Paul WALSH

Paul Walsh joined Liverpool on May 21, 1984, in a £700, 000 move from Luton Town, where he had scored 25 goals in 80 League games. A pacy, skilful striker, Paul arrived at Anfield with a high reputation, having already won three England caps and just been voted PFA Young Player of the Year. He made his debut on August 18, 1984, coming on as a sub in a 1-0 defeat by Everton in the Charity Shield game at Wembley (see photo above, holding off Everton defender Derek Mountfield), and made his League bow a week later in an entertaining 3-3 draw at Norwich City. Two days later, Walsh made a spectacular start on his Anfield debut by scoring after just 14 seconds of a League game against West Ham, a match Liverpool went on to win 3-0.

With Ian Rush out injured, Paul started the next eight League games, scoring against both Sunderland and Manchester United, but was then injured in a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham and lost his place as a fit-again Rush returned to the side. Walsh did not play again until mid-December and, after failing to score in four games, was not given a starting berth again until a 1-1 draw in a European Cup quarter-final tie away to Austria Vienna on March 3, 1985. Paul failed to find the net in that game but made amends in the return leg at Anfield a fortnight later by scoring twice in a 4-2 win as Liverpool completed a 5-3 aggregate victory.

Walsh ended the season in fine form, scoring five times in eight League games, but Liverpool, who had suffered their worst start to a season in living memory with just two victories in the opening eleven games to leave them in an unfamiliar looking eighteenth position, could only finish as runners-up to Everton in the race for the League championship. His last game that term was in the tragic European Cup final at the Heysel Stadium, Brussels. (Martin Greensill)

The 1985-86 campaign proved to be a very eventful one for both Paul Walsh and Liverpool. With new player manager Kenny Dalglish limiting his own appearances in the team, Walsh was often paired up front with Ian Rush. Finding a rich vein of form, Paul scored 10 times in 10 games between 5th October and 7th December 1985, including a brace against Luton in the League and a hat-trick against Brighton in the League Cup. His most impressive performance in this golden spell came at Anfield in a 4-1 League pasting of West Brom on November 16, in which he made three goals and scored one. Sadly, Walsh's excellent season ground to an abrupt halt when he ruptured ankle ligaments in a 1-1 home draw with Manchester United in February and, despite recovering quickly from injury, could not displace a rejuvenated Dalglish from the side. He only started one more game - a 0-0 draw against Sheffield Wednesday in late March - and was forced to watch from the sidelines as Liverpool wrapped up a League Championship/FA Cup double by winning 11 and drawing 1 of their last 12 League games and beating Everton 3-1 in the Cup final at Wembley. Nevertheless, Paul collected the Championship medal that his 11 goals in 20 League appearances deserved. Walsh did not make the starting line-up again until October 25, 1986, an unhappy return to his former club Luton, who humbled Liverpool 4-1.

But his next game, a week later, was much more enjoyable as he scored a brilliant hat-trick in a 6-2 hammering of Norwich City in a League match at Anfield. However, rather than this being a catalyst for a successful campaign, Paul's goals dried up and he could manage only three more in his subsequent 21 League starts. Walsh and Liverpool did make it to Wembley for the League Cup final but their was major disappointment as Arsenal triumphed 2-1 at Wembley, despite Ian Rush putting the Reds ahead. Not surprisingly, Paul came under pressure for his place from John Aldridge, a recent £750, 000 buy from Oxford United, and was dropped from the squad later that month as Liverpool's title challenge faltered and, for the second time in three seasons, they could only finish runners-up to Everton. With Aldridge in superb form at the start of the 1987-88 campaign - he scored in nine consecutive League games - and new signing Peter Beardsley starring alongside him in a deadly combination, it soon became clear that Paul was surplus to requirements at Anfield. His only League start came at Tottenham on November 28, 1987, and it was the North Londoners that he joined for £500, 000 in February 1988. Paul made a total of 112 appearances for Liverpool, scoring an impressive 37 goals. (Martin Greensill)