87-88 Uncut: Dalglish exclusive
To mark the anniversary of Liverpool's historic 5-0 hammering of Nottingham Forest, a new 84-page special entitled 'Liverpool – 87/88 Uncut' has been published by the makers of The Kop Magazine.
It features every game, every matchday programme cover, rare and previously unpublished photos, John Aldridge's inside guide to his teammates, articles by Brian Reade, Ken Rogers and Chris McLoughlin, and the memories of Peter Hooton.
There is also an exclusive interview with the manager of that fantastic team, Kenny Dalglish, an extract from which has been made available to Liverpoolfc.com...
Kenny Dalglish is the last person you should ask if the team he steered to a magnificent 1987/88 Championship success deserved the tag: 'Better than the Brazilians'.
He fills with pride at the very thought, but his first instinct is to consider the wider picture and the Liverpool the world of football grew to admire and seek to emulate between 1959 and 1988, inspired by icons like the great Bill Shankly, the modest but supremely successful Bob Paisley and the hugely respected Joe Fagan.
"A question like that is for the people who have watched and enjoyed all the great Liverpool teams," he says. "They can decide. I have not seen every Liverpool team. I played in some great ones myself.
"I have never been involved with any Liverpool team as a player or a manager that did not have a hunger and a desire to win trophies."
Having led Liverpool to an unprecedented league and FA Cup double in 1985/86, his first season as player manager at Anfield, 1986/87 surprisingly failed to deliver any silverware.
"The whole crux was that we were not good enough," he admits, before explaining how the Anfield board backed him to rebuild his team.
"Ian Rush had gone to Juventus for £3.2m in June '86 and Peter Robinson told me that we had some money to spend. Peter asked who we would like to bring in and I gave him five names. We ended up getting four of them.
"People like Peter Robinson were fantastic at doing their job when it came to transfers. If we were half decent at our bit, we gave ourselves a chance.
"We had a great mix of players. It was unusual for Liverpool to have two or three new players coming straight into the first team from the start of the season.
"Normally people went into the reserves and had to work their way in. For those new lads to settle so quickly was a great credit to them."
Purchase 'Liverpool - 87/88 Uncut' for £3.99 by calling 0845 143 0001 or clicking here>>