[lfc-news] Counting down to the big derby: Part 4 - Echo

Liverpool Echo, 9 Dec 2004
Rush broke Dixie's record and Blue hearts

IAN RUSH holds Liverpool's record for derby match appearances, featuring 37
times in the fixture.

But it is another statistic which is most celebrated by Kopites everywhere.

Rush struck 25 times in derby-day action to become Everton ' s nemesis for
a decade-and-a-half.

For more than 50 years, Dixie Dean's 19 derby goals (18 League and one FA
Cup) were the most amassed in the fixture.

Then Rush took over. By the time he had finished his one-man demoliton job
on the Blues he had celebrated 25 times - 13 in league games, five in FA
Cup ties, one in a League Cup tie, one in a Charity Shield and five in the
Screen Sport Super Cup competition.

The first, uncharacteristically, was bundled in off his chest during an
Anfield derby on November 7 1981.

The most talked about statistic that afternoon was an Eamonn O'Keefe
sending-off for a high tackle on Ronnie Whelan, making him only the third
player sent-off that century in a Mersey derby.

Rush's next derby appearance, however, is still sung about on the Kop now -
22 years later!!

In one of the best goal-poaching displays ever seen in a Merseyside derby,
Rush scored four times at Goodison Park in a 5-0 rout.

Glenn Keeley was sent-off on his derby debut for hauling back Kenny
Dalglish, and Rush took ruthless advantage of the gaping holes in the
Blues' defence to run riot.

Long balls out of defence from Alan Hansen set up his first two, Mark
Lawrenson slid in the third, then Rush completed his hat-trick off a
goal-post from a Kenny Dalglish assist.

Now strutting around Goodison as if he owned the place, Sammy Lee released
Rush for a fourth - equalling the achievements of Fred Howe and Alex
'Sandy' Young..

That haul merely whetted his appetite and goals flowed regularly against
the old enemy - four famously coming in FA Cup finals - before his final
strike, appropriately enough another match-winner, came at Anfield in March
1994.

Even after leaving Anfield, Rush hadn't finished with the Blues.

He returned to Goodison Park with Newcastle in an FA Cup tie - and
scrambled his only goal in a black-and-white jersey into the Gwladys Street
goal to knock the Blues out of the cup.


# The Welsh wizards who cast a spell over Scouse derbies

THE Merseyside derby is a potent expression of civic Scouse pride.

But the fixture's two most celebrated stars statistically were Welshmen.

No-one made has made more appearances in the fixture than Neville Southall,
Everton's legendary goalkeeper who took a derby bow in March 1982 - and
stood down 15 years and 41 derby matches later; while nobody scored more
derby match goals than Liverpool's predator supreme, Ian Rush, who netted
25 goals against the team he supported as a boy, in five different
competitions.

Ahead of Saturday's 200th derby day showdown, we examine the records of the
respective derby legends.

TO put Neville Southall's astonishing derby day longevity into context,
Saturday will be the 200th showdown between the Merseyside rivals - and the
enigmatic but outstanding goalkeeper has played in 41 of them.

That is almost 25 per cent of all the Mersey derbies ever played.

He made his bow on March 27, 1982 - when Liverpool put three goals past him
at Goodison Park, then after a broken ankle ruled him out of the 1986 FA
Cup final, the subsequent Charity Shield and two Screen Sport Super Cup
finals - he made an unbroken run of 30 successive derby appearances.

Some of the saves he made in those games are imprinted on Evertonian memory
banks.

A stunning, twisting, onehanded tip over from a point-blank John Barnes
volley at Anfield, a scrambling double-save at John Aldridge's feet in the
first post-Hillsborough derby - and a crucial block, low-down to his right
to parry a Steve McManaman shot at Goodison Park.

The Reds' winger shook his head in disbelief and congratulated Southall on
the save.

He was less magnanimous 20 minutes later when the Blues built on that save
to win the derby 2-0.

That incident came in the November 1994 showdown - Joe Royle's first as
Everton manager.

Southall outlasted Royle, as he did Colin Harvey and Mike Walker during his
Everton reign.

The manager who named him on a derby team-sheet for the final time, on
October 18, 1997, was the same man who had given him his derby-debut 15
years earlier, Howard Kendall.

By the time Everton went to Anfield in February the great man was out
on-loan at Southend.

Reds' supporters and players everywhere breathed a sigh of relief.


