Alan Hansen

[Toepoke]

Watched this profile last night, repeat from a few years back...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0499fb1

I'd never really heard him talk about his life in Scotland before joining Liverpool before.

Still can't believe he wasn't even in the squad for Mexico. 

 

[fringo]

Is was an interesting programme.

Surprising how he is/was so shy and nervous at times. Never came across as such during his career playing nor on TV.

Yeah the 1986 WC omission seems incredible.

[Orraloon]

He had pulled out of a few squads in the couple of years prior to Mexico. Jock Stein and Fergie already had him penciled in as an "unreliable". More interested in Liverpool than Scotland. He was never one of Big Jock's favorites. It's just a pity he hadn't left him out of the 1982 squad as well.  

I'm not sure Fergie was going to pick him anyway, and I think he said that he didn't think Big Jock would have picked him either, if he had still been alive, but when Hansen pulled out of the squad for the England game that was the last straw.

Dave Narey was a similar player to Hansen but more versatile and I think both Jock and Fergie rated him higher, as a squad player, than Hansen. Hansen was only going to get a game if Willie Miller was injured.

 

Changed days when we used to be able to leave out players of his calibre.

 

[Toepoke]

1 hour ago, Orraloon said:

He had pulled out of a few squads in the couple of years prior to Mexico. Jock Stein and Fergie already had him penciled in as an "unreliable". More interested in Liverpool than Scotland. He was never one of Big Jock's favorites. It's just a pity he hadn't left him out of the 1982 squad as well.  

I'm not sure Fergie was going to pick him anyway, and I think he said that he didn't think Big Jock would have picked him either, if he had still been alive, but when Hansen pulled out of the squad for the England game that was the last straw.

Dave Narey was a similar player to Hansen but more versatile and I think both Jock and Fergie rated him higher, as a squad player, than Hansen. Hansen was only going to get a game if Willie Miller was injured.

 

Changed days when we used to be able to leave out players of his calibre.

 

It's a fair point. Looking back he only played in one of the qualifiers (came on as a sub in the game we lost v Wales at Hampden).

There was also the alleged fall out with Stein when he refused to give advice on how to defend against Ian Rush.

That said I think his ability on the ball would have been perfect for the slower pace of the games in Mexico.

Interestingly Roxburgh recalled him when he took over after the World Cup.

 

Edited July 12, 2020 by Toepoke

[Jim Beem]

Hansen was decent, but nowhere near the talent of Narey. And to avoid the accusation of bias, well below Miller and McLeish as well

He also does appear to come across as a bit of a cock at times. I’ll put that down to hanging out with Shearer and Lawrenson for a few years though. . 

[Burj_Alba]

There was also the time when Big Jock hooked him after about 20 mins into a match ( think we were 2-0 down to Switzerland 1984 qualifiers) After that is was always Miller and McLeish as the preferred partnership.

Brilliant for Liverpool and Thistle but totally indifferent to Scotland, incredible really as the team was built around his two mates Souness and Dalglish.

[Malcolm]

Hansen was a superb centre half...  three European cups And numerous English titles.  Could defend and play.  Personally think he was better individually than any players mentioned in this thread, just never seemed to do it for Scotland.  Our best two centre half’s were Hansen and miller but they never seemed to click.

[Toepoke]

3 hours ago, Jim Beem said:

Hansen was decent, but nowhere near the talent of Narey. And to avoid the accusation of bias, well below Miller and McLeish as well

He also does appear to come across as a bit of a cock at times. I’ll put that down to hanging out with Shearer and Lawrenson for a few years though. . 

Mad to think these days of a Liverpool double winning skipper being edged out the squad by a Dundee Utd player. Shows how much the game has changed!

Funnily enough Hansen's last cap was as part of the defence that went to sleep and allowed Lawrenson to score the Irish winner at Hampden in 87.

 

Edited July 12, 2020 by Toepoke

[Orraloon]

Narey was a better player than Hansen, IMO. 

Edited July 12, 2020 by Orraloon

[Ally Bongo]

Hansen was a poundshop Dave McPherson ....

One reason Jack Charlton made Ireland successful was instructing his players to press defenders that liked to play the ball out their own half resulting in them making mistakes

Would have had a field day against Hansen

[ceudmilefailte]

55 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Narey was a better player than Hansen, IMO. 

I can't think of a player I have thought more over rated than Hansen, maybe Stevie Gerrard but that's about it.

[Jim Beem]

4 hours ago, Malcolm said:

Hansen was a superb centre half...  three European cups And numerous English titles.  Could defend and play.  Personally think he was better individually than any players mentioned in this thread, just never seemed to do it for Scotland.  Our best two centre half’s were Hansen and miller but they never seemed to click.

Totally disagree, he was good, but thats it. Some of the Liverpool sides he played in were that Good you could probably have got away with Kyle Benedictus in the Hansen role. 

Edited July 12, 2020 by Jim Beem

[Malcolm]

35 minutes ago, Jim Beem said:

Totally disagree, he was good, but thats it. Some of the Liverpool sides he played in were that Good you could probably have got away with Kyle Benedictus in the Hansen role. 

 

well that’s opinions for you.....   here is a quote from the Liverpool forum....

 

Van Dijk is the 1st Centre half we have had since Hansen left who approaches Hansen's level.

As a defender he was IMO almost peerless, easily on a par with Baresi and Beckenbaur. Outside of Liverpool he is criminally underrated. Partially due to the LFC European ban and partly due to Scotland being shite.

