Steve Nicol has put his remarkable collection of shirts, winners' medals and trophies up for sale
Steve Nicol (centre) with Liverpool player-manager Kenny Dalglish and Craig Johnston celebrating the league championship and FA Cup double in 1986
Steve Nicol (centre) with Liverpool player-manager Kenny Dalglish and Craig Johnston celebrating the league championship and FA Cup double in 1986(Image: Simon Miles/Allsport/Getty Images/Hulton Archive)
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It is an extensive collection that would be the envy of almost any leading player. Now Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has decided to put his vast array of medals, awards and memorabilia up for auction.
Nicol was a mainstay of the Reds team that dominated throughout the 1980s during an Anfield career in which he made 468 appearances and scored 46 goals, an impressive return for a utility player who spent much of his time in defence.
The former Scotland international claimed four league championships, three FA Cups, a European Cup and, in a personal pinnacle, was voted FWA Footballer of the Year in 1989.
Now the fruits of that labour are going under the hammer with 56 different items ranging from winners' medals, individual awards and match-worn shirts from names as diverse as Billy Liddell, Ian St John, Ian Rush and Jamie Redknapp.
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And Nicol, who has spent the last 27 years in the United States and is a respected pundit with ESPN, has explained how his upbringing as a Liverpool player - and the influence of one former coach in particular - has swayed the decision to sell his haul.
“Everyone has asked ‘don’t they have any sentimental value to you?’," he said exclusively to the ECHO. "But my response is I have all those things in my head every day of the week. Looking at the medals doesn’t change anything.
Steve Nicol has put some of his winners' medals up for sale
Steve Nicol has put some of his winners' medals up for sale
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“With me working at ESPN in the United States, covering the league, the European Cup, the FA Cup and League Cup, every time I’m working I am reminded of winning all those things.
“Also, for me, it’s a Ronnie Moran problem. He always told us that it’s all about what you do next time and winning the next trophy, and you should never look back. The concentration was always on winning the next thing. You didn’t really have time to properly think about what you’d achieved.
“It’s kind of a weird thing. I must admit, when I do the show for ESPN, all the time I’ve got Ronnie Moran floating around my head, the things he would say and the things he would do.
“It’s not a question of me taking time out to think about winning those medals. Something would come up during any day and I’d be reminded of it."
Steve Nicol's 1986 FA Cup final shirt is also going under the hammer
Steve Nicol's 1986 FA Cup final shirt is also going under the hammer
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Nicol added: "When I was at home in Liverpool, I had everything on display in a snooker room. But when I left, it has basically has been in the attic, in drawers or in the basement. I’ve never really had anywhere to showcase them, and I’ve been carrying them around for the last 25 years or so since I came to America.
“We moved house eight months ago and we realised all the medals and memorabilia were all still packed away and there wasn’t anywhere to properly put them.
“We don’t plan on moving again. So the reason to put the medals up for auction is a culmination of those things."
The most valuable items in the collection, which are available at Propstore auction house in London, are Nicol's three FA Cup winners' medals from 1986, 1989 and 1992, which are estimated at between £10,000 and £20,000.
A match-worn Billy Liddell Scotland shirt is among the items
A match-worn Billy Liddell Scotland shirt is among the items
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One match, though, carries far more importance than any other. “The FA Cup final against Everton after Hillsborough in 1989 sticks out for obvious reasons," he said. "If I was told to put one medal ahead of all the others, that would be the most significant one.
“Again, that comes back to the way I was brought up at Liverpool. It wasn’t about resting on your laurels, it was about winning it again. But that final wasn’t about winning it again – it was about winning that particular match.
“Everything else – the league, the cups – you could do it again. That one was different. That was a very special match.
“There was a feeling among the players ‘we can’t not win this’. So when we managed it, the euphoria of that day, it never leaves you. It has never left me. It is the one win I value above all the others.
“I’m still in touch with probably half-a-dozen people who I was really closely involved with at the time of Hillsborough. It doesn’t just disappear and then reappear on April 15 every year. It’s always there.
“When you were in that Liverpool team at the time, it was about the Liverpool way getting into your head. Not just in terms of football, I must add. All the things I’ve learned on and off the field at the club I’ve taken forward into all parts of my life."
Jamie Redknapp's match worn Liverpool shirt is among the items up for sale
Jamie Redknapp's match worn Liverpool shirt is among the items up for sale
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Also listed is Nicol's European Cup winners' medal from 1984, which is expected to bring in between £8,000 and £16,000. Nicol came on as substitute in the final at Roma and missed the first penalty in the eventual shoot-out before Liverpool emerged triumphant on an occasion made memorable by Bruce Grobbelaar's wobbly legs.
“We had a practice against what would now be called the Academy team a couple of days before we left to travel for the game," he said. "I had gone first and I was the only one who scored.
“On the night, I knew I was going to take one, so as I’d gone first in the practice I just thought I’d be going first. I can’t remember exactly what happened as I thought that was what was going to happen! I didn’t even get to thinking about the penalty, I just took it. And missed!”
Nicol left Liverpool in 1994 and finished his career down the leagues before a surprise offer to become player-coach at Boston Bulldogs in 1999 led to him emigrating to the United States, where he spent almost a decade in charge of MLS side New England Revolution before moving into television.
And recalling his move Stateside, Nicol said: “I had just finished at Sheffield Wednesday and I was playing for Doncaster in non-league just to keep going because I was going to be doing my coaching badges.
“I actually did one day of a course when my agent called and asked if I’d be interested in being a player-coach to begin with in America.
“People always say when you finish playing and, I’d like to think, had a good career, the phone won’t stop ringing. But let me tell you, the phone never rang.
“So when this opportunity came up, we spoke to the kids and they were up for it. They were 14 and 12 so it wouldn’t wreck their schooling in England if we just came over for a year. But we’re still here!"