Ray Houghton

[Keita]

Just watching channel 442 us against the mancs, what a lovely little player Ray Houghton was, totally underrated in my view. Runs alll day, lovely little engine. always busy. Could of done with him recently.

[moptop46]

  Como Setas said:

Just watching channel 442 us against the mancs, what a lovely little player Ray Houghton was, totally underrated in my view. Runs alll day, lovely little engine. always busy. Could of done with him recently.

 

Is a c"nt always will be c"nt

[Guest Paris 81]

He was my favourite player while he was here, a real tough little terrier, up and down all game. Great signing by the King.

[Keita]

He`s s*** on talksport though

[Benitez]

  moptop46 said:

Is a c"nt always will be c"nt

 

 

you are really odd.

[Leroy]

  moptop46 said:

Is a c"nt always will be c"nt

 

[muleskinner]

  moptop46 said:

Is a c"nt always will be c"nt

 

One of the 4 that was possibly the best midfield this league has ever seen.

[Guest Portly]

Never rated Houghton myself.

 

I thought he was one of those players who appears busy but doesn't often actually make much of an impact.

[hideNseek]

A Portly joke?

[Guest Portly]

Not at all - I think the stars of the past are very much viewed through rose-coloured glasses. That's because most people on the forum are a lot younger than me, and didn't sit through 90 minutes of these past heroes week after week!

 

I don't want to upset people by pointing out that former players had feet of clay, but they all had their off-days.

[Paul]

Decent enough player but often frustrating.

Many a time he'd get himself into good positions but would ruin it with his atrocious shooting.

 

As for his co-commentating skills, does he ever stop moaning?

[meredithmathieson]

Wasn't it Houghton who ballooned over a shot at the Kop end with a few minutes to go against Arsenal at Anfield in THAT game in 1989, which would have made it 1:1 and the League would have been ours?

[cestrianred]

In that game V the Mancs (on ESPN) just watch Barnes, he was majestic, one of the best players I've ever seen between 97-99.

[muleskinner]

I would be interested to hear who people think we should have bought at that time instead of Houghton.

 

If he was as bad as some make out surely that team would not have performed as well as it did?

[Scally Bob]

Houghton was a good player but he wasn't outstanding. He was playing with outstanding players though and he was a vital part of the side at times. He could be inconsistent and give the ball away a bit but he had an eye for a pass, scored some important goals (at the Pit in the Cup!) and usually worked very hard for the team.

 

And he wasn't part of the best midfield four either. That was in 1978-79.

[smithdown]

  Scally Bob said:

scored some important goals (at the Pit in the Cup!)

 

 

Gerrin!

 

Cracking day that was, it was on me birthday (I think). Our end went foookin delirious when he nodded that one in.

Edited September 3, 2006 by smithdown

[SkippyjonJones]

  smithdown said:

Remember his debut when he came off the bench at Wimbledon, picked it up deep and took them all on, a couple of lucky bobbles and then he was through to finish.

 

Camera cuts to Liverpool bench where everyone was stood applauding except for Johnston.

 

 

though that was the one were beasent and the defender both went for the ball on the edge of the box and got each other instead... houghton went past them and put it in the net.

 

 

 

not sure about the bench bit - think that was the year a record crowd was set - 19,000 at plough lane.... anyway it was a bit manic when he scored - certainly not a time for checking out who was doing what on the bench...

[floyd]

  Scally Bob said:

 

And he wasn't part of the best midfield four either. That was in 1978-79.

Correct. Never mind midfield, other parts of that team weren't bad either. They were on ESPN yesterday, 3-1 beating of the Mancs at Anfield on 25th Feb 1978.

 

1 Ray Clemence

2 Phil Neal

3 Tommy Smith

4 Phil Thompson

5 Ray Kennedy

6 Emlyn Hughes

7 Kenny Dalglish

8 Graeme Souness

9 Steve Heighway

10 David Fairclough

11 Terry McDermott

[Scally Bob]

  floyd said:

Correct. Never mind midfield, other parts of that team weren't bad either. They were on ESPN yesterday, 3-1 beating of the Mancs at Anfield on 25th Feb 1978.

 

1 Ray Clemence

2 Phil Neal

3 Tommy Smith

4 Phil Thompson

5 Ray Kennedy

6 Emlyn Hughes

7 Kenny Dalglish

8 Graeme Souness

9 Steve Heighway

10 David Fairclough

11 Terry McDermott

The finest team we've ever had IMO.

[John am Rhein]

  Scally Bob said:

The team the following season was in my opinion the best-ever side

 

That's my opinion too.

[Cunny]

  Scally Bob said:

Houghton was a good player but he wasn't outstanding. He was playing with outstanding players though and he was a vital part of the side at times. He could be inconsistent and give the ball away a bit but he had an eye for a pass, scored some important goals (at the Pit in the Cup!) and usually worked very hard for the team.

 

And he wasn't part of the best midfield four either. That was in 1978-79.

 

 

as somone who is old enough to have watched that team in the flesh week in week out I agree 100% with that appraisal of Houghton

[Nebraska Red]

QUOTE(Scally Bob @ Sep 3 2006, 13:53)

 

Houghton was a good player but he wasn't outstanding. He was playing with outstanding players though and he was a vital part of the side at times. He could be inconsistent and give the ball away a bit but he had an eye for a pass, scored some important goals (at the Pit in the Cup!) and usually worked very hard for the team.

 

And he wasn't part of the best midfield four either. That was in 1978-79.

 

agree with all of that.

 

he was the type of player who would go missing during a game and appear to take a 10-15 minute break, he would then pop up with something decent.

 

he was sometimes as infuriating as Garcia is today with his play, but he was always a vital part of the team and we seemed to miss him when he did not play.

[passater]

There was a lot of talk in Ireland at the time that Souness didn't like Irish players, hence the sudden departures of Houghton and Staunton for no obvious reason and with no ready-made replacements of the same quality. Houghton was a cog in a machine. He couldn't be the 'main man' and demonstrated this for Ireland on occasions when key central midfielders were absent (one of the Spain away games comes to mind). Likewise, when McCarthy played him n central midfield as the 'playmaker' late on in his career when he was at Palace. He wasn't up to it.

Edited September 4, 2006 by passater

[Raj]

  passater said:

There was a lot of talk in Ireland at the time that Souness didn't like Irish players, hence the sudden departures of Houghton and Staunton for no obvious reason and with no ready-made replacements of the same quality. Houghton was a cog in a machine. He couldn't be the 'main man' and demonstrated this for Ireland on occasions when key central midfielders were absent (one of the Spain away games comes to mind). Likewise, when McCarthy played him n central midfield as the 'playmaker' late on in his career when he was at Palace. He wasn't up to it.

 

Really? My understanding is that Souness had to sell Staunton and Houghton because of the limit of foreign players in European competition. We could only field 3 non-UK players, hence this shift. There may be other issues, but this would have been a primary factor

[Poolfrog]

  fred milne said:

However, he was by some distance the worst player in that 4.

 

When we signed Houghton, Craig Johnston simply retired. He didn't fancy being second string to a clearly inferior Houghton - and who could blame him?