It’s fair to say the Merseyside derby has never been for the faint-hearted. “Ninety minutes of frenetic lunacy” was how Everton legend Joe Royle - who enjoyed significant success in the fixture as a player before going on to never lose a game against Liverpool as Toffees manager - once described it, amusingly adding: “We always said we could go out and play for the first twenty minutes, settle down and then someone could throw the ball on.”
All too often, the high stakes and fear of making the mistake which could plunge one half of the city into despair and the other into ecstasy can lead to the sides cancelling each other out, Opta Joe reporting after the recent 0-0 at Goodison Park - the ninth draw out of the last 11 played on the blue side of Stanley Park - that the age-old local dispute has seen more goalless draws than any other fixture in both English top-flight (36) and Premier League history (12).
There are of course exceptions to every rule. Less than a decade ago, Brendan Rodgers’s and Roberto Martinez’s attack-minded sides played out a memorable 3-3 draw at Goodison while the epic 4-4 FA Cup fifth round replay extravaganza in 1991 has long been written into folklore.
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The latter proved to be last derby of Kenny Dalglish’s first spell as Reds manager before his shock resignation two days later and his first one after taking charge, played on this day 37 years ago, is also seared into the memory of those lucky enough to have witnessed it which at the time was limited to the 51,509 fans packed into Goodison due a complete black-out of football from British television screens that summed the parlous state of the national game in September 1985.
Less than four months earlier, after a season pock-marked by the scourge of ever-increasing hooliganism, the deaths of 39 Juventus fans after crowd trouble before the European Cup final held at Brussel’s Heysel Stadium between the Italian side and Liverpool saw all English clubs banned indefinitely from continental competition and plunged the game into a period of soul-searching.
That same summer a pay dispute broke out between the Football League and television companies which would not be resolved until December when a £1.3million deal was agreed for 13 domestic league and cup matches broadcast live over rest of season with highights shows resuming as well - but not a minute’s action would be shown for the first half of the campaign.
It was far from ideal at a time when all who loved the game were trying to change public perceptions with the changing dynamic between the Merseyside giants providing a fascinating backdrop. Liverpool had been the country’s pre-eminent force over the last decade, winning six league titles between 1976 and 1984 along with four European Cups and four league cups, but had just suffered their first trophy-less season in ten years having finished runners-up in both the First Division and European Cup and being knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United in the semi-finals, the Reds’ fall from grace made more painful by the identity of the side who had taken their domestic crown - Everton.
Having endured a barren decade since their 1970 championship success, the Toffees had appointed former title-winning midfielder Howard Kendall as manager in May 1981 but he initially struggled to turn fortunes around, being thought to be on the brink of the sack in late 1983 with his side struggling near the foot of the table and leaflets being circulated around the dwindling Goodison crowds urging his removal as manager.
Runs to both domestic cup finals that season and the lifting of the FA Cup after Wembley victory over Watford to end the club’s 14-year trophy drought eased the pressure on Kendall and his players, and the following campaign they put together the finest season in the club’s history, strolling to the league title with a record points tally (90) and winning margin (13), lifting the club’s first ever European trophy after victory over Rapid Vienna in the European Cup Winners Cup final in Rotterdam and only being denied a unique treble after extra-time defeat to Manchester United in the FA Cup final.
Their dreams of testing their abilities against the continent’s best were devastated through no fault of their own by the European ban but the Goodison board signalled their intentions to build on their success by paying a club record £800,000 to bring in Leicester City’s prolific England striker Gary Lineker to bolster their already-formidable strikeforce. It would prove money well spent with the forward banging home 40 goals in all competitions in what would be his only season on Merseyside and winning both the PFA and Football Writers’ Player of the Year awards but it took him a while to get going.
After defeat on his Everton debut at of all places Filbert Street, the Leicester-born hot-shot would have to wait until his fourth game before getting off the mark for his new club with the only goal in a victory at the Blues’ main title contenders the previous season, Tottenham. He followed that up with a hat-trick against newly-promoted Birmingham City at Goodison and a brace in a 5-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday and, despite a heavy defeat at Queens Park Rangers on the first weekend in September, Kendall’s men bounced back with a home victory over Luton Town to move up to second in the First Division table ahead of Liverpool’s visit.
