Mark WALTERS

Perhaps we will never know whether it was the possible departure of John Barnes or the desire to sign a player that had helped Glasgow Rangers maintain their prominence North of the Border which prompted Graeme Souness to raid his former club within a few months of taking charge at Anfield. The form Mark Walters had shown at Ibrox had recently seen him capped by England and the kudos of playing for a club like Liverpool seemed likely to ensure his place in Graham Taylor's plans for some time to come. Unfortunately his talents were only put on view sporadically for The Reds.

At his best he could prove to be one of the sharpest attacking implements in the English game, with a range of tricks and flicks which bought space, or positions, a team like Liverpool could ruthlessly exploit. However, after doing the hard work a tendency to over guild the Lilly could allow defenders vital seconds to get back to make a possession winning challenge. A prime example of his ability when things went well was the humiliation of four Spurs defenders in order to set up Robbie Fowler for a stunning goal in the quarter-finals of the 1995 FA Cup. He could also score goals and prime amongst the 19 he notched for The Reds remains the final strike in a 3-0 UEFA Cup win over Auxerre in 1990 which saw a 2-0 deficit overturned from the 1st leg in France.

However, it was clear that he needed the whole team to be buzzing in order to bring out the best in himself. All too often when the chips were down and a flair player like Walters could make a difference he was found wanting. Sometimes woefully so and, although he remained at Anfield until January 1996, he was barely a fringe player for over two seasons with loans at Stoke and Wolves providing his largest tastes of first team football. After a handful of games for Southampton he then spent four seasons at Swindon (see photo at foot of page) where he made 115 appearances and scored 25 goals. (Darren Williams).