Thompson: My Euro stars were special

EMOTIONS will run high when Liverpool’s legendary 1981 European Cup winners return to Paris next Saturday to support Jurgen Klopp’s history-makers in their ‘rematch’ against Real Madrid.

Memories will flood back and anecdotes will be told as they recall their own famous win against the Spanish giants at the Parc des Princes 41 years ago, courtesy of Alan Kennedy’s late strike. But there will also be a special poignancy too, with two empty places in their travelling party, Ray Clemence and Ray Kennedy — both important members of Bob Paisley’s great team — having passed away within the last 18 months.

‘Ever since we knew it was Liverpool-Madrid again, I’ve been thinking a lot about our era and the two Rays in particular,’ admits then-captain Phil Thompson.

‘Clem was the best goalie in England. The 1981 final proved his last game for Liverpool but we didn’t know that at the time. He’d found out the club were signing Bruce Grobbelaar and he didn’t want to play second fiddle, which I don’t blame him for.

‘Madrid had one chance at 0-0, Ray rushed out and Jose Camacho put his finish over. That was Clem — the first sweeper-keeper. He allowed us to push up to the halfway line as a team, years before Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola were doing it.’

Clemence died of prostate cancer at the end of 2020 and last year midfielder Kennedy lost his long battle with Parkinson’s disease. ‘It was only after he’d finished playing that we realised the impact of Parkinson’s had already started on

Ray,’ explains Thompson. ‘Ray was a great player and a lovely guy but he could occasionally snap for no reason, which we didn’t understand then but now know was part of his condition.

‘As a player, he was so far ahead of his time. He had a twinkle in his eye about Paris because he claimed the assist for Alan’s goal. It was actually a throw that was hurled in, hit Alan on the chest and rebounded so he could lash it in!’

Seven of Paisley’s 16-man squad for Paris were Scousers. ‘The local lads would drink in the same pubs as friends and family so we always felt under pressure, getting told we had to win,’ reveals Thompson, who hails from Kirkby.

The ‘81 run included an early win 5-0 on aggregate against Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen. ‘Alan Hansen was fighting with Alex McLeish and Willie Miller for a Scotland place and I’ve never seen him so pumped for a game,’ explains Thompson. ‘Big Al would rarely say a word in the dressing room but here he was stomping around, shouting “Let’s stuff this lot”. When he scored at Anfield, we couldn’t stop him celebrating!’ In the semi-final against Bayern, the Scousers took over. ‘I was injured so another local lad, Colin Irwin, came in,’ says Thompson. ‘He was so calm and unruffled, even facing Karl-Heinz Rummenigge didn’t faze him. Kenny Dalglish got injured so Howard Gayle, this kid from Toxteth, came on and ran them ragged. Howie could look after himself. He was being kicked all over the place and Bob took him off near the end to stop himself being sent off.’

The final in Paris was not a classic because of the pitch. ‘Bobbly, hadn’t been watered and the lines were rock hard,’ describes Thompson.

But Kennedy’s late winner gave him the chance to be in that select band of Liverpool captains who have lifted the European Cup — joining Emlyn Hughes and later followed by Graeme Souness, Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson.

‘This idea of lifting this cup for my club, the team I’d stood and watched from The Kop as a boy, became all consuming,’ he admits. ‘I started having doubts about the final but my older brother Owen would get into my ear and restore my belief. I’d ring him from the hotel and he’d tell me “It is going to happen”.

‘When I went to collect the cup, this UEFA dignitary started to lift it himself rather than let me pick it up. I beckoned to him and said, “Give me the f***ing cup, this is my moment!”. I think he was a bit taken aback by the swearing but it worked.

‘Afterwards, we had a celebration dinner with friends and family. A few of the usual suspects went to the Moulin Rouge with the cup to show the dancing girls. Me and Terry McDermott stayed in our hotel and had a pint!’

Though comparisons with ‘81 and next weekend’s final are obvious, Thompson also sees similarities with 2001 — when he was Gerard Houllier’s assistant and Liverpool won their own Treble; FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup.

‘I heard Klopp say there had been no time to celebrate the FA Cup and it was like that for us,’ he says.

‘Stevie Gerrard and Robbie Fowler asked on the way back from the Cup final if they could have a drink but Gerard was adamant we had to focus on the UEFA final and then the last league game at Charlton.

‘We beat Alaves and then Charlton. After full-time at The Valley, we went straight to the local Sainsbury’s and bought so much booze, the coach on the way home was groaning with the weight.

‘[Klopp’s] Liverpool need one last effort against Madrid. Win that and they might be the greatest team in the club’s history.

‘There is some competition, mind. I know my own side weren’t normal — we were special.’