Alec Lindsay
Encyclopedia
Alexander 'Alec' Lindsay (born 27 February 1948) was a strong full back who played in The Football League
for Bury
, Liverpool
and Stoke City
.
, Greater Manchester
, England
, Lindsay joined the Anfield
club in the March 1969 for £67,000 from his hometown club Bury
, His debut was a night to remember, The Reds were playing host to FAI side Dundalk
in a European Fairs Cup
1st round 1st leg tie, the Irish side were 'like lambs to the slaughter,' and it took just 1 minute for the flood gates to open through a goal from youngster Alun Evans
, free scoring full-back Chris Lawler
made it 2 in the 10th and it was 3-0 by the 24th minute when the man nickname
d Anfield Iron, Tommy Smith
, scored, before the referee could sound the half-time whistle and give the Dundalk team a rest Liverpool found net 2 more times with goals from Bobby Graham and a 2nd from Evans scoring in the 36th and 38th minutes respectively.
The Dundalk side could not have known what hit them and probably wished they did not have to go out for the second period, unfortunately they did and Liverpool didn't let up, they pushed forward for more goals, they duely arrived, 1st to score in the second half was debutant Lindsay, not to be out done by fellow full-back Lawler, Alec got forward and bagged his 1st goal for the club in the 56th minute. It did not finish there either, Smith scored a 2nd (67th minute), wingers Peter Thompson and Ian Callaghan
got in on the act (69th & 76th) and finally Graham hit his 2nd, Liverpool's 10th, in the 82nd minute rounding off a truly remarkable match. The game took place on the 16 September 1969 and was the Reds record win until the Liverpool side of 1974/75 thumped Norwegian
side Strømsgodset I.F.
11-0, 5 years and 1 day after the Dundalk game.
After an initial settling in period in which Lindsay played 7 times, he was the selected as first choice left back during the 1970/71 season which included the 1971 FA Cup Final
at Wembley, league champions and double hunting Arsenal
lay in wait, after the allotted 90 minutes the scores were level at 0-0, during extra time the Reds took the lead, unfortunately, the Gunners grabbed a scrappy equaliser and went on to win the game 2-1 thus completing the league and FA Cup double.
Arsenal were victorious that day but Lindsay would be back for another go in 1974, but first Liverpool had the small matter of obtaining a double of their own winning both the League championship
and UEFA Cup
in 1973.
So to the '74 cup final, with the score against Newcastle United
poised delicately at 0-0 in the second half's early stages, Lindsay made a strong overlapping run down the left flank and fired a crisp and spectacular shot in at the near post which bulged the back of the net. Sadly for Lindsay, the referee ruled he was offside, though television
replays showed the final pass had come, unwittingly, from a Newcastle player and therefore the referee should have allowed the goal to stand. Ultimately, Lindsay got his winners medal as Liverpool controlled the game and emphatically beat the Magpies by 3 goals to 0.
This was to be the peak of Lindsay's Liverpool career, Shankly, the man who brought Lindsay to Merseyside
, shook the very foundations of Anfield by suddenly announcing his retirement. Unfortunately, for Alec, new manager Bob Paisley
elected to play new signing Phil Neal
in the left back slot the following season and even after Neal then moved to his favoured right back role, Lindsay was still rarely selected with Paisley preferring Welshman
Joey Jones
. This also ended his England
hopes before they had really got started, having thus far won four caps.
Alec was given his first cap, and subsequently all of his caps, by caretaker manager Joe Mercer
on the 22 May '74, England were playing host, at Wembley, to a friendly with Argentina
, he was in good company as fellow Reds Kevin Keegan
and the England captain
Emlyn Hughes
were in the starting line-up, the game was played in front of 68,000 people and ended in a 2-2 draw.
Liverpool won two more League titles during the next three years but Lindsay didn't qualify for a medal having not played enough games. He also missed out on the 1976 UEFA Cup success and the 1977 FA Cup final when Liverpool, in search of a glorious "treble", lost narrowly to bitter rivals Manchester United
. However, he was named as one of the five substitutes for the European Cup
final in Rome
three days later, when Liverpool beat Borussia Mönchengladbach
3-1. He left Anfield in the summer of 1977 and joined Stoke City
.
In 1978, Lindsay moved to the Oakland Stompers
of the North American Soccer League
(NASL). Following the 1978 season, the Stompers moved to Edmonton, Canada and Lindsay moved to the Toronto Blizzard
, also of the NASL. He would finish his career with the Blizzard. After his retirement he became a publican
.
His legacy at the club was illustrated by his placing at 85 in the 2006 poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop, in which thousands of Liverpool fans voted for their top 10 players on the Official Liverpool Football Club web-site.
