 |
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 13 June 1944 | ||
| Place of birth | Lanark, Scotland | ||
| Position(s) | Inside forward [1] | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1960–1962 | Liverpool [1] | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1962–1967 | Liverpool [2] | 20 | (3) |
| 1967–1972 | Crewe Alexandra [3] | 93 | (22) |
| Total | 113 | (25) | |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Gordon Wallace (born 13 June 1944 in Lanark) [1] is a Scottish former footballer, who played for Liverpool during the 1960s.
Wallace was raised in Wales after his father Dougie, also a footballer, transferred to Llanelli Town in 1949. [4] Gordon attended school with future rugby union star Barry John and had trials with Huddersfield Town while Bill Shankly was the Yorkshire club's manager. Shankly moved to Liverpool in late 1959, and soon brought in the teenage Wallace as an apprentice. [4]
During his spell at Anfield, his main claims to fame were netting the opening goal in the 1964 FA Charity Shield, scoring twice in a match covered on the very first BBC "Match of the Day" programme, and being Liverpool's first ever European Champions' Cup goalscorer (the first goal in an away tie against KR Reykjavík), all occurring in August 1964. [5]
Despite such a promising start his first team opportunities were limited by the consistency, fitness and excellent disciplinary records of Liverpool's twin strike force, Roger Hunt and Ian St John, respectively England and Scotland internationals. Wallace played for Liverpool Reserves between 1965 and 1967. [1] When Tony Hateley joined Liverpool in 1967, Wallace left on a free transfer, joining Crewe Alexandra.
He shone at Crewe and was an important element of the team that won promotion to Division 3 in the 1967–68 season. His form the following season began to attract interest from higher league sides until a home game versus Watford on 28 September 1968, when a tackle from behind broke his leg. It took him 13 months to return to first team football, but he never managed to regain the form of old. He played his final game for Crewe away at Colchester on 17 September 1972. Wallace scored 20 goals in 94 league appearances for Crewe.
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of the town's links with the rail industry, and also commonly known as 'The Alex', they have played at Gresty Road since 1906. The supporters' fiercest rivalry is with Staffordshire-based side Port Vale.
William Shankly was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winning three League Championships and the UEFA Cup. He laid foundations on which his successors Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan were able to build by winning seven league titles and four European Cups in the ten seasons after Shankly retired in 1974. A charismatic, iconic figure at the club, his oratory stirred the emotions of the fanbase. In 2019, 60 years after Shankly arrived at Liverpool, Tony Evans of The Independent wrote, "Shankly created the idea of Liverpool, transforming the football club by emphasising the importance of the Kop and making supporters feel like participants".
Emlyn Walter Hughes was an English footballer. He started his career at Blackpool in 1964 before moving to Liverpool in 1967. He made 665 appearances for Liverpool and captained the side to three league titles and an FA Cup victory in the 1970s. Added to these domestic honours were two European Cups, including Liverpool's first in 1977; and two UEFA Cup titles. Hughes won the Football Writers' Player of the Year in 1977. Hughes completed a full set of English football domestic honours by winning the League Cup with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1980. In addition to Wolves, he later played for Rotherham United, Hull City, Mansfield Town and Swansea City. Hughes earned 62 caps for the England national team, which he also captained.
Roger Hunt was an English professional footballer who played as a forward.
Ian Robert Callaghan MBE is an English retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He holds the record for most appearances for Liverpool. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1975 New Year Honours.
Alec Lindsay is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Bury, Liverpool and Stoke City.
Peter Barr Cormack is a Scottish former international football player and manager. His greatest success was with Liverpool in the early 1970s, for whom he played 178 times, winning two league championships, one FA Cup and two UEFA Cup medals.
Thomas Johnstone Lawrence was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Liverpool and Tranmere Rovers from the 1950s to the 1970s. Lawrence was with Liverpool for 14 years, making more than 300 league appearances, and he played in three full internationals for Scotland during the 1960s.
Laurence Valentine Lloyd is an English former footballer player and manager. A defender, he won domestic and European honours for both Bill Shankly's Liverpool and Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest in the 1970s.
James Greenhoff is an English former footballer. He was a skilful forward but, although capped five times at under-23 level, he never played for the full side, and is labelled as the finest English player never to play for England. He made nearly 600 appearances in league football. His younger brother Brian was also a professional footballer.
Harry Catterick was an English football player and manager. As a player Catterick played for Everton and Crewe Alexandra, in a career that was interrupted by World War II, but he is most notable as a manager. After spells with Crewe, Rochdale and Sheffield Wednesday, with whom he won the Football League Second Division title, he took over at Everton and won the English Football League twice and the FA Cup with the Merseyside club and is regarded as one of Everton's most successful managers. He finished his managerial career at Preston North End.
John Prescott McGovern is a Scottish former association football midfielder and manager. McGovern is most famous for captaining the Nottingham Forest side that won the European Cup twice under the management of Brian Clough, whom he played under at four clubs, and Peter Taylor.
Gordon Milne is an English former football player and manager.
The 1967–68 season was the 88th season of competitive football in England. Defending First Division champions, Manchester United, became the first English team to win the European Cup, while the First Division title went to their cross city rivals City. West Bromwich Albion lifted the FA Cup this season, for the fifth time in their history. Leeds United won their first two major trophies when they lifted the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and Football League Cup at the expense of an Arsenal side who had not played at Wembley for 16 years.
William Stevenson is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. He played for Rangers, Liverpool, Stoke City, Tranmere Rovers and the Vancouver Whitecaps.
William Dearden is an English former footballer and manager who is now chief scout at Sheffield United. As a player, he scored 101 goals in 404 league games in a 16-year career in the English Football League.
James Gillen Robertson is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a winger. Robertson featured with clubs Cowdenbeath, St Mirren, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Ipswich Town, Stoke City, Seattle Sounders, Walsall and Crewe Alexandra.
Thomas Smith was an English footballer, who played as a defender at Liverpool for 16 years from 1962 to 1978. Known for his uncompromising defensive style, manager Bill Shankly once said of him: "Tommy Smith wasn't born, he was quarried". A central defender for most of his career, Smith's most memorable moment for the club probably came when he scored Liverpool's second goal in the 1977 European Cup Final against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Smith played once for England in 1971, and also played at club level for Tampa Bay Rowdies, Los Angeles Aztecs and Swansea City.
Ronald Smith is an English former footballer who played on the left-wing. He scored 62 goals in 426 appearances over a thirteen-year career.
Douglas Herbert Wallace was a South African professional footballer who played as a centre forward in the Scottish Football League for Clyde, Dunfermline Athletic and Albion Rovers, and was a player and coach of Llanelly in England's Southern Football League.