Kop rally for Terry

IAN RUSH has vowed Liverpool’s “family” of former players will rally round club legend Terry McDermott following his diagnosis with dementia.

The 69-year-old, who made 329 appearances and scored 81 goals for the Reds between 1974 and 1982, is suffering from the early stages of the illness.

Kop icon Rush said: “At Liverpool, we have the best former players’ association in the world.

“If anything affects one player, it affects us all so we’re all right behind Terry and I’m sure we will be seeing him at the games.

“Terry is a smart guy – he’s a Scouser and he knows what to do. But he also knows we are all there for him if needed.”

IAN RUSH has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo could have led Liverpool to the Premier League title under Gerard Houllier.

Wales legend Rush (right), who made his own return journey from a period at

Juventus when he rejoined

Liverpool from Serie A in 1988, is delighted Ronaldo is back in England’s top flight.

And he believes football history would have been very different if Liverpool and not Manchester United had won the chase for the then teenager back in 2003. He said: “I know that Liverpool wanted to sign him from Sporting Lisbon only for Manchester United to get there first. Gerard Houllier, who was the manager at the time, knew all about him and worked hard to sign him.

“It was a massive blow when he went to United.

“You never know, Liverpool might have won the Premier League in Gerard’s time if they had managed to bring Cristiano to Anfield.”