Paul Walsh was a popular and talented striker for Liverpool in the mid eighties and one of my favourite players when I was a kid. His Liverpool career was often spoilt by injuries that always seemed to strike when he was hitting top form, most notably during the double season in 1985/86. Despite him being injury prone he was always extremely popular with Reds fans due to his positive attitude and his obvious joy whenever he was playing. His boyish good looks and long blonde hair made him popular with the female fans too.
Paul was born in Plumstead, London, in October 1962. He began his football career for Charlton Athletic in the Second Division making nine appearances in the 1979/80 season. He made his first team debut at just sixteen years old against Shrewsbury Town. Charlton were relegated at the end of Paul’s first season but were promoted back up the following year. Paul played well in his third season, scoring thirteen goals and helping Charlton to finish in mid table.
In 1982 he signed for First Division new boys Luton Town for £400,000. In his first season for The Hatters, they barely survived relegation by winning away at Man City on the final day of the season. The finish to the game remains one of the most famous and parodied moments in English football when Luton manager David Pleat ran onto the pitch waving his arms and dancing with joy. During the 1982/83 season Paul played for the England Under 21 side, scoring four goals in four games. Walsh was absolutely sensational in the following season. His pace, goals and an ability to create something out of nothing led to him being awarded the ‘PFA Young Player of the Year’ for 1983/1984.
His performances that season also earned him the first of five full England caps. Bobby Robson picked him in his squad for a three match tour in Australia in June 1984. Paul made his debut in a 0 - 0 draw in Sydney and in the following game, played in Brisbane, he scored his first and only England goal in a 1 - 0 victory.
At the end of his second season at Luton Town, the ‘young player of the year’ had attracted the advances of two big teams, Liverpool and Man Utd. With Liverpool coming off an amazing treble, the lure of playing for the Reds proved too much to resist. In May 1984, Liverpool manager Joe Fagan pulled off a great coup by signing Paul Walsh for £700,000.
Ian Rush was injured for the first ten games of the 1984/85 season so Paul was thrown straight into the side alongside Kenny Dalglish. In his third game, his Anfield debut, Paul took just fourteen seconds to win the hearts of all Liverpool supporters with his first goal for the Reds in a 3 – 0 win over West Ham Utd. Ironically in his tenth game, Paul was injured just as Rushie was returning to the side. However his performances had already won over everybody at Anfield and he would remain an important part of the first team squad for the remainder of the season. He would often play as a third striker just behind Dalglish and Rush and he finished the season with thirteen goals.
Paul scored some important goals during the latter stages of the European Cup competition as Liverpool were seeking to retain the trophy. He had an incredible game in the second leg of the quarter final against Austria Vienna. He scored two quality goals and almost bagged hat-trick when he had a penalty saved. Paul was rewarded for a terrific first season with Liverpool with a place in the starting lineup for the 1985 European Cup Final against Juventus at the Heysel Stadium. Unfortunately we all know what happened next and what should have been the greatest night of his life turned into complete disaster with the loss of 39 people.
Kenny Dalglish was installed as player manager after the Heysel disaster. His first season in charge, 1985/86, was a momentus success as Liverpool won their first League and F.A. Cup double. This season also contained Paul Walsh’s best run in the Liverpool side when he scored an amazing eighteen goals in twenty five games. He was absolutely sensational during this run, not only did he score plenty of goals he also created loads too. During this run Liverpool went on a fourteen game unbeaten streak with Paul scoring eleven goals in eleven games. What makes these statistics even more impressive is that Paul was often a victim of Kenny Dalglish’s rotation system as he chopped and changed the side on a regular basis.
In one of those cruel moments of fate, Paul severely damaged his ankle ligaments against Man Utd in early February 1986 and he missed the majority of the rest of the season, playing in only three more games. He had played enough games to be awarded his first league championship medal but missed out on the classic F.A. Cup Final against Everton. The injury to Paul Walsh led indirectly to Kenny Dalglish putting himself back in the side after he had not played too often. Kenny picking himself for the remainder of the season has often been described as a major reason why Liverpool ended up winning the league title. With only a handfull of games remaining, Everton were leading the First Division by miles. When Everton won 2 – 0 at Anfield the title race seemed all but over. Then Liverpool went on an amazing run of eleven wins and one draw in the last twlve games. With King Kenny back in the side Liverpool started to gain momentum as Everton started to collapse. When Everton lost away to lowly Oxford Utd destiny was in Liverpool’s own hands as they just needed to beat Chelsea away in the final game to take the title. In fairytale fashion Kenny Dalglish was to score the goal that clinched Liverpool’s sixteenth league title.
