The Official Story of Bruce Grobbelaar

A video from 1990 telling the story of Bruce Grobbelaar.

The video features interviews with Bruce and Debbie Grobbelaar, Tom Saunders, Bob Paisley, Kenny Dalglish, Alan Hansen, Gary Gillespie, Jan Molby, Barry Venison, Ian Rush, Phil Thompson, John Barnes, Peter Robinson and Brian Glanville. The narrator is Bob Wilson.

European Cup Final match footage has been removed to try to prevent the video being blocked by UEFA.

[Music] there is an old saying in football that tells us you have to be crazy to be a [Music] goalkeeper without question goalkeepers are different [Music] indeed there are many ways to classify a keeper but there is one who’s in a category all of his [Music] [Applause] [Music] own born in Durban South Africa Bruce David grobar has traveled the world entertaining fans with his Unique Style famous as much for his eccentricities as for his agility and excellence [Music] he has a character as colorful as a clown whose courage and consistency are unquestioned [Music] [Music] he is a showman and an extrovert and he also happens to be a genius between the posts [Music] here in Britain you call it graa because it’s easier for the English pronunciation you know to come around but uh really it’s get the the back of the throat going and roll the RS for the the Dutch way of doing it so and in Dutch definition it means clumsy clumsy person juggling clumsy so it was quite ironic that I became a a goalkeeper I was a naughty little kid because I’d rather play sport than do most of my school work they you just had the opportunity to play sport all the time I always elected the g go always cuz uh if you can dive around and do these acrobatic saves and the people in Christ he’s a great he’s a good little kid which I did all the time you see I was a bit of a shman in those days you know yeah my father was a football player um soccer and he played baseball played a bit of cricket whenever I watched my father I thought he was the best in the world and uh same with my mother you know I supported them as a true supporter should do is I got behind who my favorite goalkeeper was until I watched the game when they played in against Malawi at the Glam stadium and the goalkeeper not in the first team in Mala first team but in the second team side for Mala had one leg and he bounced around the goal with one leg and I thought well I’ll hold my hand up to that fell he’s my hero C kambria was his name I started off playing at school uh went on and I was missing about in a In My School playing Ground whilst I was in high school but we didn’t have any sport on that day was on a Friday afternoon I was just got some friends at high school and we just wanted to kick around went into the goal and uh person Dave Russell came across walking across randing over he said would you like to come and join a football team I said him well no there’s no chance my mother will never let you so he came home set it all up and that’s where I joined a football club was my debut as a professional and my mother was dead against me join joining as a professional playing in professional ranks at the age of 15 and uh we lost 3-1 to mutanga United and my geography teacher at the high school played for mutanga FC and we got beat 3-1 I got the first goal put straight between my legs by my own Center half not make me for the first goal and that was my career starting on there Bruce’s sporting Excellence could have taken him in a number of directions having shown great promise as a cricketer and as an athlete he was offered a baseball scholarship by the University of Massachusetts sets in the United [Music] States then I joined a a mixed team in bu in the matab land area and played with the predominantly um matab Billy um tribe which is Josh and koo’s side so I played for them and we won everything and then I saw was Sal to chuku back to Harari the capital I was happy until he decided to buy the the black prod goalkeeper at that stage I was playing in golf Ria and that alterate between myself and bani sabanda um it was okay I played my first team games we won our first team games and then all of a sudden I was dropped so I got in my mini little bought a little mini there in those days and I packed all my stuff up and I off I went bu away I walked into my mother’s shop around about 4:00 in the afternoon and she nearly had a heart attack she asked me what I was doing there I said Well I packed up my work and I don’t want to play for them anymore I told her the story and she said well you’re going to have to think about something you know to do I said well what is there I’ll have to find a job she said well you’re going to get called up in the Army so you might as well go and volunteer so I said yeah well let’s go now so we went that immediate time and I about 4:30 I went into the recruitment office said to the the sergeant in charge I said uh is there any um intakes coming up he says oh yes there’s one in 6 weeks I said n that’s too too much I’ll be gone by then he says well there’s one tomorrow so I signed up and I join the next day and that was intake 147 and it was in June the 17th 1975 we thought oh well nice nice little cushy number here because you’re not allowed to go into the into the bush until you’re 17 and on October 6th I turned 17 and that was the end of our our training you know 6 8 weeks training we went on to Bard control we just get your rifles sticks of eight and you go and do your border control you go up and down the border and you swap cigarettes for chocolates they had the good chocolates we had the good cigarettes and Christmas Christmas Eve they decided to mortar us we knew