Beloved Saint leaves warm glow after star roles as leading man
SCOT LIT UP THE GAME WITH DOUBLE CAREER
IT IS A wonderful gift to be able to bring joy to millions in a career once in a lifetime; to do so twice as Ian St John did as a footballer and broadcaster marks him out as a sporting treasure.
The former Liverpool and Scotland forward, who became a widely-loved host of the ITV football show Saint and Greavsie, has died aged 82 after a long illness. The infectious chuckle that spread to all he met and filled living rooms goes with him.
He was a key figure in Liverpool’s rise under Bill Shankly. His extra-time header gave them victory over Leeds United in the 1965 FA Cup final – a triumph that book-ended two League titles.
St John, right, spent a decade at Anfield, forming an iconic strike partnership with Roger Hunt and contributing 118 goals in his 425 appearances.
As a football frontman he was a cheerful delight, forming another great double act with Jimmy Greaves.
For two different generations, St John holds a special place in many hearts.
Born in
Motherwell, he grew up watching his home-town club and quickly rose to prominence after signing for them.
A hat-trick against Hibs inside three minutes in a Scottish League Cup tie had everyone taking notice.
He was hot property and it took a club-record £37,500 to take him to Liverpool in 1961. The directors at Anfield were unsure if Liverpool could afford to sign him, and Shankly supposedly rebutted with the line: “We can’t afford not to sign him.”
St John hit a hat-trick on his debut against Everton in the Liverpool Senior Cup and helped Liverpool win promotion back
First Division.
From there, with Ron Yeats at the back and Ian Callaghan and Peter Thompson out wide, Liverpool became a powerhouse of the English game.
When Shankly decided to rebuild the team, St John moved on in 1971, briefly with Hellenic in South Africa followed by spells with Coventry and Tranmere, before retiring in 1973.
His international career brought 21 caps for Scotland – a slight on the selection system for a player of his talent – and nine goals. He to the old went into management, taking charge at Motherwell and Portsmouth, but his second calling, with his dimpled grin and natural warmth, was TV.
Saint and Greavsie was required Saturday lunchtime viewing during its run from 1985-1992 with its light, fun mix of analysis and humour. It regularly pulled in an audience of almost six million.
At a time when football was toxic with tragedy and hooliganism, St John and Jimmy Greaves made it safe to love again. Their chemistry was a joy.
St John played the straight man to Greaves, but rarely with a straight face. When Spitting Image chose to send the show up – a sign of how big it was – it depicted St John in perpetual fits of laughter.
When Greaves was unable to make one show in 1990 because of illness, St John – never one to take himself too seriously – recorded it with the Greavsie latex puppet instead.
The show proved football professionals could make TV professionals too. Where The Saint led, Gary Lineker followed. Lineker was one of many to pay tribute yesterday.
A star twice over finally dimmed.
IT PROBABLY did not seem like it at the time, but Donald Trump performing the Rumbelows Cup quarter-final draw may have been Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves’ greatest coup.
Saint and Greavsie were not just the only double act who were funnier in real life than their Spitting Image puppets – their irreverent humour took them unexpectedly into the corridors of power.
Footloose in New York – where they had flown for the World Cup draw 30 years ago – they dropped in on Trump Tower unannounced to see if the future President fancied a dip into the velvet bag.
To everyone’s surprise, the Don was at home on
Fifth Avenue and the draw made for priceless television.
“This is some pad you’ve got here,” said Greaves, admiring the opulent furniture.
“I haven’t seen a boardroom like this since Doug Ellis’s.”
Trump laughed along with the punchline, even if he did not have a clue who the-then Aston Villa chairman was.
St John was a fabulous footballer – it is a travesty he won only 21 caps for Scotland – and a fine broadcaster, the perfect foil for the one-liners from Greaves.
They were football’s stepbrothers of Tiswas, ITV’s Saturday morning slapstick show that had buckets of water and the Phantom Flan Flinger.
When Greaves was too ill to present one show just before Christmas, his latex caricature from Spitting Image was drafted in, with commentator Peter Brackley – who was a fine mimic – doing the voiceover.
Greaves revealed he had bumped into Dave Bassett and Ron Atkinson, managers of United and Wednesday across Sheffield’s steel city divide.
Bassett’s New Year resolution was for the Blades to win a league game – a bit like this season – while Big Ron resolved to win the Rumbelows Cup, the FA Cup, promotion and the Charity Shield.
“That’s a bit over the top,” Greavsie’s latex substitute told the Owls manager. “Well, he started it,” Big Ron allegedly replied.
One of the Saint’s feats was to keep a straight face as his sidekick reeled off the gags. When the pair were reunited for a one-off FA Cup final special in 2009, his searing honesty about the game’s dark arts deserved to be tattooed among modern players’ obsession for indelible artwork.
“When I hear commentators say a player goes down too easily, what they mean is that he’s a cheat,” the Saint frowned.
“It’s embarrassing when you see kids carried off the pitch, they have a swig of some magic potion and they are jumping off the stretcher.
“I don’t know what they put in those bottles but I’ll have a pint.”
The first pint in the Celestial Arms is my round, Saint.
Thanks for the memories.
SIR KENNY Dalglish has led the tributes to Liverpool “icon” Ian St John, saying he helped make the club what it is today.
St John, who has died aged 82, was a cornerstone of Bill Shankly’s first great Liverpool side, winning two Division
One titles and the club’s first FA Cup in the mid60s. Dalglish, left, says his fellow Scot helped to lay the foundations for Liverpool’s enduring success. “I think it’s right use the word to