A chat with Steve Nicol

ESPNsoccernet: You're obviously the most famous player ever to emerge from Ayr United. In fact I think you're still the most expensive export they've ever had at $470,000. That amount would barely buy a Division Three player in England these days and yet 24 years later it remains the record sale for Ayr - are you surprised?

SN: Yes, it's incredible isn't it (laughs).

ESPNsoccernet: In some ways do you see it as a reflection of the dearth of talent afflicting Scottish football in general at the moment? Scotland was a world-class team between 1978 and 1986 and yet these days the caliber of Scottish football is far below that. Why do you think that is?

SN: I guess the biggest problem is what has happened to the western world in general. Everyone has too many things to do these days what with computers, video games etc. Really the teams you're talking about from 1974 onwards were kids that played in the street. That's where we learned to play the game, which we don't have now in Scotland. Having said that a lot of other countries don't have that now either, so it's hard to shift all the blame on that. That's certainly a huge part of it, but other than that I really couldn't tell you what's happened.

ESPNsoccernet: When you played at Liverpool you were famed for your incredible versatility, endless stamina and the fact that you were rarely taken off the dribble by opposing attackers. Alan Hansen claims that your secret to success was actually your incredibly large feet, but in all seriousness what do you put it down to?

SN: (Laughs) I think the biggest thing was that I enjoyed playing. I was actually fortunate enough to go to a team that were European champions at the time and full of great players.The chances of some of that rubbing off on you are huge if you apply yourself, and obviously you need to have some basic ability yourself.

ESPNsoccernet: You had the reputation at Liverpool of being one of the nicest guys in the locker room but at the same time one of the most gullible and easily tricked?

SN: (Laughs). Mr. Hansen used to be the one that was responsible for most of that! At the end of the day I was a wee Scottish lad of 19 years old who had never been out of Scotland, let alone abroad when I joined Liverpool.

ESPNsoccernet: There are a lot of urban myths about some of these incidents. There's the one about sending you to wait all day at a train station 23 miles away to wait for a Puma official to do a boot promotion with you. There's also the one where you thought you'd put on a lot of weight one season after you inadvertently weighed yourself while carrying some heavy shopping. Care to set the record straight?

SN: (Laughs) All true unfortunately. Although about the weight one, that happened when my wife and I were on a cruise with Alan Hansen and his wife and it happened after a night out, so my marbles weren't all there.

ESPNsoccernet: Since a lot of these stunts were perpetrated by Alan Hansen, presumably you got him back at some point?

SN: No. I never got him back. You could never get Mr. Hansen back, he was a master (laughs) - that was the problem he was too clever!

ESPNsoccernet: A lot of recent debate about the English Premiership has been about the greatest Premiership team of all time - the conversation has focused on the Arsenal team that went undefeated a couple of seasons back, the Manchester United team that won the treble and last season's Chelsea team. Where do you think the two great Liverpool teams -- the 1979-80 team that scored 85 goals and conceded only 16 in a 42-game season, and the 1988 team that went 29 games without defeat -- fit into this mix?

SN: Those Liverpool teams absolutely stack up. I'd probably say that the 1979-80 Liverpool team was arguably the best team. That team however in 1979-80 team was completely different from the late 80s Liverpool team with John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and the others. The early 80s team that I originally went into was more of a real ball control team where you picked your moments. The team from when Kenny Dalglish took over was far different dynamically. We really went forward a lot quicker than we did before - which was more exciting but obviously led to more turnovers. But it was great fun playing on those late 80s teams.

ESPNsoccernet: You won the 1984 European Cup on penalties against Roma. Going into that situation were you guys confident? After all word has it that the five designated penalty takers had lost in a penalty simulation 5-0 in training against the Liverpool youth team players?

SN: Actually I was the only one who scored in practice! we lost 5-1 not 5-0 (laughs).

ESPNsoccernet: So you were the only one who was probably confident then against Roma although you actually missed in the game itself?

SN: Taking penalties against Roma was obviously a different situation. Anyone can take them in practice as I obviously showed (laughs).

ESPNsoccernet: Speaking of European Cups - in the recent Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan, you did color analysis on that game for ESPN - did you think that there was a chance of Liverpool coming back?

