Ray Houghton Recalls Liverpool’s Superstitions and a Prank Involving Kenny Dalglish’s Chair

Ray Houghton has shared insights into the superstitions prevalent at Liverpool during his tenure at Anfield, including an incident where teammates tricked him into occupying manager Kenny Dalglish’s chair prior to his debut match for the club. Speaking on a recent installment of the BBC’s Sacked in the Morning podcast, Houghton recounted: “When you were getting a bus for away games, you sat in the same seats.” He added, “It was virtually the same teams every day in training – you couldn’t change over.” He also noted the strictness around meals: “Even your meal on a Friday night, it was really basic. There’s only three meals you could have, there was fish and chips and spaghetti, but you couldn’t say ‘no, I want X, Y and Z’ – nothing like that.” Houghton participated in over 150 matches for Liverpool from 1987 to 1992. However, his career with the club nearly didn’t begin after he inadvertently displeased Dalglish during a pre-match meal preceding his inaugural game. “I didn’t know where to sit – it’s my first game,” Houghton stated. He continued, “So the lads said to me ‘go sit in that chair there’. So I sat down and had a sixth sense something was wrong because I could see them giggling and laughing – I thought I’d spilt something down my shirt and tie.” He then described Dalglish’s entrance: “Then the doors opened and in walked Kenny Dalglish, straight over and went ‘you’re sitting in my chair, what are you going to do?’ And I’m thinking ‘what am I going to do?'” Although others in the room anticipated Houghton would relinquish the seat to the manager, he remained in place. Houghton recounted his response: “I said ‘I’m going to sit here’. ‘You sure?’ ‘Yeah, I’m going to sit here’.” He added, “[Dalglish] went OK, and sat somewhere. I felt ten feet tall. didn’t I?” During the team selection process, Dalglish surveyed the room, indicating the players chosen, before directing his attention to Houghton with the words: “‘Sub, you. Don’t ever sit in my chair again. Got it?'” Fortunately for Houghton, his Liverpool career continued beyond that incident, and he contributed to the club securing two league titles and two FA Cups during his tenure with the Reds.