then that we were we were in for right hairy time and all it was they just wanted they wanted their country back basically and they’ve got it through a long hard struggle Shankle said didn’t the old Manager of Liverpool he said I a lot of people think that football’s a matter of life and death but but it’s more important than that and I don’t think grar would go along with that at all and grar is a man who has experienced life and death the imminence of his own death and uh probably the death of a good many of his black good opponents and when you come out of that kind of experience football will I suppose seem to be something that is not totally serious and it isn’t it’s a game Bruce’s national service lasted nearly 2 years but at the end of it his appetite for soccer was still there and he was prepared to travel to play what he didn’t realize was how far he was going I decided to go down to South Africa went down to South Africa and played for Durban city um played there for 18 months I came over here and uh with £10 in my pocket and I’m here now via Vancouver because I couldn’t get a work permit in England to play for West Brom cuz I was on the South African passport went to Vancouver when I when when I was in Vancouver I came back to crew and I could play for at crew only if I found one of my an ancestors or grandparents was born on British soil so we looked through the archives and everything and we found that grandfather from my other side was born in the cape toown castle which is now cap toown Fort is now the castle and it was the British stronghold uh in the B War cuz my great great grandfather was in the Welsh fusers they were stationed there and that was regarded as British soil so they gave me playing status now and I played for crew 24 games I used to do a bit of scouting and Bob Bley sent me to watch a played at Portsmouth so having arrived I paid me money and stood in the crowd next to two follows with flat caps and they were playing crew Portsmouth wanted two points to gain promotion and the goalkeeper in the crew end was having an absolute Blinder and these two old Fells one turned to the other and said well we’ll not get the two points today because this Fell in This goal is determined that he’s not going to get the however on my returned to Liverpool reporting back to the manager it was then Bob Paisley at the time the player that asked me to watch I said well he’s not for us but the goalkeeper might be worth having to look at and that goalkeeper happened to be grober I went back to Vancouver the second year and that was when Bob Paisley came out and he said had of a meeting at Liverpool um they want to sign you then I went with Tom Saunders and we saw him in a game where he really showed his so we came away and and took him Bob Paisley was the fellow and he recognized the outstanding Talent just in a very short space of time it was his hands his alertness his quickness his ability to be in the right place his position the angles he took up all of these things he can write a book on on them but he he had those things at at that time but above all he was most anxious to succeed and that probably was himself who made made himself what he is we signed Bruce on a on a firstly on a recommendation from Tony waiters Tony had been with us um as our youth development officer for a period after he finished playing of course he was a very complished goalkeeper himself with with black bull in England and he he recommended that Bruce who was with his Club at vanc over Tony was a very very good um coach excellent coach especially with goalkeeping but one thing he did with goalkeepers he made them fitter than anybody else two years that I had there was most fantastic time I’ve had I would never have swapped it for the world unless it was uh Liverpool Football Club after years of globe trotting Bruce grar arrived at Liverpool it was March 1981 4 months later a new season began and the club’s fans were to meet their new goalkeeper for the first time you know Liverpool Pride themselves in getting everything just right for the start of a new season the really hard Works already been done of course so what they’re doing now is just adding a few final touches to the preparations for tomorrow’s game against wolves they’ve been changing the summer too and the word going around all the other first division grounds is that manager Bob paisy that Wy old fox has plumped for real quality yet again club’s record signing mark lawrenson from Brighton who can play either in defense or in Midfield Craig Johnston the previous record signing from Middlesboro he’s ready to start the new season and so too and most surprisingly I suppose is goalkeeper Bruce groer signed from Vancouver White Caps he’s got the toughest Act of all to follow that of Ray Clemens Clemens had been part of the Liverpool success story for 10 years he’d also won 61 England caps and was one of the best Keepers on the international scene I played three games for the reserves got knocked out of the World Cup with Zimbabwe so I decided to go back to my lawyer’s place in Hawaii and have a relaxing time so it was on the golf course where we were staying I’ve just won the last hole and the kids his kids came up and ran up to him dad uh it’s a phone call from you know England so fine I’ll let him go on and he came back he said your honor put down the ball took the back swing and as I was coming down he says Ray lemus has gone to Tottenham and the ball went out of bounds but I didn’t mind I’m well happy and the confidence was already there do you think you’ve got the concentration which is necessary to play behind a Liverpool defense something