Ian Muir Takes First Place in Rovers Hall of Fame

As part of Rovers' 125 year anniversary celebrations, the Club asked fans back in January to vote for their five favourite Rovers legends who would be the inaugural members of the Tranmere Rovers Hall of Fame and all this week they are announcing the results of those votes on a day by day basis. The first member to take his place is legendary striker and leading Club goalscorer Ian Muir.....

This week marks the results of the Fans vote for the first five inaugural members of the Tranmere Rovers Hall of fame which has been set up as part of the 125th anniversary celebrations at the Club with a new member announced every day this week.

The first person to enter the Hall of Fame will come as no real surprise to Rovers fans - the Club's all-time leading goalscorer and glory days legend Ian Muir........

Muir played for Rovers for a whole decade between 1985 and 1995 and he is still to this day the holder of the all-time goal scoring record at the club with 180 goals in his Tranmere career. 

His spell at the club coincided with the best spell in Tranmere's history which included two promotions, four visits to Wembley in two seasons and a run to the League Cup semi-final. 

Muir in his Rovers Days

Signed by Johnny King in 1985 on a free transfer from Brighton, Rovers became Muir's sixth professional club at the age of just 22 having previously played for QPR, Birmingham, Burnley and Brighton added to a short loan spell at Swindon before he moved to Prenton Park. 

Muir's goals became a huge part of Tranmere's success in the late 1980's and early 1990's but shortly after Muir's arrival the story for Rovers was whole lot different.  Muir was in the team for the now infamous game against Exeter City that Tranmere needed to win to ensure they remained in the Football League.  Indeed was Muir's cross into the Exeter penalty area that was headed in by Gary Williams for a 1-0 win that kept Rovers in the league.

After that season Tranmere never really looked back and Muir and his goals were a key part of the Rovers sides that gained two promotions over the next four years that lifted them from Division Four to Division Two (that became Division One upon the introduction of the Premier League. 

They also appeared in two successive Leyland Daf Cup Finals in 1990 and 1991, winning the first and losing the second.  Muir's career at Tranmere eventually became affected by injury and possibly more so the arrival of John Aldridge at the club.  

It is thought that Manager Johnny King felt he couldn't play both Muir and Aldridge in the same team but Muir's injury problems made the managers selection easier towards the end of Ian's career at Tranmere.  Tranmere went on to reach the Premiership play-offs for three consecutive years between 1993 and 1995 but failed to reach the final on all three occasions. 

The end of Tranmere's play-off hopes in 1995 coincided with the end of Muir's stay at Prenton Park when he returned to former club Birmingham City for £125,000.  It was thought Muir was going to accept a new contract to keep him at Prenton Park but in the end this was not to be the case. 

Muir (Far Left) Celebrates Winning the 2009 Masters National Final

One good thing for Ian Muir with regard to his strike partner John Aldridge is that Aldo retired from playing football some four years later still six goals short of Muir's all time Tranmere goals tally of 180 meaning he still holds the record to this day. 

Muir of course also featured and scored the winning goal in last years Masters National Final at the Echo Arena which handed Rovers the title in fantastic style.

He will remain in the hearts of older Rovers fans for many years and with all Rovers fans for as long as he holds that special goal scoring record. 

For those who may well be too young to have witnessed just what all the fuss was about, Total Tranmere has provided a link below to a video clip of some of his best Rovers goals...

IAN MUIRS TRANMERE GOALS (Thanks to TranmereKev)

Muir's Tranmere Career (July 1985 - June 1995): 

Played = 351 (and 42 as Sub) 

Scored = 180