Steve Nicol’s broadcasting at ESPN, who has lived on America’s East Coast for the past 23 years, doesn’t include much coverage of Scottish football.
YouTube was his point of contact when Liverpool moved to sign Calvin Ramsay. And what he saw on his screen turned out to be surprising.
“Jesus, I’m looking at myself here,” Nicol recalls Sportsmail with a laugh. “He gets the ball as a fullback and dribbles past people. He runs a lot with the ball. It immediately reminded me of me!’
Calvin Ramsey admits it will be weird to be teammates with Mo Salah and Andy Robertson
Nicol means when he was 19, a year older than Ramsay, and played for Ayr United.
He soon changed. A £300,000 deal took him from First Division football at Somerset Park to the reigning European champions. Pass it and move was the mantra there.
Nicol was initially signed by Liverpool as understudy to England right-back Phil Neal. Now, 41 years later, Ramsay heads south to learn from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The initial fee of £4.5million is a record sale for Aberdeen but will be a steal of gold if Ramsay can achieve even a fraction of what Nicol did. Four medals for league winners, three from the FA Cup and one European Cup. Thirteen years, 468 appearances and 46 goals.
His story is relevant to more than shared nationality. Success was not immediate. Nicol had to learn and grow.
Also, while Ramsay admits it will be ‘weird’ to walk into the dressing room and realize that Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah and Andy Robertson are actually his teammates, Nicol sat next to Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Alan Hansen. This trio of Scottish kings soon welcomed him – in their own way.
The 18-year-old defender has moved south to learn from Trent Alexander-Arnold
“The first time I went in I was changing next to Kenny and two left was big Al (Hansen),” Nicol says.
‘The fact that they were a lot of Scottish lads there, I’m going to say they looked after me – but by looking after me I mean they ruthlessly lost my mind!
‘That made me feel right at home. That squad of players, great as they were, European champions, everyone was together.
“Although there were brutal wind-ups, it wasn’t done to hurt anyone, it was just all for fun.
“If they didn’t terrify you, they didn’t like you or trust you.
“They made it easy for me. And when I look at this Liverpool team now, they really do look together. Robbo will no doubt be the first to take care of Ramsay so I expect it will be the same.
“Once you feel at home, once you get through that first workout, all the preconceptions you have about what to do, what to say, what people are like are all gone.”
The £4.5m initial fee for Ramsey is a record sale for Aberdeen
Not everything is the same over the decades. Ramsay had been aware of Liverpool’s interest for months before the deal was sealed. Not so Nicole.
“I didn’t know about it,” he says. ‘I started training (with Ayr) on Tuesday evening. George Caldwell, who was Willie McLean’s assistant at the time, asked me to join him in the manager’s office and wait.
“So we sat there for ten minutes and then Willie came in. He told me they had accepted an offer from Liverpool and that was it.
“I got in his car, we drove to my house, packed my things and then we went to Manchester on Tuesday night.”
Then there are the two managers. Jurgen Klopp is known as one of football’s foremost orators, a master of motivating through language. But what was Nicol’s first meeting with the late, great Bob Paisley like?
‘Interesting…’, Nicol chuckles. ‘A man of few words. I haven’t really had a conversation with him. Willie and I went to draw on Thursday. We were actually in the players lounge, where they would have lunch.
‘It’s hard to describe. When I say few words, I mean almost no words. It was a bit awkward. We’re just sitting there – me, Willie and Bob. Every now and then someone would come in. Willie said “He’s a great player”. And Bob would agree.’
Wasn’t Nicol’s head standing because of the sudden movement?
“No,” he says. ‘I am a bit like that. I’m not exaggerating. I just kept going.’
He did. Slowly but surely, taking advantage of the coaches’ encouragement when his role as backup and reserve regular to the first team meant he almost never had a day off.
“I signed in October (of 1981) and my first start was not until the following August,” Nicol recalls. ‘Back then I only played about four games that year. It was ’83 when I started playing regularly. And it wasn’t even as a fullback. It was the left side of midfield.’
