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Steve McMahon

Birthdate: 20 August 1961 Birthplace: Liverpool, England Other clubs: Everton (1977-83), Aston Villa (1983-85), Manchester City (1991-94), Swindon Town (1994-98) Bought from: Aston Villa Signed for LFC: £350,000, 12.09.1985 International debut: 17.02.1988 vs. Israel International caps: 17/0 - 14.11.1990

Liverpool debut: 14.09.1985 Last appearance: 21.12.1991 Debut goal: 21.09.1985 Last goal: 14.12.1991 Contract expiry: 24.12.1991 Win ratio: 60.65% W: 168 D: 73 L: 36 Games/goals ratio: 5.54 Total games/goals opposite LFC: 14 / 0 LFC league games/goals: 204 / 29 Total LFC games/goals: 277 / 50

Player profile

"When Steve McMahon plays well, I always think that Liverpool will play well." This ultimate compliment from Bob Paisley's bear testament to McMahon's capabilities. McMahon started out as a ball boy at Goodison Park and eventually joined his boyhood heroes Everton. He was a regular for the Blues for three seasons and voted the supporters' player of the year in his debut campaign. When he felt it was time was to move on he chose Aston Villa in a £300,000 deal over Liverpool. He confessed that he didn't dare to do the virtually impossible to move straight from the blue half of Liverpool to the red. His transfer turned out to be a step down as Everton were a club on the rise, winning the League Championship two years after his move while Aston Villa struggled to follow their 1980/81 league triumph. Before McMahon eventually joined Liverpool he had certainly had his tussles with their players. "They set me up. Kenny got me booked and Souey got me sent off," says McMahon of their Anfield battle on 17 September 1983. "They certainly set out to wind me up and they succeeded. They were crafty. I was wound up anyway going back to Merseyside and they did me a treat." Since Souness left Liverpool for Rome in 1984, a playmaker of some force was needed as the Reds lost the title to Everton. When Liverpool came in for McMahon again in September 1985 he turned down one of Liverpool's greatest rivals. "I turned down Manchester United to join Liverpool, that's how much I wanted to sign for the club. Villa were playing at Southampton. Manager Tony Barton named the team at midday, then pulled me to one side to explain why I wasn't playing that night. I had made it clear that I wanted to move back to the north. The manager said: 'I think you might like this move.' He informed me that Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson had made a satisfactory offer that had been accepted by Villa. I believe it involved a swap deal with Alan Brazil. I think I shocked Tony Barton when I replied: 'Thanks but no thanks.' There had been a great deal of press speculation that Liverpool would move in, and I was prepared to bide my time for that chance. When the opportunity arose to sign for Liverpool I took it and it was the best decision of my career."

Kenny Dalglish took over before the 1985/86 season and McMahon was his first signing. In only his third game McMahon faced Everton at Goodison Park and scored Liverpool's third with a thumping shot that proved to be the winning goal. McMahon was ruthless in the middle of the park putting in strong tackles to say the least. He contributed to the goalscoring as well and displayed sorely-missed leadership qualities in the engine room. McMahon got injured at a crucial stage of the season and the only Englishman in Liverpool's troops at Wembley had to settle for the bench when the Reds beat the Blues in the FA Cup final. He played 50 games in his second season in comparison with 36 in his first and scored no less than 14 goals, but Everton recaptured their crown. McMahon's game prospered in 1987/88 and he came third in the vote for Footballer of the Year as Liverpool shattered their opposition. He was a perfect workhorse for the more glitzy talents of Barnes and Beardsley, though he could conjure up magic on his own. On 16 January 1988 with the score at 0-0 late in the first half a promising Liverpool move appeared to have finished when a pass from Ray Houghton was misdirected and seemed to be heading for the paddock. McMahon was having none of it and chased a seemingly lost cause. At full speed he put his foot on the ball to prevent it from going out of play before careering towards the paddock supporters. Somehow he contrived to stop himself from toppling into the crowd, regained his balance and control of the ball which he then took down the right wing before sliding a brilliant pass across to the onrushing Aldridge who scored the first in a 2-0 victory over Arsenal. A magical moment and one that has enshrined McMahon’s name into the Anfield Hall of Fame.

