Many forget that Liverpool icon played for Plymouth Argyle | OneFootball

Bruce Grobbelaar turned out for the Pilgrims for one season towards the end of his career.

Many people forget that iconic Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar also enjoyed a stint with Plymouth Argyle towards the end of his career.

The former Zimbabwe international will forever be synonymous with a time when Liverpool dominated English football. Grobbelaar was part of no less than six league title-winning teams at Anfield over the course of the 1980s and also famously helped the Reds to European Cup glory in 1984.

However, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that he also spent time with Plymouth, as one of the multitude of clubs he spent time at over the course of his career.

Aged 38 by the time he arrived at Home Park in 1996, Grobbelaar made 36 league appearances as the Pilgrims survived relegation in the old Division Two (now League One). It is an often-forgotten part of what was a remarkable career, which played out in a fairly unpredictable style.

Grobbelaar is a Liverpool legend

Grobbelaar’s route to arriving in Liverpool is surely one of the more unconventional ones over the years.

The South African-born keeper spent time in both Zimbabwe and South Africa in his youth years, before joining Vancouver Whitecaps of the NASL (now MLS). Bizarrely, his first taste of English football came in the 1979-80 season, when he spent time on loan at Crewe Alexandra in the Fourth Division.

Liverpool bought Grobbelaar from Vancouver in 1981, and he received his chance when first-choice keeper Ray Clemence moved to Tottenham. The Reds won the league and League Cup double at the end of 1981/82 (Grobbelaar’s first season at the club), and that marked the start of a remarkable trophy-laden period.

Over the course of his 14 years at Anfield, Grobbelaar won 13 trophies, including six league titles. He made over 600 senior appearances for the Reds and became known for his eccentric style.

Perhaps his most famous moment came in the 1984 European Cup final. With Liverpool level at 1-1 with Roma after both 90 minutes and extra time, Grobbelaar took centre stage for the resulting penalty shootout.

It was here that he famously wobbled his legs to distract the Roma penalty takers, and it worked, with the Italian side missing two of their spot kicks to hand the Reds Europe’s biggest prize.

Towards the end of his time at Liverpool, Grobbelaar was allowed to play for his national team once again. He had previously been unable to represent Zimbabwe due to a rule in the country that prevented players with a British passport from turning out for the national team.

He eventually left the club as a 36-year-old in 1994, after which he spent two seasons with Southampton before joining Plymouth.

Grobbelaar’s time at Plymouth is often forgotten

The Zimbabwean arrived in Devon with Plymouth newly promoted into the third tier.

Grobbelaar turned out 36 times for the Pilgrims in the league that season, as Neil Warnock’s men consolidated their position in the Second Division. His time at Argyle served to highlight Grobbelaar’s incredible longevity as, even at 39 years of age come the end of the season, he was still an effective option and a respectable level of football.

However, he spent just one season with Plymouth before moving on once again. His Pilgrims stint ultimately proved to be his final prolonged stay at an English club.

Brief spells with Oxford, Sheffield Wednesday, Oldham, Bury and Lincoln all followed within two years of Grobbelaar’s Home Park departure, before moving back to South Africa.

Having served in his country’s army, faced match-fixing allegations and having seen the tragedies of the Hillsborough Disaster unfold behind his goal, Grobbelaar went through a lot in his career.

He will always have a place in English football folklore for his entertaining personality and his outstanding goalkeeping ability, but his time with Plymouth proved to be a lesser-remembered corner of his extensive and scarcely believable career.