Tommy Lawrence:  RIP

Liverpool Football Club - General Discussion

Postby Reg » Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:22 pm

Shanks brought Tommy to Anfield and was the ever present in the team as LFC found their feet and came to dominate English and later European football. Ray Clemence eventually took over and made the position his own. Tommy started a 25 year period of goalkeeper stability at the club - Lawrence, Clemence and Brucie.

RIP Tommy, god's speed.  :nod
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http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/42634388

Tommy Lawrence: former Liverpool and Tranmere goalkeeper dies

Former Liverpool goalkeeper Tommy Lawrence has died, the club have confirmed.

The 77-year-old Scotsman was Bill Shankly's first-choice keeper during the 1960s.

He only missed four league matches in six seasons as the Reds won the First Division Championship twice and claimed the FA Cup for the first time.

Lawrence signed professionally for Liverpool in October 1957, a few months after his 17th birthday.

He made 390 appearances for the Anfield club before making the switch to Tranmere Rovers in 1971, where he stayed for three years.

He was capped for Scotland three times.

Lawrence was given the nickname 'The Flying Pig' because of his ability to dive around the penalty area despite weighing more than 14 stone.
Lawrence kept a clean sheet for 90 minutes in the FA Cup final against Leeds United in 1965, before Liverpool claimed their historic win in extra time thanks to goals from Roger Hunt and Ian St. John.

He returned to prominence, accidentally, in 2015 when a BBC reporter was asking people on the streets of Merseyside for their memories about the 1967 derby at Goodison Park.

Lawrence told Stuart Flinders: "I played in it... it was a great game, Alan Ball scored the winner."

Tommy Lawrence was one of the Scottish cornerstones of Bill Shankly's great Liverpool side of the 1960s that established the platform and the template for the Anfield successes that followed.

Signed by Shankly's predecessor Phil Taylor, Lawrence was part of the great spine of Liverpool's side from north of the border along with captain Ron Yeats and striker Ian St John.

A bulky figure, he was still remarkably agile and reliable and was one of the first to operate as what is these days described as a "sweeper keeper."

Lawrence was one of the great characters of a golden era on Merseyside as Liverpool, led by the extrovert Shankly, battled for supremacy against Everton, led by the secretive, media-shy Harry Catterick.

The Scot helped Liverpool win the FA Cup against Leeds at Wembley and also two league titles, as well as losing a European Cup Winners' Cup Final to Borussia Dortmund at Hampden Park in 1966.

Lawrence played 390 times for Liverpool between 1962 and 1971 and remained unchallenged as Liverpool's first-choice keeper until the emergence of future great Ray Clemence.

He may have continued his career across the Mersey at Tranmere but this popular and humble man will always be best remembered as one of Liverpool's legendary figures.
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Postby woof woof ! » Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:35 pm

True legend for those old enough to remember him.

Condolences to his family

Salt of the Earth Fella



Rip Tommy.
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Postby RED BEERGOGGLES » Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:49 pm

RIP Big Fella
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Postby crazyhorse » Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:52 pm

The flying pig. Legend.

Rip. Ynwa.
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Postby 7_Kewell » Wed Jan 10, 2018 8:54 pm

Sad news. A true legend . RIP
“You cannot transfer the heart and soul of Liverpool Football Club, although I am sure there are many clubs who would like to buy it.”
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Postby Thommo's perm » Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:26 pm

He was the first Liverpool goalie I watched.
Class act
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Postby Reg » Thu Jan 11, 2018 3:03 am

What a superb nickname for a top flight goalkeeper 'The flying pig'.  Scouse humour at it's best.  :buttrock
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Postby Santa » Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:04 pm

When I first supported LFC, Ray Clemence has just take place over the No.1 jersey so my memory of Big Tommy was kinda vague...but he was one of those who helped built the club to where it is today, so he's a legend in my eyes. Rest well big fella...YNWA
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Postby ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:22 am

Exactly Santa, the modern Liverpool FC was build on the foundations laid by that first great Shankly team of the early/mid 60's.
They were the ones who took us out of the second division, they were the ones who broke the FA Cup curse, they were the ones that won league titles, and they were the ones that were shafted in a European Cup Semi Final second leg after wiping the floor with that great Inter Milan side of the mid 60's in the first leg at Anfield.
Celtic are rightly proud of their European Cup winning Lisbon Lions team, 12 months before though that same ream was knocked out of Europe by Shanks mid 60's team, that's how good that team was.
RIP Tommy you utter legend.
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Postby Fowler_E7 » Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:57 pm

Im not old enough to have had the privilege of watching the great Liverpool sides 60's, 70's and 80's but as a kid my dad bought me the complete history of LFC and i remember reading fondly the chapters about Bill Shankly's great 60's team, as others have said anyone who was involved in the club in that period is a true legend who helped to build the foundations of this great institution we all love, R.I.P Tommy Lawrence.
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Postby Fowler_E7 » Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:57 pm

Im not old enough to have had the privilege of watching the great Liverpool sides 60's, 70's and 80's but as a kid my dad bought me the complete history of LFC and i remember reading fondly the chapters about Bill Shankly's great 60's team, as others have said anyone who was involved in the club in that period is a true legend who helped to build the foundations of this great institution we all love, R.I.P Tommy Lawrence.
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