Merseyside For Sport - Ronnie Moran

 

Ronald Moran was born on the 28th of February 1934 in Crosby, Liverpool and joined Liverpool as a fresh faced 15-year-old having been recommended by the postman who used to deliver letters to the Liverpool F.C. chairman. Ronnie started playing for Crosby Boys until he got a scholarship to go to Bootle Technical college which offered a better playing environment for him to blossom and he played for the school as well as Lancashire Boys. He got noticed by an Everton scout, who invited him to train with the Blues, but Ronnie had signed for Liverpool just the previous week when the postman, who was a good friend of Ronnie's brother, paid an unexpected visit to Ronnie's home with Liverpool manager, George Kay, and chairman, Samuel Williams, in tow. He began his amateur playing career at Liverpool  as an apprentice electrician playing 'C' team football before signing professional forms for his hometown club shortly before his eighteenth birthday in January 1952. Ronnie made his first-team debut as a left-back at Derby in November of the same year but had played just 13 times by the end of the 1953/54 season, by which time Liverpool had been relegated to the Second Division. Eddie Spicer's unfortunate leg-break allowed him to establish himself as the team's left-back the following season and he would miss only six League matches over the next five years playing regularly through the whole of Phil Taylor's reign as manager in the last part of the decade. 
He was rewarded for his service towards the latter part of the decade when he was handed the club captaincy and was club captain when Bill Shankly arrived in 1959, but in Shankly's full debut season he got injured on the 1st of October 1960, and apart from a brief one-game unsuccessful return in January 1961, he was out injured for 14 months. He married Joyce in 1962, who he had met at school, and they got married in the morning so he could play football in the afternoon. He played in enough fixtures to qualify for a Second Division Championship medal in 1962 and only missed seven games when the First Division title was won two years later. Ronnie, who took over spot-kick duties in 1960, had scored eight out of ten penalties when he missed four penalties in a row, the last of which in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1964 proved costly. Swansea City were leading 2-1 when Ronnie squandered his spot-kick in the eightieth minute. It was a harrowing experience for Moran who despaired: "I don’t think I’ll ever forget it." During the 1964/65 season, Chris Lawler became established as the club's right-back as Moran lost his place in the side. He did return at the end of this historic campaign playing in both legs against Inter Milan in the European Cup semi-finals, playing his last competitive game in the San Siro stadium when Liverpool were controversially beaten in the second leg of the European Cup semi-final, but missed out on a place in Liverpool's cup-winning team at Wembley against Leeds as Gerry Byrne returned to the side. A successful playing career had come to an end, but a new career at the club was ahead.

 

He formally retired from playing during the 1968–69 but his qualities as a player ensured a longer stay for him at Liverpool. His enthusiasm for the game had always spread around his team and he was totally committed in every game, a quality that prompted Shankly to offer him the chance to join the coaching staff full time. This saw Ronnie joining the Boot Room team of Shankly, Fagan, Bob Paisley and Reuben Bennett. In 1971, he took charge of the reserve team and in 1972-73 guided the Reds' second string to the Central League Championship. Moran, or 'Bugsy' as he had become known, became a vital ingredient in the Liverpool success story with his shrewd knowledge of the game and the ability to get the best out of the players. In keeping with the Boot Room traditions he never sought the limelight and never promoted himself above his colleagues or the team. He became famous on the bench for his loud voice shouting instructions to the players which could be heard in the packed Kop. The 'sergeant major' of Melwood was well-known for keeping strict discipline at the club and despite Tommy Smith's quote that Moran "could moan for England" he was a vital part of the Boot Room and the club's success.  Robbie Fowler was one of many players that were inspired by Moran and recalls, "At Liverpool we are all taught to keep our feet on the ground and I, for one, have reason to remember that no-one subscribed to that theory more than Ronnie. After playing against Fulham and scoring five goals I was feeling well pleased with myself when Ronnie came in the dressing room and said: 'I don't know what you`re looking so smug about. You should have scored seven.' Those words will live with me forever and I think they sum up the greatness of the man." 

In a spectacularly successful period for the club he was a fine, loyal servant working first under Shankly, then Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Roy Evans. He twice filled in as caretaker manager, initially after Dalglish's resignation in 1991, a role he occupied for only ten games with modest record; four victories, one draw, five defeats. Placing on record an unwillingness to take the job on full-time, according to Phil Thompson he had a change of heart. "After a few good weeks Ronnie decided that: 'I can handle this.' He went to see Peter Robinson and Sir John Smith and he said: 'I can do this. If you want to offer me the job again I'll take it.' They went: 'Ronnie, I wish you had come last week because we've got a new manager. It's Graeme Souness!" Ronnie's chance of being manager at Liverpool ended there and then." In April 1992 Ronnie again took over as caretaker again after Graeme Souness went in for heart surgery and on Souness's first game back, the 1992 FA Cup Final, he chose the team along with Moran. Ronnie had the honour of leading Liverpool out at Wembley for The Final with Souness returning to his full-time duties in July. He remained on the coaching staff under Souness and then under his friend Roy Evans when he took over as manager in January 1994, the ninth manager he had worked under at the club, in one capacity or another, in his near half century of dedicated service. Ronnie finally announced his retirement from football and left Liverpool in 1998. Along with Bob Paisley, he had filled every role imaginable at the club from player, to physio, to coach and trainer, through to manager, and kit man. After 49 years at the club he was rewarded with a well-attended testimonial match against Glasgow Celtic on the 16th of May 2000.

Ronnie Moran died on the 22nd of March 2017, at the age of 83 and the funeral service was held at St Luke's Church, Crosby where a who's who of Anfield legends gathered to pay their last respects to a man who had helped make them all what they were. Phil Thompson reflected on how Moran had played a crucial role in establishing Liverpool as a global force in football. "In 1974 it all happened. Ronnie stepped forward when Shanks left, Ronnie took over the first team and that’s where it all started. That’s where we all got it as players, it was a fascinating time, because Ronnie was that guide."

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