This year the Liverpool Supporters Club Malta (Gozo branch) is commemorating the 10th anniversary since it was founded.

To celebrate such an important event they have invited one of the most representative Liverpool players, Phil Neal, to visit the Gozo branch.

He will be in Gozo between Saturday 10 and Monday 12 May. A get together will be held on Saturday at the Downtown Hotel in Victoria. The activity will start at 8.30pm.

Price is EUR15 for adults and EUR7.50 for children.

During the activity the club’s official photographer will be present, to ensure that everyone present at this activity will have the opportunity to take photographs with Phil Neal.

Tickets can be bought either directly from the club at 31, Vjal Il-Labour, Xewkija, or booked by calling on 21563667, 79816668 or 99430673.

One of most decorated players

One of the most-decorated players in English football history, Phil Neal made his name with Northampton Town and had played in nearly 200 Football League games for The Cobblers when he was transferred to Liverpool in November 1974 as Bob Paisley’s first managerial signing.

Vastly experienced already with the league scene even at the relatively young age of 23, being pitched into the Goodison derby with Everton just days after his arrival on Merseyside didn’t bother him in the slightest. Phil missed the next 3 matches after that goalless debut but then played in the last 22 fixtures of the 1974-75 season, mostly at left-back even though he preferred to be on the right. That started a quite astonishing run of consecutive appearances for Liverpool; 417 games in a row for Liverpool between 23 October 1976 to 24 September 1983. A Liverpool record.

Phil won a League championship medal in his first full season at Anfield (1975-76), something he would achieve on no less than eight occasions. He also played in six European club finals for Liverpool and was the only member of the 1977 European cup-winning side in Rome to return there seven years later for a similar but much sterner test against the Italian champions.

Phil’s cool penalty in 1977 had sealed that first triumph in the continent’s premier club tournament and he scored again - this time from open play - in 1984 before adding another tidy penalty in the shoot-out that followed the 1-1 draw, setting the scene for Alan Kennedy’s dramatic clincher from 12 yards. A year later, having succeeded Graeme Souness as captain, Phil had the chance to emulate the great Real Madrid players di Stefano and Gento by picking up a fifth winners’ medal in the Champions’ cup. Sadly, on a night of mayhem and madness in Brussels, his European dream was taken away from him on one the blackest days football has ever known.

Phil also played 50 times for England, a clear recognition that he was one of the finest full-backs of his time. Phil was 34 as the 1985-86 season under Kenny Dalglish’s leadership approached. After playing in the opening eight First Division fixture he lost his place – only for one game it is true – but Dalglish was already looking to the future and it wasn’t long before Steve Nicol took over Neal’s place in the side. Knowing that his playing days were nearing the end anyway, Phil accepted an offer from Bolton Wanderers to be their manager but continued to be registered as a player until 1989. He lost his job at Burnden Park after six a half years and shortly afterwards was appointed assistant manager at Coventry City.

Phil Neal’s record speaks for itself. He played in a staggering total of 701 Football League games for Northampton, Liverpool and Bolton. Added to that are no fewer than 180 cup appearances for Liverpool alone which when added to those he made for his first and last League clubs plus the representative honours he gained take his total close to the 1,000 mark, a quite astonishing achievement.

He was part of the most successful period in Liverpool’s history, or that of any British club come to that, success that he could only have dreamed about when he was a young man during his early days in the Fourth Division at Northampton.

Honours with Liverpool

First Division Championship: 1975/76, 1976/77, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1982/83 and 1983/84,

League Cup 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984,

European Cup 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984,

UEFA Cup 1976

European Super Cup 1977

Charity Shield 1976, 1977 (shared), 1979, 1980 and 1982