which Ray Clemens was a master at well uh I’ve been put in the deep end I’ll just have to settle down and and show them that I have got the concentration I’ll have to do the uh I’m going to have to concentrate 150% instead of the usual 90% in games yeah you strike me as being a very confident sort of chat which is obviously a good thing do you have any fears at all about what’s ahead um no uh I don’t have any fears I’ve been thrown in situations before where I’ve got to I have to survive uh so I just I am going to survive I hope we were really stereotyped in the way we did things we did everything by the board and we worked on everything uh properly all of a sudden we had this uh as he called himself jungle man and he came here and he just had his own law and he just went about H things in his own way Ray was in charge of the first team and he was doing a good job woring a lot of trophies and then but soon as Bruce arrived you could see with B I was experienced then that you could see right away that he was a bloke that wasn’t going to stand still and and stay in the reserves unfortunately for for Rose and him Ray decided to move on now why he moved on we don’t know but he moved on to Tottenham and um we had a good deputy and and Bruce came in and right away you knew that he was going to do a good job but it was hard getting to know one another we’d played we played at that time with Ray Clemens we understood one one another we’d play for many years we knew exactly when R come for the cross and uh I’d know exactly when to go for the header to clear it but all of a sudden Bruce had came and Bruce was racing out to the edge he his box trying to catch balls and punch balls down and he was leaving the goal open and uh in all honesty we did we did have problems then uh vast problems CLK couldn’t hold it from my point of view they could either take me or they could leave me they could complain and they can go and get another goalkeeper before I’m care you know and I was there to do a job yes for the first 3 months four months I didn’t do it up to up to scratch Liverpool didn’t make the best of starts to the 1981 82 season and Bruce had to take much of the criticism his Antics were enjoyed but the errors were noticed it’s up to Brucey you know I mean we feel he come too far and he accepts this uh having said that I think the guy was a bit lucky to score because I thought he had Mish hit it and you know hit the bar and it come down and Tom was in the line that hit off him goes in a bit unlucky but uh I think Bruce will admit he came too far after the Christmas time I lost the captaincy so I was having as hard a time as probably Bruce was um Bruce settled down he he l a little bit and he wasn’t doing his his D things um but as I say it’s all a learning process no matter how old you are Bob pey just let me carry on and I’m grateful for the man because I think he’s another one of the honest managers around and uh he was a nice man a real gentleman there were times when Bruce considered whether or not he had done the right thing in coming to Liverpool but Bob Paisley kept faith that was a reflex head up from Brian MCD produced the save from he gave me a chance many many managers at that time when I was I was going through the sticky patches would have said well out and put someone else in fair enough you know um I hold my hand up to him he he gave me my chance and I proved him I proved that I was good enough to do the job out by Ray Kennedy it had been a tremendous jump up from the class of football he had been playing before joining Liverpool to the European state on which he now found himself here’s and Brar can’t keep it out the learning process continued he hadn’t really a lot of experience in any sort of Top Flight football before he enjoyed joined us really his his rise was quite meteoric when you when you think he was only playing in um local football and then in in football in um uh America where the standards weren’t particularly High to come into to the the English first Division and into European competition and do so well was really tremendous credit to him the quality in the class was beginning to show through and in March 1982 Bruce lined up with his Liverpool teammates at Wembley for The League Cup [Music] Final Liverpool were playing Tottenham Hotspur and ironically Bruce found himself entering the arena alongside Ray Clemens the new keeper against the old a chance for Bruce to lay the ghost to [Music] [Music] rest Steve archal put Spurs ahead in the first half the way Spurs in the lead 11 minutes gone a clumsy sort of goal but AR B persistent TR amongst Bruce’s teammates that day were a young Ronnie wheeler and a Ian Rush both still playing with him nearly 10 years later but as the sides came out for the second half it still looked as if it would be Ray clemens’s [Music] day an equalizer from wheen in the dying minutes forced extra [Applause] time another strike by Hero of the Day [Applause] [Music] wheelen and a goal from Ian Rush sealed the game for Liverpool [Applause] rushon stopped by CL but it’s not away yet 31 was the first to congratulate grar for about eight years that I’ve been playing I’d had this fell Ray Clemens who I did know and I probably knew what he had for breakfast and everything and then all of a sudden we had Bruce there who was swinging on crossbars and things and but it was it’s one of those learning processes and we’ all you know at the end of the day Bruce’s records speaks for itself those early days it’s the same as everybody when I was a young boy coming into the team people probably looking at me and saying well he can’t do certain things he can’t do