From Touchline Rockets to VAR Row: The Liam Delap Long-Throw Saga Comes Roaring Back
Liam Delap’s first outing for Nottingham Forest had everything: a sharp contribution, a spot of controversy, and a throw-in that sent Anfield into uproar. The £50m arrival from Chelsea helped win a penalty with a rapid restart down the line, and in doing so dragged an old yarn back into the spotlight — the decade-long ban on his long throws as a kid.
The ban that benched his cannon arms
As a youngster, Delap Jr. had a party trick that left opponents rattled — a howitzer of a throw honed by dabbling in javelin. Rival parents, weary of seeing the box loaded at every sideline opportunity, complained it was skewing the game at youth level. The upshot? He was barred from unleashing long throws for years and didn’t take one in competitive football for over a decade. Even so, he kept climbing the ladder through Derby County and Manchester City’s academies before truly catching the eye with a breakout campaign at Ipswich Town in 2024/25.
Like father, like launcher
It’s hardly a shock given the bloodline. Rory Delap turned the Britannia touchline into a runway for Tony Pulis’ Stoke City, a side that made the long throw as feared as any corner. Over a four-year burst, Stoke cashed in with a stack of goals from those flat, fizzing deliveries. Rory’s own origin story is pure athletics: a lad who could fling anything — stones, cricket balls, golf balls — and sharpened it with javelin before choosing football. That DNA clearly didn’t skip a generation.
Big-money move, fresh start
After a modest return in his solitary Premier League season at Chelsea, Forest rolled the dice with a £50m deal this week. The remit is simple: add bite, depth and competition up top alongside the established options. On early evidence, he’s bringing something different — pace on the restart, aggression off the ball, and yes, a certain touchline savvy.
The Anfield flashpoint
On debut, Delap took a quick throw that sent Neco Williams darting into the Liverpool box before Alisson clattered into him. Referee Sam Barrott pointed to the spot; Morgan Gibbs-White tucked it away to restore Forest’s advantage. The hosts clawed it back for a 2-2 draw, but the incident had already lit the blue touch paper.
Legal or crafty? Here’s the law — and the edge
Liverpool supporters raged that Delap’s technique was illegal, claiming he had a foot off the deck at release. Slow-mo told a different tale: his right foot lifted only after the ball had gone, which makes it a legal throw. In other words, he squeezed every ounce from the mechanics without stepping over the line. For those eyeing the form lines and market mood on this debate, the best betting sites have surely noticed the value of a rapid restart weapon. Delap’s knack isn’t a gimmick; it’s a repeatable edge that bends opponents out of shape and forces mistakes.
What it means for Forest
Forest haven’t signed a nostalgia act — they’ve signed a forward who turns dead-ball nothingness into live ammunition. Even without launching them javelin-style, his speed of thought at throw-ins can flip a game’s rhythm in seconds. Expect opponents to hover, delay, and moan; expect Delap to keep pinching yards and angles. If his finishing catches up with his instinct for chaos, that £50m fee will start to look very modern-market sensible indeed.
Bottom line: the kid once banned from long throws hasn’t lost the instinct — he’s just found a smarter, legal way to make it bite. Anfield won’t be the last ground to feel it.
