June 2003

LFCSnumber8 posted a series of posts on the official site forum and has kindly agreed to them being posted on Liverweb

Joe Fagan

When the great managers of history are talked about, one man is always omitted. A man who won the European Cup, the league and the league cup in one season, a treble. This man had been part of the coaching staff at Melwood since before the days of Shankly! He had spent over 20 years working on the coaching staff and as Bob Paisley's number two after Shankly's shock retirement. The man, as I'm sure you'll have all guessed, is none other than Liverpool legend Joe Fagan! He was one of the bootroom boys, and his name deserves to be up there with Shankly, Paisley, Ferguson, Busby, Clough etc. He was a quiet, unassuming man, and was as far removed from todays media frenzy of management as you could get. He simply let his team on the pitch do the talking, and they did some talking! But is Joe appreciated enough by all Reds fans, never mind others. I cannot remember nor find a single song about Joe, and his name is rarely if ever mentioned on here. Legends deserve to be talked and sung about, and Joe Fagan was a legend!
After spending years on the coaching staff at Anfield. It was obvious Joe knew his footie, and he was the obvious replacement to Paisley. Throughout his time at Melwood, he was an effective if somewhat quiet member of the staff, and he was an integral part of Liverpool's dominance of domestic and European football. As soon as Paisley retired Fagan took over. However, it wasn't to be as easy as it looked to onlookers. Although Paisley had formed a great side, Fagan had plenty of work to do to keep the honours coming in at Anfield. Sammy Lee was well past his best, and Graeme Souness soon moved on to pastures new. If the Liverpool team was going to be succesful, it was to be Fagans side, not Paisleys, that would bring glory to Anfield!
And successful they were, Liverpool continued their dominance of football after Paisley's departure. And his quality as a manager was never in question. In terms of successful first seasons, nobody can claim to having a better one than Fagan. In his first year, Liverpool clinched the Premiership title, the European Cup, and they continued their monopoly of the League Cup. He managed to replace the clubs ageing and departing greats with astute, quality signings. He swooped to sign Kevin MacDonald and Jim Beglin to slot into the side, alongside little known Danish midfielder Jan Molby, a man who would become the best of the bunch. Molby was the hub of Liverpool's midfield for many years to come, and was as good a passer as anyone in Europe. As Molby showed, as did several of Paisley's signings at the recomendation of Fagan, Joe has a startling eye of talent. It's a sign of Fagan's experience and quality, that he could see the potential in a player like Molby. Needless to say Jan wasn't exactly a 100 metre sprinter, nor was his goalscoring record fantastic, but Fagan saw quality, and quality is what he recieved! Fagan's side played with immense class and finese. In his own words, "They were so efficient, it was chilling!". Fagan's side played with balance, harmony, a great team ethic, skill with every player contributing equally to their success. It was close to footballing perfection, and Liverpool fans were safe in the knowledge Fagan would bring trophies for years to come.

The, quite literally, disaster struck. In Fagan's second season, Liverpool achived a reasonable performance by their standards, whilst not reaching the peaks of the previous season. The side lost the final of the charity shield 1-0 to local rivals Everton, finished second in the league, and lost in the finals of both the European Super Cup and the World Club Championship to Juventus and Independiente respectively. Then came the chance to retain the European Cup and clinch the Red's fifth triumph in the competition, in a tough tie against Juventus at Heysel. This is where disaster struck. As is written in history, 39 Juventus fans tragically died before the game, a game which for some reason was played. The final result was immaterial, in spite of any complaints that could be harboured about the nature of the Juventus winner, Joe stepped down after the game as a direct result of the violence and needless death of that day. Liverpool had lost a great manager, and a great servant to the club.

So why is the name Joe Fagan not up there with the best. He achived English footballs first treble, a feat copied by Alex Ferguson and to a lesser extent Gerard Houllier, both of whom gain mass media appraisal for their work. Whereas if you mention Joe Fagan to a new football fan, who is a more likely response than, "wow he was good" which he undoubtabely was. As I have previously said, Joe would have gone onto reach greater glories in the future with the club, and maybe even surpass what had gone before him, but we never know. After retirement, Joe kept a low profile but still managed to help out at the club, offering advice to Dalglish, Souness and Evans in their attempts to bring glory to Anfield. Joe Fagan died in a month of tragedy for the club, which also saw Billy Liddell and Tom Saunders pass on. The amount of sorrow shown and tributes to Joe was testemant to his popularity and skill at Anfield. His funeral took place at Anield Crematorium at 1pm on friday the 6th July, 2001. Joe Fagan was a legend at this club, and one of football's all time greats. Perhaps it's about time he was given a bit more recognition all round!

Email your comments to andy@liverweb.org.uk