ARCHIVE: Papertalk – Tony Kelly
I hit the town when Dalglish hit the sack
Tony Kelly had fond memories of the big time – he cried not-stop for four days and couldn’t eat.
Kelly, one of Bolton’s F.A.Cup heroes recalls the day Liverpool kicked him out. He admits he blew his big chance because he was considered a tearaway and wasn’t dedicated enough to convince Liverpool they should keen him.
While Kenny Dalglish was in bed at 9.30, Kelly was out with his mates – and word inevitably got back.
“Actually, I wasn’t a big drinker, but I loved going out and the club usually got to know about it. I might have only been drinking shandy but by the time the story got back I had been drunk”.
Now the 29-year old, who was still at school when he played in the same reserve side as Ronnie Whelan and Kevin Sheedy, looks back and admits: “I’ve always been a nearly-man, but now I have the chance to prove what I can do. Not just for me, but for the whole team because we have done brilliantly.”
Kelly whose Bolton braves captured famous scalps at Highbury and Goodison on their way to the last 16 of the F.A Cup, recalls his lifts home in Bruce Grobbelaar’s white Porsche. “Fortunately, Bruce was as good as gold. All the kids in our street used to be over to his car like little mon keys. They’d never seen a Porsche before.”
Kelly admits he was high on the big time, with Grobbelaar and Craig Johnston taking him home to Mum Margaret in a very ordinary part of Liverpool. “Bruce used to come in and have a bowl of my Mum’s stew. It was just a normal working-class road.” But the glory of being a Liverpool superstar in the making was shortlived.
“They told me they were letting me go and I just couldn’t take it in. I was gutted – absolutely sick. I stayed in bed for four days and in the end my mum had to kick my backside and tell me to get on with things.”
“Bruce (Grobbelaar) used to come in and have a bowl of my Mum’s stew. It was just a normal working-class road.”
It’s that bolt from the blue that has seen Kelly become an unlikely father figure to Bolton youngster Jason McAteer.
“My Dad always told me you can’t put an old head on young shoulders, and that’s why I keep telling Jason to keep his feet on the floor. He’s a good kid and I think he listens to me. I can tell him where I went wrong. All I say to him is do as I say – not as I do. I must sound like my old man, but I guess we all grow up.”
Kelly was brought up in the Bob Paisley school at Anfield and remembers when he first turned up in his school uniform he couldn’t get over the big name stars wearing their Boss designer gear.
But he smiles. “I met up with Kenny Dalglish again the other day and this time I had quite a nice suit on. Kenny took one look and demanded to know if I had got my suit off the back of a lorry!”
Kelly admits he got into trouble in those early Anfield days, though he insists it was rarely his own fault.
“I was cleaning my bath one day when Bob Paisley suddenly turned to me and said “Don’t be seen in those places in town. If you’re going out, then go out and have a meal.” One thing about him, he never seemed to miss much.”
“I see the likes of Rushie and all the old boys and I don’t envy them one bit. But I can’t help wondering what might have been if I’d been a little bit more dedicated. It wasn’t easy for me at Liverpool in those early days. I was very young and had to try to break into a team that included Alan Hansen, Ray Kennedy, Phil Neal, Rushie and Dalglish. It wasn’t exactly the easiest task in the world.”
“I remember going to the Grand National once with Bruce, Craig and a few of the younger boys. We were on £65 a week and lost all our money, but they sorted us out. They were the sort of blokes who wouldn’t see you stuck. They were good times. I just wish I’d made more of them.”
TAKEN FROM THE SUNDAY MIRROR 6th FEB ‘94
First appeared in Come on Feel The Wanderers issue 3