The Telegraph are currently publishing extracts from Red Machine, a new book containing stories told by members of the Liverpool team of the 1980s.
Yesterday, they featured a story told by Bruce Grobbelaar about how he broke midfielder Steve McMahon's nose twice in one night.
From The Telegraph:
It was October 1987 and Liverpool had beaten Dundee 4-0 in a friendly. There was a party at Royal Saint Andrews, overlooking the golf course. “We were all having a pint afterwards and Steve got into a disagreement with (Liverpool teammate) Barry Venison. All of the Dundee players wanted to get involved, so I pulled the pair of them to one side.”
McMahon’s ire turned towards Grobbelaar. “Steve blew his top and swung a punch at me. So I head-butted him and bust his nose. He whinged to (manager) Kenny [Dalglish] and the boss tried to blame me. But the receptionist of the hotel confirmed that Steve was the aggressor.”
Not mentioned is that McMahon's punch missed because Grobbelaar distracted him with his spaghetti legs.
Things didn't end there however. Grobbelaar's roommate Craig Johnston decided to switch rooms for fear that McMahon would seek revenge during the night - which is exactly what happened.
At 3.20am Grobbelaar was awoken by somebody knocking a lampshade outside his door. “I hid behind the door in the bathroom and watched the person creep in. Craig was right in his prediction – he was canny like that. I tapped Macca on the shoulder and smacked him across the nose for the second time in the night. He never messed with me again.”
