Articles
Jan Mølby done with jail
Jan Mølby is released from prison in 1988 and gets the best news he could have ever wished for. The last part of Mølby's jail tale.
I wanted to stay at Anfield, even though during my six weeks inside I’d been linked with almost every club in Europe. Everybody seemed convinced that Liverpool would sell me when I was released. Now I was out the press couldn’t help themselves. They couldn’t get a photo of me while I was inside so it was time to have another go. We drove back to Kenny’s house for lunch. As I was chatting to Kenny and his wife Marina, she pointed to a photographer in the garden. ‘Watch this’, said Kenny, as he picked up the telephone. Within two minutes, the photographer had been dealt with by the Southport police. Kenny was delighted. The next day Kenny picked me up and we drove to Anfield. The media circus was well and truly in town. I went in with Kevin and Kenny to hear Liverpool’s chairman Sir John Smith outline the background to my case. He then had a go at me by asking what I was going to do about my drink problem. Kenny stepped in to correct the chairman. ‘Jan doesn’t have a drink problem,’ he explained. ‘If he did have one, he wouldn’t have been at this club as a player’. My hearing lasted twenty minutes, but it was another three hours before I knew my fate. Sir John delivered the verdict. ‘We’ve decided to keep you on as a Liverpool player’, he said, shaking my hand. ‘Nice to see you back’. A huge wave of relief washed over me. Liverpool had prepared a press statement for me to read and drawn up a contract which meant I couldn’t discuss the whole incident in public while I was with the club. I signed the contract despite some tempting offers for the story of my time in jail. My solicitor spoke to the News of the World, who offered £8000 for an exclusive mocked-up picture of me climbing out of a boot of a car! … ..
Kenny took me back to Southport and the next day I played for the A team in front of my mother and sister. After playing a couple of A games I came on as a sub against Manchester United at Old Trafford on New Year’s Day, 1989 – a month after my release. We lost 3-1, but it was great to be back. Opposition supporters weren’t kind. As well as receiving the usual chants of ‘You fat bastard!’ and ‘Who ate all the pies?’, I was now known as ‘Jailbird’, but it didn’t affect my game at all. After six weeks inside I could cope with a bit of teasing from the terraces. It’s difficult to say how prison affected me as a person. I think it changed my ways a little, hopefully for the better. I’ve come to realize that once you’ve been to jail, it’s difficult to take off your past. Since being released, I’ve been breathalyzed by the police a few times. I remember being stopped on my way home from training a couple of years ago. The officer had gone down a dual carriageway, spotted me and reversed back up before starting his blue light flashing and pulling me over. ‘I’ve caught you’, he said triumphantly. ‘What do you mean you’ve caught me?’, I replied. ‘You’re banned from driving!’ ‘I was banned from driving seven years ago!’ He later apoligized, but it was pathetic. I don’t know why the police has this attitude. But it seems that nicking somebody who’s famous gives them more pleasure than catching ordinary members of the public.
© Grahame Lloyd & Jan Mølby. The book Jan the Man: From Anfield to Vetch Field is available on Amazon.co.uk.
I wanted to stay at Anfield, even though during my six weeks inside I’d been linked with almost every club in Europe. Everybody seemed convinced that Liverpool would sell me when I was released. Now I was out the press couldn’t help themselves. They couldn’t get a photo of me while I was inside so it was time to have another go. We drove back to Kenny’s house for lunch. As I was chatting to Kenny and his wife Marina, she pointed to a photographer in the garden. ‘Watch this’, said Kenny, as he picked up the telephone. Within two minutes, the photographer had been dealt with by the Southport police. Kenny was delighted. The next day Kenny picked me up and we drove to Anfield. The media circus was well and truly in town. I went in with Kevin and Kenny to hear Liverpool’s chairman Sir John Smith outline the background to my case. He then had a go at me by asking what I was going to do about my drink problem. Kenny stepped in to correct the chairman. ‘Jan doesn’t have a drink problem,’ he explained. ‘If he did have one, he wouldn’t have been at this club as a player’. My hearing lasted twenty minutes, but it was another three hours before I knew my fate. Sir John delivered the verdict. ‘We’ve decided to keep you on as a Liverpool player’, he said, shaking my hand. ‘Nice to see you back’. A huge wave of relief washed over me. Liverpool had prepared a press statement for me to read and drawn up a contract which meant I couldn’t discuss the whole incident in public while I was with the club. I signed the contract despite some tempting offers for the story of my time in jail. My solicitor spoke to the News of the World, who offered £8000 for an exclusive mocked-up picture of me climbing out of a boot of a car! … .. Kenny took me back to Southport and the next day I played for the A team in front of my mother and sister. After playing a couple of A games I came on as a sub against Manchester United at Old Trafford on New Year’s Day, 1989 – a month after my release. We lost 3-1, but it was great to be back. Opposition supporters weren’t kind. As well as receiving the usual chants of ‘You fat bastard!’ and ‘Who ate all the pies?’, I was now known as ‘Jailbird’, but it didn’t affect my game at all. After six weeks inside I could cope with a bit of teasing from the terraces. It’s difficult to say how prison affected me as a person. I think it changed my ways a little, hopefully for the better. I’ve come to realize that once you’ve been to jail, it’s difficult to take off your past. Since being released, I’ve been breathalyzed by the police a few times. I remember being stopped on my way home from training a couple of years ago. The officer had gone down a dual carriageway, spotted me and reversed back up before starting his blue light flashing and pulling me over. ‘I’ve caught you’, he said triumphantly. ‘What do you mean you’ve caught me?’, I replied. ‘You’re banned from driving!’ ‘I was banned from driving seven years ago!’ He later apoligized, but it was pathetic. I don’t know why the police has this attitude. But it seems that nicking somebody who’s famous gives them more pleasure than catching ordinary members of the public.
© Grahame Lloyd & Jan Mølby. The book Jan the Man: From Anfield to Vetch Field is available on Amazon.co.uk.
