Most football fans born in Manchester are mostly attributed red for United or blue for City.
However, one former prodigy chose to ignore both of the city’s Premier League giants when Liverpool came calling. Nathan Eccleston was one of the few players to relish his time playing under Roy Hodgson at Anfield.
During the former England manager’s doomed seven month spell at Liverpool, Eccleston was given many chances to shine under Hodgson. However, while the now 33-year-old appreciates every opportunity he was given, his fondest memory was the day he signed for the club.
As you can imagine, being a 15-year-old lad from Manchester, when Liverpool are the ones that are calling you it comes as a bit of a surprise initially,” Eccleston said to the Liverpool Echo. “Then the overwhelming feeling of Liverpool being interested in me and wanting me to come down and trial hit – I literally just started crying.
“I knew what a great opportunity it could be for a lad like myself to go and present my skills to a club like Liverpool. That summer Liverpool had just won the Champions League, and whether you were a die-hard Liverpool fan or not, everyone in the world of football was a Liverpool fan that night because of how historic Istanbul was.”
Eccleston made nine appearances for the Reds in all competitions. While Rafa Benitez handed him his debut, it was Hodgson who gave him many opportunities to impress in the first team.
Seven of his appearances came under the now Crystal Palace manager – he remembers every single minute on the pitch while playing for the experienced manager. “I remember specifically, that I played seven times under Roy and he was that type of manager if you were working hard in training and you applying yourself he would give you the opportunity,” Eccleston added.
“On a couple of occasions, he played me ahead of some senior players and some international players, and I was really grateful for that because he gave you a really fair crack at the whip. I was really grateful that he didn’t have a bias.
“That’s why I think, obviously, his time at Liverpool is probably viewed up and down but for me, as a player, I appreciated that he picked players on their attitude.”
