Liverpool’s title-winning squad showed no mercy when they delivered a footballing masterclass at Dens Park 35 years ago.
A crowd of 14,463 applauded Kenny Dalglish’s team off the park following their ruthless 4-0 victory, the climax of George McGeachie’s testimonial year.
King Kenny’s Reds’ side is widely thought of as one of the best in the club’s history.
It was even described as “better than Brazil” by Sir Tom Finney.
Dalglish had strengthened his Anfield attack in the summer by signing John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and Ray Houghton after losing Ian Rush to Juventus.
Liverpool were in unstoppable form domestically when they arrived north, sitting at the summit of the top flight after winning their previous four league games 4-1, 4-0, 4-0 and 4-0.
Liverpool wanted to put on a show
They checked in to the £5 million Stakis Earl Grey Hotel at the city’s waterfront.
The talk from Dalglish was that they could still play better and would be going out to entertain in Dundee.
He confirmed he would be sending out a full-strength side apart from the injured John Aldridge, with former Oxford winger Ray Houghton making his debut.
He said: “It is an important game for us because a lot of people will be there to see us.
“We hope to put on a show and benefit from playing what will be a competitive match.”
Tickets for the testimonial match were on sale until 5.30pm on the evening of the match from the Keiller Centre while pay-at-the-gate turnstiles were also in operation.
Vale of Tay and Dee Club played a warm-up match from 6.15pm before the testimonial got started at 7.30pm following a presentation of a Liverpool shield to McGeachie.
The man of the hour came through a fitness test to line up against Liverpool having been out of the Dundee XI since being injured in the city derby on October 3.
Dundee: Geddes, McGeachie (Rafferty 65), Angus, Glennie, Smith, Chisholm, Shannon, Mennie, Harvey, Wright, Jack.
Liverpool: Grobbelaar, Venison, Nicol, Lawrenson, Gillespie, Spackman, Johnston, Whelan, Houghton, Barnes, Beardsley (Dalglish 46).
The large crowd included a few thousand Liverpool fans who were in great voice on the terracing at the TC Keay end despite the dismal weather.
Glasgow-born Houghton almost got his Liverpool career off to the perfect start when he headed a Peter Beardsley cross against the bar after just four minutes.
The woodwork was rattled twice more in the early exchanges.
Nigel Spackman hit the post from a Peter Beardsley cross before John Barnes cracked the ball against the other post following some great wing work by Craig Johnston.
Barnes put the Reds in front on 27 minutes when he received a pass from Beardsley, left Jim Smith lying in his wake and steered the ball into the corner of the net.
A Houghton shot was then brilliantly saved by Geddes but it wasn’t all one-way traffic with Graham Harvey and Keith Wright going close for Dundee before the break.
Dalglish rolled back the years at Dens
One of the biggest cheers of the night came after the restart.
Kenny Dalglish appeared for the second half in a Liverpool shirt and he rolled back the years when he crossed for Houghton to score his first goal for his new club.
McGeachie limped off and was replaced by Stuart Rafferty.
Dundee were still making a game of things despite being two goals down.
Bruce Grobbelaar made a brilliant save from a powerful shot by Rafferty and showed agility and alertness to keep out two great headers from Ross Jack.
But it was blind luck that saved him next time.
Jack’s header from a perfect Glennie cross left him rooted to the spot but the effort struck the post and rebounded into the ever-smiling keeper’s arms.
Gary Gillespie went close to making it three before Dundee came briefly back into the game when Harvey’s header from Jack’s cross was saved by Grobbelaar’s legs.
Liverpool delivered two sucker punches on 89 and 90 minutes.
The 36-year-old Dalglish set up a move which was finished by Whelan.
Barnes showed why he was English football’s biggest entertainer when he put the icing on the cake by weaving through the Dark Blues defence to glide the ball past Geddes.
The real winners were the paying punters – and, of course, McGeachie.
Jocky Scott was blown away by the Reds
Dundee manager Jocky Scott described Liverpool’s performance as “brilliant”.
He said: “They are a different class.
“They make it look so easy and play so simply.
“Their people are prepared to move into positions to take the ball.
“It’s good to watch.
“If we learned from that it has definitely been a worthwhile exercise.”
Dalglish added: “We entertained and it was a big night for George.
“Houghton scored on his debut and not many do that.”
McGeachie fought back tears at the final whistle after being given a standing ovation.
“Wonderful,” he said. “What a team Liverpool are. And that crowd – they made it all worthwhile.”
The St Andrews scrap
Liverpool finished the season as champions, with just two defeats from 40 league games and a nine-point gap between them and Manchester United.
Many Reds believe it was the most exciting and attacking team to ever win the league.
They were widely expected to secure a unique second double but surprisingly lost 1-0 to underdogs Wimbledon in the FA Cup final.
The Anfield side returned in early 1989 to honour Dundee goalkeeper Bobby Geddes and this time were “lenient” in a 3-1 victory.
A Tommy Coyne penalty gave the hosts their only goal in front of 9,311 fans.
But the action wasn’t finished there
Grobbelaar – whose ‘spaghetti legs’ stunt helped Liverpool win the European Cup on penalties in 1984 – got into a fight with team-mate Steve McMahon in a St Andrews hotel after the match and broke the midfielder’s nose.
In the book Red Machine: Liverpool FC in the ’80s: The Players’ Stories, he told author Simon Hughes there had been a party at St Andrews, overlooking the golf course.
The goalkeeping legend said: “We were all having a pint afterwards and Steve got into a disagreement with [Reds team-mate] Barry Venison.
“All the Dundee players wanted to get involved, so I pulled the pair of them to one side.
“Steve blew his top and swung a punch at me.
“So I head-butted him and bust his nose. He whinged to Kenny and the boss tried to blame me.
“But the receptionist of the hotel confirmed that Steve was the aggressor.”
Thinking McMahon would have revenge on his mind, Craig Johnston refused to room with Grobbelaar after the fight.
And round two was just around the corner.
The Zimbabwean added: “I hid behind the door in the bathroom and watched the person creep in.
“Craig was right in his prediction — he was canny like that.
“I tapped Macca on the shoulder and smacked him across the nose for the second time in the night.
“He never messed with me again.”
In 2016, ex-Anfield star Steve Nicol recalled watching his two pals brawl.
He told the Liverpool Echo: “[It was the] usual stuff; taking the p*** out of each other when all of a sudden – after about ten pints – all hell broke loose.
“I was sitting with Steve McMahon and Barry Venison and a few others when an argument about shopping, of all things, got out of hand and things got pretty heated pretty quickly.
“Bruce stepped in and tried to split Steve and Barry up but Macca told him to mind his own f***ing business.
“So Bruce stuck the head on Macca – properly nutted him – and there was blood everywhere.”
The timeline of events has been the subject of debate over the years, with Grobbelaar claiming the bust-up happened after George McGeachie’s testimonial.
But the respective team sheets confirm Nicol’s version.
He said: “This particular incident happened in February 1989, not October 1987 as he [Grobbelaar] claims, because Macca wasn’t even in the squad for that trip to Dundee.
“Heavy snow the following day meant the journey back to Liverpool took a lot longer than it should have done, but at least with Macca and Bruce at opposite ends of the bus there was no chance of a repeat of the shenanigans from the night before.”
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