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When ‘God’ returned to Liverpool in January 2006, neither club nor player had much to lose. All things considered, it went pretty well.

According to Rafael Benitez, it all began in a pub. It was May 2005 and Liverpool were celebrating their Champions League semi-final win over Chelsea, a victory that would take them to Istanbul for an occasion even more worth celebrating. Benitez was drinking in said pub, shoulder to shoulder with jubilant fans.

But he wasn’t the only Kop legend in the room that evening. Accompanying the manager in his revelries were two former Liverpool players, Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler, both then playing — with mixed success — for Manchester City.

Benitez would note how Fowler treated himself only to “a soft drink”.

Something Fowler said that night — or something the Fowler-worshipping fans cheered and chanted in Benitez’s ear — planted a seed in the manager’s mind.

Because eight months later, the 30-year-old striker became a Liverpool player for the second time, shocking and delighting fans in equal measure.

“It is unbelievable, a dream come true,” Fowler said. “After I’d signed I sat in my car outside Anfield and was incredibly emotional.”

For one and a half seasons, an ageing Fowler enjoyed a privilege not afforded to most people: the chance to go back, to relive a better part of his life after four and a half years struggling with injury, goalscoring and popularity.

The reaction to Fowler’s return was, for the most part, one of amazement. Because while the striker was only 30 at the time, there