“That Was The Liverpool Way” – Geoff Twentyman Discusses His New Book ‘Top Man’ | OneFootball

Written by Mark Strickland

Geoff Twentyman spoke to us about his new book ‘Top Man’ charting his life from growing up amongst LFC icons to becoming a broadcasting legend.

Strikingly, Twentyman shared how he discovered ‘Old Big Ears’ on the coffee table growing up in his family home.

Liverpool had famously “won the European Cup in Rome” for the first time in 1977, beating Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 thanks to goals from Terry McDermott and Tommy Smith – his 48th and final for the club – and a Phil Neal penalty.

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Twentyman said: “I think one of the experiences that did tell me that my upbringing was different to my mates at school was that I came in from school one day, 1977, and there was something in the middle of the lounge and it was covered by a big, green, velvet cloth.

“It was in a bag. It was about two and a half, three feet high and maybe two feet wide and I looked at it and thought, ‘Oh my goodness! What’s that?’

“Dad was in the kitchen with Mum, so I whipped into the kitchen and said, ‘Dad, what’s that in the lounge?’

“He said, ‘Take it out of the velvet bag and look.’

“I took the velvet bag off and it was the European Cup. Sat in our lounge.

“Sadly, (there were) no mobile phones, no camera phones and all that then, but I said, ‘Dad, why is the European Cup in our lounge?’

“And he said, ‘I’m going to do a talk at a local amateur football club tonight. And I was telling Bob Paisley,’ and (he) said to take the trophy with him and show them it. So he did.

“But that was the Liverpool way. It was very understated.

“They wanted to share the glory of the European Cup with the amateur footballers in Maghull and Lydiate.

“It was surreal to pull that away. It was incredible.”

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In ‘Top Man’, Twentyman tells of when he entered Paisley’s office and the manager delivered a “sledgehammer”.

He said: “I knew it was coming, but it was extraordinary to go into the manager’s office where (Bill) Shankly had been and where Bob Paisley was at the time.

“Liverpool at that point could have made the decision and just said to Dad, ‘Tell Geoffrey (because Dad was Geoff), we’re not going to offer him a contract and wish him all the best, but they did it the right way.

“It was incredible the respect they showed me.

“There was a light-hearted moment. I’ve gone in and he is sitting behind the manager’s desk and I could see underneath, he had his slippers on.”

“I sat down (and Paisley said), ‘How do you think you’ve done?’ and I’ve thought, ‘Yeah, I’ve done okay, boss, but probably not good enough, I don’t think.’

“And he went, ‘Dad tells me that you’ve got a place to be a PE teacher?’

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Twentyman had secured a place at Chester to do a Bachelor of Education (BEd) in Physical Education (PE).

“And he looked me in the eye (in an) inoffensive way and he went, ‘Yeah, I reckon you’ll make a better PE teacher than you will a footballer.’

“I thanked him because he did it in such a humane way.

“And that to me was a great lesson in life, that dealing with people, if it’s bad news, do it respectfully.”

After forging a successful career including spells at Preston North End and Bristol Rovers – where he made nearly a century and over 250 appearances – he studied at Bristol Polytechnic and then joined Radio Bristol as a sports journalist.

Twentyman previewed for the station what transpired to be Graeme Souness’ final game before he resigned as Liverpool manager: Liverpool 0-1 Bristol City, FA Cup Third Round Replay, Tuesday 25 January 1994.

It was a full circle moment as Twentyman returned to Anfield as a journalist, but Souness had also headhunted his father from Liverpool to be the Chief Scout for Rangers.

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Twentyman had secured an interview with Souness ahead of the game.

“You have to ask the hard questions, you can’t duck away from it,” he added.

“But it was awkward because I was there because of Mum and Dad, but I thought, ‘No, I’ve got to ask him the big question.’

“So, I left it till the end because obviously, it was the killer question.

“I said, ‘Graham, if you lose to Bristol City in the FA Cup, do you worry that it could cost you your job?’

“And he looked at me. He gave ‘the Souness glare’. And he agreed.

“He said, ‘Yes, Geoff. I’m under no illusions. I know I can’t afford to lose this cup tie.’

“And fair play, he shook my hand at the end of the interview and said he enjoyed it, so I knew I hadn’t upset him.”

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