Tyldesley: Souness secret I had to keep
As we continue to mark 30 years since Joe Fagan led Liverpool to the treble in his first season at the helm, we speak to commentator Clive Tyldesley, who reveals the big secret he had to hide from fellow journalists.
Tyldesley will be ITV's main commentator at the World Cup in Brazil, but from 1979 to 1989, he was the voice that brought Liverpool and Everton to the homes of Merseyside as the chief anchorman for Radio City.
With no Liverpool website, Twitter or Facebook in those days - and no Sky TV - for the best coverage of the Reds' away games, supporters had to tune in their radio to the 194 frequency for Radio City.
There they would hear the dulcet tones of Tyldesley, who would bring to life the latest Ian Rush hat-trick or Kenny Dalglish masterclass.
On a train journey home with the squad from the first all-Merseyside cup final in 1984, Tyldesley picked up what top hacks would describe today as the ultimate scoop.
Tyldesley told Liverpoolfc.com: "I remember coming back from the first all-Merseyside cup final on the train from Wembley with the Liverpool team.
"My wife at the time knew quite a few of the players' wives and as we staggered to the buffet car, as you did in those days after a few drinks, she said to me 'it's a shame about Graeme Souness isn't it?' I said 'Why, what?'
"She said, 'he is going to Italy'. So I said, 'I don't think he is,' and she said 'yes, I've just been talking to Graeme's wife on the train and they are going to look at houses in Italy because he is leaving at the end of the season!'
"I had to go in and see the Liverpool chief executive, Peter Robinson, on the Monday and I said, 'look, I know I'm not supposed to know this and his jaw dropped for the only time in the years I had known him when I told him I knew about Souness.
"He said, 'If you keep that quiet, I'll make sure you will be the first to have that story' - and he did!
"It was actually a couple of months later when I got the phone call and Peter told me I could now use the information I had about Graeme. I asked which club it was and he told me it was Sampdoria. Then the phone went dead. Peter never used to say goodbye to you as the phone would just go down."
Tyldesley now recalls just what it was like to cover Liverpool as they won the treble under Fagan:
Let's take you back 30 years then to the 1983-84 season. That must have been an incredible time for a young commentator covering Liverpool and indeed Everton for Radio City?
People often ask what was the greatest Liverpool team, and in many ways it probably wouldn't be the season that many outsiders would remember. For me it was the season when Souness, Ian Rush, Alan Hansen and Kenny Dalglish all played in the same team together in 1983-84. I think if you were naming half a dozen greats of the modern era, those four names would almost certainly be in there. That was the season they were probably at their peak together and I remember some wonderful moments. It was difficult to follow Bob Paisley and it's almost easier to forget what a great manager he was. It was more of Paisley's achievements and how he developed and changed the culture of the club after succeeding Bill Shankly. Although it seems now to have been a quite seamless succession from the master to his assistant from a similar generation, Joe Fagan was highly thought of in the dressing room. In many ways Joe was no more a natural to management than Bob had been in the first place, so a lot was down to the characters in the dressing room that they made the succession as straight forward as it became. I remember being at Brighton for Radio City when they went out of the FA Cup and what an accident that was because they scored two goals in quick succession on a muddy pitch. I think if Liverpool had won that afternoon they might have won the lot, never mind the treble!
Back in 1983-84 there was no official LFC website, Soccer Saturday, twitter, facebook or mobile phones, so Liverpool fans who couldn't get a ticket for an away game relied on you to provide the commentary. Did you realise just how much we used to rely on you years ago?
I remember commentating on the European Cup semi-final in Bucharest and somebody once said to me he and his family had put the radio in the middle of the kitchen table with a crowd of people listening to my commentary. I guess it was meant as a compliment and I'm sure my description didn't quite enable him and his family to do that! Back in the day that's kind of what we did as you hung on to every single word the commentator was saying because it was your only access for information on how the team was doing. I went to all of the European away games to provide commentary in Odense, Bilbao, Benfica and Bucharest.
There was some fascinating battles that took place that season involving Souness who was a true warrior wasn't he?
Souness was just an inspirational player. I remember going to Bucharest after the first leg when infamously - and mysteriously - a Dinamo Bucharest player had left Anfield with a broken jaw. The finger has always been pointed at Graeme and he never denied it, but no-one saw him do it! I remember the Liverpool players warming up before the kick-off in Romania and, as tended to happen in eastern Europe back in those days, the ground was full two hours before kick-off. Every time the ball was passed to Graeme there was this huge chorus of whistles towards him. After about two minutes of non-stop booing, I remember Sammy Lee rolled the ball to him and this huge sound of booing came again, but he stepped over the ball and didn't kick it! Obviously the goals from Ian Rush were massive that season and ultimately goals make the difference. Kenny was sidelined for a spell after he broke his cheekbone after a challenge from Kevin Moran of Manchester United. I know it didn't work out for Graeme when he returned to Liverpool as a manager, but what I would say is I have never seen a footballer who can influence every one of the 21 players on a football field like he did. Craig Johnston said it was like having your big brother on the pitch alongside you because everything that went wrong Graeme would sort it out. I'm not saying he is the greatest player to ever play for Liverpool, I would probably say Steven Gerrard might be, but I think he was the most influential footballer I have ever seen at that level of the club game in world football. He was pretty close to his peak that year.
It was an incredible time to be covering football on Merseyside that year I would imagine...
It was fantastic. It was also the rise of Everton and for them to reach the Milk Cup final was a warning to Liverpool of what was to come. Howard Kendall very nearly lost his job that season incredibly but they gave as good on that wonderful afternoon of the first all-Merseyside cup final at Wembley. Merseyside was genuinely united. The fans sang 'Merseyside, Merseyside!' together side by side at Wembley and it was an extraordinary event, it really was. It was different to 1986 because the double was at stake for Liverpool then. It wasn't the greatest game at Wembley but it was a fantastic occasion.
The treble was sealed on that great night in Rome and you were there with Radio City commentating on Souness lifting a fourth European Cup for Liverpool...
Again it wasn't the greatest game in the world but it was one of the greatest victories I have ever seen. The atmosphere was hostile and I'm sure Liverpool supporters who were there will recall how bad it was after the game. Probably my favourite Liverpool story of all time was before kick-off. Liverpool were called out first to come into the tunnel. At the back of the Liverpool line were David Hodgson and Michael Robinson who were both on the bench and they just happened to look at the Roma dressing room because the door was wide open. Hodgy decided they looked frightened and he and Michael started to sing 'I Don't Know What It Is But I Love It!' by Chris Rea and the whole Liverpool team joined in. Afterwards the Roma president said they knew they were beaten then because Liverpool weren't frightened.
Do you feel Joe Fagan ever gets the credit he deserves?
He will only ever get the credit if you speak to any of the players. In the good cop, bad cop relationship which is so important in a football dressing room, Joe was the bad cop and he was the guy they were frightened of. Joe was a genial man but when he called out any individual, I tell you they remembered it and they didn't do it again. When he took over as manager he took over with as much respect as any manager could possibly have within a dressing room. It's just so tragic in many ways that what happened at Heysel was too much for him to take. He lived half a mile from Anfield and with all the trappings of greatness that came from being the manager of the European champions, he lived within walking distance of the stadium. That was the kind of guy he was. He was as down to earth as anybody you could hope to meet. But I repeat, when anyone got a ticking off from Joe they remembered it and they didn't do it again.