Glen Johnson reflected on his Liverpool career in an exclusive interview with the ECHO's Theo Squires
When Liverpool signed Glen Johnson on this week in 2009, it was in hope that he could be a missing piece of the puzzle.
“If a club like Liverpool comes knocking, you obviously immediately have an eye on it and an interest,” Johnson said in an exclusive interview with the ECHO in November 2021. “But what swung it was we played for England that summer, just before I signed, and I had a good chat with Stevie . “There were a lot of issues with owners, Rafa lost his job and we sold three of our best players and didn’t replace any of them,” he recalled. “You just can’t do that, it’s as simple as that.
Scoring in the penalty shoot=out victory over Cardiff City at Wembley in 2012, only the woodwork denied him even more of the headlines and one of the great cup final goals as he hit the crossbar in the opening minutes. Winning the League Cup wasn’t enough to keep Kenny Dalglish in the job, however, as Brendan Rodgers took over as manager the following summer. And it was under the Northern Irishman that Liverpool would challenge for the Premier League title for the only time during Johnson’s time with the club.
“Everyone thinks we lost the league when Stevie slipped or when we didn’t win against Palace, but that’s wrong. We didn’t. We lost the league at the start of the season because we dropped 30 points. We went on a run after Christmas where we were unbelievable. The fact we even put ourselves in that position was incredible.”
“I wanted to try something new,” Johnson admitted. “I had always wanted to retire relatively young anyway, regardless of where I was. “Fernando was unbelievable, literally unbelievable, but obviously Luis Suarez was as well. They’re two slightly different players, I don’t think I can pick ! Johnson continued: “I’m happy with my time there and I loved every single minute of it. It felt like I had some of my best years there. I played an awful lot of games there which I feel super proud about. It’s just a shame we couldn’t win more.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing. To have the chance to play under a manager like Klopp, of course you’d love the opportunity,” Johnson ponders. “There’s a lot of world class managers out there that you would enjoy working for.
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