There was no loo on the bus so Phil ran off and used someone’s house… then got an ice-cream van to catch up!
Terry McDermott on the secrets behind Liverpool’s 1981 European Cup glory
TERRY McDermott was flicking through the TV channels last week when he paused on highlights of the 1981 European Cup final.
‘Highlights?’ he says of Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Real Madrid in Paris. ‘I always thought it was a c**p game. And you know what? I was right. It was more like lowlights, they did well to fill 15 minutes.’
McDermott is reflecting from the sunny surrounds of his Northumberland home. ‘You see this grass,’ he says, pointing to turf which is scorched in places. ‘This was a different class to that pitch in Paris!’
The highlights show one McDermott effort fly over the bar. ‘Must have taken a bobble,’ he grins.
McDermott (below), at 66, is in good nick. The black perm is now white and flat but the moustache, bandy legs and slender physique are still unmistakable traits of a box-to-box midfielder who, in 1980, became the first man to win the PFA and FWA player of the year prizes. It was a double subsequently achieved by a stellar cast including Cristiano Ronaldo, Kenny Dalglish, Gareth Bale, Thierry Henry and Mo Salah.
Our cup of tea in his back garden is keeping him from the golf course and we are delayed slightly when the gates to his driveway malfunction. ‘I need to get them sorted,’ he says. ‘I’m too old to be climbing over them now!’
During conversation about that night in Paris, McDermott often wanders back to Liverpool’s 1977 and 1978 European Cup triumphs over Borussia Monchengladbach and Bruges. Memories of those games seem to come easier.
‘I suppose ‘81 is the forgotten final,’ he says. ‘The win in ‘77 was the first, ‘78 was Wembley. By the time of ‘81, that team was starting to break up a bit. People forget, we finished fifth in the league. At Liverpool, it was the league which mattered. We knew going into the final there would be a cull.’
McDermott himself rejoined Newcastle United a year later.
In recent months, McDermott has begun to look to the future. He has two sons and a daughter and, earlier this year, welcomed the birth of his first grand-daughter, of whom he talks with great excitement and demands hourly picture messages when he and wife Carole are not with her.
His children are the reason there is an empty trophy cabinet inside the house yards from where we sit. Today, his three European Cup winners’ medals will be among a lifetime of honours auctioned at Sotheby’s in London. How does that feel? ‘I’m OK with it because I have the memories, no one can take them away,’ he says. ‘It’s to look after my kids, help them get on the property ladder. It’s nice to have the medals but they’re at risk of theft or you keep them in a vault. What’s the point in that?
‘I am proud of what I’ve won. But I will be more proud if my children are all happy. If you can help them along the way, I’ll be happy. This felt like the right time.’
RAY CLEMENCE GOALKEEPER, 32
I remember in the dressing room after, he just sat there quiet. And Ray was always the life and soul. But he’d made his mind up before the game that, if we won, he was leaving. He just wanted another challenge. But what a great fella.
I remember after the FA Cup final in 1977, we’d lost 2-1 to Man United, we were waiting for a train from Watford with the wives and girlfriends, everyone was miserable. Next thing, Ray is singing and dancing on the platform, putting on a show. That changed the mood and we were drinking all the way home. Four days later we won the club’s first European Cup.
PHIL NEAL RIGHT BACK, 30
He played more than 300 games on the trot. Imagine that? They get tired after three these days. But he was a bloody good player, not many got the better of him. He was like our James Milner. Every week, Mr Dependable.
PHIL THOMPSON CENTRE BACK, 27
Different class. For someone of his build, a thin lad, he was so strong and never shirked a tackle, but he was quick with it. He could read the game, and that’s why he’s a pundit now. The final was big for him because he’d missed ‘77 through injury and in ‘78 Emlyn Hughes was captain. So for him, as a Scouser, to skipper us to victory, it was inspirational. He was like me, brought up in Kirkby, and that’s a tough upbringing — even the Alsatians went around in pairs! We used to room together and I’d drive him crazy by eating my
McDERMOTT’S GUIDE TO THE MEN HE LINED UP ALONGSIDE IN PARIS...
boiled seafood, he hated the smell. “Please tell me you haven’t brought those again?” he’d say, and I’d tell him, “I f ******* have, and I’m gonna enjoy them”.
