FeatureThe forgotten Anfield archive photo featuring future legendary LFC and Spurs managers
A 69-year-old team photo in the Anfield archive provides a forgotten link between Liverpool and one of the most glorious eras in Tottenham Hotspur history.
The featured image shows the Reds' Central League title-winning side of 1956-57 and includes two future legendary managers.
A young Bob Paisley is the up-and-coming Liverpool coach, proudly posing with his victorious reserve team, while standing on the far left of the back row is a fresh-faced Keith Burkinshaw, a name that will be instantly recognisable to Spurs fans of a certain vintage.
Like Paisley, Burkinshaw is better known for what he would go on to achieve in the managerial hotseat. The pair would cross swords many times in later years, most notably in the League Cup final at Wembley in 1982, which Liverpool won 3-1.
In the mid-1950s, though, the Barnsley-born defender was a promising young centre-half, attempting to make his way through the ranks at Anfield.
On Easter Monday 1955, he was called up to make his senior debut in a 1-1 draw at home to Port Vale, but it would prove to be his one and only senior Liverpool appearance.
Over the next couple of years, Burkinshaw continued to toil away in the club's second string and played 28 times under Paisley in the campaign that saw Liverpool crowned champions of the Central League for the first time.
The following season, he left to join Workington and went on to finish his playing career with Scunthorpe United.
As a coach at Newcastle United, Burkinshaw came up against Liverpool in the 1974 FA Cup final, before being appointed Tottenham manager in 1976.
During an eight-year spell at White Hart Lane, he guided Spurs to successive FA Cup triumphs in the early 1980s and UEFA Cup glory in 1984. Only Bill Nicholson enjoyed greater success as Tottenham manager, and he is rightly considered one of the most revered figures in their history.
Now 91, Burkinshaw is Liverpool's second-oldest surviving former player.
This article has been reproduced from today's official matchday programme.
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