# The top 10 . . . who crossed Stanley Park

FRED GEARY was the first player to switch derby-day allegiances, Abel
Xavier the last, but there have been plenty more throughout the 110 years
of the fixture.

Here is our top 10 of derby side-shifters:

NICK BARMBY

"IT'S not as if he's changed his religion," bleated Gerard Houllier after
paying Everton £6m in the summer of 2000 for Everton's Player of the
(previous) Season. He was right.

Evertonians would have forgiven him for such a religious trifle. Abandoning
the Blues after one of their steadier seasons in recent years was deemed
unforgiveable and spawned one of the funniest - if grimmest - Mersey derby
chants.

"We know where you live, we know where you live," chanted the Everton fans
. . . followed by the exact address and town.

RED RAG FACTOR: 9/10

ABEL XAVIER

THE colourfullycoiffured Portuguese international was out of contract when
he swapped sides in January 2002.

After two-and-a-half years at Everton when the closest he got to scoring
was in the Living Room, he netted on his Liverpool debut - but even that
wasn't enough to incite emotions on either side of Stanley Park.

Evertonians weren't sorry to see him go, Liverpudlians were equally
nonplussed to have him on-board.

BLUE HAZE FACTOR: 1/10

DAVE HICKSON

STILL the only man to feature for all three Merseyside clubs - Everton,
Liverpool and Tranmere - when Hickson's second spell at Everton ended with
a switch to Anfield both sides of Stanley Park erupted.

Evertonians were appalled, Liverpudlians weren't much happier. But they
changed their tune when he scored twice on his debut and went on to claim
38 goals in 67 appearances.

RED RAG FACTOR: 10/10

KEVIN SHEEDY

THE young Irishman was the first player since Johnny Morrissey - 20 years
earlier - to directly cross Stanley Park, and there was no doubting who got
the best of the deal.

One of the finest left-sided players the club has ever had, he also
flourished on an international stage for the Republic of Ireland.

Scoring a stunning free-kick at the Kop - then celebrating Winston
Churchill fashion - did little to make Liverpudlians recall him with much
in the way of fondness.

BLUE HAZE FACTOR: 7/10

ALAN HARPER

Such was the quality and dominance of Bob Paisley's Liverpool squad of the
1980s, they could afford to let gems like Alan Harper leave without fear of
consequence. They might have questioned the decision a year later, when he
buried a Goodison derby day equaliser.

RED RAG FACTOR: 4/10

PETER BEARDSLEY

ONE of the few players who can claim the distinction of scoring for both
sides in a Merseyside derby. Beardsley also enjoyed the unique distinction
of being universally liked. Adored at Anfield, Graeme Souness believed he
was a spent force and allowed him to cross the Park. He wasn't, but such
was his style and demeanour he was cherished by both sides.

BLUE HAZE FACTOR: 3/10

GARY ABLETT

HIS switch from Liverpool to Everton sparked one of the more embarrassing
phone calls Howard Kendall has ever taken. Sat in his office completing the
formalities of the deal, he took a call on his private line.

Daughter Hayley told him: "Dad, the Liverpool fans at school say you're
buying Gary Ablett," she said. "Yes, that's right love," replied dad.
"Don't do it," she said. "They all say he's rubbish!" He wasn't - and he
ended up claiming an FA Cup winner's medal for the Blues to add to the one
he won for the Reds six years earlier.

RED RAG FACTOR: 5/10

FRED GEARY

AN Everton legend who rattled the astonishing total of 86 goals in 98
appearances.

He joined the fledgling Liverpool Football Club in 1895, but despite four
years at Anfield his powers were clearly on the wane. He managed just 14
goals in 45 appearances from 1895 to 1899.

BLUE HAZE FACTOR: 1/10.

STEVE McMAHON

NOT a direct switch - but the two seasons McMahon spent at Villa Park
before Kenny Dalglish made him his first Liverpool signing failed to dim
Evertonian ire at his defection.

RED RAG FACTOR: 10/10.

DAVID JOHNSON

THE striker didn't just cross the park once - he did it twice! A promising
young Everton talent, he was bizarrely swapped to Ipswich Town for the
dreadful Rod Belfitt.

Liverpool spotted his potential and took him to Anfield for the most
productive years of his career. When Everton took him back in 1982 his best
days were sadly behind him.

BLUE HAZE FACTOR: 4/10.



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