The Player
Honours:
2nd Division Championship 1961-62
1st Division Championship 1963-64
|
|
The Player Honours: 2nd Division Championship 1961-62 1st Division Championship 1963-64 |
|
The 18 year old Ronnie Moran made his full debut for Liverpool in November 1952, at Derby County's
Baseball Ground. The rather unfamiliar Liverpool line up that day was:
Crossley, Parr, Moran, Heydon, W.Jones, Paisley, Payne, Baron, Smith, Brierley, Liddell After nine straight appearances, Moran went on to play twelve times in that first season. The youngster though found it initially hard to nail down a regular place, making only one more appearance during season 1953-54. As it transpired, it wasn't a bad season to miss. A badly struggling Liverpool were unceremoniously relegated after a dreadful campaign that saw them finish bottom of the table with just twenty eight points and ninety seven goals conceded ! Liverpool's first season in Division 2 was a culture shock. Five of the first seven games brought defeat and the club then suffered the heaviest defeat in it's entire history, going down 9-1 to Brimingham City on the 11th December 1954. It wasn't until February 1955 that the first away league victory was claimed ( they had however trounced First Division neighbours Everton 4-0 in front of 72,000 spectators at Goodison in the F.A. Cup ). Moran had forced his way back into the side in the autumn and was to finish the season with seventeen more league games under his belt but the team finished a disappointing eleventh, firmly in mid table. The Liverpool team that beat Everton in the F.A. Cup on Jan 29th 1955 read: Rudham, Lambert, Moran, Saunders, Hughes, Twentyman, Jackson, Anderson, Liddell, Evans, A'Court Liddell, A'Court, Evans (2) were the scorers. It wasn't until season '55-'56 that Moran claimed the left back slot as his own, playing in an experienced back line alongside right back Ray Lambert and centre halves Laurie Hughes and Geoff Twentyman. Manager Don Welsh led the side to a creditable third place finish but with only two sides gaining promotion it wasn't good enough for the board who sacked him and replaced him with ex-player Phil Taylor in the summer of 1956. Taylor, a talented wing half in his day who had retired from playing along with Bob Paisley just a couple of years earlier, set about the task in hand. Moran completed his first clean sweep of league appearances for a season and even gained the recognition of being selected for a Football League 11 in a showpiece match. Despite a flourishing finish of nine wins and two draws in the last twelve games, promotion was missed again as Liverpool had to settle for third place for the second year running. The club was failing to find true consistency however. A disappointing fourth place finish followed in season '57-'58 and though the club only missed promotion by two points, an away record showing nine defeats including 5-1 and 6-1 routings at Charlton Athletic and Cardiff City respectively told it's own story. Taylor was now beginning to feel the strain, particularly so when the club lurched into crisis with the worst result in it's entire history. On January 15th 1959, non league Worcester City knocked Liverpool out of the F.A. Cup 2-1 at the third round stage. It was nothing short of a disaster. A late Geoff Twentyman penalty proving not enough to save face. The team read: Younger, Molyneux, Moran, Wheeler, White, Twentyman, Morris, Melia, Bimpson, Harrower, A'Court Within the year Taylor was gone, citing health concerns as his primary reason for stepping down, and in doing so, setting a curious trend that has continued with various Liverpool managers ever since. Ronnie Moran, meanwhile, was enjoying a golden period of sorts. Season '59-'60 saw him complete his second full 42 game season, meaning he had missed only six league games in the five seasons up to May 1960. He was now club captain, and perfectly placed to witness the start of the revolution that was to follow. Bill Shankly's arrival in December 1959 transformed the lives of all those connected with the club. Moran, in completing his ever present duties at left back, had also managed to score his first ever goals for the club, netting five during the season. The last one, a penalty against Lincoln City, confirmed him as the team's new penalty taker. That season also saw the introduction of the great Roger Hunt. The record books show Hunt played alongside the even greater Billy Liddell ( who was now beginning to wane ) barely a dozen times, the first time being on October 3rd 1959, when Liverpool lost an astonishing game 5-4 at Swansea, with Ronnie Moran getting the fourth goal. Another close finish saw the team finish third once more. Shankly's vision was slowly taking shape but season 1960-61 brought another heartbreaking third place finish. In seven seasons in Division 2 the club had finished 11th, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 3rd and 3rd. There was to be no mistake the following year. Shankly finally drove the team back into the big time at the end of season 1961-62 clinching the Division 2 title by eight points from nearest rivals Orient. Top scorer Roger Hunt scored a club record forty one league goals in a total of ninety nine. For Ronnie Moran, it was a season of mixed blessings, injury having curtailed his role to just sixteen matches. A season of consolidation followed whilst Shankly continued the team building. Moran, now one of the more senior pros had clocked up more than 250 first team appearances for the club. His injury problems behind him for the time being Moran made 34 league appearances in 1962-63 and a further 35 the following season as Shankly's exciting new side stormed to the title. The first title success at Anfield for seventeen years. Liverpool's championship glory meant a first taste of European action for the club the following season. It was to be the first in an unbroken run of twenty seasons that Liverpool would play in Europe and Moran was in the side for both legs of the epic European Cup semi final clash with the Italians of Inter Milan. Sadly, the second leg in Inter's San Siro Stadium was to be Moran's last senior appearance for the Reds. Young star Gerry Byrne had forced his way into the reckoning and would become a member of England's World Cup squad just a year later. For Ronnie Moran, even more interesting times lay ahead. Billy Liddell: The Original Exocet Missile |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||