Legendary Scottish midfielder Gary McAllister was described by former Liverpool manager Gerrard Houllier as; “my most inspirational signing”. Nobody can argue with this statement and none of us will ever forget Gary’s incredible contributions to the treble winning season of 2000/01.
Gary was born in Motherwell, Scotland on Christmas Day 1964. He started his football career for his hometown club Motherwell at just sixteen years old in 1981. He played for Motherwell for four seasons making seventy appearances. In 1985 he had an impressive game in the semi final of the Scottish Cup against Celtic and was snapped up by English side Leicester City for £250,000. This fee also included the purchase of another Motherwell player, Ally Mauchlen.
Gary spent five seasons with Leicester and was consistently one of their best players. His performances earned him a call up to the Scotland squad for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. After the World Cup had ended Gary moved on to Leeds Utd who had just been promoted to the First Division under manager Howard Wilkinson. It was at Leeds Utd that Gary really began to make a serious name for himself as a top quality player. In Gary’s second season at Elland Road, 1991/92, he was part of an incredible midfield alongside Gordon Strachan, Gary Speed and David Batty. Gary’s influence from dead ball situations was to prove deadly for opponents as Leeds were to finish the season as the last First Division champions, before the name was changed to The Premiership.
Unfortunately for Leeds Utd they followed up their title victory by finishing a dreadful seventeenth in the league in 1992/93. In 1995 Gary was rewarded with the club captaincy when Gordon Strachan moved to Coventry City to become player coach. Gary’s first season as captain proved to be his last one for Leeds Utd and in 1996 he was to achieve his boyhood dream of captaining a team at Wembley in the League Cup Final against Aston Villa. Unfortunately for Gary he wasn’t to lift the trophy as Villa won the game comfortably 3 – 0.
More disappointment was to follow in the summer of 1996 during the European Championships in England. Scotland had been drawn in the same group as England and the game against each other was the most anticipated for both sets of supporters. Gary was the captain of the Scotland side and was a proud man as he led his country into battle against the auld enemy at Wembley. Unfortunately the game was to be a complete disaster for Scotland and for Gary personally. England were leading 1 – 0 after a goal from Alan Shearer in the first half. Scotland was awarded a second half penalty. Up stepped Gary McAllister to take it looking as cool as a cucumber and with his great reputation from dead ball situations there seemed no way he would miss. Unfortunately he hit the ball straight down the middle of the goal and England keeper David Seaman was able to save with his legs. Gary claims now that he was put off by the ball moving slightly in the wind and subsequent replays have proven this. Unfortunately for Scotland, England got a second wind after this penalty save and minutes later Paul Gascoigne was to score one of the most famous England goals of all time. Sadly for Gary the Scotland fans never really forgave him for missing that penalty and despite remaining as captain until 1998 he was often disgracefully booed by his own so-called supporters.
After Euro 96 ended Gary joined his former colleague Strachan at Coventry City for three million pounds. He spent four seasons at Highfield Road and became a huge fan favourite thanks to his long range goals and his great efforts in helping the Sky Blues maintain their top flight status.
In the summer of 2000 Gary was allowed to leave Coventry City free of charge and it was a major shock when Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier decided to bring him to Anfield. By this stage Gary was almost thirty six years old and was thought to be many years past his best. He was to prove people wrong, including me.
Gary’s Liverpool career started badly when he was sent off in his debut at Arsenal. This was an ill tempered game in which Patrick Viera for Arsenal and Didi Haman for Liverpool were also sent off. After that poor beginning Gary went on to prove all his doubters wrong by establishing himself as a regular in the midfield alongside Haman. Despite his age he remained super fit and went on to make twenty one starts during that fantastic season. His fitness was certainly proved as the season was approaching a breathtaking climax with Liverpool going for three cups and a top three finish in the Premiership. He came on as a substitute in the League Cup final victory over Birmingham City and was to score in the penalty shoot out.
