Farewell to the Flying Pig ..football’s first sweeper keeper
IAN CALLAGHAN has led the tributes to Liverpool’s goalkeeping revolutionary Tommy Lawrence, who has died aged 77.
Lawrence was the game’s first sweeper keeper and was encouraged to come out of his box by boss Bill Shankly because he was so comfortable on the ball.
Nicknamed the ‘Flying Pig’ because of his stocky build, the Scot was a key member of Shankly’s first great Liverpool side of the ’60s, which won the league in 1964 and 1966 and the club’s first FA Cup in 1965.
Callaghan, who holds the Reds’ appearance record with 857 games, was saddened to hear of the passing of his old team-mate and friend and said he was like an extra outfield player.
“He was a great keeper,” said the former Anfield midfielder, 75
(right, with
Ron Yeats, centre, and
Lawrence).
“He was one of the first keepers who was a defender as well. He would come out of his box, so it was like we had an extra defender. He was very good with the ball at his feet. He was a top-class keeper and a great man.
“He was a fantastic keeper. He was a big personality, larger than life. He was one of the lads and will be sorely missed.”
Former Kop boss Roy Evans (right) was breaking into the first-team when Lawrence’s Reds career was winding down in the early ’70s and has fond memories of that 1965 Cup-winning side.
“He was a guy who was so humble and didn’t think of himself as better than anybody else,” said Evans. “He was just one of the great guys of that 1965 FA Cup final team, which will always be my favourite Liverpool team.”
Lawrence (posing with the Liverpool side that won the 1964 league title, below) joined the Reds as an apprentice in 1957 and made 390 appearances between 1962 and 1971 before moving to
Tranmere after losing the No.1 spot to Ray Clemence.
The former
Scotland star conceded a then record of just 24 goals in the 1968-69 season and Evans believed he was an inspiration for many keepers because of his style of play.
Evans said: “He worked it out for himself that if he came out, we could push further up the pitch and close people down. Tommy was alive and alert to that. A lot of keepers learned from him and that is one of the things I think we will remember him for.”
Lawrence himself credited his manager Shankly with the idea of playing as an extra defender.
In an interview he revealed: “Shankly said, ‘Right Tommy, you’re not playing on the six-yard line. When the ball’s on the halfway line, you’ve got to be on the 18-yard line. If the ball shoots through, you’ve got to be out to kick it – a sort of stopper’.
“At first I was frightened to death. We did it at Melwood a few times, then we tried at Anfield.
“Well, I’m standing there and the Kop is giving me some stick. ‘Get back on your line!’, they’re all yelling. No goalkeeper did that in those days. I thought, ‘Oh my God’.
“But it worked. I’d come out and do it like they do today.
‘‘You didn’t get sent off in those days either. So I used to bring them down. If they pushed it past me, I’d just hit them.”
Evans, 69, added: “I just hope people realise what a great servant he was to Liverpool for many years and what a great guy he was.
“Tommy was a gentleman, but a gentleman with fun.”