Steve Nicol was a very talented utility player who was able to play brilliantly in a variety of positions. He played mostly at either right or left back, but he was also able to play at centre back, in midfield and he even played as a striker on a few occasions too. Apart from being a great player he was also a great character off the field and was one of the most popular members of the squad during his fourteen years at Liverpool.
Nico started his career in his native Scotland with Ayr United in 1979. After two seasons and seventy appearances, Bob Paisley paid £300,000 to bring him to Anfield in October 1981. He apeared in only the occasional first team game after his debut in a nil-nil draw with Birmingham City and spent most of his first two years playing in the reserves. This was the way it was in the ‘old days’ when new players would be thrown into the reserves to learn ‘The Liverpool Way’ and to find out if they had what it takes to pull on the red shirt. It wasn’t until Joe Fagan took over manager in 1983 that Nicol was given a sustained run in the first team. By the end of the 1983/84 season he had won the first of four league championship medals.
He wasn’t picked for the League Cup final against Everton at Wembley in the first ever all Merseyside final in February 1984. Although this was a big blow to the young Scotsman, bigger glory was soon to follow as he was picked in the squad for the 1984 European Cup Final against Roma, in Rome. Steve had a fine game when he came on as a substitute. The game went to a penalty shoot-out and this was where Nicol had the first of many famous moments in his Liverpool career. Phil Neal discusses this moment on the DVD – ‘Liverpool FC Champions of Europe’, in the episode ‘There’s No Place Like Rome’.
“Joe Fagan said, “Phil you take the first, Stevie Nic second, Souey third, then Rushie”. Then for the ffth he pointed to Kenny Dalglish and of course Kenny had been subbed. So he’s looking around and by this time Hansen and Lawrenson are fifty yards away because they don’t want to be included.So he’s looking between Bruce Grobbelaar and Alan Kennedy and he’s gone for Alan as the last one. So when it’s ready for our first kick Stevie Nicol has grabbed the ball and gone. So Souey says “just let him, he obviously wants to go. You know it’s a big occasion for him in his mind, if you take him back you might disturb him in that way, let him go”.
As we all know, he blasted the ball over the crossbar. Fortunately we still went on to win the European cup after Roma missed two penalties, thanks in part to the Grobbelaar wobbly legs routine, so Nicol’s miss didn’t affect the outcome.
Over the next decade Nicol was practically an ever present in the side, making 466 appearances and he went on to win three more league titles and three FA Cups. He also scored 46 goals and many of them were very memorable including a hat-trick at Newcastle and an amazing long range header at Arsenal on the opening day of the 1987/88 season.
Possibly his best season for Liverpool came in 1988/89 when he was named as the 1989 ‘Footballer of the Year’ by football writers. He was immense in defence and could be relied on to pop up with goals too as he helped us to achieve an FA Cup Final victory and finish runners up in the league during what was an extremely emotional time for Merseyside after Hillsborough. After Kenny Dalglish resigned as manager, Nicol was kept in the side by Graeme Souness and he helped the team win the FA Cup again in 1992 against Sunderland. This was to be the last trophy he won at Liverpool and in January 1995 after fourteen great years at Anfield he decided to move on, taking the player manager position at Notts County.
His time as Notts County’s player manager went from a great high to a huge low within months. In March 1995 he helped them to win the Anglo-Italian Cup at Wembley against Ascoli. The Anglo-Italian Cup is no longer played, it took place from 1970 to 1996 and was contested between teams in the English second division and Italy’s Serie B. The tournament was scrapped in 1996 after increasing violence amongst the fans. At the end of his first season as player manager Notts County were relegated to the second division (now called division one). After a bad start to the next season Nicol was sacked in November 1995.
He moved onto Sheffield Wednesday and ironically he made his debut at Goodison Park against his former rivals Everton. His best game for Sheffield Wednesday came a year later at Anfield in December 1996. A man of the match performance from Nicol in that game helped Sheffield Wednesday to a shock 1-0 victory over Liverpool.
After short spells at West Bromwich Albion and Doncaster Rovers, Nicol moved over to America to take a player coach role with the A-League side Boston Bulldogs in 1999. Between 1999 and 2002 he switched back and forth between the Boston Bulldogs and the New England Revolution in the MLS. In 2002 he returned to the New England Revolution as head coach. He was named MLS Coach of the Year in his first season and he took them to the MLS Cup Final in 2002, 2005 and 2006, unfortunately they lost on all three occasions. Steve Nicol has been a tremendous success in the MLS and in the past he has been a big favourite to eventually take over as head coach for the USA national side.
Steve Nicol can definitely be considered amongst one of Liverpools best ever players and he will remain a big favourite amongst those who watched him in action. This was reflected with his ranking of 39th in the ‘100 Players Who Shook the Kop’.
To close this week I want to share some hilarious stories involving Steve Nicol during his time at Liverpool. I will be directly quoting an excerpt from Phil Thompson’s autobiography ‘Stand Up Pinocchio’ published by Sports Media in 2005.
