‘Ian Rush is responsible for a scar I’ve had since 1986. A nail stuck in my head’ – TV host reveals all to FFT

The results of football matches have often left supporters scarred for life – in Colin Murray’s case, literally.

The Countdown host has been a Liverpool fan since his childhood in Northern Ireland but the 1986 FA Cup Final ended up landing him in hospital.

Liverpool beat Everton 3-1 in front of 98,000 at Wembley, with Ian Rush scoring twice. Attempts to recreate one of the goals on the streets after the match went awry for Murray, though.

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“My two Liverpool heroes were Ian Rush and Alan Hansen – Rush is responsible for a scar I have, after the FA Cup Final in 1986,” the 47-year-old said, in the season preview issue of FourFourTwo magazine. “They had cameras in the nets, which I don’t think they’d had before, and Rush smashed the third goal into the corner and hit the camera.

“After the game, we went onto the street to replicate the goals and I was the Everton goalkeeper, Bobby Mimms.”

So far, so good – a simple tale of kids recreating the goals from the FA Cup Final, a story as old as time. What could possibly go wrong?

“There was a block of wood with a little nail in it, which we set up as the camera,” Murray explained. Ah... “One of my mates hit the wood, it went up in the air and the nail stuck into my head. I had to go to hospital.”

Not that Murray has ever held a grudge against Rush for the scar. “A while ago, I co-managed a charity game for Chester with Ian,” he said. “We had a laugh because he didn’t give a s*** and I was screaming at Clinton Morrison to pass the ball.

“He said the BBC billed him for that camera. They tried to make him pay for it! Can you imagine if Erling Haaland hit a camera in the net and Sky went, ‘You owe us £150’?”

Murray and Elis James have launched a podcast, Everything To Play For, revisiting great sporting stories, including Wayne Rooney’s emergence. Visit wondery.com/shows/everything-to-play-for

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