ABLE , JEFF!
THE strangest sight greeted Jeff Kenna and his Blackburn teammates as they disembarked the team bus at Anfield.
The date was May 14, 1995, the final day of the Premier League season - and Liverpool supporters were applauding the Rovers squad into the ground.
“They were wanting us to win,” recalled Kenna. “That’s something I’ve never experienced, before or after.
“But I don’t think anyone saw that last day happening the way it did.”
The Dubliner had only joined the club on March 15 – and Blackburn were 90 minutes from a first Premier League title.
When winger Jason Wilcox suffered a cruciate ligament injury, Blackburn boss Kenny Dalglish decided to push Graeme Le Saux further up the pitch.
Kenna, who was an established figure in Southampton’s defence, fitted the bill as Le Saux’s left-back replacement.
“Alan Ball sold me from Southampton and Dalglish bought me,” smiled Kenna (right). “Not two bad names to drop into conversation.”
Earlier, in February, he had joined up with Ireland for the first time for the friendly against England that was abandoned. His former Southampton team-mates, Alan Shearer and Tim Flowers, were with England.
“Shearer took great pleasure in winding me up, saying he’d see me soon,” Kenna said.
“I was none the wiser but then there was something in the press about it, and it all seemed to happen after that.”
The 24-year-old played all nine of Blackburn’s remaining games in the run-in, scoring an important goal in a 2-1 win at home to Crystal Palace.
“I couldn’t do any more than what I did,” said Kenna.
The final home game, an evening kick-off against
Newcastle United, stands out in his mind.
“They absolutely played us off the park,” he recalled. “But
Tim Flowers was outstanding. He was everywhere, pulling shots out of the air, save after save, and we won 1-0.
“I thought after that game that maybe this was meant to be for us.”
That feeling turned during the second half at Anfield.
A few days previous to the game, Kenna was with the Southampton fans at Old Trafford, willing his old teammates to beat Manchester United and finish the title race there and then.
But United won. Blackburn had a two-point lead going to fifth placed Liverpool, while United knew they had to beat mid-table West Ham to have a chance.
“We didn’t play particularly well,” said Kenna. “But we went 1-0 up [through Shearer] and it was going fine. Although Liverpool had a lot of possession, they only had a couple of chances.
“Then in the second half, Shearer put one over the bar and [Chris] Sutton should have scored but didn’t hit it hard enough and it was cleared off the line.
“So we should have been out of sight when John Barnes scored.”
There was an hour on the clock and suddenly the enormity of the occasion weighed on the visitors.
“For me, personally, the legs went heavy and every run seemed to be that more difficult,” Kenna said. “And then of course when [Jamie] Redknapp stuck one into the top corner from 25 yards, I thought that was it.”
Redknapp’s free-kick stunned the Blackburn players.
“I have vivid memories of it,” Kenna remarked. “To lose in the last minute, you’re thinking, ‘Oh my God’.
“But talk about the highs and lows. It all happened in 60 seconds. It was mad.”
Kept at bay by an inspired Ludek Miklosko, United could only manage a 1-1 draw at Upton Park.
“Thankfully Man Utd didn’t get the result they needed and it all worked out well in the end,” grinned Kenna.
“It wasn’t until we saw people on our bench jumping around that we realised we had done it – and then we Liverpool fans celebrating as well, absolutely!
“To go from arguably a bottom half of the table club to a club at the top, and to win the league, was phenomenal for me.”