Peter Beardsley & John Barnes

[Lee909]

I keep hearing we got worried about the mancs signing Rush, but 3 3 weeks earlier they signed Mark Hughes back for  2ml and spent another 1ml on Jim Leighton. I doubt they were in any position to spend out another 2.8ml on Rush

Same with Everton who had spent 4.5ml before we signed Rush back,inc 2.2 on Tony Cottee

 

 

Should have kept Aldo and paid out a good fee for Hansen long term replacement.

Could easily have spent the Rush money on Pallister or Colin Hendry and even got a young Gary McAllister with that money, but hindsight makes it easy i suppose

[Kevin D]

StevieH is the guy whose constant pestering got Tom Hicks Jr to immortal reply: “Blow me Fuckface. Go to hell. I’m sick of you”

[VladimirIlyich]

4 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

I keep hearing we got worried about the mancs signing Rush, but 3 3 weeks earlier they signed Mark Hughes back for  2ml and spent another 1ml on Jim Leighton. I doubt they were in any position to spend out another 2.8ml on Rush

Same with Everton who had spent 4.5ml before we signed Rush back,inc 2.2 on Tony Cottee

 

 

Should have kept Aldo and paid out a good fee for Hansen long term replacement.

Could easily have spent the Rush money on Pallister or Colin Hendry and even got a young Gary McAllister with that money, but hindsight makes it easy i suppose

We tried to get Pallister and Mabbutt but the board were tight as Arseholes and Kenny knew we were fucked if we couldn't spend the cash. The compromise was Glenn Hysen who did a job but was dogshit the following season and the defence was not the same without Hansen. Lawrenson had retired through injury and Gillespie was on his way out due to unreliability through injuries.

[Lee909]

Just now, VladimirIlyich said:

We tried to get Pallister and Mabbutt but the board were tight as Arseholes and Kenny knew we were fucked if we couldn't spend the cash. The compromise was Glenn Hysen who did a job but was dogshit the following season and the defence was not the same without Hansen. Lawrenson had retired through injury and Gillespie was on his way out due to unreliability through injuries.

 

No arguments with that, just saying the Rush money would probably have been better spent on CB than buying Rush for 2.8ml and selling Aldo for 1ml if cash was tight 

[VladimirIlyich]

11 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

 

No arguments with that, just saying the Rush money would probably have been better spent on CB than buying Rush for 2.8ml and selling Aldo for 1ml if cash was tight 

If the cash was tight they probably weren't going to pay both Rush and Aldridge at the same time with Barnes and Beardsley on decent cash too. Any centre half was always going to be cheap.

[Denny Crane]

9 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Very modest. he was nowhere near shit for the first few months. His so called shit was still miles ahead of most player's best.

 

Could play a bit couldn't he, proper attacking player. I watched the highlights against Wimbledon and he should have had a goal in the cup final. 

[Red74]

10 hours ago, Arniepie said:

Think it was either him or rush 

The rush money was set aside for Pallister and gazza but we bottled it in case rush went elsewhere as mentioned above. Dalglish regretted that move as those 2 would have set us up for years. Think we used the Aldridge money for Glen Hysen.

 

 

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, Denny Crane said:

 

Could play a bit couldn't he, proper attacking player. I watched the highlights against Wimbledon and he should have had a goal in the cup final. 

Given Beardsley's unassuming character I'd really like to hear the allegation about his racist behaviour from his,or somebody who was close to it,point of view. He still seems to have black friends in the game so I'd simply like to hear another side. He mentions Barnesey fondly and believe they still get on? So it would simply be of interest for his side to be heard. With media reporting and FA enquiries being ever so reliable.

[Arniepie]

48 minutes ago, Red74 said:

The rush money was set aside for Pallister and gazza but we bottled it in case rush went elsewhere as mentioned above. Dalglish regretted that move as those 2 would have set us up for years. Think we used the Aldridge money for Glen Hysen.

 

 

I remember we were on the verge of getting mabbut at one point,but like said vlad says,I think money was tight at the timet.

From memory we walked away from gazza's ridiculous demands.

Agree about pallister,but again from memory.didnt it take him about 2 years to come good at utd? 

[Red74]

1 hour ago, Arniepie said:

I remember we were on the verge of getting mabbut at one point,but like said vlad says,I think money was tight at the timet.

From memory we walked away from gazza's ridiculous demands.

Agree about pallister,but again from memory.didnt it take him about 2 years to come good at utd? 

Yeah, he really struggled with them but they were a mess and he was only young. Didn’t boro ramp the price up to near British record levels for him which increased the pressure.

 

In one of Dalglish autobiographies he says we needed to plan for the long term for the defence and midfield. Pallister was meant to be sewn up and the board found the funds for Gazza. Then Rush got in touch to say he’d been told he could leave and put us in a dilemma.
 

