He pinned me to the wall and said, you’re fighting for history
AS soon as Ian Rush opened the scoring for Liverpool in the 1987 League Cup final, there was a sense of the inevitable at Wembley.
Even the beanpole Arsenal centre-forward from Dublin knew that Liverpool had never lost whenever Rush scored.
This was the 145th game when the Welsh wizard was among the goals; there could only be one outcome. ‘The whole stadium went, “That’s it”,’ recalled Niall Quinn.
At 20 years of age, Quinn was playing in his first major final as a pro footballer. Rush was five years older, far more decorated and battle-hardened.
Quinn knew the statistic about his goals ‘because the press had told me’.
Rush was leaving Liverpool at the end of the season for Juventus. He was desperate to do so with a winner’s medal. Yet, it didn’t happen.
Against the odds, Arsenal came back to win with two scrappy goals, both credited to Charlie Nicholas, although the winner deflected off Ronnie Whelan past Bruce Grobbelaar.
Victory marked the start of the George Graham era with the Gunners, which yielded two league titles, FA Cup glory, a second League Cup win and the Cup Winners’ Cup, in the next seven years.
For Quinn, there were no more honours in red and white. Even as he walked up the 39 steps to collect his medal, his time as first choice was up
‘Alan Smith came to the game. I knew I couldn’t kick him out of the team but that full season, the shirt was mine. No 9 for Arsenal, for a 20-year-old – that was huge. I think I got 12 goals,’ he said.
For Quinn, the match which defined the beginning of a new Arsenal resolve under Graham had come in the semi-finals against rivals Spurs.
‘We were hopeless in the first leg, which we lost 1-0, and at halftime in the second leg we were a goal down. It could have been four or five.
‘We were very deflated coming off the pitch at White Hart Lane, and then something wonderful happened on the PA. There was an announcement about how Spurs fans could get tickets for the final.
‘George Graham brought us in, “Have you heard that?” he said.
‘He literally pinned us up, man by man, against the wall and said, “This is Arsenal against Spurs, you’re fighting for history here, and these f ***** s are already selling tickets for the final. What are you going to do about it?”
‘The adrenalin rush was like all the things you read about in hurling dressing rooms, it was mad stuff. We ran out, played them off the park, and got a replay out of it, which we won, after being a goal down.’
Improbably, Quinn was involved in one other ripping League Cup yarn.
A year later, Arsenal powered to the final, where they faced unfancied Luton Town.
‘We had injuries, Dave O’Leary was one, and there was a spot at centre-back in the team.
‘We played Barnet in a friendly the Monday night before the game and I played one half at centre-back and Gus Caesar played the other. The morning of the final Gus got the nod to start, otherwise I was going to pick up Mick Harford.
‘We led 2-1 late on when Andy Dibble saved a penalty from Martin Hayes. At 3-1, it would have been all over. I remember Ashley Grimes setting up the Luton winner. I was gutted I wasn’t brought on.’
Quinn left Arsenal for City in March 1990 and didn’t get a sniff of another Cup final even though he soldiered on until the summer of 2002.
He famously said he learned his trade at Arsenal but ‘became at footballer at City’, and he will be rooting for the Sky Blues at Wembley in today’s Carabao League Cup final against of Chelsea.
Quinn was invited over to City a fortnight ago to present the Sky Sports Fan of the Year award to a City supporter, Jimmy Dolan.
With a name like that, he had to be Irish? ‘His mother was from Tipperary, his father from Cork. His extended family, 21 of them, all have City season tickets. Jimmy was following City through all the hard times.’
The occasion was City versus Chelsea in the Premier League, which ended 6-0.
‘I saw a gulf there in oldfashioned determination that day,’ said Quinn.
‘(Cesar) Azpilicueta at rightback was roasted by (Raheem) Sterling; (Marco) Alonso had a poor game, (David) Luiz didn’t look like a commanding centrehalf. Up front, (Gonzalo) Higuain had no one to link up with.
‘It’s a tough one for the manager (Maurizio Sarri) to dig out of the ground to get Chelsea back on track.
‘The only thing that can stop City is if they turn the tap down themselves. If they play with that sort of vigour, panache and strength, Chelsea will be in for another difficult time.’
‘IT’S A TOUGH ONE FOR THE MANAGER TO GET CHELSEA ON TRACK’