Igor Bišćan Hall of Fame #2

Welcome to my weekly blog “The Igor Bišćan Hall of Fame” every week I’ll be adding two new additions, one will be a Liverpool Legend or fans favourite, the other a Player, Manager or Club who have contributed to the world game we all love (Gary Neville need not worry), This week 'Mr. Liverpool' and ‘The Black Panther' go in. Please comment below who you’d like to see make the IBHoF, here are this weeks entries. YNWA

BILLY LIDDELL

1945/46 - 1960/61

It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the stature of Billy Liddell in the history of Liverpool FC. As a footballer he thrilled the Anfield faithful; as a man he warmed their hearts; as a symbol of all that was fine in the field of sporting endeavour he was unmatchable.

For nearly 15 years the self-effacing Scottish winger cum centre-forward was the outstanding player for a club which experienced fleeting moments of glory but which, in general, was a frustrated hotbed of unfulfilled potential. Had he been born two, three or four decades later and played under Shankly or Paisley, Fagan or Dalglish, he would have been knee-deep in honours. As it was he had to be content with a solitary League Championship medal and the knowledge that not for nothing was the team he graced known as Liddellpool.

Billy signed on at Anfield as a promising flankman in 1939 and then saw the first six years of his career lost to the war. During the conflict he served as an RAF navigator but his soccer talents were not entirely redundant. He played almost 150 times for his new club in emergency competitions and served notice that here was something special.

In January 1946, with life gradually returning to something approaching normality, he made his official Liverpool debut five days short of his 24th birthday, scoring at Chester in the FA Cup. But it was in the following campaign that Billy Liddell really set sail on the course that was to earn him sporting immortality on Merseyside.

Playing 35 games as the Reds took the title, he revealed the pace and power which were to become his hallmarks. Billy was particularly dangerous running at defenders and cutting inside from the left wing, and although he found the net only seven times that season he effectively demonstrated the dashing style which was to make him one of Liverpool's most prolific goal-scorers.

As he grew in experience his influence on the team burgeoned. He was muscular and skilful, blessed with a sprinter's speed and a fearsome shot, good in the air and unfailingly courageous. He took the eye whether lining up on the left, the right or in the centre, a veritable one-man forward line. Sadly the side did not progress at the same rate and Billy - by now a Scotland regular whose international standing and durability were recognised by selection for Great Britain against the Rest of Europe in 1947 and 1955 was in the unfortunate position of being a star in a team which plunged first to mid-table mediocrity and ultimately, in 1953/54, to relegation.

He reacted with characteristic determination and in his first four seasons in the lower grade notched 101 goals in 156 League matches - he was the Reds' leading scorer in eight out of nine seasons in the fifties - but it was not enough to secure promotion.

As his pace waned with age, he lost that stirring ability to run past defenders but compensated with a more mature passing game from a deep-lying position. The devotion of the supporters never wavered and when he returned at the age of 37 after one of several spells on the sidelines he scored two spectacular goals against Bristol City in August 1959. The acclaim was rapturous, and deservedly so.

But there was more to Billy than his athletic attributes. A chivalrous, loyal man who was not too proud to stud the boots for his team-mates when left out of the side in 1959, he was always ready to help youngsters and went on to become a youth worker, lay preacher and JP. If ever a footballer deserved to be called a hero, then it was Billy Liddell. He will be forever revered on Merseyside and beyond.

BORN: Dunfermline, 10.1.22. GAMES: 537. GOALS: 229.

DIED: Liverpool, 3.7.01

CLUBS: 1937-38 Lochgelly Violet F.C., 1938-1961 Liverpool.

HONOURS: League Championship 46/7.

INERNATIONAL CAREER: 28 Scotland caps (47-56), 2 Great Britain XI Caps.

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EUSEBIO

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira is the most famous footballer that Portugal has ever produced. He has been the subject of a film, Sua Majestade o Re! (His Majesty the King), is feted wherever he goes and in 1992 a statue in his honour was unveiled outside Benfica's Stadium of Light. Small wonder when you consider that in 291 League games for the Lisbon club he scored an incredible 317 goals, many of them spectacular.

Eusébio had grace, pace and power, earning him the nickname of 'The Black Panther'. His deadly shooting allied to his strong running and dribbling skills made him one of the most dangerous strikers in the world. At the height of his fame in the sixties he was hailed as Europe's Pele.