Possibly the defining moment in Gary’s Liverpool career came in the 3 – 2 victory over Everton in April 2001. It was an entertaining game and it looked to be heading for a 2 – 2 draw when we got a free kick in the dying seconds. Surely this was to be our last chance to snatch the victory. Everyone I was watching with was expecting Gary to float the ball in to the box because it was so far away from the goal. However I saw the look in his eye as he put the ball down and said; “he’s gonna hit this”. My prediction was correct as it sailed straight into the bottom corner of the Everton goal. The Liverpool fans, the bench and the players went absolutely beserk. This was an extremely crucial win as we needed every point we could get on our chase for that crucial third Champions League place. This victory, and that goal, gave us that extra bit of confidence we needed for the exciting climax to the treble season. In my opinion this was the defining moment that led to us winning the treble.
After the derby victory Gary went on to score the winning goal in Liverpools next four games and all of them were from dead ball situations. Just a few days after the Everton game we played Barcelona at Anfield in the semi final second leg of the UEFA Cup. We had drawn 0 – 0 in the first leg and the match at Anfield proved to be a tense affair. Liverpool defended superbly against the likes of Kluivert and Rivaldo. The game was settled with a penalty at the Anfield Road end after Kluivert had handballed. Gary was the coolest man on Merseyside as he expertly slotted home the penalty to send the Reds into yet another European Final. In interesting fact about this match was that the Barcelona goalkeeper that night was a young Pepe Reina.
Gary followed this up with another penalty against Tottenham Hotspur and free kicks against Coventry City and Bradford City. His reaction to the goal against Coventry City, which basically caused them to be relegated, showed how classy Gary is as a man and player. Rather than celebrating with his team-mates he walked away calmly with a sad look on his face rather than rub it in the faces of his former supporters.
Gary was a substitute in the F.A. Cup Final victory over Arsenal and it was his floating free kick that led to the equaliser from Michael Owen. After coming on as a substitute in the previous two finals, Gary was named in the starting line-up for the 2001 UEFA Cup Final against Deportivo Alaves in Dortmund. Gary turned back the clock with a breathtaking man of the match performance as he led Liverpool to victory in one of the most exciting finals of all time. He had a hand in four of Liverpool’s goals that night in a 5 – 4 victory. He took the free kick for the first goal by Marcus Babbel and he played the through balls for goals by Steven Gerrard and Robbie Fowler. In extra time Gary then put the icing on the cake of a truly historic performance by taking the free kick that led to the own goal that won Liverpool the trophy.
Gary played one more season for the Reds but he was more of a squad player as Steven Gerrard began to become one of the best players in Europe in the centre of midfield. Despite not starting as many games in his second season Gary still managed some memorable moments including a penalty goal in the 2001 Charity Shield victory over Man Utd. He was still a great player even at the age of thirty seven as he helped Liverpool to a second place finish in the Premiership. At the end of the 2001/02 season Gary departed Anfield after the 5 – 0 victory over Ipswich and he was given a standing ovation by everybody at Anfield.
In the summer of 2002 Gary moved back to Coventry City as player manager. He proved himself to be a very capable manager but unfortunately his management career was cut short by tragedy. After just one season Gary resigned in 2003 to look after his wife Denise who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Sadly she passed away in 2006.
After taking a number of years away from the game, Gary worked regularly as a television pundit for Sky and Setanta, often in the studio for most Liverpool games. In 2006 he was rumoured to have been offered a coaching position at Liverpool but declined as it was still too soon after his wife’s passing. In May 2010 he joined up with his former playing colleague Gordon Strachan at Middlesborough where he was the first team coach. He didn't stay long as in September 2010 he became Gerard Houllier's assistant at Aston Villa.
It wasn’t just his performances on the pitch that make Gary such an Anfield legend, it is also the positive influence he had on the younger players at the time. Steven Gerrard has talked about what a positive influence Gary was on himself and describes him as a “class act” in his autobiography. Despite only playing for Liverpool for two seasons Gary did more for the club than many others who played for the club for far longer. His efforts during the climax to the 2000/01 season mean that Gary McAllister deserves his place alongside any of the Anfield Legends. These efforts have not been forgotten by the Liverpool supporters as proven by his placing of number 32 in the series ‘100 Players Who Shook the Kop.’
Liverpool FC | Supporters Club | Vancouver, BC, Canada