that and he’s getting in the way but you got to learn you got to do it sometime the game needs people who sort of can bring that little bit of jity to the game and uh Bruce Bruce gave that with his hands downs and everything like [Music] that it’s a big step going for Vancouver white cups to play in Liverpool’s first game within a year but he did well and the game is talking about the The League Cup final at Wembley uh I think it was more that Ron whe did Bruce or anyone else one as a cup that day but he he be look back that and he’ get pleasure from that especially with three Clem end Bruce’s celebrations that day are etched in the memories of all football supporters it wasn’t long though before he had another reason to be head over heels and he had another day to celebrate well we met in Hong Kong I was working for British lways and I was a stewardess and I happened to be in the Dickens bar of the excelsia hotel and Bruce and his mly crew walked in so he bought me a drink and I showed him around Hong Kong cuz I’ve been there quite a few times so when she got back I picked up the airport I said listen I’m off to you know Zimbabwe with by myself tomorrow night said why don’t you just get a doctor’s note and come with this I can’t do that I said go and get your doctor’s not she went got to the doctor’s night give it to R she’s coming to Zimbabwe and that’s how went you know took Debbie around Zimbabwe as well she knew the place because she used to fly there she had friends there and it was uh one of those situations where we in up in inyanga and uh we’ just been to the casino and I said uh well you wouldn’t marry me would you said well you wouldn’t marry me I said I would friend are getting married said yeah where we going to get married yeah she says I said yeah we’ll just go down the the DA’s office and get uh registered and married she said okay so next day traveled to mutari at the time its old name was Amari and uh we traveled in tracksuits but we had our clothes hanging up I went upstairs and saw the The Da and he said uh come in s uh he said uh well you want to get married I said yeah you from Zimbabwe I said yes and you from Britain yes uh yes very very good how long have you been here so I said for S days we’ve been here seven days ah well we’ve got a problem you have to be here 14 days if you’re not a a resident or you know citizen so I said well I’m a citizen here’s my passport so he looked at my passport and his reaction was ah Bruce hey how’s it man I used to watch you when you played here in for Zimbabwe and Medan Highlanders I I think the rules can be broken here so that was it we got signed up and we got married in trait on the 7th of the 783 it wasn’t planned to be in a track suit but it was very comfortable and we did have a have a blessing laser which gave us a good opportunity to do it properly and uh involve my parents well tally came around uh the very next year at ‘ 84 um when when Debbie was giving birth we were thinking of names to give them um if it was a boy you know we’d go through all the names and I said I fancy an African name something different one of them was boomy which was spelled Bui which I think would have been fairly unfortunate for a child and then we came up with T from m t where we were married and little Olivia she she came about and it was a again whether it’s a boy or girl depending on what the names and I wanted to use my father’s name who which was hendrik cabriel Gabriela so I phoned home and I said listen mom you know fancy using my father’s name here but it’s a girl you know we got a girl here so we got Olivia in there so she said why don’t you change Gabriel to Gabriella so that’s what Gabriela comes in and theno I just hope that they can Sayo not groba in the early days Bruce continued to find himself in at the deep end he soon discovered that local Derby games against Everton had attention all of their own I think sometimes the way player fights a goalkeeper obviously the the goalkeeper makes a contribution he’s expected to make the the easy saveing if it PES off some difficult saves it’s going to be just a bonus for [Music] us tling so to his R Cliff breaks for Lee now dlish against Ross tring to jumy one of those positions that he’s so good at and soness courtesy of [Applause] DL he had been dubbed the clown by Everton fans but on this occasion the clown had the last love with a game finally balanced at one all Bruce pulled off a spectacular match winning save from Graham sharp and Liverpool went on to win [Applause] 3-1 sh a shot out of nothing was entitled really to I think sometimes B play in The Possession that we get the amount of ball that we’ve got it makes it difficult for a goalkeeper to concentrate I think he’s concentrated on a whole very well that was a by out of the 11 goalkeeping is different because he uses his hands he’s got a whole area to use his hands in that is his area he commands it he’s the captain of that area never mind if there’s another captain on the field that is your area and you command [Music] that stri that was a verying well I remember him when I played uh for Watford against him uh we actually beat them 2-1 in the game N9 years ago but he made a a great safe from ah header man I don’t really scw out of calls with my head but he made a tremendous safe which showed his agility then but since playing for Liverpool he makes them every week you know drops one or two cers but he you know he makes up the saes he makes bup it it’s a good effort oh it’s an outrageous save by grala most goalkeepers would be happy to push that one aside beautiful shot from bumpstead RAR caught it terrific that one’s all right