Tommy Smith, MBE

Tommy Smith, the hard man of English football, died last month at the age of 74.

Born in Liverpool on 5 April 1945, he attended Cardinal St John’s & Archbishop Godfrey High Schools in Liverpool and represented Liverpool Schools before joining the Anfield playing staff as an apprentice in May 1960. He turned professional in April 1962 and went on to spend the next 16 years with the Reds.

In the summers of 1976 and 1978 he starred for Tampa

Bay Rowdies (on loan) and then Los Angeles Aztecs in the USA before returning to Football League action with Swansea City (from August 1978), subsequently taking the position as player-coach at the Vetch Field from August-October 1979. Smith then went back to Merseyside and served his former club, Liverpool, as a coach until quitting football in May 1981.

The reafter, he briefly ran a pub in Billinge, Wigan, which was appropriately called ‘The Smithy’.

Smith initially started out as a deep lying inside-left before becoming one of the hardest and toughest defenders in the game. With his no-nonsense tackling, he was part and parcel of a great Liverpool team under Bill Shankly who once said: “Tommy Smith wasn't born, he was quarried."

The recipient of four League, two FA Cup, two European Cup, a European Super Cup, two UEFA Cup and three FA Charity Shield winner’s medals between 1965 and 1978, Smith also collected his fair share of runner’s-up prizes while making 639 senior appearances (48 goal scored) during his 18 years at Anfield.

For all his commitment, he won only one England cap, in a 0-0 draw with Wales at Wembley in May 1971. Liverpool team-mates, Chris Lawler, Larry Lloyd and Emlyn Hughes, also played in this game and the four ‘Reds’ formed England’s defence.

Smith, who had gained youth honours for his country in 1963, was awarded the MBE in 1978, for services to football, having made 711 club appearances in total.

In June 2007, he suffered a heart attack at his Liverpool home and after a six-way heart bypass, he got back on track as an after-dinner speaker. He also penned a column in a local paper and in March 2008, he published his autobiography, Anfield Iron.

Smith sadly passed away in the Green Heys Care Home, Waterloo, Liverpool on 12 April with his family by his side.

■ In May 1977, two days after winning the European Cup in Rome, Smith had his testimonial game at Anfield, when a Liverpool XI took on Bobby Charlton’s Select Xl. A crowd of 35,694 saw an enthralling 9-9 draw in which saw Reds’ goalkeeper Ray Clemence and ‘Smithy’ himself both scored twice!

R.I.P. Tommy Smith – you were a good ‘un… one of the best.