FeatureMy Liverpool Story... with Gary McAllister

Signed by Gerard Houllier on a free transfer in the summer of 2000, the hugely experienced midfielder went on to play 87 games and score nine times for the club.

A fan favourite, the Scot was an especially decisive influence during a debut campaign in which the Reds lifted the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup while also securing Champions League qualification.

He later returned to Anfield for a short spell as a coach under Brendan Rodgers and remains strongly connected to LFC in an ambassadorial role.

Here, McAllister tells his story...

I was actually on the golf course when the first call about Liverpool’s interest came, and it was from my agent.

Obviously you don’t have your phone on the golf course, you just check it every four or five holes to see if there are any messages. I got a message saying, ‘You need to ring me!’ There had been little bits in the newspapers a couple of times. When he said it was Liverpool, I said, ‘Oh, you’re winding me up here!’ He said, ‘No, no, I think Gerard is getting pretty serious.’ My immediate thoughts were: get it done, I’m going there. Don’t be losing the deal financially – whatever they offer, take it and we’ll go.

I’d had a good season at Coventry, sort of inspired by playing alongside Robbie Keane, who had come in from Wolves, he was very young. He and I hit it off really quickly, he had a really good tally of goals and I managed to get to 12 or 13 but Robbie put me in for five or six of them. That sort of rejuvenated me. I was feeling good, feeling fit; I was 35 but I had no doubts that I could still compete in the Premier League, so I had no fears there.

As soon as Liverpool was mentioned, in my head I thought it represented a better chance of winning something, even though at the time they hadn’t won anything for a while. Playing for Liverpool, I thought there was a great chance of getting another trophy. Little did I know it would turn out the way it did.

I think what Gerard wanted was the experience of linking the back to the front. Obviously I’d played in the middle of the park for my entire career, looking to get touches and trying to dictate the speed of the play. So, decision-making and the fact that I’d been around the block a few times. But also the fact that I’d played at a club where you’ve won, I’d won at Leeds United. I’d gone to Coventry and that was a different task, it was all about staying in the league at Coventry. But the thing that Gerard and I spoke about was the decision-making and trying to pass it on to my fellow midfielders and also the younger players as well.

I played my whole life against Liverpool and you recognise it’s a big club but when you actually play for it, you actually then realise how big it is. When you go to Anfield it’s a special place to play as an opponent, but it’s totally different when you play there and you’re a Liverpool player. It was brilliant. When you’re that age, when I was 35, I could have run forever. It was very, very special. And I got a good rapport with the fans very quickly, which was good.

I don’t tire of watching the free-kick against Everton in my first season. I’d scored free-kicks before but not from that distance, a couple of free-kicks from maybe 20, 25 yards. We’d got a free-kick in the exact same spot about a minute before and that played a big part, because I floated one in to let Sami Hyypia, Markus Babbel and Emile Heskey go and attack it. Sami flashed a header and just missed the post. So, when we got the free-kick the second time, I was signalling I was going to play the same ball and hopefully we could get the goal we needed to keep up the chase for the Champions League spot.

I just could see [Everton goalkeeper] Paul Gerrard was nicking a few yards because I was signalling I was going to play the same ball. And there’s a moment in your mind where you think, ‘Ooh, this could work…’ Everything played into my favour, there had been a little bit of rainfall so the pitch was fast and skidding, and I think they put a one- or two-man wall up. I used that as a line and I thought, if I just get that over and get it landing on the penalty spot or the six-yard box, it’ll skid. I knew Paul Gerrard was going to try to come and claim it. As soon as a ’keeper makes any movement to one side, it’s hard to get back.

Carra [Jamie Carragher] comes from behind me and he is reading my mind – he said, ‘Don’t even think about it!’ And I just whipped it. I don’t tire of seeing it, the celebrations, Gerard’s face and Phil Thompson and Sammy Lee, it was brilliant. The derby happens every year so my goal gets bundled out every year and I don’t mind!

The week of the FA Cup and UEFA Cup finals, as a British player if you’d asked me if I was going to play in one of the finals, which one do you want to start in? I’d have chosen to play in the FA Cup final. But I got a nudge that day in the hotel and Gerard said I wasn’t starting. It was a really hot day and Arsenal with Patrick Vieira were physical, with strong, young runners – so I could see his thinking. But he said, ‘You’ll play a part.’ But then the reassuring thing when we were celebrating winning the FA Cup, it was amazing, was to get the little touch on the shoulder to say, you’re starting on Wednesday in the UEFA Cup final. It was literally as we received the medals and we were walking around celebrating with the fans, Gerard said, ‘Be ready for Wednesday.’

I couldn’t show anybody that morning but that was a massive blow to not start the FA Cup final. But by the end of it you’ve got an FA Cup winner’s medal, which I love and is a great little medal, and then to be told you’re playing in the UEFA Cup final. So it was getting a blow prior to the game but then by the end of it the focus was on Dortmund and Alaves, and everyone knows what went on to happen there...

I’d signed a one-year contract with Liverpool initially, and three or four months in they extended it and gave me another year. I didn’t play as many games in my second season but there was no moping around with me, I was up at 36 or 37 years of age. I could fully understand the way the manager was thinking. But being part of it and the Champions League run as well – we were inches away against Leverkusen in the Champions League quarter-finals – the two years were very special. It feels as if I was there longer and I wish I had been there longer. But no complaints with the way the second year went as well.

By then I was keen to dip my foot into the coaching side and get involved. But in hindsight, taking a player-manager job [at Coventry] was wrong, it’s very near impossible. I later managed at Leeds, did a bit of coaching at Middlesbrough but the whole coaching and management thing was like, I’ve tried it and done it and it’s not really floating my boat. BT Sport had offered me a three-year deal because they were launching in Scotland so I went up and did the Scottish Premiership games, and I’d really enjoyed getting involved with BT.

But it’s amazing, as soon as I get a phone call [in 2015] and it’s Liverpool saying would you like to come, there’s going to be a couple of changes, do you fancy coming and helping Brendan Rodgers? Well… The capacity was mentoring, a second coach. Brendan was very much an on-the-grass coach and manager, he took all the sessions and wrote all the sessions. Pep Lijnders had been pushed up as well from the Academy and Sean O’Driscoll was coming in. Again, it wasn’t a financial thing, it was just the fact of getting back to Liverpool. I didn’t realise Brendan was under so much pressure and within eight league games he was gone.

So I’d had a real good, steady job and contract in TV and then all of a sudden, I don’t know where I’m going to be. Ian Ayre came to me and said, ‘Listen, you’re not fired but we don’t know what to do’ because Jürgen Klopp came in and was going to bring his own coaches, which I totally understood. There was no place for me there. But Ian said, ‘We’ll keep paying your wages’ and then I got involved with being a club ambassador, which was brilliant. I loved the fact that he said we’ll find you something. They came up with a plan, a commitment to the club, which was just a no-brainer.

There’s always been a big Scottish connection at Liverpool. The record of Scotsmen at the club was just unbelievable; when I first came I was thinking, ‘Eeesh!’ I always felt as if I was representing a bit of Scotland as well because of the Scottish success at the club – managers and great players. I think it’s a good fit, Scots and Liverpool work! And I think because I come from near Glasgow. Glasgow and Liverpool are both ports, both working-class cities, and they’re known for their banter and craic, the humour is very similar. It’s a sharp city. I just felt really comfortable from the minute I arrived.

McAllister was speaking to Liverpoolfc.com’s Chris Shaw

More from the series…

• Ragnar Klavan
• Emile Heskey
• Luis Garcia
• Kolo Toure