straight this one’s been dislocated so is that one that one’s been broken that one’s okay that one’s dislocated that one’s dislocated and those two that one there is a beauty isn’t it if you hit get a ball hit on the end it just pops out in this part of your the front part of your finger is on top so you got to pull it out and back into into the socket yeah a lot of goalkeepers go off CU they can’t get them back in the socket just quickly grab it and and car on plane hopefully it’ll be okay Charming of all the games Bruce has played for Liverpool the most important came on a May night in Rome in 1984 soon to get massive the occasion was the European Cup Final and the opponent with the Italian Champions Roma Liverpool opening the scoring through Phil Neil but by the end of the first half the Italians had drawn level and the scores remained deadlocked at one all until the end of extra time then the destination of the European Cup was to be decided in a dramatic penalty shootout was Joe Fagen came up to uh all the players and he said um you know you’ve done your best you couldn’t ask for no more for us we’ve done well if you win the penalty shoots out you win if you’re not I still not going to think less others but no the five were named to take the penalties and the Bruce is there to save them I think he just like to Bruce much no you can to do your best there’s nothing else you can do and Steve Nick will make it 1 nil for Liverpool five penalties for each side remember oh bad news inevitably swings towards R scored in the second leg against uny there he is just a yard behind the ball very often to the goalkeeper left [Applause] no he must do it and he has and they got what he miss we getting struck firmly by sunus wi the keeper no so that I took a penalty myself and I was was very nervous walking up to the spot [Music] I can just imagine them going up there and Bruce is clowning round and and I think he could have been there going to place it and when he seen Bruce clowning around I think he Musta decided to blast there and it’s G over the bar so a lot of it goes down to [Music] Bruce missed it missed it so Liverpool 3 to up Liverpool are European Champions what Joy Alan Kennedy’s penalty goal leaves Rome distraught and merys side jubilant The League Championship the milk cup the European Cup Everton of Wen with the FA Cup and Alan Kennedy’s penalty gives liverpol the European Cup for the fourth time well I think that’s why his confidence really did Shine through um he was in front of a crowd of something like 75,000 um majority of them Italians uh all willing Roma to win uh and for Bruce to be so confident and get up to the Antics that he did and to put off an experienced Italian International player a player with Worldwide experience um really is is a fantastic credit to him and and that really does some show his ability well I don’t know if he put anybody off but certainly um he was in the middle of the goals um the two of them put them over the bar and and we won the competition he’s got to been the top three goalkeepers in Britain I don’t think you you’d change him for anybody I think he certainly would have played for England at some stage he’s that good he’s played here for 10 years and um you don’t mess about here if you’re not good enough you’re at the side you’re at the club and he’s held his position for 10 years which speaks for itself Bruce galar’s consistency of performance in the toughest league in the world has left no one in doubt of his ability it is no surprise therefore that he regrets that he hasn’t had the opportunity to play at the highest International level cuz I’ll never be used with Zimbabwe again you know I’m just uh left on the on the Shelf I’m going to be Liverpool goalkeeper or another team’s goalkeeper for the next 10 years and internationally I’ll I’ll never get a chance whether he would have displaced Peter Shelton really one can’t say one can only speculate at but I’m positive um that um he would have been in the England squad and had he been in it he would have been pushing Peter shilton for that place in fact he would not have been satisfied to be second to him I would R Brucey would have had a really good chance I don’t think he would have displaced pet of sh uh but at the end of the day he would have been in the squad and probably enjoyed World Cup successes but sadly regulations have restricted Bruce to a European stage one year after their Triumph in Rome Liverpool were back in the European Cup final but this time instead of Joy there was tragedy as the events of heel [Music] unfolded uh I put it in the paper I didn’t really want to play again because I wouldn’t didn’t want to be involved with the football side that caused uh those deaths to another side just over a game of football football is um it’s the world game to bring countries and clubs together and it should be a fun not not uh a war because it was the last game of the season I could go away and reflect on the what what had happened and I went to the Grand Cayman Islands and I went to Disney World with the children with T at the time and uh I thought back and I saw I thought well if I don’t play football then the holigans have won I think it would have been very sad but I also admire and respect the fact that he should so seriously have thought of doing so because I I think it showed as did his charitable and generous and Humane Behavior with the Liverpool supporters after the equally horrific tragedy of Hillsboro that he is uh a fully developed human being within minutes of that FA Cup semi-final starting Bruce was aware that there were problems behind his go [Music] the ball went over