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"You speak as though he has changed his religion!" Gerard Houllier told a
packed press conference at the unveiling of new signing Nick Barmby in
the summer of 2000. To Everton fans, Barmby had done exactly that. The
England international, a Liverpool fan as a child, had crossed Stanley
Park in a £6m deal. His move was the most startling in a surprising
summer of business for Houllier, who had also snapped up veteran
Scotsman Gary McAllister and Leicester City's reserve goalkeeper Pegguy
Arphexad. Barmby - the first player to move from Everton to Liverpool in
41 years - made his Reds debut on the opening day of the season against
Bradford City at Anfield (the pictures above are during the game),
Emile Heskey scoring the only goal, and quickly established himself in
the Liverpool midfield, playing on both the right and left flanks.
His
first goal arrived in mid-September in a UEFA Cup tie in Bucharest, but
it was first league strike in late October that hit the headlines.
Twelve minutes into the Merseyside derby, Barmby's first meeting with
his former employers, a Christian Ziege cross-shot flew towards the
diminutive midfielder. He quickly adjusted his body and guided a superb
header beyond Paul Gerrard in the Everton goal. Liverpool went on to win
3-1, but that goal was the first of only two league strikes for Barmby
all season (the second coming in a 4-0 win over Arsenal in December), as
he was saving most of his goals for Europe. He grabbed an equaliser in
the UEFA Cup second round win at Czech minnows Slovan Liberec, before
scoring in both legs of the following round against Olympiakos,
Liverpool winning 4-2 on aggregate. This, of course, was to be the
season where the Reds achieved unprecedented success in cup competitions
and Barmby played a key role, scoring in the League Cup quarter-final
win over Fulham and in a 2-0 win at Leeds in the FA Cup.
The big games
were coming thick and fast, and after a UEFA Cup win over Roma,
Liverpool won the first ever cup final at Cardiff, beating Birmingham
City on penalties to win the League Cup with Barmby emerging from the
bench to score the Reds' second spot kick. Wins over Tranmere and
Wycombe in the FA Cup, and Porto and Barcelona in the UEFA Cup, took the
Reds to the Finals of both competitions, but Barmby, who hadn't
featured since a 2-0 win over Manchester United in March due to injury,
missed out on the win over Arsenal in Cardiff and was an unused
substitute in the astonishing 5-4 win over Spaniards Alaves in Dortmund.
Nevertheless, his contribution to Liverpool's treble cup success should
not be underestimated. Sadly, injuries were to restrict the remainder
of his Liverpool career.
He made just nine appearances in 2001/02 -
including his Champions League debut against Dynamo Kiev - but a
persistent ankle injury required an operation that was to put him out of
action for the entire campaign. By the summer of 2002 he was well down
Houllier's pecking order, and he was sold to Leeds United in August for
£2.75m, no doubt rueing that fact that injuries had prevented him from
chasing more honours with his boyhood club. (Mark Jones)
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