A week is a long time in football and that makes a season feel like an eternity.
For David Fairclough, the 1976-77 season featured his highest point for hometown club Liverpool but also the most "crushing" disappointments of his years there.
Last week on Team 33, we played out Part 1 of an in depth interview with the former Liverpool forward who was in Dublin last weekend for the release of his autobiography Super Sub.
You can listen to part 2 of the interview with David Fairclough on the podcast player or stream/download on iTunes:
Recent interviews on Team 33 include ex-England international Carlton Palmer, Chelsea legends Bobby Tambling and Paddy Mulligan, Dutch legend Johan Neeskens, ex-England striker Darius Vassell, former Ireland midfielder Mark Kinsella and former Everton forward Tomasz Radzinski. Plus our in-depth chats with Tony Coton, Packie Bonner, Nobby Solano, Ron Atkinson and Alan Curbishley are still available on iTunes. You can find them all in one place by subscribing to Team 33 on iTunes.
So last night, we played out Part 2 of my chat with Fairclough, starting with the 1976-77 season and his most important goal for Liverpool against the then-mighty Saint Etienne in a European Cup quarter final, with his winner sending the Reds into the semi finals as they sought to win a first ever European Cup.
Yet, despite his heroics which had begun with crucial goals the previous season, while the end of the 1976-77 season was joyful for Liverpool as they won the first of their five European Cups, on a personal level the campaign ended on a low point as he told me.
"'77 was a terrible time all round. Obviously, we had the success of Saint Etienne and I'd played my part, played in the sixth round of the FA Cup, scored in the sixth round, played in the semi final of the FA Cup," he said.
"We were on a roll, we're going for the treble and then I had one or two discussions with Bob Paisley and that really changed my attitude towards him."
Leaving Fairclough out of the European Cup final against Borussia Monchengladbach in Rome, iconic manager Paisley had also suggested to him that he would feature in the FA Cup final four days earlier instead. It turned out those words were hollow and his man-management towards him did not sit well with Fairclough.
"It was crushing. To miss out on all that glory and the great things that were going on was tough and behind that, my Dad was also having an illness problem which he ultimately died from," said Fairclough, touching on his father who would pass away that summer.
"And obviously my attitude towards Bob Paisley... at that point you realise football is a business. It's not just a case of loving Liverpool for whatever. I've got a personal connection on it and I thought Bob Paisley let me down around that time."
In the full interview, he talked about playing in the 1978 European Cup final, the end to his Liverpool career and how he then went on adventures abroad in Belgium and Switzwerland as well as a tense escape from Corsica after turning down a move to French club Bastia.
Here's an iTunes link to our interviews with Johan Neeskens, Darius Vassell, Mark Kinsella, Tomasz Radzinski & more: https://t.co/YVs6N6HqLp pic.twitter.com/nV0qINJnBc
— Newstalk Team 33 âš½ï¸ (@teamthirtythree) May 26, 2017
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
