Last month - 16 March - marked 40 years since one of the Club’s great hoodoos was ended at Anfield.
Era after era of Spurs teams were reminded that we hadn’t won at Liverpool’s famous home since March, 1912.
That extended to our ‘push and run’ team that lifted the title in 1951, Bill Nicholson’s double-winning greats of the early 1960s, Bill’s trophy-laden team of the early 1970s and onto Keith Burkinshaw's double FA Cup and UEFA Cup winners of the early 1980s.
The saying was that we hadn’t won at Anfield since the Titanic had sunk - but that all ended under Peter Shreeves in 1985, incredibly on the same date that we’d last won all those years ago, 16 March.
It was the day we finally toppled the all-conquering Reds - champions of Division One (as it was then, before the Premier League era) six times in the 1980s (1980, '82, '83, '84, '86 and '88), European Cup winners twice (1981, ’84) - at Anfield.
As we prepare to make the trip to Merseyside again on Sunday (4.30pm UK), we turn the clock back to 2018 and a conversation with three legends who all played that day - Mark Falco, Micky Hazard and Paul Miller.
What was it like to play against Liverpool at Anfield in the 1980s?
Paul: “It was quite intimidating, hostile.”
Mark: “And that started from when we got off the coach!”
Micky: “It’s strange though, they were the best team in Europe at that time, but we also had a great team and every time we went there, I thought we were going to win. I loved playing at Anfield.”
Mark: “We always gave them a good game.”
Paul: “We were going for the title that season and beat them home and away in the league. We also knocked them out of the League Cup and I think they knocked us out of the FA Cup. To beat Liverpool home and away was some achievement in those days. Anyway, we watched the Anfield ’85 game back on TV and we must have caught them offside 39 times. We kept counting. As a team, we played fantastic on the day. We got it all right. To beat Liverpool in those days you had to get everything right.”
It’s always said that the Anfield crowd - even if quite intimidating in those days - were appreciative of good football from their opponents. Did you find that?
Micky: “I always felt that while Liverpool fans always tried to make it intimidating for you, they applauded good football and at the end of the game, if you did well, they applauded you.”
Paul: “I remember we once went up there and they sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to my mum on the Kop. I think I’d mentioned her birthday to Clem (Ray Clemence) and it must have happened through him. They announced it on the tannoy at Anfield!”
Micky: “They are knowledgeable fans. They know their football and we were such a good footballing side. People appreciated us wherever we played and enjoyed watching us play.”
Mark: “It was tough there though, the crowd did well for them at Anfield.”
As players, were you aware of the 73-year ‘hoodoo’?
All: “Oh yes!”
Mark: “Yes, of course, every time we played there it was rammed down our throats, every year!”
Paul: “To be fair, Liverpool gave us a case of champagne in the dressing room afterwards, so they did it the right way.”
Liverpool were spearheaded by one of the great strike partnerships - Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush. Defensively, how did you try to deal with them?
Mark: “You obviously catch them offside 39 times!”
Paul: “I have to be honest, whenever people speak about the best partnerships we played against, they would be right up there, probably number one. Kenny made half of Rushy’s goals, he was one the finest players to ever play the game and Rush was deadly in front of goal. We learnt to play against them over the years and got better against them. Our midfield closed their midfield down and made sure they didn’t have the space to look up and make the passes.”
Micky: “Yes, we didn’t have too much to worry about – just Souness, Whelan, Molby, Nicol..!”
Mark: “You just had to be brave, turn up at Anfield and have the attitude ‘we’re here to play’.”
Micky: “We beat them quite a lot. We beat them in the League Cup (1-0 in the third round) that season…”
Paul: “We played Liverpool in the League Cup Final in 1982 and should have won that. We were 1-0 up, missed chances, including a great chance in the last minute. We ended up losing in extra time. They knew how to win.”
What has to be said is that we had a great team as well at that time - two-times FA Cup winners, UEFA Cup, but the title eluded us...
Mark: “It’s the biggest regret that we didn’t win the league when really we should have. You can always say ‘could, should, would’, but we really should have that season.”
Micky: “We played great football and Liverpool cost us two titles.”
Paul: “The weather also cost us in ’85 and we ended up with too many injuries.”
Mark: “We had three games a week for most of the second half of the season. We’d reached the fourth round of the League Cup (five games) and the FA Cup (three games), were in the chase for the league and still in Europe (we played Real Madrid home and away in March 1985 as well) and you have to remember there were no big squads and rotation in those days. The pitches were heavy as well. It was tough.”
Micky: “We were well capable of turning them over. My only regret in football is not winning the title that season when we were more than good enough.”