The Reds were a point behind their neighbours in fourth as they prepared to cross Stanley Park with a new Anfield era very much in its infancy. 64-year-old manager Joe Fagan had retired after two seasons in charge in the aftermath of Heysel to bring his 27 years of sterling service in the Boot Room to a close and the Liverpool board had stunned football by announcing his replacement would be Kenny Dalglish as the club’s first ever player-manager. The 34-year-old Scot had seamlessly replaced Kevin Keegan following his £440,000 British record transfer from Celtic in 1977 and been the inspiration behind the resulting years of seemingly-effortless dominance but, while his ethereal brilliance on the pitch amply showed his gifted football brain, it was a huge step into the unknown at one of the most difficult times in the club’s history.
The new player-manager handed himself a start as Liverpool began the season with a 2-0 victory at home to Arsenal but, after leaving himself out of the 2-2 draw at Aston Villa, dropped himself after playing in a 1-0 defeat at Newcastle and kept a watching brief from the bench as his side began to repair their indifferent start with home victories over Ipswich Town, Nottingham Forest and Watford and further 2-2 draws at West Ham and newly-promoted Oxford United, the latter of which proved to be something of a watershed for two of the Reds’ defensive lynchpins.
The forward raids of full backs Phil Neal and Alan Kennedy had seen both of them score numerous vital goals at home and abroad during the previous years of success but, at 34 and 31 years of age respectively, their days were numbered with youngsters Steve Nicol and Jim Beglin emerging as likely successors. Kennedy’s last-minute own goal at the Manor Ground would be his last kick in a Liverpool shirt before he was sold to Sunderland weeks later while Neal would be left out of the midweek home clash with Southampton and would make only three more league starts before leaving to join Bolton Wanderers as player-manager in December.
The Saints’ visit to Anfield was in the Screen Sports Super Cup, a swiftly-devised but sparsely-attended tournament devised to give clubs who had qualified for Europe matches to fill during the now-vacant gaps in the fixture calendar, and Dalglish restored himself to the starting line-up, scoring the winner in Liverpool’s 2-1 victory and seeing enough of what he liked to four days later name the same XI an hour before kick off in the biggest game of the season so far at Goodison. It meant Neal had to settle for a place on the bench and brought an end to 27 consecutive derby starts (the first of which was his 1974 debut) for the decorated right-back, with midfielder Jan Molby keeping his place after scoring against Southampton but playing for one of the first times as an auxiliary sweeper in what would become a familiar Dalglish tactical ploy, and former Everton midfielder Steve McMahon continuing in the middle of the park in only his third appearance after his £350,000 move from Aston Villa the previous month.
Everton too were unchanged after their midweek 4-2 Super Cup win away to Manchester United which had ended the league leaders’ eight-game winning start to the season, 19-year-old defender Ian Marshall continuing at centre back in place of the injured Derek Mountfield and former Liverpool reserve Alan Harper in centre midfield for the crocked Peter Reid with forward Adrian Heath - now recovered from the serious knee ligament injury which caused him to miss the second half of the Blues’ previous all-conquering campaign - having to again settle for the number 12 shirt with Lineker and Graeme Sharp preferred up front.
A rain-soaked Goodison crackled with anticipation ahead the 133rd league meeting between the great local rivals - the victory tallies sitting level at 46 apiece - with Howard Kendall receiving the previous season’s Manager of the Year trophy on the pitch before kick-off, the ninth time in 12 years the award had ended up on Merseyside, and England manager Bobby Robson watching on from the stands to run his eyes over the international hopefuls with World Cup in Mexico only nine months away. Neither he nor any of the capacity crowd could have expected proceedings to begin the way they did though, with Liverpool flying out of the blocks in one of the most dramatic openings ever seen in the long history of the fixture.
The Blues kicked off and, after Kevin Sheedy’s cross field ball was headed back to Bruce Grobbelaar by Jim Beglin, the Liverpool goalkeeper rolled the ball out to Steve Nicol who lofted a hopeful pass forward in the direction of Ian Rush racing into the inside-right channel. The Welsh forward, already the scourge of Evertonians after scoring four times in a 5-0 Reds win at Goodison less than three years earlier, gathered the ball under pressure from Ian Marshall on the edge of the penalty area and played the ball behind him where Dalglish, backing up the play, took a touch to steady himself before unleashing a rising right-footed drive from 25 yards which flew into the top corner beyond a helpless Neville Southall and in front of a shell-shocked Gwladys Street end to give the visitors a sensational first minute lead. Liverpudlians all over the ground erupted into joy with the goal timed at just 25 seconds, the earliest derby goal since Dixie Dean’s first-minute effort in 1932.
