A towering colossus in defence
Larry Lloyd
Footballer
BORN OCTOBER 6, 1948 DIED MARCH 28, 2024, AGED 75
LARRY Lloyd was a tall, stocky football defender who played in the old-school style, using more brawn and not so much finesse.
Under legendary managers Bill Shankly and Brian Clough, Lloyd made up a solid back wall for both Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, and was selected four times to play for England, between 1971 and 1980, initially under Sir Alf Ramsey.
Laurence Valentine Lloyd was born in Bristol in 1948, the eighth of 10 siblings, to mother René and father Tom, who was blind. Lloyd said it was his “greatest regret” that his father never saw him play.
As a teenage engineering apprentice, Lloyd joined Henbury Old Boys before signing to Third Division Bristol Rovers in 1968.
At 6ft 3in tall and weighing more than 14st, Lloyd made up a defensive partnership with Stuart Taylor, who was 6ft 5in, leading to the duo being dubbed “the Twin Towers”. Within six months, Shankly had paid a £55,000 fee to Rovers to bring Lloyd to Liverpool and he appeared in the 1971 FA Cup Final, which Arsenal won 2-1.
By now, Lloyd’s fearless tackling and no-frills performance turned the head of Ramsey, who picked him as a new England defender.
Just days later he was playing for his national side against Wales. There were two further caps under Ramsey, and a fourth and final cap in 1980, again against Wales.
But it was with Liverpool that Lloyd really shone, helping his side clinch victory in both the League Championship and the Uefa Cup in 1973.After Shankly, Clough persuaded Lloyd to join Forest, giving him a washing machine as a “signing fee”. Lloyd later joined Wigan Athletic, as player-manager.
When he finished playing, Lloyd worked as a radio pundit and then moved to Spain where he ran bars and sold property. In 2001, with money running low, he sold his football medals for £12,000 – a decision he always regretted.
Lloyd married Susan Justice in 1969.They later divorced after having a daughter and a son.
He died of undisclosed causes.