He also has fantastic knowledge of the game and was a real loss when he retired from punditry.

 

 

[ErsatzThistle]

6 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

He also has fantastic knowledge of the game and was a real loss when he retired from punditry.

[Orraloon]

42 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

 

well that’s opinions for you.....   here is a quote from the Liverpool forum....

 

Van Dijk is the 1st Centre half we have had since Hansen left who approaches Hansen's level.

As a defender he was IMO almost peerless, easily on a par with Baresi and Beckenbaur. Outside of Liverpool he is criminally underrated. Partially due to the LFC European ban and partly due to Scotland being shite.

He also has fantastic knowledge of the game and was a real loss when he retired from punditry.

 

 

They must sell some good gear in Scouse land. 

[ParisInAKilt]

 

[scotlad]

58 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

 

well that’s opinions for you.....   here is a quote from the Liverpool forum....

 

Van Dijk is the 1st Centre half we have had since Hansen left who approaches Hansen's level.

As a defender he was IMO almost peerless, easily on a par with Baresi and Beckenbaur. Outside of Liverpool he is criminally underrated. Partially due to the LFC European ban and partly due to Scotland being shite.

He also has fantastic knowledge of the game and was a real loss when he retired from punditry.

 

 

So shite we were able to leave him out of our Mexico 86 squad.

[vanderark14]

7 hours ago, Malcolm said:

 

well that’s opinions for you.....   here is a quote from the Liverpool forum....

 

Van Dijk is the 1st Centre half we have had since Hansen left who approaches Hansen's level.

As a defender he was IMO almost peerless, easily on a par with Baresi and Beckenbaur. Outside of Liverpool he is criminally underrated. Partially due to the LFC European ban and partly due to Scotland being shite.

He also has fantastic knowledge of the game and was a real loss when he retired from punditry.

 

 

A quote from anothet football forum, well thats me convinced

[wanderer]

Few weeks ago I was invited onto a football history podcast to talk about the national team across 1982-83 and we did end up talking a lot about Hansen and his Scotland career

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0KVGUIGdmUDaQsPXyXsTa2?si=Uwa9sP0BRomXM_n2Qt9dkw

Think comes down to he would pick and choose his games, not as protected in a Scotland shirt as he was in a Liverpool shirt, and Stein knowing we needed a consistent back two and not chopping to suit whenever Hansen decided to show up (the "Ian Rush" story I take with a pinch of salt, as Dalglish, Nicol and Souness did not get blackballed for it)

[Caledonian Craig]

How passionate did the fires burn for Hansen when playing for Scotland though? The amount of call-offs he had speaks volumes and I don't doubt he is seen as a legend at Liverpool as they saw and got the best out of him. That was not the case for Scotland. And it was the same as a pundit you always got the impression he looked down on Scotland when punditing on their games at preceding World Cup Finals. 

Now around that time we did benefit greatly from Aberdeen's supplying of Willie Miller and Alex McLeish. They had club understanding and so slotted in better in the centre of defence for Scotland whereas Hansen's call-offs certainly would not have helped his cause. So I would say there were more than one reason Hansen did not cut it at international level.

[Orraloon]

He also refused to play out of, what he regarded as, his position. He had the skill to be a great midfield player but would only play in central defence. That attitude did not go down well with Big Jock. Narey played central defence, right back and midfield. He was very good in any position. Jock Stein liked defenders who could also play midfield when required. Miller, McLeish, Aitkin were primarily defenders but they all play midfield when required. 

[Orraloon]

And we shouldn't forget that we had Richard Gough at right back as well, so we had plenty of cover if Miller or McLeish got injured. Changed days indeed.

But at that time Gough hadn't moved to England yet so the EPL lovers probably thought he was still shyte as well. 

At the time it wasn't a big surprise to the fans that Hansen didn't get picked for Mexico. It might have been a surprise to him and the pundits in England but most Scotland fans knew we had better players playing up here.

 

[wanderer]

7 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

 

At the time it wasn't a big surprise to the fans that Hansen didn't get picked for Mexico. It might have been a surprise to him and the pundits in England but most Scotland fans knew we had better players playing up here.

 

Pretty much the same as McGovan and MacLeod, you get people saying Hansen would have made a difference, especially against Uruguay (which is probably not the case, as scoring goals was our problem in 86).

Hansens exclusion from the Scotland squad seems to coincide with Steins attitude changing, where before he was probably more inclined to pick home based players (which given Aberdeen and Dundee United European form, you can understand), rather than what most his teams from 78-83 were, where it was if you play in England you are in the team (and home based players getting their chance in the home nations games)

[daviebee]

One time he left his roommate sleeping when it was time to go to the Scotland team talk as well.  Wasn't his responsibility to wake him up apparently.  An absolute knob-end.  Thankfully Stein finally seemed to have enough of him when we were 2-0 down at home to the Swiss.

[0Neils40yarder]

6 hours ago, Orraloon said:

And we shouldn't forget that we had Richard Gough at right back as well, so we had plenty of cover if Miller or McLeish got injured. Changed days indeed.

But at that time Gough hadn't moved to England yet so the EPL lovers probably thought he was still shyte as well. 

At the time it wasn't a big surprise to the fans that Hansen didn't get picked for Mexico. It might have been a surprise to him and the pundits in England but most Scotland fans knew we had better players playing up here.

 

The epl wasn't a thing in those days