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Ronnie Moran doesn’t really go in for sentimentality.

Legend has it that it would be he who, at the end of a title-winning season, would go around the Liverpool squad telling each and every one of them that their medal means nothing, and that it is next season that really counts.

On Friday, Anfield’s ‘Sergeant Major’ turns 80, and to mark the occasion, LFCTV will be screening a special half-hour show, ‘Bugsy Moran’, featuring tributes from a host of Liverpool stars, including Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan, Ian Rush and John Barnes.

The show will detail Moran’s rise from a young player snatched from under the noses of Everton, to club captain at Anfield before his switch to the coaching staff under Bill Shankly.

In a 49-year Liverpool career, Moran won every major honour available, and held just about every position possible at the club.

“The contribution and help he gave me was enormous, both as a player and a manager,” says Dalglish. “I am eternally grateful for that.

“I don’t think anyone who worked with him at Liverpool will have anything but total admiration, respect and gratitude for what he did for them.

“I don’t think its a coincidence that in the most successful spell in the club’s history, Ronnie Moran was of great importance.”

“He was a fantastic coach,” adds Sammy Lee, who played under Moran before working alongside him on the coaching staff. “For me, he was the patriarch of the Liverpool FC family.”

Moran’s infamous disciplinarian streak is covered in the show – “I was scared of him before I even knew him,” remembers Ian Rush, while John Aldridge winces as he recalls the famous Moran whistle – but it is his affection for Liverpool, his club, which is the dominant theme.

“He always put the club first,” adds Rush. “He could be hard on you, that was his way. But it was a pleasure for me to be coached by him.”

“He was one of the main instigators of the ‘pass and move’ philosophy,” adds Aldridge.

“Liverpool is in his blood, and when Liverpool were doing well, he was feeling good.”

Brendan Rodgers, the man charged with upholding the values associated with the likes of Moran, says: “I was very keen to meet Ronnie when I first came here. He is associated with all the great memories of Liverpool.”

“He’s the foundation the club was built on,” says Kevin Keegan while Dalglish, fittingly, has the final word.

“He may be understated, but his contribution to the football club should never, ever be underestimated.”

* LFC TV's tribute to Ronnie Moran to mark his 80th birthday airs this Friday at 7.30pm