At the time we couldn’t take the risk of saying no even though we’d transformed the team and he was picking up niggling injuries. Think he even had hepatitis when we signed him and he was never the same and we got old overnight. 
 

Re gazza, we told him not to sign for spurs as we’d got the money together and it turned out hed just signed the contract which lead him to smash up his hotel room. This has now bizarrely turned into Fergie contacted him when it was no secret it was us and the mancs were shite then so he never going there at that time. 

[Jose Jones]

Rush was all lined up to go to Rangers wasn’t he?

Pretty sure Souness was certain he had him before we nipped back in. Rushie actually scored loads of goals in his first couple of seasons back I reckon, but yep it wasn’t as smooth a fit as with Aldo.

[Ron B]

My understanding has always been this (it contradicts some but not all of the above):

Rush’s return was a surprise to the media at the time - when the press conference was called, most of the journos were expecting it to be to announce Pallister had signed. 

Gazza was asked to wait a year in 1988. However, it wouldn’t have been a shock if he had gone to Old Trafford as they were absolutely huge spenders at that point - it’s not just that they gave Ferguson seven years to win his for at title but he outspent everyone by miles most summers. 

Hysen was considered to be a massive coup in 1989 as the Mancs had been after him too. 
Mabbutt himself has said he turned us down. It was 1987 I think, possibly 88; he’d come to the end of his deal at Spurs, and to choose between signing a new contract or joining us and letting a tribunal set the fee. 
We can’t blame the board for McAllister - Dalglish agreed a fee but he joined Leeds instead because (by his own admission) he didn’t think he could supplant McMahon and Whelan. As a result the deal to sell Big Jan to Barcelona was pulled too. 

[Lee909]

35 minutes ago, Ron B said:

My understanding has always been this (it contradicts some but not all of the above):

Rush’s return was a surprise to the media at the time - when the press conference was called, most of the journos were expecting it to be to announce Pallister had signed. 

Gazza was asked to wait a year in 1988. However, it wouldn’t have been a shock if he had gone to Old Trafford as they were absolutely huge spenders at that point - it’s not just that they gave Ferguson seven years to win his for at title but he outspent everyone by miles most summers. 

Hysen was considered to be a massive coup in 1989 as the Mancs had been after him too. 
Mabbutt himself has said he turned us down. It was 1987 I think, possibly 88; he’d come to the end of his deal at Spurs, and to choose between signing a new contract or joining us and letting a tribunal set the fee. 
We can’t blame the board for McAllister - Dalglish agreed a fee but he joined Leeds instead because (by his own admission) he didn’t think he could supplant McMahon and Whelan. As a result the deal to sell Big Jan to Barcelona was pulled too. 

 

Never knew we tried to gey McAllister at that point. Shame, was a great player

[Chris]

On 22/03/2024 at 18:16, Kevin D said:

StevieH is the guy whose constant pestering got Tom Hicks Jr to immortal reply: “Blow me Fuckface. Go to hell. I’m sick of you”

 

 

And the rest. Steve's one of the best LFC writers of the fanzine era and, beyond that, city of Liverpool writers around. Look up some of his books on Liverpool street names. 

[dave u]

10 hours ago, Chris said:

 

 

And the rest. Steve's one of the best LFC writers of the fanzine era and, beyond that, city of Liverpool writers around. Look up some of his books on Liverpool street names. 

 

Different SteveH mate.

[dave u]

13 hours ago, Ron B said:

My understanding has always been this (it contradicts some but not all of the above):

Rush’s return was a surprise to the media at the time - when the press conference was called, most of the journos were expecting it to be to announce Pallister had signed. 

Gazza was asked to wait a year in 1988. However, it wouldn’t have been a shock if he had gone to Old Trafford as they were absolutely huge spenders at that point - it’s not just that they gave Ferguson seven years to win his for at title but he outspent everyone by miles most summers. 

Hysen was considered to be a massive coup in 1989 as the Mancs had been after him too. 
Mabbutt himself has said he turned us down. It was 1987 I think, possibly 88; he’d come to the end of his deal at Spurs, and to choose between signing a new contract or joining us and letting a tribunal set the fee. 
We can’t blame the board for McAllister - Dalglish agreed a fee but he joined Leeds instead because (by his own admission) he didn’t think he could supplant McMahon and Whelan. As a result the deal to sell Big Jan to Barcelona was pulled too. 

 

That's how I remember all of that too. The Rush thing was mad, literally everybody thought Pallister was going to walk out to face the press and it was Rushy. Imagine being able to pull something like that off now.

[Ronnie Whelan]

Reading back on that era brings back a lot of memories.

