'He's the foundation the club was built on' - LFC legends on Ronnie Moran
To say Ronnie Moran is held in high esteem by those he worked alongside at Liverpool Football Club would be something of an understatement.
Following the sad news of Moran’s passing on Wednesday morning, we’ve compiled a list of quotes on a legendary figure - who gave 49 years of service to the Reds - from the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush and John Barnes from LFCTV’s 2014 documentary ‘Bugsy Moran: A tribute to LFC’s sergeant major’.
Kenny Dalglish
“The contribution and help he gave me was enormous and I’ll be eternally grateful for that - both as a player and a manager. I don’t think anybody that worked with him during his spell at Liverpool will have anything but total admiration and respect and gratitude for what he did for them.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that in the most successful spell in the club’s history, Ronnie Moran was of great importance to it. He was there at the outset with Bill Shankly, and the football club as it stands today is because of what Bill Shankly set in place and Ronnie was a big part of that.
“His contribution to the football club should never, ever be underestimated. Although it might be understated, and he might be understated, he made a massive contribution.”
Ian Rush
“In training, it wasn’t the nine good things you’d done, it was the one bad thing and he kept on going at you. At one stage you’d think he was personally having a go at you, but looking back now he did it to every newcomer. Everyone used to say ‘watch out for Ronnie Moran, if he gets at you you’re in trouble’, and I was scared of him then!”
“There could be 100,000 at Wembley and you could still hear his whistle! No matter what, you could hear that whistle, and everyone would think ‘is that for me or is it for you?!’ and that’s the power Ronnie had.
“It was a pleasure for me to be coached by him.”
John Barnes
“We won my first league championship and we thought it was going to be one hell of a party. It was, but when you came in off the field having just won the championship, all Ronnie said was ‘pre-season training on July 7’, or whenever it was.
“He didn’t get carried away, because he understands that to keep that hunger and desire for success, when you get it you have to forget about it and move on.”
Kevin Keegan
“He’s almost the foundation that it was built on, because he was there as a player before Shanks came, he was there with Shanks, he was there with Bob Paisley, he helped when Joe Fagan took over, he was there with Roy Evans. So, if you think about it, he is the one link to it all.”
Phil Thompson
“I think he’s probably one of the most important people that this football club’s ever had. He’s up there, in my opinion, with Shanks, with Kenny, with Bob Paisley, because all of what they did, you need somebody to keep that cog ticking, day after day. Ronnie Moran was that man.”
Sammy Lee
“Certainly one of the reasons I was able to play for Liverpool Football Club, to coach at Liverpool Football Club, along with many others, I would just like to say that a lot of that was down to Ronnie Moran. When you go into the Liverpool family as it was, with Joe [Fagan], Roy [Evans], Tom Saunders, for me, Ronnie was the patriarch of that.”
Phil Neal
“That was the drive that Bugsy had, to keep us all going through 60-plus games a year. Imagine the motivational skills just to keep you on line to win another trophy. And if you’d won one trophy, he wanted to win another one.”
John Aldridge
“Simplicity at its best - pass and move. That’s what teams do now, that’s what Liverpool do, that’s what Barcelona do. And he was one of the main instigators of that.”