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Each era has thrown up footballers whose work and consistency went largely unnoticed by many and was often only truly appreciated by their fellow team-mates who were able to see at first hand just what they brought to the side.

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From the club’s leading appearance holder Ian Callaghan, whose tally of 857 matches in a red shirt is unlikely to ever be beaten, and Geoff Strong among Bill Shankly’s Sixties stalwarts through to the likes of Ronnie Whelan, Sami Hyypia, Dirk Kuyt and the more recent pairing of Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams whose herculean efforts during the defensive crisis which threatened to wreck Liverpool’s title defence after the long-awaited 2020 Premier League title triumph, unlikely candidates time and again have stepped up and written their names into Anfield folklore.

There is one such example however who inadvertently rose to the kind of prominence that no-one could ever have expected given his steady and unspectacular performances and persona.

Steve Finnan arrived on Merseyside in the same low-key fashion which marked his rise from non-league to International level and caused one of the most talismanic figures of Liverpool’s recent history to fear for his future before playing a key if unfortunate role in one of the club’s most iconic victories and ended his career with a unique record unmatched by anyone else in the history of English football.

Such a feat would have been unimaginable and was made all the more sweeter for the Republic of Ireland international because of the struggles he, like so many younger players, faced trying to get his first break in the professional game.

It proved a good move for all parties with Finnan helping his new side win promotion to the First Division the following May and, even though Keegan left his post that summer to take charge of the England national side, Finnan and Fulham’s progress continued initially under the tutelage of former Everton midfielder Paul Bracewell and then legendary French International star Jean Tigana with the Cottagers winning promotion to the Premier League as champions in May 2001, with Finnan figuring in all but one of that season’s league fixtures.

The step up to the elite level of English football posed few problems for the Irishman with him not only winning Fulham’s player of the year award but also being voted the best right back in the division by his fellow professionals in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year, with Fulham’s creditable 13th place finish earning them qualification for the Intertoto Cup - a trophy they would go on to win - and handing Finnan his first experience of European football.

He was already an established international for the Republic of Ireland by this stage after graduating from the under-21s to win his first senior cap against Greece in April 2000 while still playing for Fulham, and having provided the cross from which former Red Jason McAteer scored the winner against Holland to take Mick McCarthy’s men to the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea, appeared in all of three of his country’s group games against Cameron, Germany and Saudi Arabia as they progressed to the second round for only the third time in their history, scored a penalty in the shoot-out as the Green Army’s unlikely bid to reach the quarter-finals were scotched by Spain.

Jean Tigana’s departure that summer meant life at Fulham became more difficult with the London side narrowly avoiding relegation the following season but Finnan’s dogged defending, crossing ability and overall consistency meant his name was increasingly being linked to the country’s top clubs and Gerard Houllier made his move in the summer of 2003, paying a sum of £3.5m to bring the 27-year-old to Anfield.

It was the culmination of a long journey for the Irishman who, while never proclaiming to have been a boyhood Liverpudlian admitted he had long been an admirer of the club and their approach, had served his time while making his way up the football ladder.

"I probably did my apprenticeship three or four times over really," he told the official Liverpool website years later.

That was offset however by startling progress in that season’s Champions League which saw the Reds - after only qualifying for the knock-out stages following Steven Gerrard’s late thunderbolt against Olympiacos - saw off Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus and newly-crowned English champions Chelsea - to reach their first European Cup final in 20 years.

Ahead of the showdown against AC Milan in Istanbul, Finnan reflected on the journey which had taken him from non-league to the biggest game in club football and what it meant to him.

"I was at Wimbledon when I was 16.

It is a big leap to be playing in the Champions League final - the biggest game of my career - but after what I've been through to get here, it holds no fears for me."

Finnan would later joke he “changed the game” in Istanbul and his involvement in the chaotic half-time scene in Liverpool’s dressing room at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium remains one of the more surreal stories of that jaw-dropping night on the Europe-Asia border.

If you could, he’d be my first pick."

Tottenham’s Pascal Chimbonda bizarrely was voted into the right-back slot by his fellow professionals despite Finnan’s consistent excellence helping Liverpool keep a club record 22 Premier League clean sheets that season but the Irishman was unperturbed - even by the arrival of Arbeloa midway through the following campaign - and came close to matching his appearance tally of 52 from the previous two seasons by playing 47 times in 2006/07 and again winning a starting place in the Champions League final against AC Milan, this time in Athens.

But then after my injuries, it just became about recovering from that and getting fit."

Finnan returned to England a year later with Portsmouth and, although unable to prevent the administration-stricken club avoid relegation from the Premier League, he did help them reach the FA Cup final where they lost narrowly to Double-winners Chelsea.
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