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Ian Rush

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Template:Football player infobox2 Ian James Rush MBE (born 20 October 1961) is a legendary Welsh footballer who played as a striker and is most well-known for playing for Liverpool. His attacking partnership with Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool is widely regarded as being amongst the finest and most successful in the history of English and European football.

Records

  • Second highest FA Cup scorer of all time, and highest in 20th Century FA Cup with 44 goals (39 for Liverpool, 4 for Chester City, 1 for Newcastle United). Only Henry Cursham with 49 goals for Notts County between 1877-1888 scored more.
  • Record FA Cup Final goalscorer with 5 goals.
  • Joint record League Cup goalscorer with 49 goals (48 for Liverpool), shared with Sir Geoff Hurst.
  • First player to pick up 5 League Cup winners medals.
  • Record Welsh international goalscorer with 28 goals.
  • Record Liverpool goalscorer with 346 goals.
  • Second top goalscorer in League football for Liverpool with 229 goals, behind Roger Hunt (245 goals).
  • Record Merseyside derby goalscorer with 25 goals for Liverpool against Everton.

Biography

After attending St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Flint, Rush began his career at Chester City and later joined Liverpool in 1980.

He was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 1983 after inspiring Liverpool to glory in the league championship and League Cup. He was voted PFA Player of the Year in 1984 after Liverpool retained both of their trophies and added the European Cup to their list of honours for that season. Rush scored twice for Liverpool as they beat neighbours Everton 3-1 in the 1986 FA Cup final to complete the double.

In the summer of 1987, he was transferred to the Italian giants, Juventus in Serie A. His time at Juventus was less than successful, scoring only eight times in 29 games. He had a hard time settling in Turin, once famously remarking, "It's like living in a foreign country." After one season, he returned to Anfield, rejoining Liverpool in the summer of 1988.

Rush scored twice against Everton in the 1989 FA Cup triumph and was a league championship winner the following year. In 1992 he picked up an FA Cup winners medal despite being restricted to just 16 league games and 2 goals that season due to injury. He picked up another League Cup winners medal in 1995 before ending his long association with Liverpool at the end of the 1995-96 season. His last game was the FA Cup final, which Liverpool lost 1-0 to Manchester United.

Rush then spent a season with Leeds United, but scored just 3 times in 36 Premiership games and was given a free transfer at the end of the 1996-97 season. He joined Newcastle United on a one-year contract but was forced out of the side after Christmas when Alan Shearer returned from his long-term injury, though he did score an important goal in the 1-0 FA cup win over Everton, which helped Newcastle to the FA cup final. He had a loan spell with Sheffield United before leaving St James's Park in the summer of 1998 to sign for Wrexham AFC amongst much fanfare. By this time he was past his prime, however, and failed to score in 18 starts for the North Wales club, being moved to play in midfield towards the end of the season. He made a brief playing comeback with Sydney Olympic before finally retiring as a player in 2000, by which time he was 38 years old.

He was later appointed manager of his first professional club, Chester City (by this time in Football League Two) in August 2004 having removed himself from the unofficial shortlist for the post of manager of the Welsh national team in November 2004. He resigned from his post at Chester in April 2005 citing disagreements with the Chairman as the reason for his departure.

In 2005, at the age of 43, Ian Rush considered coming out of retirement to play for TNS, after the Welsh side were drawn against Liverpool for their opening round Champions League qualifying match.

As of November 2005, Ian Rush has been involved with the game in the form of media commentary and pundit work of which he was doing a stint with ESPN.

On the 27th of April 2006, Rush was involved in the Marina-Dalglish charity match, which pitted the 1986 FA cup final teams of Liverpool and Everton against each other, in aid of Breast Cancer Research.

Rush was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2006 due to his achievements in the game.

It is not yet clear whether Ian Rush will make a return to management or consider another career in or out of football.

International career

Rush played regularly for the Welsh national team scoring 28 goals in 73 games. Unfortunately during his career the team never qualified for a major tournament, although in 1991 he scored the winning goal in an Euro 92 qualifier against Germany.

Trivia

  • He once famously described his stay in the north of Italy as like being "in a foreign country".
  • When Liverpool took the lead through a Rush goal in the 1987 League Cup final, many fans assumed that the trophy was Liverpool's, as they had never lost a match in which Ian Rush scored. However, the 145-game run ended that day, as two Charlie Nicholas goals gave Arsenal the cup. A week later, Liverpool lost 2-1 to Norwich at Carrow Road, the first time that they lost a league match in which Rush had scored.
  • In July 2006, Rush was voted as the All-time FA Cup Hero by the thefa.com.
  • In 1990, in the Ian Rush Cup in Wales, he awarded one of his boots to a boy who was top scorer in the tournament. The boy was Andriy Shevchenko, who is now one of the world's most prolific goalscorers. [1]

Career honours

Liverpool

Winner

Runner-up

Personal honours

Preceded by Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year
1984 		Succeeded by
Preceded by PFA Players' Player of the Year
1984 		Succeeded by
Preceded by PFA Young Player of the Year
1983 		Succeeded by
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