and someone came up and said BR Bruce effing Al do something please and I then realized that they were they were going to die straight you know they would die in need of help and I said to the police woman a police man I thought it was a man and I said for Chistes could you open up the gate and let them out you know they and they ignored me and the second tell the Bo and I I said for flower sake open the bleeding gate which they did and that’s six minutes came up and the people on the pitch that was when the referee stopped the game and took us [Music] off the following day a memorial service was held at the Metropolitan cathedral in Liverpool incred [Music] Bruce grar read one of the [Music] lessons The Souls of the virtues are in the hands of God no torment shall ever touch them in the eyes of the unwise they did appear to die they’re going look like a disaster they’re leaving us like an [Music] inhalation but they are in peace they were families and they they they were they were really grieving and they needed the moral support and the club decided that the the moral support that they should get was from the players um to reassure them that know they came to watch the team that they loved and if we had turned our back on backs on the fans then I don’t think that uh we would have been held up in in high esteem in their eyes uh we had to do something for them and everybody was a who was a part of Liverpool the wives families uh that’s that’s what happened they that we were there to comfort the The Grieving and the the wives did very very well excellent as hard as it was the game had to go on and likee all the players Bruce just wanted to give his best to the fans with a few forward now including Naim on this side and how when he try a blast might well tipped away beautifully there by from sway the first real serious r lock by mcmah fied by town oh magnificent both the shot and the [Music] [Applause] save the city roaring forward oh and drove the last off becoming 32 and mlar generate some power could be a potent force and is [Music] sh Co and shitty round off for Everton nobody else got the uh hat in the cloak tell us about that well look at all the other boys they getting wet I’m not you know and the hat is for the maybe a hattick of M final winners medals Stevens Wembley Stadium has staged a number of merys side Derby matches during the 1980s in 198 four Liverpool beat Everton in the milk cap final you certainly get your money worth I’m telling you couldn’t dislike the lad to save his life cuz he puts every single thing in and he that versatile it’s incredible well let’s see whether he can save now from sharp and he can [Applause] [Music] back on the field but it was in the 1986 FA Cup Final that Bruce pulled off one of the finest saves of his career not before an astonishing mixup with teammate Jim beglin Yan mby picks up the story we were one0 down at the time and Bruce has come for two or three crosses he’d missed them he’ just got a touch of them and everon didn’t manage to score and it ended up with him and Beck having a little bit of go each other the ball had come out and had gone down the line and I was chasing it with Jimmy beglan and I shouted him to leave it but instead of him leaving it he put his foot on the ball and I shot past it so I had to scramble back together it fortunate fortunately for me and him I did and then I grabbed him and I you know just toy him sh Irishman blah blah blah we we had words from then on I think it was only two minutes from then on we equalized [Music] and straight after we equalized Bruce made a marvelous safe from gr Shard I think that would go down in history as one of the finest safe that Wembley but also was a major contribution to us winning the cup [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and I was still stuck out on the left hand side of my goal so I had to scramble back fortunately for me it was a looping header and the ball was going up and we get back quick enough to just tip it over over the ball on it was only one way we we beat him 3-1 and I think to a certain extent it might just tighten us up we say Hey listen everyone even the experienced player like Bru is fining into this this difficult let’s all get again and and start pulling like it’s [Music] Derby games have however also given Bruce some of his lowest moments in March 1988 Liverpool were well on course to beat Leeds United’s unbeaten League run of 29 games from the start of the season set in 1974 ironically the team that stood in their way was Everton and in the 14th minute disaster in [Applause] lipol behind P beaten is it good uh I think Bruce had come for the corner and uh I think it was Sharpie got near post to flick on and way CL nipped in at the back post to score I mean it was one of these things we had had fantastic run 29 games undefeated uh and we looked as if we were going to do the the record after the game like there was a little bit of stick flying about but he played his part in these 29 games UND almost any Outfield player can hope to get away with the mistake a goalkeeper occasionally can somebody might kick off the line or forward might when he’s missed the ball goke Miss missed his kick but generally speaking goalkeeper error is fatal he’s the last in line and goalkeepers do tend to be idiosyncratic and grobler as I say is is is an enigma I think there is this this strange tendency to lapses of concent concentration because for example I mean that last season he gave away an absolutely appalling goal at at Wimbledon and I started my uh my report where there’s groble are there’s hope uh the cross came over from the left from uh little Terry