Liverpool vs Arsenal 1989: Alan Smith Recalls Winning the League at Anfield
Last updated: by Alan Smith
For Best Betting Sites, I’m looking back at the most dramatic finish to a league season in English football history: Liverpool v Arsenal 1989 at Anfield.
I remember that nobody fancied us. Nobody at all in the papers or on TV. So we just thought we’d give it a go. You know, what have we got to lose? The first half passed with very few chances. We had maybe one that was cleared off the line – a header from Steve Bould.
But the manager at halftime, George Graham, was very bullish, confident. He thought this was exactly how he wanted it to go. We’ve kept a clean sheet, which was vital. And then I got a goal shortly into the second half, and then it’s game on.
We didn’t get many chances after that at all. Mickey Thomas had like a little toe poke that went straight to Bruce Grobbelaar, but then, in the final seconds, to nick it like that was just incredible.
The Historic Night
There’ll never be an ending to a league season like that ever again because it was a standalone game after everybody else had finished, as that game was postponed because of the Hillsborough tragedy.
The Premier League wouldn’t allow that to happen now after everybody else had finished. We didn’t win it by points. We didn’t win it by goal difference. We won it by goals scored.
It is the most dramatic end to a league season ever. No question. People talk about the Aguero moment and all that, but this overshadows that quite easily because of the circumstances. And it’ll never be beaten. So it’s an honour to have been involved in something like that.
During the Final Moments
There wasn’t a clock at Anfield in those days. There was no clock to look up to. So we kept glancing at the bench, and they were showing us the fingers of how many minutes were left. You weren’t entirely sure.
The Kop had started whistling for the final whistle about 15 minutes before the end it seemed. So we thought the whistle would go at any second. That’s why I couldn’t believe it when John Lukic, our keeper, threw it out to Lee Dixon rather than punting it forward towards me. But it was a good decision in the end by Lukic.
Career Highlight
It was the best moment in my career. One of the lads in the dressing room piped up at the end when we were sipping champagne and said, “Lads, we might as well pack up now. Nothing will ever beat this.” And I don’t think it did.
We won the league two years after that, and obviously I scored the winning goal in the Cup Winners’ Cup in ’94, but ’89 stands on its own as the best moment of my career. And I think for most of my teammates as well.
Arsenal’s Greatest Moment
It’s definitely maybe the biggest moment in Arsenal’s history, winning the league at Anfield. We hadn’t won the league for 18 years, and to do it in that fashion, it’s gone into club folklore now. It gets more special with each passing year.
Obviously, the Invincibles were an amazing achievement and what a team that was. That period under Wenger – I think it was probably some of those years the best team that Arsenal have ever had when you look at Henry, Bergkamp, Pires and Vieira and all those. The best team Arsenal have ever had. But as a standalone moment, I think it’s hard to beat that in Arsenal’s history.
The Aguero moment was brilliant, wasn’t it? But it was against QPR that were fighting against relegation. City were at home. So the circumstances were much different. It was a game you’d have expected Man City to win, whereas we went up to Anfield and it was very difficult to get anything from Liverpool in those days. So to win by two goals, I think it’s a much bigger achievement.