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With the club in turmoil after the European Cup Final against Juventus, Joe resigned, and we appointed our first ever player-coach the next day, as Kenny took charge. His first league game was a comfortable 2-0 home win against Arsenal, but while some other good results followed, his first months in charge didn't all go to plan. By November, the mancs were 10 points clear of the rest when we faced them at home in the League Cup. Jan Molby's winner feels as great today as it did then, and provided revenge for the FA Cup result the previous season. I was at the first home game that December against Villa, and the 3-0 win seemed to get our league campaign back on track, but it was our last win of the month, and as we fell further behind in the title race, questions were rightly asked of Kenny's capabilities. Defeat against QPR in the League Cup semi final, a home draw against Watford in the FA Cup quarters, and a home loss to the neighbours in the league posed more questions, and it looked like we'd win nothing. Kenny put himself back in the team for the final 12 games, we won 11 to win his first title as coach, scoring himself at Chelsea to bring home No. 16. In the first Merseyside FA Cup Final, another come from behind win saw us clinch the double, and answer the questions asked of him, with the Screensport Super Cup rounding off a treble in a week. 86-87 was a more difficult year though, not helped by Rushie's impending move and season-long protests against it. Rushie kept banging them in regardless, but there were days that didn't go to plan. Spurs won at Anfield for the first time in 70+ years, we lost at home to the mancs at our place in December, the FA Cup run ended after 3 games of the 3rd Round to Luton. We lost the League Cup Final, and a late home win against the blueballs failed to stop them claiming the title. 87-88 however saw the return to what we were used to. 11 4-0 wins, the equalling of the longest unbeaten run at Derby, the demolishing of then league leaders QPR, Coventry, Forest, and crushing FA Cup wins to the final, led to another league title 3 weeks early. For all the domination, only one trophy meant there was work to put right going into the new season. The title defence in 88-89 struggled though. By March, we were more than 10 points behind Arsenal, however 2 big wins in 3 days and an Arsenal mini-slump closed up the gap rapidly. By the time of the FA Cup semi-final, we had won at Millwall and gone back to the top of the league. With us occupied with the FA Cup, Arsenal duly went back top at 5pm on April 15th. Although that is a date we remember for other well-documented reasons. The FA Cup game was finally played at mancland a couple of weeks later. The win put us back in another Merseyside Cup Final while we played catch up in the league. The 4th FA Cup win came on May 20th, in a gruelling nerve-wracking derby. A 5-1 win over West Ham when we returned set us up for another title at home to Arsenal. Kenny set out to contain the opposition and keep the score below the 2 goal margin we needed. It worked until injury time, and the chance to be the first side to win the "Double Double" was lost. There were noticeable changes in how the side approached games during the following season, with various experiments at changing the set up to a unit, rather than attack at all costs. The 9-0 win at home to Palace was followed by a 0-0 draw at home to Norwich. The FA Cup went swimmingly well however, until the semi final. However, we beat the mancs in their own backyard for the first time since 1982, and Ronnie Rosenthal was signed late on. A good run followed which led to Number 18 arriving in the cabinet, arriving in dramatic circumstances, following Villa's late collapse at home to Norwich, as we were beating QPR. Kenny made his last playing appearance for us as a late sub at home to Derby before we rounded off the season with a 6-1 destruction at Coventry. 24 points from 24 began the following season, including destroying the mancs, and beating Derby. However, the good results ground to a halt, and the team became more and more defensive. Sometimes it worked, other times it failed badly. In the FA Cup, we went off to Blackburn on a wet and windy Saturday. An own goal equaliser in injury time prevented embarrassment at the hands of the lower league upstarts. Brighton followed in the next round at home, where a 2 goal lead evaporated, and the replay was a struggle before we got the derby at home in the next round, and a tepid 0-0 draw. The replay features in Sky Sports Classics, but losing 4 leads in a game isn't a classic for us. 2 days later, Kenny resigned, and the cup involvement didn't last past the next replay. Kenny resumes his cup career here tomorrow, leading a poor side with the hardest possible draw, but his next home game is against the neighbours, as it was last time. Just what he can do with the current team is up for question, but hopefully he will put us in good stead as we go into next season.