Alan Hansen

Football player infobox2
playername = Alan Hansen


fullname = Alan David Hansen
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1955|6|13|df=y
cityofbirth = Alloa
countryofbirth = Scotland
height = 6ft 2in
position = centre-back (retired)
years = 1973–1977
1977–1991
clubs = Partick Thistle
Liverpool
Total
caps(goals) = 086 0(6)
434 0(14)
706 (20)
nationalyears = 1979–1987
nationalteam = Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) = 026 0(0)

Alan David Hansen (born Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, 13 June 1955) is a BBC television football pundit and a former football player. He played for Partick Thistle FC (1973 to 1977 - 108 appearances), Liverpool FC (1977 to 1991 - 620 appearances), and the Scottish national team (1979 to 1987 - 26 caps). As a pundit, Hansen has acquired a reputation for his critical approach to the game, particularly in regards to defending.

Biography

Hansen's grandfather was Danish. Hansen was raised on a diet of sport, and in addition to his footballing talents he represented Scotland in volleyball, squash and golf at junior level. Hansen received his scar from a volleyball-related incident, aged 17. Running late for a match, Hansen ran into a glass door. During his stay in hospital he had 27 stitches in his head.

Football career

Hansen turned down the opportunity to study at the University of Aberdeen, in order to join his brother John at Partick Thistle. During the summer while his application was being processed, he worked for six weeks in the offices General Accident insurance - which he hated.citeweb|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article1963537.ece|title=Alan Hansen: My Life In Media|publisher=The Independent|date=6 January 2008 18:54|accessdate=2008-01-06] As a trainee, Hansen was watching in the Hampden Park stands as Partick Thistle F.C., which included his brother John, upset firm favourites Celtic in the 1971 Scottish League Cup final, convincingly beating their illustrious counterparts 4-1.

After breaking into the first team, Hansen quickly established a reputation for himself as a confident central defender, and was watched by numerous top clubs, including Bob Paisley's Liverpool. In 1975/76 season Hansen played 21 times as Partick won the Scottish First Division championship to gain entry into the Scottish Premier Division. By the end of the following season Hansen had racked up 35 top flight appearances which helped earn him a move south of the border.

Liverpool

Hansen cost Liverpool the bargain price of £110,000. He made his Reds debut on the 24 September 1977 in a league match at Anfield. Derby County were the visitors and were beaten by a single goal scored by Terry McDermott. Hansen hit his first goal the following month on the 19 October during a European Cup 2nd round 1st leg tie at Anfield. He opened the scoring in the 14th minute as Liverpool demolished East German side Dynamo Dresden 5-1.

Hansen was put into the first team sporadically throughout the season - he wasn't in the side which lost the League Cup final after a replay to Nottingham Forest in 1978 but was selected for the side which retained the European Cup with a 1-0 victory over FC Bruges at Wembley, the goal scored by Dalglish.

The following year Hansen was in the squad as Liverpool regained the League title and also fully established himself as a first choice central defender when long serving club captain Emlyn Hughes was sold to Wolves. He also made his full debut for Scotland, though his international career would prove something of a frustration for him. Jock Stein gave Hansen his Scotland debut on the 19 May 1979 in a British Home Championship match at Ninian Park, Cardiff, in which Wales were the hosts and soundly beat the Scots 3-0. Hansen's 2nd cap came the following month on the 2 June in a prestigious friendly against reigning World Champions Argentina, The South Americans proved why they were the best in the world beating the Scots by 3 goals to 1 at Hampden Park.

Liverpool's domination of club football continued in 1980 with another League title and then in 1981 they ended the season with their first League Cup after defeating West Ham United 2-1 in a replay at Villa Park. Hansen scored the winning goal in the 28th minute. They also regained the European Cup with a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid.

The league title returned to Anfield in 1982, and the team also retained the League Cup with victory over Tottenham Hotspur, although Hansen missed this triumph with injury. Hansen was selected in the Scotland squad for the summer's World Cup in Spain, which proved an enormous disappointment. The team failed to progress beyond the qualifying group due to drawing 2-2 with the USSR. An accidental collision between Hansen and central defensive partner Willie Miller allowed USSR striker Ramoz Shengelia through to score the Soviets' second goal.