As a teenager in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, Eusébio was a sprint champion and an accomplished basketball player, but football was the game he loved. He made his debut in 1958 with Lourenco Marques, a nursery club for Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon, but Benfica were also alerted to Eusébio's talents when their coach, Bela Guttmann, happened to be sitting in the hairdresser's next to the coach of Brazilian club Sao Paolo, who were touring Portugal at the time.

The Brazilian told Guttmann about a brilliant footballer he had seen in Portuguese East Africa and within a week Guttmann had flown out to sign Eusébio. Unfortunately Sporting still thought they had a claim on him too and so when Eusébio arrived in Lisbon in 1961 he was 'kidnapped' by Benfica and hidden away in an Algarve fishing village until the two clubs settled their differences!

With the contract wrangle eventually resolved in Benfica's favour, Eusébio made an instant impact, helping the club win the Portuguese title in his first season. The following year he scored twice as Benfica humbled five-times winners Real Madrid 5-3 in the European Cup Final in Amsterdam - the first time Real had tasted defeat in a major European final. In 1963 he again scored in the European Cup Final but this time Benfica slipped up 2-1 to AC Milan at Wembley. He went on to play in two more finals - against Inter Milan in 1965 and Manchester United in 1968 - but finished on the losing side both times.

Voted European Footballer of the Year in 1965, Eusébio was already an established international by the time of the 1966 World Cup. He was without doubt the outstanding player of the tournament, being top scorer with nine goals, including four in that epic encounter with North Korea where he single-handedly dragged the Portuguese back from the very brink of an embarrassing defeat. Despite also scoring in the semi­-final defeat against England, he left the pitch in tears. His performances had made such an impression on the British public that his figure was immediately added to Madame Tussaud's waxwork collection. Most defenders must have wished they had been playing against the dummy.

His speciality right-foot thunderbolts made him the leading scorer in Portugal on seven occasions and his total of 46 goals in European competition put him second only to Alfredo Di Stefano. In addition he twice finished top scorer in the whole of Europe with 42 goals in 1968 and 40 in 1973. By the time he left Benfica to move to the newly formed North American Soccer League in 1975 following a bad knee injury, he had picked up no fewer than ten Portuguese League winner's medals. In his fifteen seasons in Lisbon, there were only two in which he failed to win a major honour.

After two years in America he returned to Benfica as coach but, as so often happens, he failed to repeat his success as a player. In his entire career he played 715 games and scored 727 goals. He was truly awesome.

BORN: Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique). 21.1.42.

CLUBS:  1957–1960 Sporting Lourenço Marques, 1960–1975 Benfica, 1975 Rhode Island Oceaneers, 1975 Boston Minutemen, 1975–1976 Monterrey, 1976–1977 Beira-Mar, 1976 Toronto Metros-Croatia, 1977 Las Vegas Quicksilvers, 1978 New Jersey Americans, 1977–1978 União de Tomar

INERNATIONAL CAREER: Portugal 1961–1973 Caps 64 Goals 41

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The Igor Bišćan Hall of Fame welcomes you both. YNWA

Follow @Glady_Libs_LFC

100 Players Who Shook The Kop - #4

100 Players Who Shook The Kop – the groundbreaking series that had every Liverpool fan talking back in 2006 – is set to return this summer, here's my top ten countdown.

#4 - Billy Liddell

 For Liverpudlians of a certain generation, Billy Liddell remains the greatest player ever to pull on a red jersey.

Such was his impact, supporters even renamed the club in his honour by coining the nickname Liddellpool.

The winger came to prominence amid the gloom of the 1950s when relegation from the top flight and humiliating cup exits meant the Kop had little to smile about.

The one shining light was William Beveridge Liddell, a player whose name to this day evokes dewy-eyed reminisces of a bygone football age.

During a barren era which commands little coverage in Liverpool history books, the Scot ensured crowds continued to flock to Anfield in their thousands and was largely responsible for keeping the club's head above the abyss of Football League oblivion.

 

Although his modesty would never have allowed him to admit it, without Liddell the Reds could well have sunk into the murky depths of the old Third Division. And if they had, who's to say they'd ever have escaped?

