Manager Profile

Joe Fagan tried his luck as a player with Liverpool but manager George Kay said he wasn't good enough. Joe went on to be quite a depandable centre-half with Manchester City. Joe returned to Liverpool on 30th of June 1958 as a coach. He was put in charge of the Liverpool reserves in July 1971 and following Shankly's surprise departure as manager he was promoted to 1st team trainer in July 1974. By 1979 he had become right-hand man to Paisley. On 1st of July 1983, Fagan took over as manager from Paisley. Bob was a tough act to follow but everything fell into place for the new manager in his first season. Joe wrote his name in the record books by becoming the first British manager to win three major titles in one season; the League, the Milk cup and the European cup. Fagan had inherited a strong side from Paisley but that's never been a recipe for success. The team needed a strong character to keep it going. What faced Fagan now was to live up to his own and fans' expectations after such a fairytale season. The omens were not good. One of the strongest characters in the side and skipper Graeme Souness had left for Italy.

The most promising player of the 1983-84 season in the 1st division, Paul Walsh, had been bought in May for 700,000 pounds, midfield maestro Jan Molby from Ajax for 225,000 pounds and midfielder Kevin MacDonald from Leicester. Fagan's buy from the previous season, John Wark came into his own and was the season's topscorer at Liverpool. Liverpool's start was terrible. As if Souness' absence from midfield wasn't bad enough, goalmachine Ian Rush didn't feature until October because of injury. At the end of October the European champions were in 20th place, only two places from rock bottom (2 wins - 5 draws - 4 losses). Liverpool had moved to 10th in December, but in the end couldn't catch Everton who won the title by a mile. Liverpool came 2nd. Liverpool reached the European final again. A big occasion for Fagan as he had decided it was his last match in charge. He told his players simply before the game that after the match they could call him just Joe instead of Boss.

Hooliganism destroyed this great occasion and it was on a sad note Fagan retired. When he came out of the airplane from Brussels, his sadness was for everyone to see. The great gentleman cried on Roy Evans' shoulder. He was already 62-years-old when he took the job and had intended to stay only two years in the managerial seat.

One of Fagan's signings, Republic of Ireland international Jim Beglin said: "He was just a very genuine nice man. He was a very humble, down to earth person. He had a lovely way about him and was very gentlemanly. Underneath that soft exterior, there was also a hardened professionalism. Joe had authority and when strong words were needed, Joe could produce them."