SN: No (laughs). Firstly, at halftime I was asking everyone if I could go home, and secondly I was asking what the highest score deficit ever was in a European Cup final.

ESPNsoccernet: Your thoughts on the Michael Owen situation. Would you like to see him back at Liverpool even if it meant selling someone like Djibril Cisse to make room for him?

SN: I'd like to see Owen back. I'd argue that he's a better striker than anyone they have currently.

ESPNsoccernet: What do you think of Liverpool's recent signing of Peter Crouch.

SN: I was surprised they paid $11 million or so for him, I won't lie about that. Having said that, Jamie Redknapp and his dad said some positive things about Crouch to me when I was skeptical. When you think of Liverpool traditionally you wouldn't have thought Peter would be the type of player that would suit them, but he can only prove people wrong.

ESPNsoccernet: Best moment and worst moment for Liverpool on the field?

SN: Too many good moments to single one out but the worst moment by far on the field was the loss to Arsenal. (Liverpool lost Arsenal 2-0 in the final game of the 1988-89 season which cost them the title that season.)

ESPNsoccernet: You played with a bevy of world-class players at Liverpool - which one would you say was underrated and didn't get as much recognition as he deserved?

SN: I think Ray Houghton was underrated. Absolutely. Bruce Grobbelaar was also underrated, obviously he has a bit of a reputation, but I think it took away from the fact that he was a good goalkeeper.

ESPNsoccernet: Word association time. I'm going to give you the names of some players and you give me a word that comes to mind when you think of them. Ronnie Whelan.

SN: (Laughs) The virgin. What kind of words are you looking for (laughs)? In all seriousness about Ronnie - I'd say great.

ESPNsoccernet: John Aldridge.

SN: Stonks (laughs).

ESPNsoccernet: John Barnes.

SN: Magic.

ESPNsoccernet: Gary Gillespie.

SN: Underrated.

ESPNsoccernet: Jan Molby.

SN: The big man.

ESPNsoccernet: Paul Walsh.

SN: Juice.

ESPNsoccernet: Alan Hansen.

SN: I don't think there's one word to describe him (laughs).

ESPNsoccernet: Mark Lawrenson.

SN: I can't say it (laughs).

ESPNsoccernet: Kenny Dalglish.

SN: The king.

ESPNsoccernet: Graeme Souness

SN: Top man.

ESPNsoccernet: Terry McDermott.

SN: The ledge.

ESPNsoccernet: Last one - Alan Kennedy.

SN: Belly (laughs).

ESPNsoccernet: Liverpool has had a history of world-class strikers. Rush, Dalglish, Fowler and Owen etc. If you were to rank them, who would you put at the top of the list?

SN: I think Rushie would be the one that would stand out. You can lump the rest together by saying they were all great.

ESPNsoccernet: What do you think set Rush apart from the rest?

SN: I think that extra bit of pace that he had. They were all great finishers each and every one of them, but Rushie's other bits to his game was probably a bit better than the others. His speed obviously and he was also fantastic defensively.

ESPNsoccernet: Are you still in close touch with the Liverpool lads?

SN: When you play on a team that was as successful as that, you need a bunch of guys that get on well and stick together. Subsequently we're all still in touch. I'll give you an example - I saw John Barnes at the draft last year. It was the first time we'd seen each other in a couple of years, but it was just like yesterday.

ESPNsoccernet: The four best players I've seen are Maradona, Michel Platini, Zico and Zinedine Zidane. If you were to pick your top four or five all-time who would it be.

SN: That's difficult - I don't think you can narrow it to four or five. Obviously you have Maradona and Platini, but Zbigniew Boniek was great too. Johann Cruyff was great, Gerd Muller, Franz Beckenbauer and Kenny Dalglish. There's just too many.

ESPNsoccernet: Was there ever a particular player that you hated to face?

SN: Probably Rafael Gordillo from Spain. He's the one guy that really did me up! I just found it hard to figure him out.

ESPNsoccernet: What was the secret to your fitness regime? Apparently you never really had one, yet you had incredible stamina?

SN: No I didn't, that was the secret (laughs).

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