Gibson and it was Gras bore all the way and the only man opposing him was Dennis wise who I suppose was about 5’6 in his socks 5 six and a half in his boots and somehow or another grar let the ball slip and the little man got the ball and into the net it went it was a truly bizarre goal yes that incident was a a curling cross from um Gibson and it was coming around the far post and if I had left it it might have crept around the post or it might have gone in so I decided right I’m going to catch this but I didn’t catch it I’ve just paid it and he just headed the ball in and again where was The Defender I’ve got uh you know to ask the question if he was that close where was the defender mocking him so you know you can go on all day blaming the goalkeeper and I’ll come back with some answers atmosphere an [Music] already and missed it he hasn’t been certain in off his line as he usually is he knows he case robar and bison in terrible trouble it’s horn but the problem with that incident was we didn’t have a brain between us at the time so we got got mixed up not for the first time but it was just a lack of understanding that was all it’s things that happen regularly throughout the season luckily enough it doesn’t cost us anything well I mean I’ll BL Blu and he’ll BL me that’s the way it is you’ve got to blimp somebody else Mark Chamberlain Callahan beyond the far post got it back row was off his line bracewell there marw sterl driving it in go shelter it’s down to me te occasion toor certainly has there R has he thought he has uh the full story of that is yes I came out my area and I tried to pass the ball to Alan Kennedy with my left Peg my left foot tried to bend it round and I just went straight and him R went thank you very much went around me and tried to score I was not really in into the game of football there I think I think he has this tendency to make errors there’s a certain insuance in his game isn’t there the fact that it is a game game that he’s playing in the last analysis for fun even if he is a dedicated professional who keeps himself superbly fit uh he would never uh concur with shankley that a game is more important than life and death or remotely as important as uh life and death and that possibly is as I’ve suggested at the bottom of some of the mistakes he makes and at the bottom of that again the fact that he did have life and death experiences uh in the uh war against gorillas in redia his his mistakes are sort of part of the Legend part of the man part of the goalkeeper and uh I think the reason that people are so astonished by his mistakes and so shocked by his mistakes is that because by and large he is such a magnificently talented keeper and nowhere did Bruce display his Brilliance better than at Old Trafford against Manchester United during the 198 990 season by everything about Manchester United play was [Applause] right acoba and [Music] abs the was coming in he could have shot so I had to hold in air post and then the ball came over so I had to wait until it went over some defender’s head and then move and then wait until he hit the ball and then move again and fortunately for me I flung up a hand went after it and got it with a solidly and it just popped up and went over the ball well it’s an ideal height in build obviously I think the greatest that he’s got uh is his quick reflex um for me that’s just that’s his number one strength obviously there’s an awful lot of other work like coming for crosses coming out the box clearing his his lines for us and acting sometimes almost as a Speer I think the reflexes are things that that uh I’ll get them past and that’s the thing that might be take him away from from being a normal goalkeeper yeah for me he’s actually been the United’s best player today at least stuck at the task he’s never got thisp who it’s an own goal R reand well Kar could do nothing about that hsein heads it away sometimes though there really is nothing even a goalkeeper like Bruce can do there’s an enormous amount of luck uh I mean grobar himself has made saves which instinctive saves reflex saves he is an instinctive rather than uh if one can use the term uh usefully or appositely in terms of in the context of football rather than an intellectual goalkeeper he’s an instinctive goalkeeper reflex goalkeeper though he is not what some goalkeepers are slightly damned for being uh simply a good goalkeeper on the line uh a shot stoer shot stopper now is almost a term of abuse it means a goalkeeper who will stop the shots that come in and on the line but he won’t dominate his own penalty area grar a lot more than that but I I think a goalkeeper will have the luck he deserves and a goalkeeper who is as Brave as bra and as incredibly agile and Gymnastic as Brar such a superb athlete will make his own luck eventually through towards [Music] CL the against the post Anda that there was a foul Bruce’s courage and bravery however has occasionally led to [Applause] [Music] injury [Music] Ang ay there he got dropped a bit by J one of the most worrying periods of his career started in a match against Spurs fans wondered why on such a warm day he had chosen to wear tracksuit bottoms I had all this long these long long trousers the Thomas and Kono type of charers and everybody thought oh there’s something wrong with Bruce here for sure is he injured must have be injured on his knees or something but uh it was here that was hard playing like that because when I started getting the headaches when I went up for crosses I would take off and it was like leaving your head on the ground and going up for the ball that’s how i’ hurt and when you caught the ball and started