"Speedy" Lindsay, as he jokingly refers to himself, is now retired and lives happily with his partner in Scotland. He remains an avid Liverpool supporter and was a contributor to the Hillsborough Family Support Group's (HFSG) "Project 96" in August 2009.
nps = non playing substitute
* England (1974) - 4 caps
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
for Bury
Bury F.C.
Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team currently play in League One. The club's nickname is The Shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890s.-Formation of the club and the...
, Liverpool
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
and Stoke City
Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...
.
Life and playing career
Born in BuryBury
Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the River Irwell, east of Bolton, west-southwest of Rochdale, and north-northwest of the city of Manchester...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Lindsay joined the Anfield
Anfield
Anfield is an association football stadium in the district of Anfield, Liverpool, England, with a seating capacity of 45,522. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 and was originally the home of Everton F.C. from 1884 to 1892, before they moved to Goodison Park...
club in the March 1969 for £67,000 from his hometown club Bury
Bury F.C.
Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team currently play in League One. The club's nickname is The Shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890s.-Formation of the club and the...
, His debut was a night to remember, The Reds were playing host to FAI side Dundalk
Dundalk F.C.
Dundalk Football Club is a professional Irish football club based in Dundalk, County Louth. The club currently play in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. Founded in 1903, they are the second most successful team, in terms of trophies won, in the history of the League of Ireland. The...
in a European Fairs Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
1st round 1st leg tie, the Irish side were 'like lambs to the slaughter,' and it took just 1 minute for the flood gates to open through a goal from youngster Alun Evans
Alun Evans
Alun William Evans is an English former footballer who made his name as a centre forward in the Liverpool side rebuilt by Bill Shankly at the start of the 1970s. He was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire.-Career:...
, free scoring full-back Chris Lawler
Chris Lawler
Chris Lawler is a former footballer who enjoyed much of Liverpool's success of the 1960s and 1970s.-Life and playing career:...
made it 2 in the 10th and it was 3-0 by the 24th minute when the man nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
d Anfield Iron, Tommy Smith
Tommy Smith (footballer born 1945)
Thomas "Tommy" Smith MBE was a long-serving footballer with Liverpool, known for his uncompromising defensive style. Manager Bill Shankly once said of him: "Tommy Smith wasn't born, he was quarried."-Life and playing career:...
, scored, before the referee could sound the half-time whistle and give the Dundalk team a rest Liverpool found net 2 more times with goals from Bobby Graham and a 2nd from Evans scoring in the 36th and 38th minutes respectively.
The Dundalk side could not have known what hit them and probably wished they did not have to go out for the second period, unfortunately they did and Liverpool didn't let up, they pushed forward for more goals, they duely arrived, 1st to score in the second half was debutant Lindsay, not to be out done by fellow full-back Lawler, Alec got forward and bagged his 1st goal for the club in the 56th minute. It did not finish there either, Smith scored a 2nd (67th minute), wingers Peter Thompson and Ian Callaghan
Ian Callaghan
Ian Robert Callaghan MBE is a former Liverpool footballer who holds the record for most appearances for the club.-Life and playing career:...
got in on the act (69th & 76th) and finally Graham hit his 2nd, Liverpool's 10th, in the 82nd minute rounding off a truly remarkable match. The game took place on the 16 September 1969 and was the Reds record win until the Liverpool side of 1974/75 thumped Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
side Strømsgodset I.F.
Strømsgodset I.F.
Strømsgodset IF is a Norwegian multi-sports club from Gulskogen in Drammen. It has sections for association football, team handball and bandy, but is best known for the top-level football section known as Strømsgodset Toppfotball, which currently plays in the Norwegian Premier League...
11-0, 5 years and 1 day after the Dundalk game.
After an initial settling in period in which Lindsay played 7 times, he was the selected as first choice left back during the 1970/71 season which included the 1971 FA Cup Final
1971 FA Cup Final
In the finale to the 1970-71 FA Cup season, the 1971 FA Cup Final was contested by Arsenal and Liverpool at Wembley on the 8 May 1971.Arsenal won 2–1 after extra time, with all three goals coming in the added half hour. Steve Heighway opened the scoring for Liverpool with a low drive past...
at Wembley, league champions and double hunting Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
lay in wait, after the allotted 90 minutes the scores were level at 0-0, during extra time the Reds took the lead, unfortunately, the Gunners grabbed a scrappy equaliser and went on to win the game 2-1 thus completing the league and FA Cup double.
Arsenal were victorious that day but Lindsay would be back for another go in 1974, but first Liverpool had the small matter of obtaining a double of their own winning both the League championship
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
and UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
in 1973.
