Blessed with exceptional vision and a wand of a right foot, Denmark’s Jan Mølby was a major contributor to Liverpool FC’s dominance of English football following his arrival on Merseyside in 1984. During his 12-year stay, the Reds accumulated three league titles and as many FA cups, including a prestigious double in 1985/86 at the expense of rivals Everton.
Mølby spoke with MyBettingSites regarding his time at Liverpool, while also giving his take on the qualities of the current side under Arne Slot.
The Dane walked into a dressing room full of European Champions in the summer of 1984, when he made the move to Anfield from Ajax. He made just 24 appearances in that first campaign, but it would not be long before the Danish international would begin to exhibit his class on the field.
His second season at Anfield [1985/86] was far and away his most productive campaign in front of goal and this, of course, translated to springtime silverware – his 21 goals in all competitions from central midfield helped to deliver both the League Championship and FA Cup trophy. This season was, however, the first of five during which English clubs were not permitted to partake in European competition in the aftermath of the Heysel disaster.
In light of their near-relentless success on home soil, Jan is confident that the Reds would have made a sizeable impression on the European stage during this period, had they been permitted to compete.
“It’s obviously difficult to say when you look at the history of Liverpool FC, some of the best players were in that team. And to win a double at the time when Everton – it was the Merseyside duo in those days – we finished first and they finished second, we beat them in the FA Cup final.”
“I think in terms of talent we would have done pretty well [in Europe]. Obviously there was a European ban for English clubs and if you look at the winners of what is now the Champions League in those years – Steaua Bucharest, Porto and PSV – I think we’d have given it a go,” he revealed.
Embed from Getty ImagesPerhaps the most famous of Mølby’s Liverpool strikes was one which, for the best part of three decades, remained shrouded in mystery and became something of an Anfield myth. Unthinkable in the modern age of football coverage, Liverpool’s 1985 League Cup tie against Manchester United was untelevised and therefore, it was only those inside the ground who were lucky enough to witness the Dane come out on top of a feisty 50/50 challenge midway inside his own half before taking off down the right-hand-side, checking inside and releasing a 25 yard pile-driver into the top left corner at the Kop.
“I think at the time, the footage only came about in 2009, I was a bit ‘ooh, now everybody will know’. It is what it is. As you said, it was a bit of a myth. There were no TV cameras at the game in 1985. The only people who’d seen it were the 43,000 inside Anfield. So it’s out there now. Some people go ‘wow, what a great goal’ and some people say ‘is that it?’. I can live with that,” he joked.
Of course, it is incredibly difficult to make direct comparisons between football today and the beautiful game during Mølby’s playing career – yet as was so often the case back then, Liverpool find themselves at the league’s summit, in search of another English crown. And so when posing Jan with the question of which of the current players he’d most like to have played with, he came up with a couple of standout candidates.
“I’m a big fan of players who play the game in their head, they’re half-a-step or a full step ahead of the opposition. And I think Alexis MacAllister is a really, really good player. I think I would be on the same kind of wavelength as him. I think he’s a superb football player.”
“Any attacking player who’s prepared to run forward i.e. run in behind is a dream for a midfield player. [Mo] Salah and his timing of his runs, how often he avoids being offside, is absolutely incredible. So yeah, anyone would have liked to play with him, because of his ability to be in the right place at the right time.”
Something that Mølby shares with Salah is an impressive record from the penalty spot. The pair currently sit level in 2nd place on Liverpool’s all-time list [with 42 successful strikes each] following Salah’s match-winning effort against Wolves on Sunday. Never has the Egyptian managed to dispatch three penalties in the same match though, a unique feat achieved by Mølby in a league cup tie against Coventry in 1986.
Possessing composure of the highest calibre is one of the many reasons that Jan Mølby remained a stalwart of Liverpool’s midfield during one of the club’s most successful periods. Should Alexis MacAllister and co maintain theirs between now and May, a record equalling 20th league title could well be on the cards.