Ramsay can be the next Scot to shine at Liverpool
CALVIN RAMSAY is far from the first Scottish footballer who Liverpool have ventured over Hadrian’s Wall to sign. The six-time European champions have enjoyed enormous success over the decades after bringing in players from clubs in this country.
Sir Kenny Dalglish, who became an Anfield legend after being landed from Celtic for a then British record £440,000 transfer fee in 1977, is by far the most celebrated.
But King Kenny is by no means the only Scottish import to make a major impact; Ron Yeats (Dundee United in 1961), Ian St John (Motherwell in 1961), Alan Hansen (Partick Thistle in 1977) and Steve Nicol (Ayr United in 1981) are all revered on Merseyside to this day.
Billy Liddell never featured for a senior club in his homeland. But the Fifer, who was signed from Lochgelly Violet as a teenager in 1938 following a tip off from Matt Busby, also did rather well at the English giants. He would score 228 goals in 534 games over the next 23 years.
Peter Cormack, Graeme Souness, John Wark, Gary Gillespie, Don Hutchison, Gary McAllister and Andy Robertson have also excelled after making the less demanding switch from English outfits. Elsewhere, Bobby Graham, Tommy Lawrence and Dominic Matteo graduated from the youth ranks.
It is to be hoped that Ramsay, the gifted young right back who is poised to seal a £6.5million move from Aberdeen to Liverpool, follows in the footsteps of his illustrious countrymen and avoids the fate of those who failed to establish themselves and departed.
Danny Wilson struggled to get game-time after Liverpool paid Rangers, who he had made just 14 first-team appearances for, £2m for him in 2010. He was loaned out to Blackpool, Bristol City and Hearts and joined the latter permanently in 2013 after being involved in just nine matches.
But that was nine more than Frank McGarvey managed.
St Mirren striker McGarvey was
one of the hottest properties in Scottish football – Ajax, Arsenal and Aston Villa were all preparing to table bids for him – when the then English champions offered his Love Street club £270,000 to secure his services in 1979.
He had just won his first two caps for his national team against Northern Ireland and Argentina alongside Dalglish, Hansen and Souness when he put pen to paper. However, he found it impossible to break into Bob Paisley’s all-conquering side.
“Most of the players were older and more experienced than me,” he recalled in his excellent autobiography Totally Frank. “I had gone from being a big fish in a small pond to a very small fish in an enormous pond, and that hit my confidence.”
It was McGarvey’s distinct misfortune that David Johnson, who played up front alongside Dalglish, enjoyed the form of his life in the 1979/80 season and finished the campaign as top scorer with 27 goals in all competitions.
His manager also proved reluctant to change a winning side. After jumping on a bus after a reserve game to learn of another Liverpool victory on the radio, he thought to himself: “Christ, do these guys never get beat?”
David Fairclough getting the nod to start ahead of him in a league match towards the end of the season proved too much for McGarvey – who had been getting bombarded by phone calls from Celtic assistant manager John Clark for months – and he demanded a transfer from Paisley.
He would put his frustrating spell at Liverpool firmly behind him, excel for his boyhood heroes and win every major honour in the Scottish game during his five memorable years at
Parkhead.
Joining Liverpool, who were Carabao Cup and FA Cup winners, Premier League runners-up and Champions League finalists last season, will be a huge step up from Aberdeen for Ramsay, an 18-yearold who has only played 40 games in his professional career to date.
Will he flourish like Liddell, Yeats, St John, Dalglish, Hansen and Nicol? Or will he find the challenge too great like McGarvey and Wilson?
It could go either way. He will be vying for a starting berth with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez and James Milner for a place – stiff competition for the youngster, who turns 19 at the end of next month.
However, Ramsay’s mature displays for the Pittodrie club last term suggest that he has both the ability, physicality and the mentality which he needs to succeed. He dealt admirably with the departure of his manager Stephen Glass – as well as disaffection in the stands as Aberdeen toiled in the Premiership and the wheels came flying off their campaign – and was named Scottish Football Writers’ Association Young Player of the Year.
The Scotland Under-21 defender is unlikely to walk straight into Jurgen Klopp’s side, that is no secret. But he is a long-term project. The fact that Ramsay is joining at such a young age will work in his favour.
His German coach, who places such importance on his full-backs getting forward to assist with attacks, will be able to mould him at an impressionable age. The same goes for
Ben Doak, the 16-year-old full-back cum winger who was brought in from
Celtic for £600,000 in March, as well.
Scots promise to feature prominently for Liverpool for some time to
come.
Susan Egelstaff