‘He once went on a cruise to Norway. You get off the boat at various points to look at these beautiful little ports. Steve loved his crisps and lemonade and stored them in his cabin. He was with his wife and on one trip ashore he spotted this weighing machine. He climbed on and shouted in horror at his wife Eleanor that he was nearly a stone overweight. She was roaring with laguhter and pointing out that he was holding two large bags full of bottles of lemonade and all kinds of stuff.
The biggest football wind-up of all time involved Stevie Nicol. We went to Israel for an end-of-season tour. Every night we would go to a local bar. One evening Kenny Dalglish decided to stay in and Stevie asked where he was as we sat outside having a few beers. Alan Hansen said: “What do you mean? Don’t you know?” He said: “Know what?” and the lads said: “Come on, you do know. Kenny’s found out that he has got an incurable illness.” Stevie replied: “You’re taking the piss” and so Alan said: “Ask Graeme.”
As he turned towards Souey, Alan winked to Graeme and said: “Tell him. Kenny’s got leukaemia.” Graeme said: “Yes, all the lads know.” Stevie turned to me for confirmation and repeated: “What’s wrong with Kenny?” I just said: “He’s got leukaemia.” Nico said: “I need to see him,” and with that he picked himself up and left.
The lads immediately grabbed the phone on the bar and contacted Kenny, saying: “He’s on his way to your room. You’ve got to ham it up.” I decided to go back with Nico and caught him up halfway down the road. He was just shaking his head and saying: “I can’t believe it.” When we got back to the hotel, he said: “Phil , can you leave me. I want to speak to Kenny on my own.” I said: “Yeah, no problem. Look, he told the lads, but he really wanted this to be kept private.” Nico said: “When did it happen?” I said: “Remember the bang he got on his arm in the Tottenham game at the end of the season? The reaction started from there.” He was just looking at me blankly, saying: “No!”
When he finally got in the room Kenny was saying: “Sorry Nico, I thought you knew. I have been keeping it low key because I wanted to be with the lads on this trip.” Later Kenny would reveal how the conversation went. Nico said: “You have been a wonderful ambassador for the game and this club. You are one of my idols. I can’t believe what has happened.”
I was standing at the door listening to all of this. Suddenly Stevie added a rider to his tribute to Kenny. He said :”I thought something was wrong with you because you have been playing so badly.” Kenny’s face changed at this point and he said: ‘I think it’s best if you get off.” He said later: “I didn’t know whether to choke him or burst out laughing.”
I returned with Nico to meet up again with the rest of the lads. He poured out his conversation. It was now about two hours since we started this wind-up and I said to Big Al: “We will have to break the news to him. He’s really cut up.”
I got hold of Nico and said: “Listen, it’s just a wind-up.” He was having none of it and replied: “I don’t believe you.” I had to get all the other lads to hammer home that he’d just been done by the longest wind-up in the history of the club.
I know it was wrong to use a serious ilness like leukaemia as a joke, but it was just the first word that came out. It wasn’t meant to offend anybody. Anyway, people sometimes say that you have to be there and this was certainly one of those famous stories about Steve Nicol. Kenny never let him forget those final words: “I knew something was wrong because you have been playing so badly.”
Nico stories abound throughout our spell together. Another one was during my spell as reserve-team trainer. The first team were away over Christmas. Nico was out of the team and Kenny wanted him to have treatment so that he would be ready for the next game. I went in to meet him at Anfield at 9:30am and he was the onlyone in for treatment. I had the machines at the ready.
Who was to stagger in – and I mean stagger – but Stevie. He had been out at a family party and had turned up with one of his mates in tow. I summoned Nico to climb up on the treatment table, pulled his trousers round his ankles, which wasn’t a pleasant sight, and started to administer the ultrasound on his groin. His head went back on the backrest and he fell asleep, snoring loudly.
This left me with his mate who was as inebriated as Nico was. He sat on the other treatment bed, extremely pleased to be in this inner sanctum. He started asking about all things football. Suddenly he said: “Do you scout much? Do you watch many players and many games?”
I said: “We are always pro-active and looking for players who might fit the bill.” To this he said: “I’ve seen a player.” My ears pricked up. He added: “This boy can do everything. He’s a midfield player. He’s hard as nails. He can head a ball. He scores goals and he’s a great defender.” I’m thinking: “Sounds quite a star.” I said: “Who does he play for?” thinking that we could get this lad watched. In all seriousness, Nico’s mate said: “The Bow and Arrow Pub.” Having the ultrasound on Stevie’s nuts at the time, I nearly took his wedding tackle off. He woke with a start as I said: “Oh,great!” At that point, I couldn’t wait to get rid of them both so I could spray something to get shot of the fumes. What made it equally worse, was I forgot to ask which one of them was driving.’
‘Stand Up Pinocchio’ by Phil Thompson, with Ken Rogers. Sport Media, 2005.
Liverpool FC | Supporters Club | Vancouver, BC, Canada