In 1983, Liverpool once again took the League title and held on to the League Cup, this time defeating Manchester United in the final. The two trophies would remain at Anfield too in 1984, although Hansen was involved in a controversial incident in the League Cup final at Wembley when he appeared to handle a shot on the goal line. Despite protests from opponents and fierce Merseyside rivals Everton, no penalty was given. Liverpool won the final after a replay.

The club then completed a treble of trophies when they added yet another European Cup to the league title and League Cup. The final against AS Roma ended 1-1 and went to a penalty shoot-out, which Liverpool won.

Liverpool emerged trophy-less from the following season, and were banned from all European competition after the 1985 European Cup Final at Heysel was preceded by rioting which caused the deaths of 39 Juventus fans. Though the result of the game was immaterial, Liverpool lost it 1-0. Hansen would never play a European tie again.

Manager Joe Fagan retired after Heysel, and Hansen's friend, team-mate and fellow Scotsman Dalglish was appointed as player manager. He gave Hansen the captaincy and the season ended in triumph, as in 1986 Liverpool became only the third side in the 20th century to complete a League and FA Cup "double", following Tottenham in 1961 and Arsenal in 1971. Hansen lifted both trophies as captain and earned his first FA Cup winners' medal, thereby completing the domestic set.

Liverpool won nothing in 1987, losing the League Cup final when Arsenal defeated them 2-1, while arch-rivals Everton took the League title. But in 1988, arguably the most skilled Liverpool team of all, with Hansen as skipper, lost just twice as they coasted to the League title - Hansen's seventh - and reached the FA Cup final, where they were beaten 1-0 by Wimbledon in one of the competition's biggest shocks.

Hansen missed much of the 1989 season with a knee injury, but battled back to regain his place in the side in the latter half of an eventful campaign on the pitch and a tragic one off it. In April 1989, after the Hillsborough disaster claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans, Hansen was among many Liverpool stars left distraught by the tragedy, attending 12 funerals and visiting the injured in hospital. Liverpool eventually won the FA Cup against Everton in the final at Wembley, though Hansen didn't lift the trophy — this honour was given to team-mate Ronnie Whelan who had deputised capably in Hansen's absence through injury and retained the role on the basis of continuity and reward even after the club's first choice captain was fit again. Hansen did not complain. In the 1988/9 season, Liverpool lost the League title and a second "double" thanks to a crucial goal in the final seconds by Arsenal player Michael Thomas at Anfield which gave the Highbury club the title.

Hansen made more appearances the following season but his persistent knee problems continued to affect his fitness although he still captained Liverpool to another League title, which made it eight individually for Hansen, which was a record at the time. The club came close to the "double" yet again, but lost a thrilling FA Cup semi final 4-3 to Crystal Palace.

Hansen tried to continue the following season but the knee got the better of him, and he retired in March 1991 shortly after the resignation of Kenny Dalglish, Hansen was himself linked with the manager's job. In his final season as a Liverpool Hansen made no appearances in 1990/91.

International career

Hansen won his last of his 26 Scotland caps in 1987. The reason given for his lack of caps by Scotland coaches of the late 70s and the whole of the 80s was that a formidable partnership had formed between Miller and Alex McLeish at the dominant Scottish side Aberdeen (managed at the time by Alex Ferguson) and it made sense to keep them together at international level. Indeed, Ferguson (in temporary charge after the sudden death of Jock Stein) dropped Hansen from the squad for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, citing Hansen's poor international form and reluctance to play international friendly games in the warm up to the World Cup as the reason.

After retirement

There were strong rumours that Hansen would be approached to take over as manager of Liverpool after his former captain Graeme Souness left in 1994. However, he ruled himself out of the running, stating that despite his great affection for the club, he simply was not interested in coaching or management; a position he has maintained ever since Roy Evans got the job.

On 4 October 2006 Hansen once again pulled on a Liverpool shirt playing in a charity match for the Reds` Legends team against a Celtic Legends team.

Hansen was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2006. He is, unsurprisingly, still a firm favourite amongst Kopites everywhere, so much so he was voted in at No.12 in the [http://www.liverpoolfc.tv official Liverpool Football Club web-site] poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop conducted in 2006, more than 110,000 supporters worldwide voted for their favourite 100 Reds of all-time.

Television pundit and journalist

After rejecting the idea of management, when he retired from football in 1991 he planned to take three months off. After his wife pointed out that during his rest period, the telephone had not rung once, he started calling the networks. Sky Television employed Hansen as a pundit and summariser almost as soon as he ceased playing, and soon he had established enough of a reputation as a considered observer and thinker within the game for the BBC to approach him. He began working for BBC Radio 5 Live before moving on to Match of the Day.