A stunned Everton kicked off for the second time in a minute and Lineker was immediately was presented with a chance after the Liverpool defence struggled to clear Sheedy’s long ball but the record signing scuffed his shot and Grobbelaar was able to gather comfortably. With the rain if anything seeming to get heavier, the opening stages were played at a typically frenetic pace with plenty of ‘derby tackles’ on evidence from both sides as they vied for supremacy, former Blue Steve McMahon turning up the volume on the boos he was inevitably met with after his contentious Goodison departure only two years earlier following a crunching tackle on Alan Harper, and the home support’s anger was increased after only a quarter of an hour when the Reds doubled their lead.
A misunderstanding on the halfway line between Paul Bracewell and Gary Stevens saw the Blues defender’s header hit Rush and rebound back off Stevens into the path of Ronnie Whelan who raced clean through on Southall and the Irishman unselfishly laid the ball square for Rush to knock into the empty net for his eighth goal against the team he used to support from the Goodison terraces.
Everton had been unbeaten at home since defeat to Chelsea the previous December and their hopes of getting back into the game were given a boost when Steve Nicol was forced off through injury just before the half-hour mark and replaced by Phil Neal but the Toffees were unable to get Lineker into the game and, after Sharp headed well wide from Stevens cross, almost fell further behind when Molby and Dalglish combined to put Craig Johnston clear on the right flank. When then the Australian tried to find Rush in the centre, only a brilliant Southall save from Marshall’s desperate clearance avoided an embarrassing own goal, Everton’s harum-scarum defending highlighted further as they struggled to clear with Bracewell almost presenting a gift to Rush who somehow blasted wide from close range.
Kevin Sheedy forced Grobbelaar into his first meaningful save of the afternoon with a low free-kick which skidded off the wet turf and forced the Zimbabwean to push behind for a corner but Liverpool were still looking the most likely to score again. Neal had settled quickly into proceedings having entered the fray for Nicol and a quick interchange with Molby almost put Johnston clear again before, three minutes before half time, Dalglish’s men got the third goal they craved and Everton feared as Steve McMahon scored his first goal for his new club to surely make the game safe. The Halewood-born midfielder began the move himself with a sublime left-footed volleyed pass out to Whelan on left flank and when the ball was ferried back to him via Beglin and Dalglish, he met the player-manager’s lay off with a vicious low drive from 25 yards which whistled into the bottom corner past the despairing Southall.
The Liverpool players trooped off minutes later for a well-earned half-time cup of tea to a huge roar from the assembled Kopites around the ground who felt their side had sent out a statement of intent as to their desire to win back their league title. They would be made to sweat however before they could celebrate the end of a run of three successive defeats to their neighbours as Howard Kendall threw caution to the wind by throwing on substitute Adrian Heath at the break in place of the somewhat bewildered Ian Marshall and the defending champions made a real game of it in the second half as the rain continued to teem down.
The Reds had been close to going four goals up immediately after the break with Dalglish first wriggling into space in the left side of the penalty area before slicing his shot into the Park End and then a linesman’s flag denying Rush a second goal of the afternoon when his delicate chip following a slick move involving Dalglish, Beglin and Whelan was chalked off. But the atmosphere inside the ground changed on 52 minutes when Everton got on the scoresheet, McMahon being caught in possession by Bracewell as tried to shepherd ball towards his own 18-yard box and, although he managed to block Bracewell’s effort on goal, the ball ran loose to Graeme Sharp who smacked home a first-time left-footed volley in off the crossbar to reduce the deficit.
Heath was beginning to find pockets of space and soon afterwards tricked his way from the left flank into a shooting position but could only fire straight at Grobbelaar and, buoyed on the reinvigorated home crowd, the Toffees suddenly looked a lot more dangerous, Lineker snatching at a chance outside the box when Sheedy and Ratcliffe gave him a run towards goal, and then firing a glorious opportunity against the crossbar and over when Sheedy’s free kick found Steven unmarked in the box.
