Few names are woven into the fabric of Liverpool Football Club quite like Ian Rush. The club’s all-time leading goalscorer, the Welshman’s remarkable career brought five league titles, three FA Cups, five League Cups and two European Cups, while his relentless goalscoring made him a hero.
Now, his extraordinary legacy is being celebrated in a new exhibition at the Liverpool FC Museum – All You Need Is Rush, giving fans the chance to explore the trophies, shirts, medals and personal memorabilia that tell the story of one of the greatest players ever to wear the famous red shirt, plus nods to Juventus and his glorious Wales time.
Dan spoke to Rush himself to get his take on the new exhibition…
On initial reaction: “I’m really, really proud of what’s happened. What Liverpool Football Club have done has made it really, really special. When I came down about an hour ago, it got quite emotional. It was like bringing back memories from when I was a kid playing for Wales, debuting for Liverpool and Juventus and finishing at Liverpool, so it’s just like really, really emotional.”
On the memorabilia: “When you think about it, when you stop playing you forget about what you’ve achieved. I’ve been in bin bags in the loft and everything to get them all out, get them cleaned up and to share them with Liverpool Football Club. I think (1:06) for me, I’ve got two grandchildren. They’ll get the chance to see me and what I’ve achieved, so I think it’s for the younger generation, because if they didn’t see me playing. I think it’s really special for me.”
On the new season: “I’m looking forward to it. I look at the high-pressure game. It’s slowly but surely coming up. I was impressed when I watched the training sessions, a couple of training sessions, with the intensity of the closing down there that was coming in those sessions. They were like 7v7s. When you take it to the full pitch, 11 v 11, it takes time to do that. But you can see the signs.”
On the need for transfers: “We’d all like to make one or two more signings. You’ve got people coming back from injury as well. If we can get them back, it might be okay. There’s still a couple of weeks to go. Let’s see what happens.”
On Mohamed Salah: “I sent him one (a good luck message). I think it’s amazing what he’s done for Liverpool in nine years. It makes him a very, very special player. He’ll always be welcome at Liverpool Football Club. He knows, as you said, that’s his home as well. Liverpool Football Club. We wish him well. I’m sure he will do well. At least my record is safe for now.”
On the importance of cup success for Andoni Iraola: ” It’s difficult to say. I think for me, the FA Cup was so special. Now it’s the Champions League. The FA Cup now, it’s more for the younger generation to play there. They play so many games now. It’s difficult to play the FA Cup. It’s not the main thing. I think when we won it, when we won the League Cup, or whatever Cup it’s called, we won them with the youngsters there. I think it’s a chance for the younger ones to prove themselves more than anything.”
On Liverpool celebrating legends: “We’re a different club to everyone. That’s what I tell most others. That’s what we tell the present players. You can be like Virg as well. He’s something special, Ali. This is a club where if you do well for this club, they’ll remember you for the rest of their lives.”
Dan also caught up with Liverpool FC museum curator Mark Platt…
On the items: “Without that memorabilia, we couldn’t have done the exhibition. We’ve got so many shirts, so all those medals. We’ve managed to find all the hat trick balls. So, I was really pleased about it.”
On the immersive aspect: “The hologram brings it up to date and sort of portrays it to a different audience, a modern audience. But yeah, they challenge us. With this one, which was different than the Jurgen one. We shoot these at the company we work for, and they do a great job on that. A bit of AI as well. And it sort of brings it to life. I think he got a bit emotional about that one, just seeing himself back there sort of come to life as a boy who’s 10, 11 years of age. I’m really impressed. Really pleased with the hologram.”
On bringing the story to a younger audience: “We want to celebrate that, our record goalscorer, but we also want to show the younger generation about Rush, especially when Mo Salah’s closing in on his record and then they’ll be like ‘Well who is this Ian Rush?’ So this is Ian Rush, you know. That was probably inspired by the theme of the comic books that inspired that as well, like sort of, you know, I know it’s sort of like 80s-style comic theme, but it’s still more visually appealing probably to the younger generation.”
The exhibition at Anfield will officially open for guests on Friday 14th August.
