Radio City Sport: Reds
Story Highlight
Listen to Saint on Terrace Talk every Saturday from 12noon.
John Aldridge
John Aldridge played non-league football on Merseyside for South Liverpool before signing in May 1979 for Welsh side Newport County for whom he played 198 times, scoring 78 goals. He then joined Oxford United for £78,000 and broke the club's record number of goals in a season in 1984-85 as the U's got promoted to the pre-1992 First Division. He also won the League Cup in 1986 with Oxford, scoring 90 goals in 141 games.
In January 1987 Liverpool signed him as replacement for Ian Rush for £750,000. Linking up with Peter Beardsley and John Barnes, he helped form one of the most exciting attacks in the club's history as Liverpool lost just twice in taking the 1988 League championship, going unbeaten for the first 29 matches. Ian Rush returned a season later and, in 1989, Liverpool accepted an offer of £1,000,000 from Basque side Real Sociedad for John. By then he’d played 104 times for his boyhood favourites scoring 63 goals.
Aldridge was a hit at the Anoeta, San Sebastián and scored 33 league goals in just 63 appearances. He then returned to Merseyside in 1991 with Tranmere Rovers for £250,000 and scored a club record 40 goals in his first season at Prenton Park. In 889 career appearances, John scored a record 476 goals, a tally not matched by any goalscorer in post-war English football to this day. He made 69 appearances for Republic of Ireland scoring 19 goals.
Ian St John
Ian St John was responsible for the single greatest moment of the Shankly era.
It was his extra-time goal that sealed LFC’s first FA Cup in 1965 and brought hundreds of thousands on to the streets of Liverpool in jubilation.
Even today, after famous nights in Rome and Istanbul, that first Wembley triumph is still cherished as one of the club's finest hours.
For a player so small, he was deadly in the air, and it was with his head that he broke Leeds United hearts in the '65 Cup final.
With the game tied at 1-1, it was in the second period of extra-time that the striker twisted acrobatically in mid-air to glance Willie Stevenson's centre into the back of Gary Sprake's net.
The Saint's best season in terms of hitting the back of the net was in the Second Division title-winning campaign of 1961-62 when he bagged 22. It was a feat he went on to match two years later as the First Division championship came back to Anfield.
After his playing days he had spells in charge at Motherwell and Portsmouth before becoming part of the hugely successful TV partnership Saint and Greavsie with fellow ex-footballer Jimmy Greaves.
You can now catch Ian St John on Terrace Talk each Saturday afternoon between 12noon and 2pm and playing golf around the glorious courses on Merseyside.
(Words adapted from www.liverpoolfc.tv)
Steve Hothersall
How did you get into radio? I started out in radio back in 1996 at a small station in Stockport called Signal Cheshire. My break through came when I signed up to a scheme run by the local 'job centre' - and spent the next six months living on the bread line, but loving life in radio.
If you weren’t on the radio what would you be doing? If I wasn't at Radio City & City Talk I'd be doing a job outdoors - I love walking in the lakes and along the Wirral coastline and I've always thought I'd enjoy the life of a 'ranger' or working for the national trust. If I didn't need to go to work you'd find me on one of the beautiful golf courses that are dotted around the North West.
What would you regard as your greatest achievement yet? I've lived the dream working at Radio City - met some amazing people like Tony Blair and Posh Spice but my greatest love affair has been with Liverpool Football Club. I've got two great achievements - my first is having managed the best news & sports team in radio for the last 9 years, and the proof is in the unprecedented number of awards they've picked up. The second is my involvement in the 2005 Champions league Final - my commentary with John Aldridge still fills me with pride, and it often gets brought up when I talk to Liverpool fans. You could say we were caught up in the moment - and it took us a long time to come down!
I've been lucky enough to report on many stories that have had a huge impact on our city. Ones that stick out have been the death of Anthony Walker, winning the race to become the European Capital of Culture 2008 and the impact of Rhys Jones' death on our city.
