Left: Aldershot striker Mike Ring (16 goals in 76 appearances) with a diving header
Right: Midfielder Ian McDonald, flanked by Bill Shankly, signing for Liverpool before his Shots days (340 apps)
Aldershot FC Footballers of the 1980s
3 – Ian Phillips
Shaven-headed but for straw-blond sideburns, signed on a free transfer, he's a throwback to when defenders only defended, to when the halfway line was their border, no flashy attempts at overlapping. All he wants is to play one more season, one more season, his shoulder relishing the chance to usher dainty right-wingers straight into the advertising hoardings — if they dare to do him for pace.
7 – Mike Ring
He looks like a tennis player or an import from Marbella. Elegant, perma-tanned and fast. So fast that he's often the sub when we're one down, minutes to go, and he streaks past shattered left-backs to snatch us our equaliser. A disappointment if he's picked from the start and gets caked in mud — it saps him like everyone else. No chants suddenly exploding on the terrace to Get Ring On! No way to turn the game around.
10 – Ian McDonald
We love his knack for bringing long punts down from shoulder height and playing passes blind, weighing them so teammates never break stride. Just as we admire the delicate chip he placed precisely in the top corner against Plymouth Argyle last Saturday. Just as we understand the cautious way he lifts his foot out of fifty-fifties through the slurry of the centre circle in remembrance of the vicious tackle that smashed his ankle in the second game after Shankly signed him for Liverpool.