coming down your head was up there and you hit the ground he had had flu the week before and we thought it was another case of flu and but Bruce I mean he can carry on through most things but this he just could not get his head off the pillow so we were meant to be going out for Sunday lunch um and a very near neighbor of ours is a GP so I rang him up I said could you come and have a look at Bruce cuz I’m pretty worried because he wouldn’t get out of bed which is unlike Bruce and he was very Swift he called the hospital and a consultant came straight out and knew straight away I had it in my mind what I thought was wrong but he always hope this isn’t that and he was in the hospital within sort of 45 [Music] minutes men in is was diagnosed a disease which in its strongest form can kill that’s a horrifying thing to happen to him and you just realized there but for the grace of God Etc because who could be more superbly fit and more magnificently fit and Powerful athlete than grar and he’s struck down by poing disease such as that getting back his Fitness was not easy but Bruce has always been a supreme athlete it’s generally accepted that the great keepers of the modern game can play at the highest level until 40 but for a while his whole career was in doubt Liverpool’s training methods did bring him back to full fitness and eventually Mike Hooper who had aily kept gold during Bruce’s absence had to step aside [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] after missing 25 games Bruce was back in goal for Liverpool in January 1989 against Southampton and was once again in the thick of the action it was followed by a remarkable unbeaten run and a sixth Championship medal looked [Music] certain certain that is until the last minute of the last game of the season against title contenders Arsenal John bares took the ball up into the bottom corner there by a cop in the main standing and all he had to do is going stand in the corner with it but he decided what he was going to do his cut in and try and score and he lost the ball the ball went back to the goal goalkeeper rolled it out and there was a just this long diagonal Boot and it was touched on the Midfield Thomas it’s up for GR now Thomas on his give him his D Thomas put it away very well he wide of for the how do you feel you you just lost the championship of home at home now all we had to do is just hold him off and we had won the championship but we lost the championship the same amount of points and just and conceding Le less least goals but uh they scored more G and that was as simple as that to hold on to a championship um you have to you know carry on winning we didn’t but in those those years that I’ve been here I’ve never been lower than second place so you know second place that’s all I know I don’t know anything else [Music] you got to be number one if you play you you play to enjoy it but you you got to win and especially for Liverpool and anfield but the world knew Liverpool would bounce back and one year later Bruce had that elusive sixth medal [Music] [Applause] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] Bruce galar’s record speaks for itself since his debut in August 1981 to May 1990 he has achieved unequal success for a goalkeeper in the English [Music] [Music] league lipo today he has won six League Championship winners medals two FA Cup winners medals Liverpool and grar got the ball three League Cup winners medals and one European Cup winners [Music] medal Rosen that’s a great turn sh’s lost it gasby has got it that really will make the night complete Alan Hansen a league championship winner for for the eighth time a fantastic record Kenny and even as Liverpool welcomed the return of the championship trophy Bruce celebrated with his young fans in his Unique Style this is a lovely touch the goalkeeper becomes the photographer he he is a showman uh he is spectacular he is I suppose you would say a brilliant Outsider because by the time he wasn’t formed in English [Music] football goalkeepers are different because they don’t have to chasee a a ball round for 90 minutes and get tired he just waiting the goal until the ball comes to you and you’re going to have to do your job when it comes into the 18 or 6yd area that’s my philosophy on goalkeeping goalkeepers they say must be crazy who’s Crazy tipped Away by I think obviously they’ve got to be different haven’t they I mean it’s if you can imagine someone standing there you’re 18 yards out and you’re blasting balls in for 50 90 M hour at them and they try to save them I think they got to be a little bit different football fields are like a stage you perform in front of thousands people on the football field and in fact with a with a camera in in front of millions of people so in fact yes this is a nice stage I remember once talking to a very famous uh black basketball player called Bill Russell and he’s now a well-known coach he’s then playing for the Boston Celtics and he said he he used to be sick in vomit before every game and he said and it’s a silly game and I know it’s a silly game and you feel at bottom that possibly Bruce grar believes the same about [Music] football football is a sport and it’s been played uh to the best of your capabilities and you’re only as good as your last game so if you’ve had a bad game last game you can only get better so you should have a smile in your face if if I didn’t have a smile on my face I wouldn’t play the game because you’re getting paid for something that you love and you should and you enjoy and that is the whole thing about it you know you enjoy yourself [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]