Steve McMahon

Steve McMahon
Personnel
Surname	Stephen Joseph McMahon
birthday	August 20, 1961
place of birth	Liverpool ,  England
position	midfield player
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1979-1983	Everton FC	100 (11)
1983-1985	Aston Villa	75 0(7)
1985-1991	Liverpool FC	204 (29)
1991-1994	Manchester City	87 0(1)
1994-1998	Swindon Town	42 0(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1981-1984	England U21	6 0(0)
1988-1990	England	17 0(0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1994-1998	Swindon Town
2000-2004	Blackpool FC
2005	Perth Glory
1 Only league games are given.

Stephen "Steve" McMahon (born August 20, 1961 in Liverpool , England ) is a former English football player and later coach , who made a name for himself primarily as a midfielder in the Liverpool team in the second half of the 1980s .

Career as a football player

McMahon was born in Liverpool, grew up there and was accepted into the youth department of Everton FC - Liverpool FC's local rivals - in his youth . There he developed into a midfielder in his teenage years , who was particularly noticeable for his enthusiasm and fighting strength.

McMahon moved to Aston Villa in Birmingham in 1983 , having previously rejected an offer from Liverpool FC during this time. Just two years later, the transfer to Liverpool came about when the new coach Kenny Dalglish signed him as the first player during his tenure. McMahon was instrumental in winning the "double" from the English championship and FA Cup in the 1985/86 season, although the success was somewhat tarnished by the fact that he was not taken into account for the FA Cup final against his old club from Everton and when His team's 3-1 victory was only allowed to sit on the bench.

In the following year he was able to make up for his appearance in the final of the English League Cup at Wembley Stadium and even prepared the opening goal for Liverpool from Ian Rush , but had to leave the field as a loser after the final result of 1: 2. Nevertheless, he had a personal highlight in this competition as a four-time goalscorer in the 10-0 win against Fulham FC .

Dalglish made major changes to the squad the following season with the signings of John Barnes , Peter Beardsley , John Aldridge and Ray Houghton , but McMahon continued to manage to stay with the team. He was particularly valued by his supervisors and teammates due to his very team-friendly and physical game. The latter, however, also led to increased criticism of many of his tackles from opponents and coaches of other teams .

In consideration of his mostly defensive midfield role, he appeared in Liverpool relatively often as a goalscorer and was a top performer in the team that was unbeaten in the whole league season in 1988 and again became English champions. McMahon's spectacular goals included his shot from almost 30 meters against Manchester United and the first goal in the derby against Everton.

With Aldridge, he contributed some rap- style lines to the official FA Cup final song, composed by teammate Craig Johnston . The song climbed to third place on the UK charts . Liverpool lost the final itself surprisingly to Wimbledon FC , with Vinnie Jones , known as the "rough leg", showing his respect for McMahon before the game and saying that if he could stop McMahon, Wimbledon could also stop Liverpool FC. In the game, Jones also fouled his opponent heavily in the opening minutes, but McMahon denied afterwards that there was a connection to these processes and his below-average performance in the final.

Later in the year McMahon came to his first of a total of 17 caps for the English national team . Previously, large parts of the press had requested his appointment from national coach Bobby Robson , including Brian Moore from ITV , who combined this with a rap text he had composed (referring to the FA Cup final song) (“ Well Steve McMahon sure can rap, it's about time he had an England cap, so come on Bobby Robson, he's your man;! 'cause if anyone can, Macca can "), which in one of the end Melle Mel blended Rapversion of the 1984 hits I feel For you by Chaka Khan ended .

When Liverpool FC sought another championship and English Cup double in 1989, he was part of the team that would play the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest , which became the Hillsborough disaster that killed 96 people. When the game was rescheduled, McMahon acted in his usual style, but was attacked by Nottingham's trainer Brian Clough for his tackles in an extraordinarily sharp manner via the media. Liverpool then won the trophy and McMahon set up Aldridge's first goal. The team lost the championship when they lost the last game at their home Anfield against direct rivals Arsenal FC in the final minutes after a goal by Michael Thomas .

Only a year later McMahon managed to win the championship again, but missed the "double" again when Liverpool - despite a goal from McMahon himself - lost a thrilling match against Crystal Palace 3: 4.

McMahon was then named by Robson in the English squad for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He was substituted on in the first game against Ireland , but was responsible for the 1-1 goal when he couldn't control the ball in the middle of his own half and lost to Kevin Sheedy - with whom he had played at Everton at the club. whose shot could not be parried by the English goalkeeper Peter Shilton . In another group game against Egypt , which England won, he was used as well as in the round of 16 against Belgium . There he played solidly, but when his strength waned and for tactical reasons he was exchanged for David Platt , who scored the 1-0 goal in the last minutes of extra time . From then on, Platt kept McMahon's position in the further course of the tournament and scored two more goals until he won fourth place. After the World Cup, McMahon should not return to the English national team and left Liverpool in 1991 after 276 games and 50 goals in the direction of Manchester City , for which he completed four seasons before retiring.

Coaching career and other activities

McMahon took over the second division club Swindon Town in 1994 , but could not prevent the club from relegating for the second time in a row despite reaching the semi-finals in the League Cup. McMahon led the club straight away in 1996 as a third division champion back in the second division. When Swindon Town found itself again in relegation battle, McMahon was released in September 1998. His next coaching position was Blackpool FC in 2000 . After the previous relegation to the fourth division, McMahon led his new club back to the third division via the play-off games and won the LDV Vans Trophy twice .

McMahon's tenure was marked by very volatile team performances, in which the successes achieved by the trophies alternated with very mediocre performances. Although Blackpool FC had one of the strongest and most entertaining teams at this time, McMahon was often criticized for showing too little commitment during his coaching activities. He was often criticized for his passion to indulge in the game of golf and identified a temporary lack of fitness on his team due to his frequent absence. In retrospect, however, this judgment about his coaching activity in Blackpool turned out to be much friendlier.

He left Blackpool FC after a bonus dispute during the last championship game in the 2003/04 season, where he had announced his resignation in a very bizarre action in the middle of the season. There he had rushed into a press conference of the association, first to announce his resignation, but to revise his decision after a short consultation with the President Karl Oyston . After this coaching activity, he became involved as a football expert for the British broadcaster BBC .

In 2005 he was hired by the Australian football club Perth Glory . However, his stay in Perth was very short. Poor team performances, player commitments that did not bring reinforcement, as well as disputes with the club management and the local press ensured that McMahon left the West Australian club in December 2005.

In February 2006, McMahon signed an 18-month contract as a football expert with the television station ESPN Star Sports, which was set up for the Asian market .

useful information

• His son Steve McMahon Jr. also became a professional footballer and was active under his father at Blackpool FC and Perth Glory .
• Steve McMahon was a member of the band Englandneworder with the title World In Motion , which was recorded on the occasion of the Soccer World Cup in Italy in 1990, number 1 in the UK charts .

successes

As a player

• English champion: 1986, 1988, 1990
• FA Cup winners: 1986, 1989
• Charity Shield winner: 1986 *, 1988, 1989, 1990 * shared title

As a trainer

• LDV Vans Trophy Winner: 2002, 2004

Web links

• Photo by Steve McMahon