NewsLiverpool's Greatest - No.37: Tommy Smith
Years: 1963-1978
Appearances: 638
Goals: 48
Trophies: FA Cup (1965, 1974), First Division (1965-66, 1972-73, 1975-76, 1976-77), UEFA Cup (1973, 1976), European Cup (1977, 1978), UEFA Super Cup (1977)
Only seven men have played more games for Liverpool than Tommy Smith – and few have won a greater range of trophies.
The strong, tough-tackling defender earned himself the nickname ‘Anfield Iron’, with his physicality and mentality oppressive to opposition and inspiring for teammates across a 15-year spell in the side.
Smith joined the Reds in 1960 and made a senior debut under Bill Shankly in May 1963, just a few weeks after his 18th birthday.
He did not fully break into the reckoning at Anfield until 1964-65 – a campaign that ended with the Scouser in the starting XI for the FA Cup final victory over Leeds United at Wembley – but never looked back from there.
Three of the next four league campaigns saw Smith feature in every fixture, with the first of those – 1965-66 – bringing him the first of four championship medals he would claim with the club.
Shankly loved him, quipping that the centre-half “wasn’t born, he was quarried”, and showed his appreciation by appointing Smith as Liverpool captain in 1970 during the building of his second great Reds team.
A three-year tenure wearing the armband culminated in a title triumph and UEFA Cup success – the club’s first European trophy – in 1972-73.
Capable of playing at full-back and chipping in with goals – Smith scored just shy of a half-century at the Reds – his honours collection kept growing with the addition of a second FA Cup when Newcastle United were dismantled 3-0 in the 1974 final.
Approaching his 30s by the time Bob Paisley took over the Liverpool managerial reins that summer, Smith’s game time gradually decreased, though the glories did not.
Another double of league and UEFA Cup in 1975-76 preceded the crowning moment of his Anfield career.
You have to accept cookies in order to view this content on our site.
Watch on YouTubeHaving regained a place in the team, Smith was part of the line-up for Liverpool’s maiden appearance in the European Cup final, against Borussia Monchengladbach in Rome in 1977.
And with the score level at 1-1 past the hour mark, Smith met a corner kick from the left with a thumping header beyond the goalkeeper to help Paisley’s men go on and win 3-1 and lift Old Big Ears.
“For getting the most out of his ability I’d put him top,” said Anfield teammate Kevin Keegan. “Whatever strengths he had, he got them out there, and that’s why he stood the test of time.”
There was still one more season for Smith, in which he grabbed a new medal in the form of the UEFA Super Cup and contributed to a successful defence of the European Cup – though an off-the-field injury denied him any involvement in the final – before calling time on his Reds career.
Get exclusive early access to the next players revealed on the Liverpool's Greatest list every day on the official LFC app: iOS | Google Play