I remember during the victory parade there was no toilet on the bus so Phil and his girlfriend ran off and used someone’s house. Imagine that, the European Cup-winning captain knocking at your door! By the time he came back out they had to jump in an ice-cream van to catch us up!’
ALAN HANSEN CENTRE BACK, 25
Jocky, what a guy. When he came down from Partick Thistle in 1977 he joined the non-married clan with me, Thommo and Alan Kennedy. We were out most nights. There were quite a few of us liked a pint, but we must have been doing something right to win all those trophies.
A girl called Karen used to receive all the mail into the club. Sometimes it would be, “Dear Mr Paisley, three of your players were in a nightclub until 2am...” She used to rip those ones and put them in the bin. We liked her.
I remember just after Alan signed he went to Blackpool with his mates. They went skinny-dipping on the beach and got collared by the police. He got a ticking-off for that. But what a player. He’s among the best three British centre backs we’ve had. Good in the air, brilliant on the floor, so cool.
ALAN KENNEDY LEFT BACK, 26
When I first signed for Newcastle in 1973 I stayed at his parents’ house and was supposed to be there for two weeks. I ended up staying 22 months! At 12 o’clock on matchdays his mother would make a full roast dinner. I’d finish that at 12.30pm and then she would offer me apple pie and custard. “Ah, go on then,” I’d say.
Alan was underrated. He scored the winner in 1981 and the final penalty in 1984. He didn’t get the credit he deserved at the time. Now he never shuts up about them!
SAMMY LEE RIGHT MIDFIELD, 22
For a little stocky guy he was quite quick. I was watching those highlights and he was running away from their players. He had real power and was one of our best in the final. He had this habit of always saying “sorry”. Even when you see him now it’s, “Yeah, sorry, about that”. I don’t know what he’s got to apologise about, he was a great player!
GRAEME SOUNESS CENTRAL MIDFIELD, 28
‘He could do everything. A wonderful player who was our enforcer as well. In a European game at Anfield, someone went through me, nearly snapped my ankle. Graeme lent over me and said, “Which one was it again?”. I went off for treatment and hobbled back on. By that time the fella who’d done me was being taken off on a stretcher!
Before the final, UEFA made us put plasters over the Umbro badge on our kit. As soon as we got out Graeme led the way by ripping them off, “F*** this,” he said, “They’re hardly going to stop the game, are they?”.
He drank champagne while we were on lager. We were all trying to pull girls from the supermarket and he walked in with Miss World. Although I only found out recently his perm wasn’t natural. I love him but wouldn’t want to get on his bad side. I remember one scrap he had with Alan Kennedy. Nothing big, just “bang, bang”. It didn’t last long…’
RAY KENNEDY LEFT MIDFIELD, 29
A smart guy, nice looking. We were like Rag, Tag and Bobtail and he always had the best of gear. He could play as well and got some big goals. It was around 1981 he started getting the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. He was losing a bit of energy, because he really could get up and down. It’s sad, God bless him, a great guy.
DAVID JOHNSON STRIKER, 29
Laugh a minute. His nickname was “Doc”. If you came in with a bad head because you’d been drinking, or even if you just felt unwell, you’d go to him rather than the medical room. He had a bag full of potions and tablets. You’d talk to him like a doctor and he’d ask, in all seriousness, “What are your symptoms?”. He had some concoction for everything.
KENNY DALGLISH STRIKER, 30
Wow. Him and Kevin Keegan were the best I played with, I can’t separate them. Kenny’s first training session in 1977, he was unbelievable. We were like, “Bloody hell, he’s not bad”. But he did it for all his time there. Those who don’t know him think he’s a miserable sod, but he’s brilliant company, the centre of attention. A funny guy. Saying that, he did live in the posh houses in Southport while we were roughing it in Kirkby… He was another hard man. But me and him always felt vulnerable to being subbed. There was a bag which was supposed to have all the numbers in for when you made a change. Hansen used to say, “There’s only two numbers in there — 8 and 10 for Jimmy and Terry!” A great player. How he was never capped by England I’ll never know.
BOB PAISLEY MANAGER, 63
You don’t win those trophies without being a great manager. But he wasn’t a good communicator. I used to impersonate him. He came in once and I was giving the teamtalk. He said, “Do you want to pick the team too?”. I wish I had because half the time we didn’t know it. We had two “Daves”, two “Phils”, two “Alans” and he never said which one he meant. But we thought the world of him. He signed me as well, so he wasn’t a bad judge!