During pre-season in 1986/87 Paul damaged his ankle again and missed the first twelve games of the season. When he returned from injury he was given an extended run in the side as Dalglish began to finally wind down his playing career. I’ll never forget the superb hat-trick Paul scored against Norwich City just a week after he returned to the side. By Liverpool’s standards this was a poor season that finished with the Reds winning no silverware. We did reach the League Cup Final in 1987 but lost 2 – 1 to Arsenal in the the first game we ever lost when Ian Rush scored. Paul played in the final but was dropped afterwards when John Aldridge was signed. This proved to be the beginning of the end for Paul’s Liverpool career.
In the summer of 1987, Ian Rush moved to Juventus and Kenny Dalglish spent big money bringing in John Barnes and Peter Beardsley. Aldridge and Beardsley formed an unstoppable partnership as Liverpool went unbeaten in the opening 29 games of the 1987/88 season, playing sensational football. Paul was confined to the bench for the majority of the season and was sold to Tottenham Hotspur in February 1988 for £500,000. He later revealed that he turned down a place as an attacking midfielder, preferring to stay as a striker, this was a decision he regretted. Had he stayed in this new position I think he would have been sensational. Paul returned to Anfield for the first time on the day that Liverpool clinched the league title. He was given an emotional standing ovation from the crowd which sang; “There’s only one Paul Walsh”.
He spent four years at Spurs, at first forming a decent partnership with Paul Stewart in his first season. In his second year he lost his place to Gary Lineker and spent most of the season on the bench. After missing out in 1986 he finally added an F.A. Cup winners medal to his collection as Spurs defeated Nottingham Forest in the 1991 final.
In 1992 he moved to Portsmouth for £400,000, where he became a cult hero. His scoring exploits on the South Coast took Pompey to third place in the newly named First Division and they missed out on promotion to the Premiership on goal difference in 1992/93. Paul was so popular with Portsmouth fans that he was voted the fans player of the year despite Guy Whittingham breaking the clubs goal scoring record. His finest game for Portsmouth came in a League Cup game away at Man Utd in January 1994. Portsmouth were massive underdogs and Paul scored both goals in a thrilling 2 – 2 draw.
In March 1994 he was sold to Man City for £750,000. Portsmouth fans were extremely upset but at the time this was too much money to turn down for a player nearing the end of his career. He scored six times in the last ten games of the season to help Man City escape the relegation zone and finish in sixteenth place. During the 1994/95 season Paul was a big hit with the City fans thanks to his all action displays and some memorable goals. Unfortunately for Man City they ended the season in seventeenth place and new manager Alan Ball swapped Paul for Portsmouth striker Gerry Creaney in the summer of 1995. He was made the club captain for his second spell at Portsmouth and he managed twenty one appearences before a serious knee injury forced him to retire in 1996.
Since retiring Paul has carved out a decent career for himself in the media. He regularly works as a pundit and can be heard most weeks around the world providing colour commentary on English Premier League matches. He also plays often for the Liverpool Past Masters team who regularly dominate in indoor tournaments.
It was at one of these veterans indoor tournaments that I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Walsh. It was in Vancouver, Canada in March 2006 at an event called ‘The Legends of Soccer’. It was an indoor competition made up of four teams of former professionals representing, England, Scotland and Canadian cities Vancouver and Calgary. Two other ex Liverpool legends were playing that night as part of the Scotland side. They were Gary Gillespie and John Wark, both of whom I also got to meet afterwards. The ex players were all nice guys and as the other ‘fans’ lining up for autographs were all kids, I think they enjoyed having some banter with someone who remembered them from their playing days. I was so pleased to have been given the chance to shake the hands of Walsh, Wark and Gillespie and thank them for giving me many great memories. Paul Walsh was always one of my dad’s favourite players and I was really happy to have been able to get Paul to write a personal note to to him.
Despite only playing at Anfield for three seasons, most of which was spent injured or on the bench, Paul Walsh remains one of Liverpools most popular ex players. This was displayed when he was voted number 71 in the ‘100 Players Who Shook the Kop’.
Video clip of Paul Walsh
71 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBowDPUdcKE
Liverpool FC | Supporters Club | Vancouver, BC, Canada
