“AS WE WALKED OUT BEFORE THE EUROPEAN CUP FINAL, WE WERE SINGING A SONG BY CHRIS REA”

You joined Liverpool from Ayr in 1979. What was it like making such a leap?

I know it’s hard to believe, but it was actually an easy transition. At first I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, how am I going to fit in?’ But it was never a big problem. At Ayr I was playing with a bunch of older professionals, then I joined the European champions and they behaved in pretty much the same way. The players looked after me from day one, especially the Scottish lads like Alan Hansen and Graeme Souness.

Why were you nicknamed ‘Chopsy’?

Terry McDermott called me it first, when I was a rookie in the squad and not playing regularly. We were sitting together at the table, having some dinner. They told the waiter not to give me any chips, but I was persistent. With my Scottish accent I call them ‘chops’, which the waiter couldn’t understand. So from then on, I became known as ‘Chopsy’!

You broke