Player Profile: Ian Rush, The Goal Scoring Machine - Part 1
Whenever it comes to naming Liverpool’s most successful striker in history, there is only one name that is considered worthy of being called the best in the club’s lucrative history, ‘the champion, the undisputed Ian Rush.’
Bob Paisely, Liverpool’s manager at the time paid a record setting fee of three hundred thousand pounds for a teenager, this remained to be 'Chester’s record setting sale' for the next thirty years. This also shows just how big a deal this was at the
time for an eighteen year old.
Rush’s Liverpool debut came in December that year, in a division match against Ipswich Town.
The ironical and funny part in this match was that Ian Rush was playing with Kenny Dalgish, his future striker partner who is also considered one of the best strikers in Liverpool’s history and Jimmy Case the midfielder scored Liverpool’s only goal
in that match to make it a one to one draw.
At this stage Liverpool was set on defending its own League titles and the League Cup. Also at the time they were contending for the European Cup and Ipswich was rising as title contenders.
Ian Rush used to play at regular intervals in the club and was forced to be infrequent because of Liverpool’s club policy of the time. The policy stated that the young and new talents should start playing in the reserves and come in only every now
and then so they gradually learn the so called ‘the Liverpool way.’
For Ian Rush, the learning part was a hard part and not at all what could have been if he had been given full time opportunities, as the goals did not seem to flow at that time.
These actually brought things to the point that the young talent started to leave Liverpool, looking for other clubs where they would get more first team play time.
Ian Rush decided to stay at Anfield and fight for his place in the first team after being motivated by the manager Paisely.
Ian Rush’s first ever goal scored for Liverpool took some time to arrive and eventually came on the thirtieth of September 1981, during a European Cup first round second leg tie against Oulun Palloseura at Anfield.
Rush ended the season as the clubs top scorer, by scoring thirty goals in only forty nine appearances. When considering the ratio it comes to one goal scored every 1.6 games played, and seventeen of these goals came in the League games. Rush played
a vital part in Liverpool regaining the League Championship from Aston Villa.
The title achievement was even more impressive due to the fact that Liverpool had entered the tenth place in 1982, with clubs like Swansea City and Manchester United leading the title race and then it all turned around and Liverpool saw the League
trophy return to them after just two years.
Ian Rush also scored a goal that helped ‘The Reds’ win the 1982 Football league Cup final against Tottenham Hotspurs.
Rush was voted as the PFA Young Player Of The Year in 1983 and led Liverpool into another First Division and league cup double, but Liverpool did not manage to win these titles.
Rush scored twenty four League goals and Liverpool finished eleven points over their runner up Watford and almost uncontested in the race for the title during the later part of the season.
On the sixth of November 1982 in a match against Everton, Ian Rush scored four goals and gave Liverpool a five to nil victory.
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