 |
| Billy Liddell: Forward |
| Nickname: |
| Date of Birth:
10/01/1922 |
| Dead:
July 2001 |
| Squad:
number: |
| With the Reds: 1945-1961 |
| Height: |
| Weight: |
| Bought from:
Lochgelly Violet |
| Signed for LFC:
Ј0 Professional - 17.04.1939 |
| Debut: 5th January 1945 v
Chester City (A) FA Cup won 2-0 (Aged 25) |
| Debut goal:
05.01.1946 |
| 1st team
league games: 492 |
| 1st team
league goals: 215 |
| Total 1st team
games: 534 |
| Total 1st team
goals: 228 |
| Total 1st team
Wartime games: 152 |
| Total 1st team
Wartime goals: 82 |
| Contract expiry:
1961 |
| International caps: 28
Scotland |
| International
goals: 6 |
| International debut:
19.10.1946 vs. Wales (excluding wartime games) |
| Characteristics: |
| Former
clubs: Kingseat Juvenlies, Lochgelly Violet; Chelsea, Linfield, Cambridge Town, Toronto
Scottish and Dunfermline (wartime guest) |
| Birth
Place: Townhill, Scotland |
Honours: 1 Division One Championship
46/47
Runners up: 1 FA Cups 49/50 |
| Personal Honours: |
| Fact: |
| Website: |
|
|
Total
LFC and other club games/goals
|
League |
FA Cup |
FL Cup |
Europe |
Other |
Total |
| Seasons |
App |
Gls |
App |
Gls |
App |
Gls |
App |
Gls |
App |
Gls |
App |
Gls |
| 1945-46 |
|
|
2 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
1 |
| 1946-47 |
34 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
40 |
8 |
| 1947-48 |
37 |
10 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
39 |
11 |
| 1948-49 |
38 |
8 |
4 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
42 |
9 |
| 1949-50 |
41 |
17 |
7 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
48 |
19 |
| 1950-51 |
35 |
15 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
36 |
15 |
| 1951-52 |
40 |
19 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
43 |
19 |
| 1952-53 |
39 |
13 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
40 |
13 |
| 1953-54 |
36 |
7 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
37 |
7 |
| 1954-55 |
40 |
30 |
4 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
44 |
31 |
| 1955-56 |
39 |
27 |
5 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
44 |
32 |
| 1956-57 |
41 |
21 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
43 |
21 |
| 1957-58 |
35 |
22 |
5 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
40 |
23 |
| 1958-59 |
19 |
14 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
19 |
14 |
| 1959-60 |
17 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17 |
5 |
| 1960-61 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
| Total |
492 |
215 |
42 |
13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
534 |
228 |
A more detailed look at the player's appearances
| Total |
Competition |
| 492 |
League |
| 42 |
FA Cup |
Career Milestones for Billy Liddell:
