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AN INTERVIEW WITH JAN MOLBY
Jan Molby is a legend. A former professional footballer and manager.
The 'Midfield Maestro' notably spent twelve years playing for Liverpool.
Here he talks to Wirral Life in an exclusive interview.
Icons such as Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen have described
Jan Molby as ‘one of the best-ever players to have worn the
world famous red shirt of LFC’. Ahead of the first Wirral Life
Awards on 1st November 2018 which Jan is presenting, we
talked to 'the man' himself about his illustrious career…
When you came to Liverpool at 21, did you feel at home
straight away?
When I joined Liverpool in 1984, I found it to be much more like
home than Amsterdam. I enjoyed my time in Amsterdam, but it
was probably the people that made it feel much more like home
and 34 years on I’m still living in the area.
Did you enjoy your time at Ajax under Johan Cruyff?
Of course, I did! I mean I was only young, it was my first season
and he was coming to the end of his career, but he still had plenty
of advice for me and to play alongside someone like him for
12 months was sensational. He was, even at that age a fantastic
footballer.
Whilst at Ajax, both Ronald Koeman and yourself were
regularly tasked with driving the ball towards the corner flag
from a ‘one touch’ in the centre circle. Which one of you was
the best?
[Laughs] I think it’s only fair to say I was better!
When you arrived at LFC, did you feel the pressure of following
Graeme Souness?
Not really. I wasn’t aware of the importance of Souness in the
Liverpool team. I mean today you know everything about every
player in every club, but in those days we didn’t. But when I came
people let me know that I had big shoes to fill and you know, I
never did come to terms with the Souness role as Kenny Dalglish
then became player/manager and he gave me a different role
which I’m really grateful for.
Famously, you had one of the hardest shots ever seen. A lot of
your long passes were driven with supreme accuracy. Who do
you think would match up in today’s game?
Well in terms of shooting ability or passing ability, it’s not always
to do with power it’s often to do with technique. Maybe I was
lucky, I had a relatively good technique. Shooting today? I’m
not sure who would match up, but in terms of passing certainly
I think Xabi Alonso had a similar ability to strike the ball. He
makes it look effortless – not that I’m saying I was that good as
Xabi! ...but that’s probably as good as I can do for a comparison.
The ‘un-televised’ goal against Man Utd in the League Cup,
viewed by the footage from a security camera looked like a
‘Worldy’ (World class). What do you remember of it?
That goal in 1985… there were no cameras and it was only
filmed from the main stand. It wasn’t even a good quality video. I
remember everything about that goal. That was kind of the night
when I announced myself. I had been playing for Liverpool for
16 months and I think that was kind of the breakthrough. I think
people had seen me play and had thought ‘he’s ok’ but that was
a big night for me. We beat them 2-1. I scored the equaliser and
then within 90 seconds I scored the winner from a penalty, so
I remember every second of that – even the celebratory pints
afterwards!
There were strong rumours of a transfer to Barcelona, but it
didn’t happen, are there any regrets?
This transfer followed that goal in 1990. Johan Cruyff had become
the manager of Barcelona and Ronald Koeman became injured
and was going to be out of action for a year. Cruyff wanted a
replacement and he decided it was going to be me. I was amazed
that he remembered who I was, even though we had played that
12 months together, but he was in a totally different league than
me! So, the attraction wasn’t Barcelona, it was playing under
Cruyff… but I don’t regret it, I think things turned out ok. I mean
instead of playing for Liverpool for six years I was there for 12.
Do you think you could have convinced Jurgen Klopp that you
didn’t need to play at 100 mph?
No, I don’t! I think I can play football at 100 mph, but Klopp does
things differently and I look at the players he likes and I’m not
sure he would have shown a great deal of interest in the qualities
that I had!
During pre-season training in the summer of 1987, you
suffered a foot injury, which turned out to be a turning point
in your career. How did it feel that you were no longer a first
choice under Dalglish following the injury?
Yeah, I broke a metatarsal during pre-season and it took a long
time to heal because I rebroke it and I was out for almost all of
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