Mark Wright believes Liverpool have been hurt by their Spice Boys tag of the mid 1990's.
He said: "I think that did happen. Years ago Manchester United used to be the playboys, didn't they, and they used to go out and have fun and go here, there and everywhere. Liverpool were the professionals and winning titles year in, year out. I think that pendulum swung when Alex Ferguson came to Old Trafford and he really put the discipline in.
"Then all of a sudden, as everybody knows, Liverpool had these so-called Spice Boys that were going out modelling and doing this and that. I'm not saying the Liverpool lads were bad players because you are talking about guys like Robbie Fowler - probably the greatest finisher I played with, and I played with the likes of Gary Lineker and Ian Rush.
"There's Steve McManaman as well, who went on to play for Real Madrid. You are talking about great players but they had this elusive Spice Boys tag put on them. I actually think it takes the edge off players and maybe it should have been clamped down on at the time."
Wright also said: "I think they liked the tag. Some of them were good-looking lads. They revelled in it and they were having fun. They thought they could just switch it on on the football field and that doesn't happen. Of course the rest of us had nights out but I think some people forget how lucky they are to play for Liverpool and some of them took it for granted."
