WORST START!

IN 1986, I was at Wembley, watching the first all-Mersey FA Cup Final and one of the greatest-ever games in the competition.

Ten years later, I was back there, playing against Manchester United in one of the worst-ever finals!

It sort of sums up my love-hate relationship with the competition.

I was longing to walk up those steps and lift the trophy, wear the scarf and hat on the pitch and drink whatever murky liquid they stuck in the cup.

Yet, I think back now on my record until I finally won it... and it was horrendous.

In fact, my first two years as a player in the third round, I was involved in two of the biggest shocks – when we lost 2-0 to Bolton in ’93 and 1-0 to Bristol City in ’94 ... breaking my leg into the bargain.

And that’s not even the half of it – because we also managed to get our boss Graeme Souness sacked, just for good measure.

I’m not sure anyone has ever had a worse introduction to the famous competition than me! THIRD ROUND weekend can be horrific... but losing at Wembley is even worse.

Losing to your bitterest rivals in a terrible game that was billed as potentially the greatest final of all time.

That ranks as my worst day in football.

We played United in ’96, and really fancied ourselves to win it, but they closed the game down, made it a dour contest and we were rubbish.

All people remember are those terrible white suits – because the game was so forgettable.

Cantona (above) scored with only a few minutes to go and we were done.

Afterwards, I seriously thought about refusing to go up the steps to get my medal. Letting all those fans down was just awful.

It took me another five years to get to the FA Cup Final again – that time against Arsenal – where we went on to win.

And so all my FA Cup dreams came true... finally.