 

Two things here; we have to make sure we get the right manager this summer and secondly we support him. Kenny wasn't supported near the end and we were holding on to being the best just by virtue of the players we had who were getting on. It's no secret from that era that nearly all our team was being offered serious money by Spanish and Italian clubs and the club was open to selling. The fact they stayed showed old school loyalty and maybe the massive hurdle it was for British and Irish players to go abroad then. The European ban really seemed to hurt us more than other clubs.

 

Souey seemed like a great fit (Xabi now?) and he was backed massively but the players he bought were expensive flops. I can't really blame us for going back in for Rushy - I'm trying to think of an equivalent but maybe Trent going to Real and us buying him back the following year if he was shite there.

 

I've no doubt Shearer and Keane would have ended up here if Kenny had stayed and maybe the Mancs would have got fed up and sacked Ferguson. Sliding doors moments.

[VladimirIlyich]

6 hours ago, dave u said:

 

That's how I remember all of that too. The Rush thing was mad, literally everybody thought Pallister was going to walk out to face the press and it was Rushy. Imagine being able to pull something like that off now.

Was it only me who wasn't surprised about Rush? We had a buy back clause and all the media led stuff out of Juventus was that they were never going to pay the full fee. They also made noises that they were disappointed with Rush which was all a strategy to move him on asap. We were the logical destination.

[Ron B]

53 minutes ago, Ronnie Whelan said:

Reading back on that era brings back a lot of memories.

 

Two things here; we have to make sure we get the right manager this summer and secondly we support him. Kenny wasn't supported near the end and we were holding on to being the best just by virtue of the players we had who were getting on. It's no secret from that era that nearly all our team was being offered serious money by Spanish and Italian clubs and the club was open to selling. The fact they stayed showed old school loyalty and maybe the massive hurdle it was for British and Irish players to go abroad then. The European ban really seemed to hurt us more than other clubs.

 

Souey seemed like a great fit (Xabi now?) and he was backed massively but the players he bought were expensive flops. I can't really blame us for going back in for Rushy - I'm trying to think of an equivalent but maybe Trent going to Real and us buying him back the following year if he was shite there.

 

I've no doubt Shearer and Keane would have ended up here if Kenny had stayed and maybe the Mancs would have got fed up and sacked Ferguson. Sliding doors moments.

I don’t know if I’d agree with that narrative about Dalglish not being supported towards the end. 
McMahon was being chased by Sampdoria, and Dalglish offered him a new five-year deal. We also pinned Barnesy down to a new contract when various big foreign sides were said to be circling (albeit I don’t know that any of them made a bid). It made sense to let Big Jan go if we had a replacement, as he was only starting to rot on the bench - but not if we couldn’t nail a replacement first, which we didn’t so he stayed put. 
That only leaves Beardsley, with a deal agreed with Marseille for a bonkers sum; he didn’t fancy it though, and that’s one of the more believable reasons why he and Kenny are said to have fallen out. 
We weren’t a particularly commercial operation off the pitch back in the day (I’m sure plenty of folks here have memories of the ramshackle club shop). United were Megatore FC and we laughed at them for doing so whilst never getting close to the title. Then they converted their cash into trophies and we were left chasing shadows. That maybe left Kenny short of Ferguson-levels of cash, but I suspect a bigger issue is that he became a shade too loyal to the team, partly because he’d been with many of them for so long, and partly because they’d all been through Hillsborough together. 

Rushie was probably the last good signing, but fundamentally we spent a lot of money after the summer of 1987 and very little of it improved the first team for more than a few months (or, in the case of some decent youngsters, didn’t improve the team for several years). Here’s a list of Kenny’s final 12 signings from his last two-and-half years - how many made us better?

Tanner, Rush, Burrows, Barry Jones, Hysen, Harkness, Rosenthal, Cousins, Hutchison, Carter, Redknapp and Speedie. 
 

[Arniepie]

52 minutes ago, Ron B said:

I don’t know if I’d agree with that narrative about Dalglish not being supported towards the end. 
McMahon was being chased by Sampdoria, and Dalglish offered him a new five-year deal. We also pinned Barnesy down to a new contract when various big foreign sides were said to be circling (albeit I don’t know that any of them made a bid). It made sense to let Big Jan go if we had a replacement, as he was only starting to rot on the bench - but not if we couldn’t nail a replacement first, which we didn’t so he stayed put. 
That only leaves Beardsley, with a deal agreed with Marseille for a bonkers sum; he didn’t fancy it though, and that’s one of the more believable reasons why he and Kenny are said to have fallen out. 
We weren’t a particularly commercial operation off the pitch back in the day (I’m sure plenty of folks here have memories of the ramshackle club shop). United were Megatore FC and we laughed at them for doing so whilst never getting close to the title. Then they converted their cash into trophies and we were left chasing shadows. That maybe left Kenny short of Ferguson-levels of cash, but I suspect a bigger issue is that he became a shade too loyal to the team, partly because he’d been with many of them for so long, and partly because they’d all been through Hillsborough together. 

