an unpopular manager. He had dropped fan-favourites Ian Rush and John Barnes to the reserve team due to perceived under performance and he had tried to integrate too many young and inexperienced players for many fans’ liking. In February 1994 after a shock FA Cup loss to Bristol City, a game in which Dicks did not play, the fans were calling for him to resign. Souness left Liverpool after three years in charge, in February 1994. He was replaced by Roy Evans who had always disliked Dicks and his style of play. Working under Souness he had kept his opinions to himself. Now with Evans as Liverpool manager Dicks found himself out of favour. Dicks and Evans and his assistants Ronnie Moran and Steve Heighway, disagreed over training methods, Dicks' fitness (they considered him to be overweight) and diet. Evans banished him to play with the reserve and to train with 15- and 16-year-olds. He played for Liverpool on 7 May 1994 in a 2–1 away defeat to Aston Villa. It proved to be his last first-team game for the club. The pre-season of the 1994-95 season started badly for Liverpool and for Dicks. Picked to play in a friendly game against Bolton Wanderers at Burnden Park on 26 July 1994, Liverpool lost 4–1. Evans was again critical of Dicks' performance in the defeat; tired of such criticism he asked for a move from the club. He had played 28 games for Liverpool in all competitions, scoring three goals, although Dicks has the honour of being the last Liverpool player to score in front of the standing Spion Kop at Anfield in a 1–0 win against Ipswich Town near the end of the 1993–94 season. His Liverpool career lasted only 13 months, a short time considering his former manager Souness had said of Dicks, "if I was to pick the best 11 players I've ever worked with, he'd be one of them". Return to West Ham On re-signing Dicks, manager Harry Redknapp commented that he believed that his chairman thought he "was off his rocker" because Dicks was considerably heavier than when he had departed for Liverpool a year earlier. His first game in his second spell for the Hammers, on 22 October 1994, saw a 2–0 home win against Southampton and, in keeping with his reputation, Dicks was booked. Dicks played a major part in helping to keep West