked on the Tuesday, while, after a fourth and final clip emerged late on the Tuesday night of Keys again using sexist language, this time in studio conversation with Sky pundit and former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp during a live game at Stamford Bridge, he resigned from his Sky Sports role on the Wednesday evening after arranging an interview with TalkSPORT to explain matters from his perspective.
Keys and Gray were reunited two years later after signing a contract with Al Jazeera to cover English football from Qatar, where they remain flagship presenters of the BeIN sports channels, while Sky Sports’ football coverage - now led by Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher - has gone on to receive critical acclaim from industry experts and sports fans alike.
In a 2021 interview with the Athletic, Keys claimed to be the victim of a ‘set-up’ and said he will forever carry the anger of an incident which saw his long career at the forefront of British sports media end in ignominious disgrace.
“The incident, we should have seen coming”, he said. “It was a set-up, of course it was. But they made capital out of it.
“Don't forget, neither of us were caught behind an open mic. What happened to me was recorded on a telephone in that studio, it seems to me it was done with a specific purpose.
“I was being fed a huge amount of guff from our press office. They were really drilling me with the sort of things I should say. It was largely, ‘Say sorry, keep saying sorry, you can’t over-say sorry’. Well, actually, you can.
“Andy wasn't live when he was stood pitchside... that anger that I carry in my back pocket, I will never, ever put away.”
Massey-Ellis (she married in 2018) revealed to the Times in 2017 she told Keys he should have known better when he rang her at the time to apologise for what happened, while, Keys claimed he and Gray had laughed with her about the incident when they ran into each other at Birmingham Airport years later, saying, “We all laughed, she was a little embarrassed.
“And Andy had to explain to her, ‘It was absolutely nothing to do with you. It really wasn’t. So don’t ever think that it was’. It was nothing to do with Sian.
“We don’t blame her at all. She’s been fantastic. The smallest things, she gets right. She has been brilliant. And I’m really pleased she’s gone on to make a mark.”
Massey-Ellis has gone on to officiate consistently at the top level of both the mens’ and women’s game at club and international level, and in 2017 was awarded an MBE for her groundbreaking work in football.
