No. 99 – Ronnie Morans Testimonial
On Tuesday, May 16th 2000, Ronnie Moran was given an emotional send off to his retirement at Anfield as Liverpool ran out comfortable winners against Celtic.
Ronnie had joined the club in 1952 after been recomended by a postman who delivered the milk to the home of one of Liverpool’s directors. He went on to play 343 games for the Reds and in 1964 became a key member of the Boot Room set up. Moran became a vital ingredient in the Liverpool success story with his shrewd knowledge of the game and the ability to get the best out of the players working under Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish, and later for Graeme Souness and Roy Evans. Ronnie Moran finally announced his retirement from football and left Liverpool in 1998.
In May 2000, Ronnie was rewarded with one of the most memorable testimonial matches Anfield has ever seen. Before the game, Celtic’s 1967 European Cup and Liverpool’s four European Cups were paraded around Anfield by Phil Neal, Bruce Grobbelaar, Steve McMahon and Ian Rush, before an emotional Gerry Marsden rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Liverpool ran out 4-1 winners on the night to a wonderful atmosphere from both the travelling Celtic fans and the Liverpool fans as Liverpool said fairwell to a true professional and loyal servant….
This was also the game which groundstaff at the match reported seeing the new Anfield Road stand ‘moving’ during the game under the weight of the travelling support to which restoration work had to be carried out during the Summer.
Liverpool – 4 (Meijer 2, Thomson, Camara)
Celtic – 1 (Dailly)
Liverpool : Friedel, Heggem (Carragher 86), Staunton (Matteo 78), Song (Traore 60), Henchoz (Hyypia 46), Murphy, Smicer (Owen 78), Thomson (Gerrard 46), Fowler, Meijer, Camara (Miles 83)
Celtic : Kerr (Gould 46), Stubbs, Tebily (Crainey 46), Mjallby (Burchill 46), Dailly (Kennedy 81), Riseth, McAteer, Fotheringham (Smith 57), Lambert, Moravcik (Lynch 74), Johnson (Shields 81)
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