This was at a time when only one replacement was allowed. On 22 October 1983 Nicol was called off the bench to replace Craig Johnston and scored a winner in the 83rd minute against Queens Park Rangers.
Steve Nichol says Scotland skipper Andy Robertson could be a brilliant mentor for Ramsey
Two years after he had put pen to paper, he was really up and running. He missed the League Cup final, but won the league and the European Cup that season. Welcome to Anfield.
What advice would Nicol give now that Ramsay is about to enter his own acclimatization period?
“Just work hard and always remember that,” he responds. “I think back to a day at training after I started playing every week. We did doggy runs, back and forth. Short and sharp.
“I had done this run and when I stopped, Roy (Evans) came up to me and said, ‘Is that it? Is that all we get from you? Let me tell you something, every day here we keep an eye on everyone. Always. You cannot take days off”.
“That was just one run. One run. But they were working on it. I have received the message. If you work hard every day in a place like Liverpool, with the players they have, it’s impossible for you not to get better.
“It’s not going to happen overnight. But it happens. Good coaches, good players and the brains to take it on board. It’s not rocket science.
“I used to be told, ‘Look, get ready. Because if you get the chance and you make a *** of it, you will never forgive yourself”.
Nicol was initially signed by Liverpool as understudy to England right-back Phil Neal
“That kept me going. I kept thinking about it.’ His mind was also kept active by the aforementioned wind-ups. Who was the master of that dark art?
“Oh, Hansen,” Nicol replies immediately. “He would summarize a situation in seconds. He excited the whole club.’
The whole club? Nicol is referring to when Dalglish stepped down as manager in 1991 and Hansen, who was about to retire, was the bookmakers’ favorite to take over.
“I was in the dressing room and he asked if he could talk to me for a moment: ‘Come to my office,’ Nicol says.
“Right away, I’m going to…”my office?” But we go to the manager’s office and my head is spinning.
“Big Al tells me he’s got the job. I wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not, but he said, “What are you talking about? I got the job. You just saw me with Sheila (Walsh, the manager’s secretary)”.
“He tells me I’m going to be captain – Glen Hysen was the captain at the time – and that I have to say something when he has all the players together.” Five minutes later, all the pros are gathered in the locker room when Hansen makes his announcement.
‘Bruce Grobbelaar started clapping’, Nicol continues. “But he’s the only one. It was like clapping and stopping four times. Uncomfortable.
“Hansen tells Glen he’s sorry, but he’s going to make me captain. He asks me if I want to say something, but I’m like, no, I’m fine.
‘Then he starts talking about changes. He names a couple of pubs in Southport where some of the boys lived, then he goes on to see where myself, Rushie (Ian Rush) and others lived.
“We used to go to Hotel Vic. That should all be over. We must act professionally. There are also video sessions on Sundays in which the matches are discussed.
Nicol had legends like Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness in the Anfield dressing room
He asks if anyone has any questions. Nothing. And he walks out.
Rushie and others are like ‘Who the f*** does he think he is? He can’t tell me when I can go to the pub?’ This is all going on.
“Two minutes later, Big Al walks back into the locker room. Silence. All he says is “Just kidding, guys”. And walks out again.’ What further elevates this is that Hansen did the exact same routine with the coaching staff the previous day.
‘We’re talking about that kind of spirit,’ laughs Nicol. ‘We also had a lot of young Irish apprentices back then.
“There was only one phone in the building, a pay phone in the players lounge. The students all lined up to tell their parents to get money because Hansen was the new manager, because it hadn’t been released yet.’
Perhaps Ramsay has to work his way through Virgil van Dijk’s intricate plans. Whatever feeds the dressing room these days, Nicol is happy that it will echo with Scottish voices again.
“We were six at a time, I think,” he recalls. “It’s absolutely great to see the Scots back at Liverpool.
“Robbo’s a good guy too, so I don’t think there’s any danger. Like I said, he’ll take care of Calvin.’