Alan Hansen

Alan Hansen
Alan Hansen (2004)
Personnel
Surname	Alan David Hansen
birthday	June 13, 1955
place of birth	Sauchie ,  Scotland
position	Central defender
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1973-1977	Partick Thistle	86 (6)
1977-1991	Liverpool FC	434 (8)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1979-1987	Scotland	26 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

Alan David Hansen (born June 13, 1955 in Alloa , Scotland ) is a former Scottish football player and was one of the strongest central defenders of his generation. He was an expert and co-commentator on the BBC for many years.

Athletic career

Alan Hansen joined the Partick Thistle club at a young age , where his brother John was also playing at the time , and decided at the same time to discard his study plans in Aberdeen . He played for this relatively small Scottish club between 1973 and 1977, was noticed by his very safe positional play in the defensive center and was inspected by a number of larger clubs.

For the transfer fee of 110,000 British pounds, he moved to Liverpool FC at Anfield Road in April 1977 , which this year was just playing for the win of a hitherto unique "triplet" from the English championship, the FA Cup and the European Cup (this did not succeed because the club won the championship and the European Cup, but lost to Manchester United in the FA Cup final ). In the subsequent 1977/78 season Hansen was used sporadically in the first team. The final in the League Cup - which Liverpool lost after a replay against Nottingham Forest - Hansen has not yet played. But he came to the first highlight of his sporting career in the renewed European Cup final against Club Bruges at Wembley Stadium (Liverpool won this game 1-0).

In the following season, Hansen developed more and more to become a regular player in the central defensive position and displaced the veteran team captain Emlyn Hughes on the way to another championship win of Liverpool FC , who was then sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 1979 . In addition, Hansen came on May 19, 1979 against Wales for his first international match for the Scottish national team , although this career should be characterized by more setbacks in the further course.

The dominance of Liverpool FC, which already prevailed in the second half of the 1970s, continued at the beginning of the following decade by winning the championship again in 1980. This was followed a year later by victory in the League Cup, in the final of which Hansen contributed the winning goal in a 2-1 win against West Ham United in the replay. Liverpool FC won the European Cup again in 1981, beating Real Madrid 1-0 in the final . Also in 1982 the English championship title went to Anfield. This was joined by victory in the League Cup, with Hansen unable to take part in the final triumph against Tottenham Hotspur due to an injury . In the summer of that year he was called up to the Scottish squad for the 1982 World Cup in Spain . The relatively high expectations - with players like Graeme Souness , Steve Archibald and Gordon Strachan - could not be fulfilled and Hansen, in coproduction with his defensive partner Willie Miller, made a serious mistake in the decisive game of the first group phase against the Soviet Union , which resulted in the interim 1: 2 - Arrears led by Ramas Schengelia and was jointly responsible for the early elimination from the tournament.

In club football, however, he was able to celebrate success again, won in addition to the championship in 1983 another league cup trophy and beat it with his team in the final Manchester United. Exactly these two successes were repeated by Liverpool FC the following year, with Hansen being the focus of a controversial scene in the league cup final. Hansen fended off a shot by the opponent and local rivals Everton FC on their own goal line allegedly illegal. Despite major protests, Everton were denied a penalty and the game had to be decided in a replay, which was then won by Liverpool. Another great success was winning three trophies the following year. In addition to the league cup and the championship, Hansen won the European championship competition with Liverpool - for the third and last time. The final against AS Roma ended with a 1-1 draw after regular time and found its winner after penalties in the English club.

The next season 1984/85 should not bring Liverpool FC to a title win after a long time and even ended in the European Cup in one of the greatest disasters in football history. After the tragedy in the Heysel Stadium , in which 39 Juventus supporters died after violent riots in the stadium, Liverpool FC was banned from all European club competitions for seven years. The unimportant final, which Liverpool lost 1-0, was to be Hansen's last European game.

After the incidents at Heysel Stadium, Liverpool coach Joe Fagan resigned from his position. He was followed by Hansen's Scottish friend and teammate Kenny Dalglish as the new player- coach . Dalglish appointed Hansen as the new captain and this led the team to a double from the English championship and FA Cup win. This made Liverpool FC - after Tottenham Hotspur in 1961 and Arsenal FC ten years later - only the third club in the 20th century to achieve this. As team captain, Hansen accepted both trophies and completed his collection of the most important domestic trophies by winning the FA Cup.

In 1987 he made his 26th and final international match for the Scottish national team. The reason for his relatively low number of appearances for a long time is based on the fact that in the later 1970s and the subsequent 1980s Miller and Alex McLeish joined their club FC Aberdeen , which was dominant in Scotland under the then coach Alex Ferguson formed a well-rehearsed duo and therefore the use in the Scottish eleven made sense. This even led to Ferguson in the position of temporary national coach - after the sudden death of Jock Stein - struck Hansen from the squad for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico . This decision was heavily criticized in public and led Dalglish to show his solidarity with his club colleague by not participating in the tournament at the same time.

