100 Players
Who Shook The Kop – the groundbreaking series that had every Liverpool fan
talking back in 2006 – is set to return this summer, here's my top ten
countdown.
#3 -
Ian Rush
Just one
word is needed to describe Ian Rush's Liverpool career: goals.
The
Welshman scored 346 of them in 660 appearances, a club record which will take
some beating.
Nothing
shakes the Kop more than a goal, and no one has caused quite so much structural
damage to the famous stand as Rush.
More
importantly, his predatory instincts were instrumental in the Reds dominating
the game for most of the 1980s. He was loved at Anfield, feared at every
opposition ground and renowned throughout Europe.
It's hard
to believe that such a glittering Liverpool career had such an inauspicious
start.
Signed from
Chester in 1980 for £300,000 (then a British transfer record for a teenager),
Rush initially felt he wasn't getting a fair crack under Bob Paisley. He even
asked for a transfer.
A possible
move to Crystal Palace was discussed, though Paisley had no intention of
sanctioning the deal. He knew that Rush's time would come.
Tall, thin
and ungainly, the young striker looked anything but a future striking hero when
he broke into the team, but looks can be deceptive.
It actually
took nine games for him to register a first senior goal, but the floodgates
opened from there.
It was in
1981-82 that Rushie fully established himself as a Reds regular. Paisley was in
the process of rebuilding his team and the new boy's tally of 30 goals in 49
appearances helped deliver an ominous message to Liverpool's rivals. Oh, and
there were two new additions to the Anfield trophy room to boot.
In November
1982, an awesome display of finishing by the boyhood Evertonian sunk the
shell-shocked Toffees during an unforgettable afternoon at Goodison. The name
Ian Rush was now etched indelibly into Merseyside folklore. No wonder Europe's
big fish were starting to circle.
Often
described by his teammates as Liverpool's first line of defence, the Wales
international was not just a goalscorer but a hard-working, selfless runner who
never gave up the chase.
Electric
pace and eagle-eyed anticipation meant he was also a nightmare to mark and his
attacking partnership with Kenny Dalglish is regarded as one of the best ever.
The 1983-84
season was perhaps Rush's finest. A remarkable 47-goal haul (50 if you count
his spot kick conversion in Rome and two goals for Wales) was enough to see him
become the first British player to win Europe's Golden Boot. This was a perfect
accompaniment to an unprecedented treble of league title, European Cup and Milk
Cup, not to mention double player of the year recognition.
Running on
to perfectly threaded throughballs was Rush's forte and when one-on-one with a
keeper you'd bet your mortgage on him netting. But what made him stand out from
the rest was the variation in his goals. Of course there were countless
close-range tap-ins, but also in his locker were many well-timed volleys, the
odd 25-yard pile-driver and occasional header.
One of his
finest displays of finishing came on an icy night at Villa Park in January 1984
when he bagged a memorable hat-trick.
Liverpool's
master marksman netted against almost every team he faced but it was neighbours
Everton on whom he inflicted most damage.
His
memorable double against our Mersey rivals in the 1986 Cup final secured the
club's first domestic double but, as the dust settled on that triumph, the blue
half of the city was given reason to dance with joy when it was announced that
Liverpool's lean, mean, goalscoring machine had agreed to join Juventus.
Unsurprisingly,
news of his move, which was to go through the following summer, shook the Kop
to its core and a 'Rushie Must Stay' campaign was launched in a futile bid to
keep their hero at Anfield.
Determined
to bow out on a high, Rush signed off by breaching the 40-goal barrier for only
the second time in his career and left for the land of the lira with everyone's
best wishes.
After just
one season in Italy, however, he was to make a sensational return. Having been
made aware that their former star had failed to fully settle in Turin (it was
like living in a foreign country, said Rush at the time), Liverpool jumped at
the chance to sign him once more.
The
predator responded by picking up where he left off, scoring goals for fun and
proceeding to smash any goalscoring record he hadn't yet broken.
Everton
remained high on his hit-list and another brace in the 1989 FA Cup final saw
him finally overtake the legendary Dixie Dean as the most prolific derby
goalscorer.
Three years
later he became the most fruitful forward in Cup final history after netting
his fifth during the 2-0 victory over Sunderland.
All this
was small fry compared to what Rush was to achieve in October 1992, however, when
he netted for a 287th time in a Liverpool jersey and in doing so surpassed
Roger Hunt as the leading scorer in Anfield history.
The same
year saw him handed the captaincy by manager Graeme Souness and in 1995 he
fulfilled a personal dream by lifting the Coca Cola Cup.
Rush's work
on Merseyside was still not done, though, and his last act before leaving for
Leeds on a free in the summer of 1996 was to pass on his goalscoring wisdom to
striking prodigy Robbie Fowler.
While
records are there to be broken, it's likely that the number nine's phenomenal
tally of Liverpool goals will go unsurpassed well into the new millennium.
Even if it
is eventually beaten, the fact Rush left the Kop with 346 heart-thumping
memories means he'll forever be renowned as one of the all-time Anfield greats.
Other
Clubs:
Chester,
Juventus, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield United (loan), Wrexham, Sydney Olympic
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