"Unbelievable" is the word Mark Lawrenson uses to sum up a 14 season football career which saw him win the European Cup, five First Division titles and every domestic cup in England.
As part of OTB Sports' Up Close and Personal series in association with Gillette, 'Lawro' sat down with fellow former Republic of Ireland and Liverpool player Jason McAteer to discuss his breakthrough at boyhood club Preston through to lifting the European Cup in Rome in 1984.
"Yes, I am," Lawrenson said when asked by Ateer if he's a Liverpool supporter following his trophy-laden seven years at Anfield. "Although my favourite team, as I think most people know, is Preston because when I was 12 or 13 all I ever wanted to do was to follow my dad, who obviously played for Preston.
"I wanted to play for the Preston first-team, which I did at the age of just turned 18, so they are always and will always be my team but obviously Liverpool too, because of the seven years I had, I'm just lucky they don't play in the same division to be quite honest.
"I went to Brighton, Liverpool had come in for me and bid 70 grand, Preston wanted 100 grand and my mother had re-married and my stepfather was a director of the club, talk about incestuous!
"He never told me about Liverpool, there were no agents, and that was in the end of March and in May/June, Brighton came in with an offer of 100 grand plus VAT so that was 112 grand and Preston went to Liverpool and said 'ah, it was too much money' but of course four years later they went on to pay a big whack."
Move to Brighton
At 19, the defender made the switch to the English south-coast, helping Albion to secure promotion to the top-flight in 1979.
"Brighton was fab, it was just fab and all of our players apart from two had been transferred in. I'd joined from Preston and t.hen Gary Williams who had been playing for Preston in the first-team came six weeks later so I had a buddy and everything.
"We had crowds of 25-26 thousand, it was mad because there was no catchment area other than Crystal Palace 50 miles away. or Southampton. There was never really any scrapping or anything, apart from when Brighton played Palace because they hated each other.
"It was just like a nice, easy life and we were winning so everything seemed really simple and it was good. I had an orange Toyota Corrolla, I bought it for 1,200 quid and it was funded by a payment from my contact and I lived in Lytham St Annes, which you'll know and Blackpool and Preston which are just down the road, they hate each other, a real hatred and hate is a strong word..
"When I took it home my step-father said to me 'what have ya done?' and I said 'it's a great car' and .he said 'have you looked at the colour by the way? and I went 'nah, it'll be alright'!
"Not long after, I got transferred to Brighton, and i drove with my all my belongings, my mother was wetting herself, no mobile phones, no M23 or M25, it took me seven hours.
"When I left the house, she said 'ring me' and I went 'how am I going to ring you?' and she said 'you'll have to stop at all the services', nuts. I rang about about two or three times! Money in my pocket, I think I was on 30 quid a week at Preston and I thought that was good, it would be around 300 a week now.
"We were in the old Third Division and I was just a kid outta school and that was my money. I wasn't there long enough to get a second contract. I think my appearance money was obviously good because that enticed me to get into the team and stay in the team.
"I still have a copy of my first contract, 30 quid a week, and I'm the only person in football ever to take his own registration papers, the office was in Lytham St Annes.
"When I signed for Liverpool, Tom Saunders, God rest him, said 'you lived in St Annes don't you?, that's where the Football League offices are. Can I trust you to take your own papers in?' and I said 'yeah'.
"So I took them in and when to the receptionist and said 'these are for' and she asked 'who are you?' and I said 'I'm the fella who signed the contract' and she said 'oh, we don't get many of you in here!'.
Becoming Liverpool's record signing
Having missed out on Lawrenson when he moved to Brighton, Liverpool paid a then club-record fee of £900,000 to secure the Ireland international's signature in 1981 and he was delighted to return to the north-west.
"The first person I saw was Graeme Souness and he had a black eye like it had been painted on by a make-up artist, it was perfect. I arrived on a Friday night with Bob (Paisley) and the doctor was there, there was only about four of us and Graeme had been in for a little bit of treatment.
"He looked at me and said 'don't worry I did two of them and the other one got me' and I said 'shine on', this the football club. Bob was like a grandad in charge of the team, he sent me to a hotel right by the Liver buildings, The Atlantic Tower, overnight."
"I hardly slept," Lawrenson admits. "I couldn't sleep because i'm back home basically, my mum is living only 40 miles away so that's all good. Put my suit on to get ready to go the ground the next day officially and Bob came to pick me up.
"The concierge rang me and says 'Mr Paisley is here' so down I come, all nice and smart and i was walked down he got out of his car and it was like a gold Granada and the first thing I noticed was he had his slippers on! On my kids' lives he had his slippers on and he had like a mustard coloured zip-up and he had egg on it, so obviously he'd had egg for his breakfast.
"I just thought, 'European champions', because they'd just beaten Real Madrid in Paris, I thought 'this will do for me, this is fab'. You just get this feeling and it was great."
Liverpool's winning goalscorer Kenny Dalglish celebrates with the European Cup
Kenny was an "absolute genius"
'Kenny couldn't run, couldn't head it and had a big fat arse - but he was a genius' | #LiverpoolFC 🔴
Here's a Mark Lawrenson talking @LFC with @MCATEER4 for OTB's new 'Up Close and Personal' series | ⚽@GilletteUK | #MadeOfWhatMatters
Full Video ➡️ https://t.co/RzM09nvs6Z pic.twitter.com/7eO9pxjbVg— Off The Ball (@offtheball) October 14, 2020
Lawrenson told McAteer that he was blessed to play alongside some incredible players in the great Liverpool teams of the 1980s but admits that Kenny Dalglish's football intelligence made him stand out.
"Souness never got the praise from other players and teams because he'd top most of them anyway but he was the manager of the side while he was playing...Rushy was great because we got could just keep it nil-nil and he'd nick a goal.
"Big Al (Hansen), it was easy for him, I'd come off covered in blood and shit all over my kit and he'd wander off like he'd just put his kit on and had taken the dog for a walk around the park, it was easy.
"Kenny was a genius as a player, he couldn't run, he couldn't head it and had a big fat arse but he was an absolute genius."