For more than a decade, Hansen has been employed as the main pundit for the BBC's football coverage (rights to show matches or highlights permitting) and he is known as a calm, authoritative, and rational analyst of the game who is particularly keen on highlighting the triumphs and "shocking" mistakes of defenders. It is worth noting that unlike all the other ex-professional footballers (apart from Alan Shearer) now employed by the BBC, Hansen has always refused to sit with the commentator at matches; preferring instead to be in the studio at the stadium for live matches and at Television Centre for highlights programmes.

Hansen is known for frequent repetition of phrases such as "power and pace", "pace, power and determination", "touch and technique", "incredible hit" and most often "it's in the back of the net","that's fantastic", "time and time again", or "time and again", and on one occasion "time and time and time".

Hansen is also infamous for the phrase "you'll never win anything with kids" having made the remark following Manchester United's 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa on the opening day of the 1995/96 Premier League season. After selling high profile players like Ince, Hughes and Kanchelskis in the summer of 1995, United had introduced several youth team players into the first team, yet went on to win a league and cup double later that season.

Away from football analysis, Hansen is a keen and talented golfer, and he is a respected member of Hillside Golf Club playing off a handicap of three. He has hosted documentaries on the sport and worked at the Masters tournament for the BBC. He has also presented programmes on the rise in status and wealth of the modern footballer and appeared in numerous television commercials, most recently starring as a butler cleaning his master's football boots in an advert for Danish lager, Carlsberg. He is a columnist for the "Daily Telegraph", "Telegraph.co.uk" and the BBC website on football issues and has also built a good reputation as a motivational speaker.He now stars in several television and radio advertisements for the Morrisons chain of supermarkets.

Personal life

Hansen is married to Janet. The couple live in the Hillside area of Southport, [citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/tv_radio_coverage/newsid_1907000/1907001.stm|title=World Cup 2002 - Alan Hansen|publisher=BBC Sport|date=9 April, 2002|accessdate=2008-01-06] and have a son (Adam) and a daughter (Lucy). They have spent their honeymoon, his 40th birthday and their 25th wedding anniversary in Barbados; and as a family take a holiday to New York city every December for Christmas shopping. [citeweb|url=http://travel.independent.co.uk/news_and_advice/article2095617.ece|title=My Life In Travel: Alan Hansen|publisher=The Independent|date=23 December 2006|accessdate=2008-01-06]

Honours

* sport honours|Scottish First Division|1|1975–76
* sport honours|Charity Shield|6|1977–78*, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1986–87*, 1989–90
* sport honours|European Cup|3|1977–78, 1980–81, 1983–84
* sport honours|League Championship|8|1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1989–90
* sport honours|League Cup|3|1980–81, 1982–83, 1983–84
* sport honours|FA Cup|2|1985–86, 1988–89
* sport honours|Screen Sport Super Cup|1|1985–86* Shared

Runner Up

Liverpool FC

* 1977/78 League Championship (Level 1)
* 1978/79 European Super Cup
* 1981/82 Intercontinental Cup
* 1983/84 Charity Shield
* 1984/85 Charity Shield
* 1984/85 Intercontinental Cup
* 1984/85 European Super Cup
* 1984/85 League Championship (Level 1)
* 1984/85 European Cup
* 1986/87 League Cup
* 1986/87 League Championship (Level 1)
* 1987/88 FA Cup

Scotland (1979 - 1987) - 26 caps

References

External links

* [http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/past_players/players/hansen/ Official past players at Liverpoolfc.tv]
* [http://www.lfchistory.net/player_profile.asp?player_id=311 LFChistory.net player profile]
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=956 Liverpool appearances part 1 1977/79-1979/80 at Sporting-heroes.net]
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=7417 Liverpool appearances part 2 1980/81-1982/83 at Sporting-heroes.net]
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=958 Liverpool appearances part 3 1983/84-1986/87 at Sporting-heroes.net]
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=959 Liverpool appearances part 3 1987/88-1989/90 at Sporting-heroes.net]
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_international.asp?HeroID=2437 Scottish caps 1979-87 at Sporting-heroes.net]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?menuId=1087&menuItemId=6827&view=COLUMNIST&grid=F7&targetRule=10 "Alan Hansen's Telegraph column archive"] Telegraph.co.uk