 

Who, when the 17-year-old arrived on Merseyside back in 1938, imagined the club would one day owe him such a debt?

It is Manchester United legend Matt Busby, at the time Liverpool captain, who the Reds have to thank for tipping off scout Johnny Dougary about a precocious youngster plying his trade for Lochgelly Violet.

Here was a thrilling, skilful, two-footed winger - fast, direct and capable of bursting the back of any opposition net with one of his trademark thunderbolts.

 

Liddell's fame soon spread far beyond the boundaries of Merseyside, even if a quick glance at his medal collection does not make for impressive reading. A solitary League Championship, won in 1946-47, was scant reward to the talent he possessed.

But the fact he was twice selected to represent Great Britain during the course of his career – a feat matched only by the legendary Stanley Mathews – is ample proof, if needed, of his immense stature in the game.

Like all players of his generation, the outbreak of war proved restrictive but, having scored on his Liverpool debut in a wartime fixture, he was ready to take a place in the first team when league football resumed.

 

The flying Scotsman's league debut was a memorable affair, a 7-4 thriller at home to Chelsea in which he scored two, one direct from a corner. It was the start of a campaign that was to see Liverpool crowned the first post-war champions.

Unfortunately, George Kay's team failed to build on that success but Liddell's performances continued to be of the highest standard. In 1950 he inspired the Reds to their first Wembley FA Cup final, but on a grey day in the capital the Kop's star man was infamously kicked off the park as Arsenal ran out 2-0 winners.

 

The following year, King Billy of Anfield almost became one of the British game's first exports when he was offered £2,000 to go and ply his trade in Colombia. It was a tempting proposition and one he seriously considered but, given the tender age of his twin sons, the Scottish international politely declined, much to the relief of his adoring fans around Stanley Park.

 

On the pitch, Liverpool was a club in decline, and in 1954 the unthinkable occurred when the Reds suffered the indignity of relegation to the Second Division. Many players of his ability would have jumped ship but Liddell's unswerving loyalty ensured he stayed to help rebuild.

A player of great versatility, Liddell filled every outfield position at one time or another but excelled most in an attacking role. 

A move from inside to centre forward resulted in him notching a career best 33 goals in 1955-56 – a tally which would have been 34 had referee Mervyn Jones not controversially disallowed his late, late equaliser in an infamous FA Cup replay defeat against Manchester City.

 

Ever the gentleman, Liddell – an accountant by trade - didn't complain. During the course of his illustrious career he was never booked and captained the club with distinction. One of the finest role models ever to play the game, he was the perfect club ambassador: a devout Christian who never drank, smoked or swore, he did a lot of work for charity, helped out at local boys' clubs and was a qualified Justice of the Peace.

 

But while he kept on banging in goals, promotion continued to agonisingly elude Liverpool. In November 1957 Liddell achieved a major milestone when he surpassed Elisha Scott's all-time appearance record for the Reds. However, the following season he missed his first FA Cup tie for the club when he was dropped for the humiliating third round defeat at non-league Worcester City - and it signalled the beginning of the end for the ageing Liddell.

 

His popularity remained as strong as ever with the fans, who campaigned for his recall, but on August 31, 1960, Billy Liddell represented the Reds' first team for the final time. It was his 537th appearance for the club – a record that remained until Ian Callaghan's 18-year stint in the 1960s and 70s.

 

When the forward's loyalty to the club was rewarded with a well-deserved testimonial, a crowd of almost 40,000 turned up to pay homage to a player who is still held in the highest regard over half a century since his heyday.

 

It was an unfortunate fact of life that Liddell's prime did not coincide with the Shankly revolution that followed. Had it done, who knows what he'd have gone on to achieve?

 

The great man is sadly no longer with us having passed away with Alzheimer's, but visit Anfield on a quiet day and old-timers will swear they can still hear the once famous roar of 'give it to Billy' ringing around the Kop. Gone but never forgotten.

Other clubs:

Kingseat Juvenlies, Lochgelly Violet; Chelsea, Linfield, Cambridge Town, Toronto Scottish and Dunfermline (wartime guest)

You can get involved now by casting your vote of what you consider to be the 10 greatest players in this club’s illustrious history. http://www.liverpoolfc.com/100pwstk

Follow @Glady_Libs_LFC