The year of 1985 may seem like a long time ago to some. I certainly wasn’t alive back then. It was five years before my time. But to others, those days will only feel like yesterday.
But this day during that year, player-manager Kenny Dalglish made his first move as the man in the hot seat as the Scot looked to expand his legacy from the pitch, into the dressing room.
Liverpool had to sign a top-class midfielder following the departure of Graeme Souness to Rangers a year earlier. We did exactly that by paying Aston Villa £350,000 for Steve McMahon, in what was a hugely controversial move at the time following his shock exit from our rivals across the park Everton just two years before.
It was on this day that McMahon was unveiled by Dalglish and the club, in what turned out to be one of the best signings the club made at the time, making his debut just two days later during a 2-2 draw against Oxford United.
His first campaign at Anfield saw him heavily involved in our double-winning season, winning the league championship and FA Cup double, at the expense of his former side Everton. He was given the substitute’s role that day at Wembley as we ran out 3-1 winners in North London. The first of two all-Merseyside cup finals in the space of three years.
The next season made McMahon and evolved his reputation as one of our hardmen. Having brought in the likes of John Barnes, Peter Beardsley, John Aldridge and Ray Houghton into the side for the following season, Dalglish was not messing around.
But despite this, he opted to keep McMahon in the side due to his no-nonsense tackling and his technical ability, at the time, were second to none.
The Englishman was a frequent goalscorer for us, scoring four times during a 10-0 victory against Fulham and even missed a penalty during that game, which would have made him the first player in our history to score five in a single competitive match.
He went on to win the league three times with us and wore the captain’s armband during the 1989/90 campaign before our 30-year drought begun. McMahon also lifted the FA Cup twice and the Charity Shield four times.
After leaving Anfield to join Manchester City in 1991, McMahon ended his Liverpool career having scored 50 goals from 277 appearances in all competitions. A wonderful player.
