Numbers have always been important to John Aldridge. Every one of the 476 career goals that made the former Liverpool striker the most prolific marksman of English football’s post-war era are cherished possessions.
They are dusted off, polished and cross-categorized into a variety of lists and tables that punctuate the pages of Aldridge’s new book ‘Alright Aldo Sound As A Pound’.
All of the stats reinforce the point is that here was a footballer with the supreme talent to score goals in any company, in any environment, no matter how strange or hostile. From the fourth division to the top flight in England, from Spain’s Primera Liga to the World Cup finals, Aldridge delivered for every team he played for.
Today, more than a decade after his retirement as a player, Aldridge enjoys a high media profile, particularly on Merseyside, ensuring his deeds will not be forgotten or overlooked with the passage of time. That’s the fate he suspects has befallen his own goalscoring hero, Roger Hunt.
He thinks so highly of the former England World Cup winner that he sought out the number eight shirt Hunt wore for Liverpool wherever his own football journey took him.
Aldridge said: “Being a striker it was only natural and inevitable that a Liverpool player in the same position would become my favourite. It was Roger Hunt. I simply loved him. His record was unbelievable too, 286 goals in 492 appearances is brilliant. Sadly it is rarely talked about now. He did amazing things for Liverpool and was one of the club’s best ever players.
“He was a World Cup winner but some people don’t seem to even realize that. He was the quiet man of the 1966 national side. The likes of Geoff Hurst, Alan Ball and Bobby Moore seem to get all the attention.
“I eventually met Roger and couldn’t speak highly enough of him. He was a reason why I wanted to wear the number eight.
“People suggested I didn’t want to wear nine at Liverpool because it had been Ian Rush’s number and I wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure that came with it. That was rubbish. I wore number eight whenever I could. I always wanted to be number eight because of Roger Hunt. He was my idol.”
‘The cover of ‘Alright Aldo’ (£14.99 Trinity Mirror Sport Media) invites the reader to accept a lift from Aldridge to the match and listen to him talk about his life in football along the way. By the end you realize that taking a journey with Aldo can be as dangerous as it is exciting. Your mum wouldn’t advise against getting into a car with a man who gets into so many arguments and fights. Your dad might say: “go for it.”
He recounts, in plain language, a succession of disputes, disagreements and brawls over football issues. He recalls the insults traded with other personalities from the game as vividly as the moments of triumph. And there are many of each. Old scores and grievances are raked over, the most painful of which was Liverpool’s decision to sell Aldridge to Real Sociedad in 1989.
Aldridge said: “I’ll never understand Kenny Dalglish’s decision to sell me in 1989. When I signed for Liverpool it was like getting the best Christmas present ever. Taking it away was like a kick in the stomach and I’ll never get over it.
“A lot of people told me since, and I agree, that he was wrong. After I left I went on to score another 220 goals.”
A whole chapter entitled ‘Losing It’ is dedicated to those many moments when Aldridge admits he lost his temper over football.
After a 3-1 defeat for Real Sociedad at Valencia Aldridge recalled: “I was in a bad mood and a team-mate called Dave Villabona was really getting on my nerves. I told him I’d give him a smack if he didn’t shut up. ‘Go on then’, he replied so I hit him in the face. I regretted it straight away because he was a cracking lad and a good friend.”
“I also got into a fight after a Tranmere game at Derby County. Some people were giving me stick in the players lounge and I asked them to step outside. It ended up in a free-for-all with five of them.”
Aldridge admits his behaviour did not change after he moved into management with Tranmere. “After a game against Norwich City, in the tunnel afterwards a 22-man brawl took place. Gary Jones lamped one of their players and it all went off. As a manager I ended up getting involved to. It was mayhem.”
Then there’s the drinking. You doubt that any book by a professional sportsman has included accounts of so many nights out that turned into boozing sessions of an epic scale. The statistical section even includes a list of Aldo’s favourite drinks, in which beer comes only second.
Yet Aldridge was still in fine physical shape, playing and scoring goals at Championship level in his 40th year.
Perhaps it is a mixture of modesty and machismo that keeps Aldridge from revealing as much about the warmer side of his personality, the side I witnessed in his capacity to find time for every young autograph hunter who approached him at the height of his fame.
The Irish take Aldridge as close to their hearts as his fellow Scousers. They know a man who wears his heart on his sleeve and they ensured he won celebrity talent show ‘Charity You’re a Star’ on Irish TV in 2006 without being able to sing a note.
“It was similar to the situation with John Sergeant in Strictly Come Dancing,” Aldridge explained. “He was rubbish and everyone loved him. His dancing was better than my signing, but everyone seemed to like me.”
Aldridge helped to raise around £160,000 for charity and even recorded a version of his unique interpretation of the Johnny Cash song ‘Ring Of Fire’ for a CD. Visiting the children he helped in hospital later, he admitted to being almost in tears.
‘Alright Aldo’ is not the kind of book you can curl up with at bedtime for a long, contemplative read. It’s broken into small, bite-sized nuggets of recollections and opinions, best washed down with a six pack or two of beer. With Aldo, you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth flow.
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