The game ebbed and flowed and was rapidly turning into a classic with Liverpool continuing to threaten, Rush uncharacteristically wasting a glorious chance to restore the three-goal advantage when Whelan took advantage of more Everton defensive hesitancy to play him in but Southall did just enough to deny him before Ratcliffe hacked clear to safety.
Dalglish and his men were just starting to feel they’d weathered the storm when Everton grabbed a second goal with six minutes left to set up a grandstand finale, a smart passing interchange on the edge of the box between Bracewell, Sheedy and Heath opening Liverpool up and the substitute squared for Lineker who couldn’t miss from four yards to notch his eighth of the season.
The Goodison faithful urged their side forward in pursuit of what would have been an unlikely but heroic leveller but Liverpool went for the kill on the counter attack, Rush finding Phil Neal who charged forward to the edge of the box and set up Dalglish who had the goal gaping with Southall slipping on the wet turf but could only sky over the bar, much to the astonishment of the massed ranks of travelling fans behind the goal who mirrored the Scot with hands on heads in disbelief.
Incredibly the player-manager was guilty of an even more bewildering miss moments later when Neal’s chip forward found Johnston down the right flank and Gary Stevens missed the Australian’s cross to leave Dalglish again clear through on Southall but even after a perfect first touch he somehow curled inches wide before again holding his head and looking to the heavens in anguish.
It mattered not as referee Don Shaw brought the ninety minutes of breathless action to a close soon afterwards to enable Liverpool to celebrate their first victory over Everton since the Milk Cup final replay the previous March as Dalglish’s men leapfrogged their hosts to go second in the First Division table behind Manchester United who had won at 5-1 at West Brom the same afternoon to extend their lead at the top of the table to nine points.
All the talk afterwards though was of the pulsating action witnessed at Goodison with the Merseyside clubs having produced a spectacular and much-needed showcase of the positive side of English football which had been broadcast all over Europe even if it would be years before British viewers were able to enjoy the footage.
“You cannot see football like that in any other country in the world”, gushed England manager Bobby Robson afterwards while a magnanimous Howard Kendall agreed it had been a classic and a privilege to witness such a high-octane encounter, emphasising the pride he felt at the way his side had rolled their sleeves up as they sought to fight back from a seemingly insurmountable first-half deficit.
For Dalglish, it was vindication not just for putting himself back in the team but in how his new-look Liverpool were trying to get back on track and, after joking post-game a sniper in the crowd had been responsible for his shocking late misses, he reflected some time later on the challenges he faced in the early months of his reign in balancing the need for him to be in the team with his new role in the dug-out.
“I know myself better than I know anybody and however much I might have wanted to play, it would have been selfish to pick myself only for that reason”, he said. “There were lots of others who wanted to be in the side as much as I did and you have to make the right decision. Bad decisions get you the sack. Of course I would have liked to be always out there and especially in derby games, I’d played in plenty up in Glasgow and those on Merseyside are every bit as passionate and determined. Any derby is enjoyable - if you win. The feeling is no different though if I’m sitting on the bench as a manager. The important thing is to be involved.
“My first derby after I took over was a testimonial for Phil Neal just before the season started then came the league game at Goodison when I scored in the first minute. Rushie knocked the ball back to me and I controlled it and shot. I knew it was a goal as soon as I hit it. But I remember the two chances I missed as well in the second half after they’d got back to 3-2. The first one, Neville Southall fell and somehow I scooped the ball over the bar, the second one I put wide. And when I saw it on television, I still couldn’t believe I could miss them.”
There were very different emotions for Gary Lineker who had managed to find the net on his Merseyside derby debut but still found his ears ringing for some time afterwards due to the cauldron-like atmosphere the match had been played in.
“I’ve still got a headache from the noise", he admitted. "I’ve never played in anything like that before, it was magic. It went the wrong way for us but we showed a lot of character in recovering from that first half. The game was a tremendous advert for bringing fans back to football. I don’t remember what Howard Kendall said at half-time. I bet nobody does. In any case, what can you say except roll your sleeves up and get stuck in and that’s what we did. Graeme Sharp scored then I did and suddenly it was 3-2 and pandemonium. The pace was unbelievable, pinball stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever known anything quite like that last ten minutes. We went close several times but we couldn’t quite do it.”
