Alan Kennedy spent seven great years at Liverpool Football Club, and will always be remembered for scoring the winning goal in the 1981 European Cup final against Real Madrid. He made 359 appearances for the Reds, winning six League titles, two European cups, and four League Cups.
Born in Sunderland in 1954, Kennedy began his football career playing for rivals Newcastle United, ironically he played for Newcastle against Liverpool in the 1973 FA Cup final as the Reds were 3-0 winners.
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A no nonsense, tough tackling full back, Kennedy was always a fans favourite at Newcastle and he soon endeared himself to the Liverpool fans when he signed just before the start of the 1978-79 season for a fee of £330,000 under then manager Bob Paisley.
He quickly adapted to Liverpool's way of playing and made 37 league appearances in each of his first two seasons at the club, as he helped them win and then retain the league title.
Although he missed much of the 1980-81 through injury he returned to score two vital goals that would see Liverpool win two trophies, the first goal was against West Ham in the League Cup final, which took Liverpool to a replay, which they then won, and the second was the winning goal against Real Madrid in the European Cup final, for Liverpool to win the European Cup for the third time in five seasons.
Although he only scored twenty goals during his time at Anfield, but Alan Kennedy had already gained the reputation of scoring crucial goals in important matches, he scored again as Liverpool beat Manchester United in the League Cup final of 1983 and a year later was on hand to convert the winning penalty to beat Roma, during a shoot-out to decide the winners of 1984 European Cup final, after the game finished in a 1-1 draw, this was the fourth time Liverpool had won the trophy.
Kennedy played many games for Liverpool the following season, but after the signing of full back Jim Beglin, his place in the first team was no longer guaranteed and he was sold to his native Sunderland. For all those big goals on big nights for Liverpool Alan Kennedy will always remain a Liverpool legend.
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