McMahon picked up his third League Championship in the 1989/90 season. Despite his tough demeanour on the field McMahon escaped a sending-off at Liverpool until he received two reds in a seven month period in 1991. The first one came when he put in a late tackle on Liverpool old boy Howard Gayle receiving a second yellow in an ill-tempered FA Cup clash against Blackburn Rovers in January. The following month McMahon injured his knee after a clash with John Ebbrell in the fifth round of the FA Cup which meant an early end to his season just a few days before Dalglish's resignation. McMahon's second dismissal came in only his third game of the 1991/92 season when he elbowed Luton Town's Philip Gray when preventing him from taking an early free-kick. Later Vinnie Jones claimed McMahon was his "only real rival" in modern day football for the accolade of "hardest man in football". Jones had taken him out in the opening exchanges of the 1988 FA Cup final between Liverpool and Wimbledon but as McMahon fell down from Jones' tackle he caught the Wimbledon man on the face leaving a decent scar. Jones said McMahon got his revenge by kicking Jones with his studs in their next game at Anfield, forcing him to have stitches on a major cut.

In November 1991 thirty-year-old McMahon left for Manchester City who won promotion to the Premier League. McMahon was used to higher standards than were on offer at City at the time and Niall Quinn compared him to Roy Keane in his intensity and will to win: "Because he expected to win trophies, he could make the players at City feel bad about themselves, because we didn't have the same expectations... The lucky go happy atmosphere in our squad just didn't appeal to him," Quinn said. McMahon remained at Maine Road until he was tempted away by an offer to become the player-manager of Swindon Town in 1994. Although unable to save Town from a second successive relegation, he did steer them to the semi-final stage of the League Cup, where they were defeated by Bolton Wanderers. Swindon won the Division Two title in 1996 but the manager left the club 'by mutual consent' after a dreadful start to the 1998/99 season, losing five of the opening nine matches. In January 2000 McMahon signed an 18-month contract to manage Blackpool and that contract was later extended. Halfway through the 2003/04 season he tendered his resignation but then bizarrely interrupted the press conference that had been arranged to announce his departure and claimed that he had withdrawn his resignation having talked to his Chairman. He did eventually resign for real just before the end of the 2003/04 season. McMahon became the manager of Perth Glory in Australia early in January 2005 but that job lasted less than a year. Since then like so many other former Liverpool players, he has got involved in what can be called 'media and punditry work' including working for the ESPN Star Sports channel. In September 2011 McMahon was hired to expand Liverpool's brand and scouting into India. The former midfielder is head coach at the facility as a part of the club's ambition to leave its footprint in every continent in the next three years.

Stats note

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Related Quotes

"I suppose it's inevitable to wonder what might have happened if I had gone to Liverpool. They won three trophies last season while Villa had a difficult time. But you have to make the decision at the time, and I felt that going across Merseyside was the hardest move in football. In the same circumstances I would have made the same decision."

Aston Villa player Steve McMahon reflecting on his decision to snub Liverpool in favour of Villa in May 1983

"I'd kick my own brother if necessary... it's what being a professional footballer is all about."

Hard man Steve McMahon

"Ince should keep his mouth shut and get on with his new job of playing for Boro. Criticising Gerard Houllier was a bad thing for him to go and do. Someone of his experience should know better. It is players like Ince who have got Liverpool into trouble in the first place. Gerard has had a hard job to do at Anfield taking over a poor team and trying to rebuild it. He was right to get rid of Ince and get in Dietmar Hamann."

Steve McMahon jumped to the defence of Houllier and Phil Thompson after Paul Ince's outspoken attack

They set me up. Kenny got me booked and Souey got me sent off. They certainly set out to wind me up and they succeeded. They were crafty. I was wound up anyway going back to Merseyside and they did me a treat.

Steve McMahon was sent off playing for Aston Villa vs Liverpool on 17th September 1983

"I'd kick my own brother if necessary... it's what being a professional footballer is all about." And that determination was reflected in his play. One goal, scored by John Aldridge against Arsenal in 1988, sums up McMahon. The ball was cleared and ran towards the Main Stand touchline, seemingly destined to roll out of play for a Liverpool throw which would allow the Arsenal defence to regroup. But McMahon refused to let that happen, chasing down the ball, backheeling it right on the line to keep it in play and making a scrambling turn pitchside to get back on the ball. Then he drove past two defenders to play the ball into Aldridge's path for a magnificent goal. Why Everton, who McMahon supported and where he came through the youth system, ever let him go - to Aston Villa - defies logic. As for kicking your brother, you would if he was an Evertonian, wouldn't you?

Tony Evans from Times online on Steve McMahon