1987 was Hansen's second season in which he could not win a title. In the league cup final he was defeated with Liverpool to Arsenal with 1: 2 and the championship was able to secure the rival from Everton. Liverpool FC returned the favor just a year later when Hansen, who is considered to be one of the club's technically best players of all time, led his team to the English championship - Hansen's seventh championship title - and lost only two games on the way. In one of the greatest sensations in English FA Cup history, the club then lost 1-0 to Wimbledon FC in the final of the competition .

Due to a knee injury, Hansen missed a large part of the 1988/89 season, but fought back to his regular place in the back series. This season, which was successful for the club, led to another disaster almost four years after the events at Heysel Stadium, when 96 supporters of Liverpool FC died in the Hillsborough disaster . Like many of his teammates, this tragedy shook Hansen badly and together they attended twelve funerals and visited the fans in the hospital. Liverpool later won the FA Cup after beating Everton in the final, with the role of team captain meanwhile being transferred to Ronnie Whelan , who had previously represented Hansen in this position and who subsequently did not give up. In the championship, Liverpool lost after a goal in the last minute by Michael Thomas in the decisive home game against Arsenal and missed the unique chance for a second double.

In the period that followed, Hansen's missions became less frequent, as the ongoing knee problems had a negative impact on his fitness . Nevertheless, he was able to win another championship with Liverpool FC, with the eight-time win of the English title represents a record to this day (apart from him, only his former teammate Phil Neal and Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs could achieve this performance) . Also in the following season Liverpool fought to win the doubles, but lost in an exciting FA Cup semi-final with 3: 4 against Crystal Palace . Hansen tried to continue his career despite his knee problems, but had to end his career in 1991.

Hansen is considered one of the most technically gifted center-backs in British football history. One of his strengths was opening up the game on the defensive, which gave the impression of a certain lightness. After his playing career, "Jocky", as Hansen was also called, was often associated with the coaching position at his old club, but this never materialized.

Television career

Shortly after the end of his active time, Hansen was taken under contract by the television broadcaster Sky Television , where Hansen henceforth worked as an expert and for game summaries. He quickly made a name for himself there too, convinced with his balanced comments and received an offer from the BBC , which he accepted. Hansen has been the permanent chief analyst there ever since. In contrast to many other former players who later became involved in the media sector, Hansen always rejected the role of co-commentator and preferred to work in a television studio (or in a studio in the stadium when playing live).

In 1994 he was traded as the coaching successor to Graeme Souness at Liverpool FC. He gave the project a clear refusal when he announced that he had no interest in the coaching work, which he kept repeating until Roy Evans was signed .

He caused a stir in 1994 with a comment on the World Cup game between Argentina and Romania. Hansen said: "the Argentine player deserves to be shot for such a mistake". The day before, Andrés Escobar , a Colombian player, was shot dead in Colombia for an own goal. The BBC publicly apologized for Hansen's behavior.

After an opening defeat by Manchester United against Aston Villa in 1995, in which Manchester had used numerous young players, Hansen expressed himself with the words often quoted later: “You won't win anything with kids.” (German: “With children you will gain nothing. "). Despite this famous misjudgment by the Manchester United team, the scolded team, which included Gary Neville , Phil Neville , David Beckham , Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt - all 20 years old or younger - later won the double Championship and FA Cup and defeated Hansen's former club in the cup final with Liverpool FC.

Hansen was active in the BBC's football coverage from 1992 to 2014 - both for English competitions and at international tournaments. In addition to football, he is also a talented golfer , moderating documentaries about this sport and commenting on masters tournaments for his broadcaster. He also presented reports on the transition to modern football and took on various roles in advertising . He was also a columnist for the Daily Telegraph and the BBC website .

In 2006 Hansen was inducted into the English Hall of Fame .

Hansen is married to his wife, Janet. They have a son and a daughter together.

Club stations

• Partick Thistle (1973-1977)
• Liverpool FC (1977-1991)

successes

• European championship champions: 1978, 1981, 1984
• English champion: 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990
• FA Cup winners: 1986, 1989
• English league cup winner: 1981, 1983, 1984
• Community Shield winner: 1977 *, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986 * (shared title), 1989

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Paul Weaver: World Cup can wait - Sven has to election to win . In: The Guardian , April 4, 2001. 
2. ↑ Football legend Alan Hansen reveals nerves made him quit as telly pundit . In: The Mirror , February 26, 2016.