As a fan he stood on the Kop; as a man he won every major honour in the game. In a decade when Liverpool rose to dominate English and European football, Thompson was at the heart of the Reds’ defence. He captained his club and his country and developed a deep tactical knowledge that would serve the Reds so well in later years.

Bill Shankly gave the ex-Kirkby schoolboy his senior debut in the 1971-72 season. Tall, skinny and awkward, he looked ill-equipped to deal with the demands of the game. But, within a year, he’d proved himself capable of handling the First Division’s biggest and roughest strikers. He won League titles, European trophies and England caps. Then, when Emlyn Hughes left Anflield, he helped form a legendary defensive pairing with Alan Hansen.

Thompson enjoyed his greatest professional moment, lifting the European Cup after the team’s 1981 victory over Real Madrid in Paris. So determined was he to keep hold of the trophy that he took it to bed. The next day he took the Cup back to his local pub in Kirkby so his old friends and fellow fans could have their photograph taken with it. But by the time of the Reds’ 1984 European Cup triumph, Thompson had lost the captaincy to Graeme Souness, and his regular place to Mark Lawrenson. He left the following year for Sheffield United but, as the most diehard of Reds’ supporters, couldn’ t wait to get back to Anfield.

His first stint on the coaching staff may have ended in an acrimonious bust-up with Souness, but wehn he was asked back to assist the newly appointed Gerard Houllier, he didn’t hesitate for a second. As first team coach, and Houllier’s motivator-in-chief, he’s played a huge role in the Reds’ resurgence over the last four years. And, with him in the dressing room, Reds fans can be sure that pride and passion are alive and well.