So to the '74 cup final, with the score against Newcastle United
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
poised delicately at 0-0 in the second half's early stages, Lindsay made a strong overlapping run down the left flank and fired a crisp and spectacular shot in at the near post which bulged the back of the net. Sadly for Lindsay, the referee ruled he was offside, though television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
replays showed the final pass had come, unwittingly, from a Newcastle player and therefore the referee should have allowed the goal to stand. Ultimately, Lindsay got his winners medal as Liverpool controlled the game and emphatically beat the Magpies by 3 goals to 0.
This was to be the peak of Lindsay's Liverpool career, Shankly, the man who brought Lindsay to Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, shook the very foundations of Anfield by suddenly announcing his retirement. Unfortunately, for Alec, new manager Bob Paisley
Bob Paisley
Robert "Bob" Paisley OBE was an English football half back turned manager. His association with Liverpool was to span nearly half a century including his contribution to the club, first as a player, then as a physiotherapist and coach, and finally as manager.In nine years as manager between 1974...
elected to play new signing Phil Neal
Phil Neal
Philip George "Phil" Neal is a former footballer who was, at one time, the most successful player in English football history. He played for Liverpool 650 times over an eleven year period and is the only player to have appeared in the first five of their European Cup finals, winning four of them...
in the left back slot the following season and even after Neal then moved to his favoured right back role, Lindsay was still rarely selected with Paisley preferring Welshman
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
Joey Jones
Joey Jones
For other persons named Joey Jones, see Joey Jones.For other similarly named people, see Joseph Jones or Joe Jones.Joseph Patrick "Joey" Jones is a former Wales international football full-back who played for Liverpool for three seasons, including the 1977 season, in which they chased "the...
. This also ended his England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
hopes before they had really got started, having thus far won four caps.
Alec was given his first cap, and subsequently all of his caps, by caretaker manager Joe Mercer
Joe Mercer
Joseph 'Joe' Mercer, OBE was an English football player and manager.-Playing career:Mercer was born in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, the son of a former Nottingham Forest and Tranmere Rovers footballer, also named Joe. Joe Mercer senior died, following health problems resulting from a gas attack...
on the 22 May '74, England were playing host, at Wembley, to a friendly with Argentina
Argentina national football team
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...
, he was in good company as fellow Reds Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan
Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE is a former international footballer and former manager of the England national football team and several English clubs, most notably Newcastle United....
and the England captain
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...
Emlyn Hughes
Emlyn Hughes
Emlyn Walter Hughes, OBE was an English footballer who captained both the England national team and the much-decorated Liverpool F.C. team of the 1970s.- From Blackpool to Liverpool :...
were in the starting line-up, the game was played in front of 68,000 people and ended in a 2-2 draw.
Liverpool won two more League titles during the next three years but Lindsay didn't qualify for a medal having not played enough games. He also missed out on the 1976 UEFA Cup success and the 1977 FA Cup final when Liverpool, in search of a glorious "treble", lost narrowly to bitter rivals Manchester United
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved to Old Trafford in 1910.The 1958...
. However, he was named as one of the five substitutes for the European Cup
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
final in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
three days later, when Liverpool beat Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth...
3-1. He left Anfield in the summer of 1977 and joined Stoke City
Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...
.
In 1978, Lindsay moved to the Oakland Stompers
Oakland Stompers
The Oakland Stompers were a soccer team in the North American Soccer League which played the 1978 season in the NASL. The Stompers played in the Western Division of the American Conference and finished the year with a 12-18 record...
of the North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
(NASL). Following the 1978 season, the Stompers moved to Edmonton, Canada and Lindsay moved to the Toronto Blizzard
Toronto Blizzard (NASL)
The Toronto Blizzard were a professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that played in the North American Soccer League.-History:The Toronto Metros joined the NASL in 1971. Their home field was Varsity Stadium....
, also of the NASL. He would finish his career with the Blizzard. After his retirement he became a publican
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
.
His legacy at the club was illustrated by his placing at 85 in the 2006 poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop, in which thousands of Liverpool fans voted for their top 10 players on the Official Liverpool Football Club web-site.
"Speedy" Lindsay, as he jokingly refers to himself, is now retired and lives happily with his partner in Scotland. He remains an avid Liverpool supporter and was a contributor to the Hillsborough Family Support Group's (HFSG) "Project 96" in August 2009.
Career details
* Liverpool F.C (1969–1977) - 248 appearances, 18 goals- First Division (Level 1) championship medal (1973, 1976, 1977)
- FA Cup winners medal (1974)
- European Cup winners medal (1977(nps))
- UEFA Cup winners medal (1973,1976)
- 2 Charity Shield winners medals (1974 and 1976(nps))
- First Division runners-up medal (1974)
- FA Cup runners-up medal (1971)
- Charity Shield runners-up medal (1971)
nps = non playing substitute
* England (1974) - 4 caps