With English football going through an existential crisis and the city of Liverpool increasingly seen by the rest of the country as something of a pariah, the fayre provided by the two sides rapidly emerging as the best in the land (and arguably Europe even if they would be unable to prove it) could not have come at a better time, with Patrick Barclay in the Guardian noting how the fierce but respectful rivalry was mirrored off the pitch as well as on it.
“If the BBC and ITV have any sense of duty to the nation they will come crawling into Football League HQ this morning and beg to sign a football contract”, he wrote. “Saturday’s enthralling Mersey derby coming on top of several epic performances by Manchester United provided further evidence that the North-western giants are leading the game from the depths of depression towards a golden age. They may or may not succeed but it is a noble endeavour and the British public, who have become accustomed to a diet of decline, should not be denied one more minute. How ironic that TV audiences in Europe and beyond should have joined in a party to which ours were not invited.
“At least the wider world will have noticed that our football can reach heights of commitment and passion, on the field and off, without losing its temper. The players’ tackles were fierce but overwhelmingly fair, while red and blue supporters observed their usual practice of mingling peacefully in many parts of the packed stadium. But to dwell on the behavioural aspects of this match would be like complimenting Michaelangelo for not making drips on the Sistine Chapel floor. It was a masterpiece.”
Ian Ross in the Liverpool Daily Post noted too how the character of the city seemed to be reflected during those 90-plus unforgettable minutes in Walton and provided a very welcome vision of hope after a desperate few months for Merseyside and the game itself.
“Occasionally, very occasionally it must be said, the result of football matches doesn’t really matter to alleged neutrals such as myself. I must confess that down the years I have often filled in the time it takes to deliver the magic sponge by discreetly glancing at my imitation, one-jewelled, made-in-Borneo wristwatch, silently praying that my mental calculations were wrong - and the final whistle was nigh. It was an operation I repeated over and over again on Saturday as I sought reassurance that the 133rd Merseyside derby was not nearing its end. I, like 51,000 others, could quite happily have stayed at Goodison Park all day had these two contrasting yet brilliant sides volunteered to extend the entertainment. For the first time in ages, 90 minutes was simply far too short.
“Rare though it may be, the facts and figures and destiny of the points paled into insignificance when laid alongside the regal entertainment preferred by two teams seemingly intent on leading an ailing game into a new era: an era where thrills, spills, drama and raw excitement head the priority list. It was a good two hours before the smile of contentment left my face, only then did it dawn on me that Liverpool had reversed an unfamiliar trend and, perhaps temporarily, switched the North West powerhouse back to Anfield.
“But, to utilise a well-worn cliche the like of which any self-respecting journalist usually treats with disdain, there were no losers. From a purely personal point of view the most pleasing thing about this now famous encounter was the reaction of the home fans as they faced up to a defeat which will hang heavily around their shoulders until the two sides next meet. Displaying all the qualities which made them astute and knowledgeable purists, they literally screamed their collective approval; honour in defeat was theirs. They love winning but maybe, just maybe, they love good football even more. Everton and Liverpool, you are a credit to your profession.”
By the following May, many more people held a similar viewpoint after an epic campaign in which the two Merseyside clubs restored the city’s pride with a cut-and-thrust battle for domestic supremacy that captivated the nation. Everton gained revenge from their September home defeat by triumphing 2-0 in the February Anfield return, a result which opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the table over their local rivals and made them odds-on favourites to retain their league crown. Dalglish’s men would however then embark on a relentless run, winning 11 and drawing only one of their final dozen league matches, with the player-manager himself fittingly scoring the winning goal in the final match of the season at Chelsea to confirm the title was heading back across Stanley Park.
The Mersey clubs’ superiority was further illustrated by both winning through to face each other in the FA Cup final a week later for the first time where Liverpool became only the third club that century - and only the fifth ever - to clinch the hallowed league and cup Double after fighting back from a goal down at half time to triumph 3-1.
It put the seal on a remarkable and momentous twelve months at Anfield in which so many strove to show the best face of the club and the city after the horror of the previous May, the seeds of which were undoubtedly sown on that rain-soaked and never-to-be-forgotten September afternoon at Goodison.
