1. John William Aldridge was born on 18 September 1958 and is a former footballer and manager.
32 Facts About John Aldridge
1. 2.
John Aldridge spent two seasons at Real Sociedad, becoming the first non-Basque player to sign for the club in several decades as they abandoned their selective recruitment policy.
3.
John Aldridge retired from playing in 1998 and resigned as manager in 2001 and has not managed since.
4.
John Aldridge took a long time to reach the top level of the English game.
5.
John Aldridge partnered Tommy Tynan and Dave Gwyther for four years at Somerton Park, helping Newport to promotion from the Fourth Division and Welsh Cup glory in his first season, and to reach the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup in his second.
6.
John Aldridge was used sparingly in the run-in to the Third Division title but the following season forged a partnership with Billy Hamilton and became the first Second Division player for nineteen years to score 30 goals.
7.
John Aldridge scored 26 goals in a successful season for Liverpool, including a strike in each of the first nine games, forming a 10-match scoring run as he had scored in his final league appearance of the previous season.
8.
John Aldridge linked up with new signings Peter Beardsley and John Barnes as Liverpool lost only twice in the league season and went unbeaten for the first 29 matches.
9.
John Aldridge scored both goals in the club's FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
10.
John Aldridge had scored all eleven of his penalty kicks that season, but goalkeeper Dave Beasant noticed that he always placed the ball to the keeper's left.
11.
John Aldridge did, as predicted, place the penalty to Beasant's left, and the keeper sprang across to save it.
12.
John Aldridge became the first goalkeeper to save a penalty in a Wembley FA Cup final.
13.
John Aldridge maintained his scoring streak, often playing alongside both Rush and Beardsley in attack, while Rush missed a number of games or started games on the bench due to injuries.
14.
John Aldridge scored 21 league goals, and 31 in all competitions, putting him among the highest scorers in the first division that season.
15.
John Aldridge played in a game which would guarantee Liverpool the title as long as Arsenal failed to win by two clear goals.
16.
John Aldridge played 104 times for Liverpool, scoring 63 goals, 50 of them in the league.
17.
John Aldridge scored 40 goals in 75 appearances for Sociedad over two seasons, with the club encouraged to make more signings from English football in 1990, namely Dalian Atkinson and Kevin Richardson.
18.
Under John Aldridge, Tranmere reached the 2000 Football League Cup final and consecutive FA Cup quarter-finals in 2000 and 2001.
19.
John Aldridge said of incident: "I felt he [Zagorakis] had disrespected Clint on one of the biggest occasions of his career so I slapped him".
20.
John Aldridge resigned in March 2001, just before Rovers' fate was sealed.
21.
John Aldridge had already been recruited to play for the Republic of Ireland by the time he was approached by Liverpool at the start of 1987, qualifying through his grandmother, who was from Athlone.
22.
That summer, John Aldridge played for the Irish side which had qualified, under Charlton, for Euro 88 in West Germany, their first-ever major finals.
23.
John Aldridge withdrew himself from Ireland's World Cup qualifying tie with Spain at Lansdowne Road on 26 April 1989, as he felt unable to participate in the game due to his grief over the Hillsborough disaster.
24.
John Aldridge played a crucial role in Ireland's path to the quarter-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.
25.
John Aldridge played every game but was substituted in all of his five appearances.
26.
Manager and player both launched expletive-laden tirades which were clearly heard by television viewers, with John Aldridge having to be restrained from attacking the fourth official and a FIFA representative.
27.
When John Aldridge finally was allowed on, after six full minutes of trying, he scored a goal to give Ireland a chance to get back into the game.
28.
John Aldridge continued to play for Ireland in the qualifying stages of Euro 96.
29.
John Aldridge continues to play in the Liverpool veterans' team.
30.
John Aldridge was a crowd favourite everywhere he went, especially on Merseyside where being a local lad helped his cause.
31.
John Aldridge spoke in depth about his career with 60 minutes presenter David Knight and later took part in a major signing session, signing 2000 copies of the CD in support of the Everyman appeal charity.
32.
John Aldridge was allegedly involved in the News of the World hacking scandal in the mid-2000s.