The Scot’s arrival at Anfield raised eyebrows but following a stunning winner in the Merseyside derby he was well on his way to becoming a club legend
For Phil Thompson it is simply “that moment”, and a little over 15 years on he can recollect it with crystal clarity. The build-up, the pressure, the atmosphere, the seconds ticking away, the set-up, the strike, the joy that followed and how ultimately he was delighted to have been proven wrong.
It was towards the end of the 1999-00 season that Gérard Houllier, Liverpool’s then manager, asked his assistant what he thought about signing Gary McAllister, a highly-skilled, much-respected midfielder but who by that stage was 35-years-old and had spent the past four campaigns as part of a Coventry City side that was locked in the bottom half of the table. “I told Gerard that it may send the wrong message to the fans,” Thompson says. “We were meant to be building a team around our talented set of youngsters so it didn’t feel right to bring in someone of Gary’s age. He was a top-quality player, of good footballing stock, but he was at the end of his career. I didn’t see the logic in bringing him in”
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