Appearances in all competitions
| № |
Date |
Against |
Result |
Venue |
Competition |
| 1 |
05.01.1946 |
Chester City |
2-0 |
Sealand Road |
FA |
| 50 |
27.09.1947 |
Everton |
3-0 |
Goodison Park |
League |
| 100 |
04.12.1948 |
Burnley |
1-1 |
Anfield |
League |
| 150 |
11.01.1950 |
Blackburn R |
2-1 |
Anfield |
FA |
| 200 |
10.03.1951 |
Middlesbrough |
1-1 |
Ayresome Park |
League |
| 250 |
26.04.1952 |
Preston NE |
0-4 |
Deepdale |
League |
| 300 |
19.09.1953 |
Burnley |
4-0 |
Anfield |
League |
| 350 |
25.12.1954 |
Ipswich Town |
6-2 |
Anfield |
League |
| 400 |
11.02.1956 |
Plymouth |
0-4 |
Home Park |
League |
| 450 |
30.03.1957 |
Lincoln City |
3-3 |
Sincil Bank |
League |
| 500 |
10.09.1958 |
Sheffield U |
2--1 |
Anfield |
League |
Goals in all competitions
| № |
Date |
Min |
Against |
Result |
Venue |
Competition |
| 1 |
05.01.1946 |
30 |
Chester C |
2-0 |
Sealand R. |
FA |
| 50 |
26.08.1950 |
14 |
Sunderland |
4-0 |
Anfield |
League |
| 100 |
13.03.1954 |
18 |
Sheffield U |
1-3 |
Bramall Lane |
League |
| 150 |
17.12.1955 |
80 |
Nottingham F |
5-2 |
Anfield |
League |
| 200 |
19.02.1958 |
15 |
Doncaster R |
1-1 |
Belle Vue |
League |
Total LFC
Wartime games/goals
|
League |
| Seasons |
App |
Gls |
| 1939-40 |
16 |
9 |
| 1940-41 |
37 |
12 |
| 1941-42 |
35 |
22 |
| 1942-43 |
15 |
5 |
| 1943-44 |
6 |
4 |
| 1944-45 |
15 |
13 |
| 1945-46 |
28 |
17 |
| Total |
152 |
82 |
Update: 08.11.2006 |
PROFILE
Billy Liddell meets the King prior to the
1950 FA Cup Final vs Arsenal.
Fondly and rightly remembered as one of the greatest Liverpool players of all time,
William Liddell was born in Dunfermline, Fife on the 10th of January 1922. He arrived at
Anfield from a Scottish junior club and after having served with the Royal Air Force
during the Second World War.
As League football resumed after the war, Billy won a League championship medal in his
first 'full' season with the club, although he had represented Liverpool in Football
League (North) matches during the war as well as making two appearances in the 1946 F.A.
cup competition, when the first of his 229 Liverpool goals came at Sealand Road, Chester.
Billy's attendance record was remarkable. He averaged THIRTY-EIGHT League games a
season over a 12-year period from 1946 until 1958 and his position at outside-left was
rarely threatened during that time, although he was just as comfortable and effective when
playing at centre-forward. In fact, so synonymous did he become for the Liverpool cause
that the club was often nicknamed "Liddellpool" when the Scottish winger was in
his prime.
Billy represented his club in the 1950 F.A. cup final against Arsenal and either
side of that first-ever Wembley visit for the club was given the supreme honour of being
selected twice to play for Great Britain against the Rest of the World, an accolade he
simply accepted with his usual great modesty and humility.
He was also capped 28 times by his native Scotland. But even his tremendous skill
and goals could not stop the club's slide into the Second Division 4 years after that cup
final appearance. Billy remained loyal and stayed at Anfield when a lesser man might have
been tempted to move on after relegation and he certainly enjoyed playing against less
well-organised defences as he banged in over 100 goals in the first five Second Divisions
after the club had been demoted.
By the start of the 1959-60 season Liddell was 37 years old and clearly approaching
the end of a wonderful Liverpool career. He made 17 appearances that season and just one
the following year, the last of his 494 League games for the club coming in a
disappointing home defeat by Southampton on the last day of August, 1960.
It was perhaps fitting that for the final dozen or so games of his time with
Liverpool, one great Scot should be managed by another, a man who would take the club back
into the top division and on to the sort of success which Billy's loyalty and devotion to
the Liverpool cause had certainly deserved.
Irrespective of the fact that the club only won one major trophy during his long
association at Anfield, Billy Liddell will forever be remembered as one of the greatest
players ever to represent Liverpool Football Club during the first 100 years of its
existence.
Stats Note for Billy Liddell
215 <-> 216 league goals.
03.03.1956 Complete record (Brian Pead) credits the goal to Liddell, but it was
Dickson who scored according to Essential history (Eric Doig), which has researched in
detail Liverpool's history since the publication of Complete record.
SCOTLAND
1946 v Wales, Northern Ireland; 1947 v Northern Ireland, Wales; 1948 v England;
1949 v Wales; 1950 v England, Portugal, France, Wales, Northern Ireland, Austria; 1951 v
England, Northern Ireland, Wales; 1952 v England, USA, Denmark, Sweden, Wales, Northern
Ireland; 1953 v England, Wales; 1955 v Portugal, Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary, Northern
Ireland (28).
WARTIME INTERNATIONALS
1942 v England (twice); 1943 v England; 1945 v England, Wales; 1946 v Northern
Ireland, England, Switzerland (8).
Sold to: Retired (1960)
Claim to fame: Carrying Liverpool through the fifties.
Did you know? An accountant by profession, he trained only two
days a week and worked at the club accountants office on the other days.
Where is he now? Sadly passed away after suffering from
Alzheimer's disease in July 2001.
John Keith on Billy Liddell: "He was a role model before they
had role models. He was a wonderfully exciting, good looking, dark hair, dashing player.
Built to athletic perfection, with broad shoulders, tapering body, great speed and great
power. He was excitement personified. That's how I would describe Billy Liddell. |
