LIVERPOOL LEGEND JAN MOLBY LOOKS BACK ON THE REDS' LAST TITLE WIN IN FRONT OF FANS AS ANFIELD PREPARES TO TOAST PREMIER LEAGUE GLORY AND JOKES: 'I'D HAVE CELEBRATED 1990 MORE HAD I KNOWN THE WAIT WOULD BE SO LONG!'

• Liverpool will claim the Premier League title with a point against Tottenham 
• The Reds won the title in 2020, but had to lift the trophy at an empty Anfield
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Jan Molby is a Liverpool legend, who won three league titles and two FA Cups during a glittering 12-year career. His pinpoint passing, nerveless penalty-taking and ability to score spectacular goals made him a fans’ favourite in a team of all-stars.

He was on the pitch on April 28, 1990 — the last time the Reds became champions in front of an Anfield crowd. Molby, now 61 and a respected pundit in his native Denmark, has provided Mail Sport with a personal account of a day that seemed like any other — but turned out to be anything but.

 

It was a unique season. Looking back, it’s almost incredible to think people just expected us to win the title. We had always been very good at bouncing back. When Everton won titles in 1985 and 1987, we took it straight back off them and everyone felt we would do the same to Arsenal, champions in 1989.

But we had an up-and-down start. There was the iconic 9-0 win over Crystal Palace at Anfield in September but we dropped silly points and the lowest part of the season came when we went back to Hillsborough in late November, to face Sheffield Wednesday. Isn’t it amazing, looking back, how nobody felt it was unusual we were having to play at that stadium after what happened seven months earlier? It was cold, miserable and we all remembered things we didn’t want to remember. It was the only time I felt we would lose before kick-off. We got beaten 2-0.

Even though we were top of the league, we knew we had to get our act together and we certainly did. I didn’t play my best but I do remember 1989-90 for being notable as I scored the only header in my career, when we beat Wednesday 2-1 at Anfield on Boxing Day. The star man was John Barnes. It felt like he was unstoppable, that you could give him the ball and he’d do the rest. He scored in all the big contests and eventually we moved clear, Ronny Rosenthal’s late cameo of seven goals in eight games really helping.

Aston Villa were never quite able to mount a true challenge and we got the job done against QPR, Barnesy’s penalty giving us a 2-1 win. I’ve heard it said the celebrations were low-key, almost quite cold, but these stories have become distorted.

Yes, we were used to winning but the elation of getting a medal is impossible to describe. No, we didn’t dance around the pitch but sitting in the dressing room with a beer, looking at the medal you have earned, is the greatest satisfaction you can get in sport.

That is what it is all about, the medal. When this squad are presented with theirs, they will have the same thought as we did then: ‘You know what — we’ve done well here.’ I remember Alan Hansen, who was winning his eighth title, Ronnie Whelan (sixth) and Ian Rush (fifth) smiling as if it was their first.

Some people have asked why we didn’t make more of things. Should we have stayed on the pitch longer after beating QPR and, again, when we were presented with the trophy the night we beat Derby 1-0? Maybe. If we’d been able to see into the future, I’m sure we would have.

But we did what was expected at the time. Some of us went to the Moat House, a hotel we used by the waterfront, for a meal; others went home. It was all very calm but it was nothing that we took for granted. As it was, it was the moment that all good things started coming to an end.

I was fortunate, through my job, to be in the stadium in 2020 when Liverpool got the trophy but the whole Covid experience was strange. This afternoon will be all about raw emotion and everything that comes with an incredible sporting achievement.

It’s a huge moment and I’m thrilled for Virgil van Dijk. He embodies Liverpool — I don’t see another player as important in Europe.

He’d have fitted in well with our group. He’s a winner and he’ll appreciate the value of this medal.

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2025-04-26T21:58:03Z