‘Mr Liverpool’ Ronnie Moran has died at the age of 83. Moran spent almost 50 years at Liverpool as captain, coach and caretaker manager before retiring in 1998.
During his time as left back at Anfield he made 379 appearances for the club during 1952 to 1966 scoring 17 goals and wining seven honours. He then went on to work under managers such as Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish, winning 37 more major honours during his time as a coach. On two occasions he was called upon to be the caretaker manager of the side, once after Dalglish departed in 1991 and again as boss Graeme Souness had surgery.
There is no doubting that he can be regarded as one of the biggest influences during some of the clubs most successful times in its history. Moran was a constant at the club, staying on as a coach during each reign of management. He would call for a high level of standards from the players at all times and even following a victory could find faults and areas to improve. It was his ability to get the best out of the players which helped bring the club so much success during his time. He was a large part of Liverpool string of European Cups in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
He was one of the original members of the Anfield Boot Room, a small area under the main stand where Bill Shankly’s coaches would discuss football related matters after training or a match as well as having a drink. The Boot Room became synonymous with Anfield and was retained by the managers which followed. It was here where many of the Liverpool tactics and training sessions were drawn up by one of the best minds in the game.
Moran was given the honour of walking the team out at Wembley before the 1992 FA Cup final against Sunderland. Even after he left the club in 1998 he would still come to Melwood to walk around the training pitches in an effort to keep fit.
The club and former colleagues have taken to Twitter to pay their respects to one of Liverpool’s true legends.