Alec Lindsay

Infobox Football biography
playername = Alec Lindsay


fullname = Alexander Lindsay
dateofbirth = birth date and age|df=yes|1948|2|27
cityofbirth = Bury
countryofbirth = England
height =
nickname =
position = Full Back
years = 1965–1969
1969–1977
1977–1978
1978
1979
clubs = Bury
Liverpool
Stoke City
Oakland Stompers
Toronto Blizzard
Career
caps(goals) = 127 (13)
168 (12)
020 0(3)
0028 0(1)
004 0(0)
315 (28)
nationalyears =
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 004 0(0)

Alexander Lindsay (born 27 February 1948) was a strong full back who played for the successful Liverpool team of the 1970s.

Life and playing career

Born in Bury, 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 nicknamed "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 couldn't have known what hit them and probably wished they didn't 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 didn't 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 '71 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.

Considering that Alec is one of the best left-backs in the club's history it's not surprising that he appears at No.85 in the 2006 poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop in which thousands of Liverpool fans from all over the world voted for their top 10 players on the [http://www.liverpoolfc.tv Official Liverpool Football Club web-site.]

Career details

"*" Liverpool F.C (1969–1977) - 248 appearances, 18 goals
*First Division (Level 1) championship medal (1973)
*FA Cup winners medal (1974)
*European Cup winners medal (1977(nps))
*UEFA Cup winners medal (1973)
*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

External links

* [http://www.thisisanfield.com/columnists/2007/07/forgotten-heroes-alec-lindsay/ Thisisanfield.com Forgotten Heros]
* [http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/past_players/players/lindsay/ Official past players at Liverpoolfc.tv]
* [http://www.lfchistory.net/player_profile.asp?player_id=360 Player profile at LFChistory]