The story of Tony Warner, Liverpool’s bench and the best ever PL game

Tony Warner didn’t even play once for Liverpool in his five years at Anfield, but 120 appearances on the bench did at least give him a front-row seat for one of the best ever Premier League games.

Warner left his job as a trainee accountant to join Liverpool as a 20-year-old in 1994, but the Scouser never once got the opportunity to deputise for David James before leaving for Millwall in 1999.

Not that he looks back at his time at Anfield with anything but fondness.

“To be involved in the team and the club was fantastic,” Warner says. “It was a strong side we had. It was good times for me personally.

“You walk in and there’s John Barnes, Mark Wright, Ronnie Whelan, Bruce Grobbelaar, David James, Jan Molby – you’re talking about league-winning players who knew how to get you over the line.

“Just a few years before Liverpool were very successful, before the shift of power to United, and the quality of players there was amazing there for a young lad going in.”

Though Warner never got to experience the buzz of playing in front of the Anfield crowd, he did at least get to witness history when, on April 3, 1996, he took his usual spot on the bench for Liverpool’s crucial Premier League clash with Newcastle United.

Over 40,000 packed into Anfield that spring evening, and though Warner could not have predicted what was to follow, he knew the atmosphere would be electric.

“Anfield at the time was very vocal, with the famous Anfield roar and the Kop,” he says. “It was a really good atmosphere, especially with it being under lights which was always more atmospheric, I found.

“It was late on in the season, you’ve got Newcastle coming to try and do a job on us with a very exciting side, it was coming towards the sharp end of the