StevieG’s fantastic performance in last weeks FA Cup final has put him well on the road to legendary status among Reds fan’s. This got me thinking about our many past legends most particularly to the king of them all, Kenny Dalglish.
Wasn?t it fantastic seeing him back in a Red shirt once again, in the recent Marina Dalglish charity match and isn?t it time the club paid some kind of tribute to perhaps the greatest Red of them all? It may seem a little early to some for such a tribute, but read on.
It’s strange that in the football world, just as in the world of art, practically all of the great artists fail to be fully appreciated until after they?re gone. This thought struck me recently as I looked at that great statue that was erected as a tribute to The Great Bobby Moore. It?s a great statue but wouldn?t it have been even more fabulous, if Bobby had been around to unveil it himself?
America seems to be far better as this kind of thing then we are in this part of the world. In American sports such as American football or baseball , they have great ceremonies to retire the shirt numbers of their greats and have Halls of Fame etc. But it?s always the same story in football, the game constantly fails to truly honour its legends until after they?ve gone.
We?ve seen a prime example of this recently with the passing of George Best. Suddenly everyone was falling all over themselves to commemorate the man. Statues being erected in various locations, airplanes and even airports carrying the name of Best, have been discussed, but where were all these tributes when the great man was alive?
It seems to be becoming a familiar pattern, the game pays its greatest tributes and respects to its heroes, when they are no longer around to see or hear them. It?s not that the game doesn?t pay any recognition to these players, its just that I don?t feel it does enough until after they?ve gone.
When I say the game, I am of course referring to the officialdom within the game. We the fans love these guy?s and we remember. I saw a great example of this recently at the end of the game in which Chelsea (capital C this time, for reasons that will become obvious) were presented with the Premiership trophy. During their fans celebrations a chant of ?Ossie, Ossie? suddenly rose among them and echoed around the ground in tribute to that former Chelsea Great, Peter Osgood who passed away earlier in the year. It was a great moment and great to see that even at a time of celebration of a recent success, they remembered.
Funny then, that although the fans always remember, then clubs which are full of directors who claim to be fans, do not. In fact it?s sometimes the case that when clubs do pay tribute to their Legends it only comes about as a result of pressure from their supporters. All clubs seem to suffer from this and although our club is better then most, there is still an awful lot of room for improvement.
When you go to Anfield these days you can see the Shankly Gates and the Paisley Gateway which were erected as great tributes by the club to our two former Legendary managers. However, once again its sad to say, that it was left to the widows of both men to attend the unveilings. Shanks wife Nessie, opened The Shankly Gates for the first time in 1982 and Paisley?s wife Jessie was presented with a ceremonial key to The Paisley Gateway in 1999.
Although these were great occasions, wouldn?t they have been even more fantastic if the great men had been there themselves, why oh why did the club wait so long? And if you think the club learned its lesson, think again.
Although I support the club and always will, I don?t always agree with its decisions but I thought it behaved particularly shamefully in regard to the Billy Liddell tribute, which to this day still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Even I?m not old enough to have seen Liddell play but when I was a kid, the older fans spoke of him in the same reverence that they usually reserved for Shanks. Liddell is still regarded by some to be the clubs greatest ever player.
He was a Scot and one of the all-time greats of game, he and Sir Stanley Matthews are the only two players to appear twice in United Kingdom sides who played against Europe in 1947 and 1955. He signed for the club as a 15yr old in 1938 and finished playing in 1961. In that time he played 537 games and scored 229 goals, he was top scorer for the club in 8 season?s. If you thought Carra was versatile, Liddell played in every outfield position, although he was primarly a left winger/forward. In all the games he played for the club, he never received a single booking and he was such an influence to the side that for a time the club became known as Liddellpool.
So as you can see from that brief history, if ever there was a Legend then they don?t come much bigger then the Great Billy Liddell, at least as far as the fans were concerned.
From memory it was some time in the late 90?s or early 2000 when fan?s found out that Liddell was gravely ill with Alzheimer?s disease and ran a campaign including petitions etc in an attempt to persuade the club to pay some kind of tribute to him before he died.
Sadly they failed in the first part of their endeavour and Billy passed away in July 2001 but still the fans kept the pressure on and a year later the club attempted to appease them by running a small exhibition to him in a corner of the clubs museum.
Although fans welcomed this it was still felt to be little enough recognition for one of our true Greats and the pressure continued for a more permanent tribute.
Eventually, another 2yrs later in Nov 2004 the club unveiled a plaque dedicated to Liddell and placed at the entrance to the club museum. Although, as you can see from the picture, it?s a great looking plaque and I very much welcome it, it still seemed to be far too little, far too late. 
Why it took them so long to commemorate such a truly great hero, I?ve no idea but I lost a lot of respect for the powers that be who claim to be ‘so called fans’ of the club during the whole sorry episode.
So this brings me back to my original question. Considering how long it actually takes the club to get off its ass and commemorate its greatest Legends and the fact that we the fans often have to organise lengthy campaigns in an attempt to persuade them to do the right thing, is it now time for us to start considering some kind of tribute to King Kenny?
As I mentioned earlier, I never saw Liddell play but I did however have the great privilege of seeing Dalglish on many occasions and he remains for me our greatest ever player.
His playing career alone would be enough to herald him as a Legend but I feel as our manager he excelled himself even further. He led us to The Double and many other trophies but my over-riding memory of him is the way he guided the club with such dignity during the aftermath of the Hillsborough tragedy. The club and its supporters really needed him then and he never let us down.
I?m not suggesting that we rush off a tribute straightaway but it seems to me that as we are currently supposedly planning a new stadium, it might be a good time to include something in the design. Then in a few years time when we finally get this stadium built we can also pay our tributes to the achievements of the third of our Great managers and perhaps our greatest ever player, while he?s still around to accept them.
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