Rushie was probably the last good signing, but fundamentally we spent a lot of money after the summer of 1987 and very little of it improved the first team for more than a few months (or, in the case of some decent youngsters, didn’t improve the team for several years). Here’s a list of Kenny’s final 12 signings from his last two-and-half years - how many made us better?

Tanner, Rush, Burrows, Barry Jones, Hysen, Harkness, Rosenthal, Cousins, Hutchison, Carter, Redknapp and Speedie. 
 

A director bad mouthed Dalglish publically in the media (noel White from memory?)

Not sure that counts as having the full support of the board?

 

[Arniepie]

46 minutes ago, Ron B said:

I don’t know if I’d agree with that narrative about Dalglish not being supported towards the end. 
McMahon was being chased by Sampdoria, and Dalglish offered him a new five-year deal. We also pinned Barnesy down to a new contract when various big foreign sides were said to be circling (albeit I don’t know that any of them made a bid). It made sense to let Big Jan go if we had a replacement, as he was only starting to rot on the bench - but not if we couldn’t nail a replacement first, which we didn’t so he stayed put. 
That only leaves Beardsley, with a deal agreed with Marseille for a bonkers sum; he didn’t fancy it though, and that’s one of the more believable reasons why he and Kenny are said to have fallen out. 
We weren’t a particularly commercial operation off the pitch back in the day (I’m sure plenty of folks here have memories of the ramshackle club shop). United were Megatore FC and we laughed at them for doing so whilst never getting close to the title. Then they converted their cash into trophies and we were left chasing shadows. That maybe left Kenny short of Ferguson-levels of cash, but I suspect a bigger issue is that he became a shade too loyal to the team, partly because he’d been with many of them for so long, and partly because they’d all been through Hillsborough together. 

Rushie was probably the last good signing, but fundamentally we spent a lot of money after the summer of 1987 and very little of it improved the first team for more than a few months (or, in the case of some decent youngsters, didn’t improve the team for several years). Here’s a list of Kenny’s final 12 signings from his last two-and-half years - how many made us better?

Tanner, Rush, Burrows, Barry Jones, Hysen, Harkness, Rosenthal, Cousins, Hutchison, Carter, Redknapp and Speedie. 
 

Rosenthal won us the league in 90

Harkness and Hutchinson were decent players.

Redknapp was hugely rated at the time.

Carter and tanner were shite. 

Never even heard of cousins and Barry Jones so not sure they were huge signings?

Speedie was a strange one.

The too loyal argument is hugely flawed.

When he went ,we were 2nd in the league and still in the cup.

We also had a whole host of young players who would come through in the Next few years.

[Arniepie]

8 hours ago, dave u said:

 

That's how I remember all of that too. The Rush thing was mad, literally everybody thought Pallister was going to walk out to face the press and it was Rushy. Imagine being able to pull something like that off now.

In hansens testimonial at the end of 88,Rush played for us and the kip were singing 'rushie,rushie, wanna come home  

[Arniepie]

56 minutes ago, Ron B said:

I don’t know if I’d agree with that narrative about Dalglish not being supported towards the end. 
McMahon was being chased by Sampdoria, and Dalglish offered him a new five-year deal. We also pinned Barnesy down to a new contract when various big foreign sides were said to be circling (albeit I don’t know that any of them made a bid). It made sense to let Big Jan go if we had a replacement, as he was only starting to rot on the bench - but not if we couldn’t nail a replacement first, which we didn’t so he stayed put. 
That only leaves Beardsley, with a deal agreed with Marseille for a bonkers sum; he didn’t fancy it though, and that’s one of the more believable reasons why he and Kenny are said to have fallen out. 
We weren’t a particularly commercial operation off the pitch back in the day (I’m sure plenty of folks here have memories of the ramshackle club shop). United were Megatore FC and we laughed at them for doing so whilst never getting close to the title. Then they converted their cash into trophies and we were left chasing shadows. That maybe left Kenny short of Ferguson-levels of cash, but I suspect a bigger issue is that he became a shade too loyal to the team, partly because he’d been with many of them for so long, and partly because they’d all been through Hillsborough together. 

Rushie was probably the last good signing, but fundamentally we spent a lot of money after the summer of 1987 and very little of it improved the first team for more than a few months (or, in the case of some decent youngsters, didn’t improve the team for several years). Here’s a list of Kenny’s final 12 signings from his last two-and-half years - how many made us better?

Tanner, Rush, Burrows, Barry Jones, Hysen, Harkness, Rosenthal, Cousins, Hutchison, Carter, Redknapp and Speedie. 
 

Spackman?

[Chris]

8 hours ago, dave u said:

 

Different SteveH mate.

 

Oops!

[Dapower]

Speedie was a mad signing