One of the best goalscorers the game has produced has quietly joined Wrexham as player/ coach. Ian Ross hears how a Liverpool legend plans to dip his toe in the managerial waters
It is generally accepted that anyone who has the misfortune to live out their life in the public eye can judge their continuing relevance and worth to others simply by measuring the column length devoted to their antics.
Last month when it was announced that Ian Rush had taken up the post of player/coach in the Second Division with Wrexham, the news was greeted with something approaching callous indifference, the event being recorded rather than reported.
In truth, it was one of the summer’s less-celebrated football transfers, one of several final chapters penned by the legendary striker as he tries to summon up the courage to call time on a famous playing career.
At the age of 36, Rush had gone home to North Wales and if the good folk of Wrexham were ecstatic, few others could be bothered to even feign interest.
Rush is not bothered, of course. The constant thread that has run through his adult life has been an ability to keep things nicely in perspective; he remains an enviable combination of realist and dreamer.
Lest we should forget, Rush – a king among less worthy pampered princes and a gentleman in a rogue’s game – was a model professional before Michael Owen had even been conceived and when Alan Shearer was wearing shorts to school rather than to earn a living.
It is the best part of three years since Rush awoke one morning to be enveloped by the realisation that he did not wish to fade away quietly in the traditional manner – something which rather annoyed many people.
“I decided to do what was best for me and not for the rest,” said Rush. “I am still getting a kick out of playing – lots of kicks actually as young centre-backs seem to think it’s quite a cool thing to kick Ian Rush.
“I am not going to pack it all in just to keep other people happy. They tell me I am not as good as I once was but I am now almost 37 years old, for goodness sake.
“They say I don’t need the money but I am not playing for the money any more. When I moved between Liverpool and Juventus 12 years ago money was certainly a consideration but I definitely didn’t swap Newcastle United for Wrexham for the cash,” he added. Retiring would have been the easy way out.
As the most prolific marksman in Liverpool’s history, as someone who would require an annex to house his collection of glittering prizes, Rush could have settled into affluent retirement several years ago.
“When I stop enjoying it I’ll stop playing,” he said before acknowledging his use of a tired old clich and swiftly adding: “God, they all say that don’t they. It does sound like sentimental nonsense but it’s true.” Rush took a 70% pay cut when he accepted Wrexham’s offer to leave Newcastle and begin the slow climb up the managerial learning curve at the Racecourse Ground.
“This is the most hours I have ever worked and for the least pay for some considerable time,” he said with a smile of contentment which would please neither wife nor bank manager.
“But that’s no problem for me because I do want to learn all about coaching and management. It is hard work, though. I have to take time off when I can. But I know in my heart that I have picked the right club.
“I really do respect the manager Brian Flynn, his assistant Kevin Reeves and the other coach, Joey Jones. They won’t spare me just because I’m Ian Rush – they will let me know when I am wrong.”
Rush concedes that he does still find public speaking unpalatable and that his life-long unease with being the focal point of attention could well have hampered his progress had he made the quantum leap from player to manager.
“To be honest, the hardest thing for me is pulling a group of the Wrexham youngsters together and talking to them.
“I have always been shy and I do still find that sort of thing difficult, but I’m getting there. If I jumped straight into management I might have been out of my depth,” he said.
The assumption is that Rush will eventually graduate from Wrexham’s finishing school and move on to take full responsibility for shaping the careers of others. Maybe, maybe not.
“I have the chance to sample things at Wrexham but if I should discover that I don’t like it then I won’t do it – simple as that,” he said.