Ian St. John (born 7 June 1938 in Motherwell
, Scotland
) is a former
Scottish footballer, who played for Scotland 21 times. He
is now a manager and
pundit.
In 2008 he
was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame
.
Early career
St John began his career at boyhood favourites
Motherwell, where he scored one of the
fastest
hat-tricks on record: 2 minutes
and 30 seconds, against
Hibernian in
1959.
He transferred to Liverpool on the 2 May
1961, for more than double the previous highest
transfer fee paid by the Anfield
board,
£37,500.
Ian made his début in a red shirt against
Merseyside rivals
Everton in the
Liverpool Senior Cup Final. Although
Liverpool lost 4-3, he announced his arrival in spectacular style
by scoring all 3 of his side's goals. That first game served the
most emphatic of notices of the new boy's talent for goals,
returning totals of 18, 19 and 21 goals in his first three
seasons.
His
official début came in a 2-0 2nd Division victory over
Bristol Rovers at the Eastville
Stadium
on the 19 August 1961, his
first official goals came 11 days later on the 30th when he bagged
a brace in the 39th and 90th minutes of a 4-1 win over Sunderland at Roker Park
, strike partner Roger
Hunt got the other 2 in the 26th and 69th minutes, the 2 would
go on the strike up a formidable partnership which tormented
defences in England and Europe.
Along with
Ron Yeats, 'The Saint' was
brought in to turn around Liverpool's luck as they had finished 3rd
5 times in a row in Division 2 thus missing out on promotion back
to the big time by a single spot on each occasion. The purchases
paid dividends as Liverpool romped to the 2nd Division title by a
clear 8 points over
Leyton Orient
with St John playing 40 times scoring 18 goals.
They finished a respectable 8th in their first season back in the
top flight but surprised everyone by winning the
League Championship the
following season overturning a 17 point deficit to win the title by
4 points over bitter rivals
Manchester United and 5 over reigning
champions Everton, St John played a major role in the title success
appearing 40 times scoring 19 goals.
He went on to score many vital goals for Liverpool, which included
the flying, whiplash header that he hammered past
Leeds United's Gary
Sprake to win the
FA Cup in 1965 the
first time in the club's history.
Another League championship followed in the 1965/66 as the Anfield
club finished 6 points clear of Leeds, Ian chipped in with 10 goals
from 41 outings.
St John and the rest of Liverpool tasted
defeat, however, as they were beaten in their first ever European final, Borussia
Dortmund beat them 2-1 at Hampden Park
in the Cup Winners
Cup.
St John was selected to play for
Scotland 21 times, making
his début, as a Motherwell player, in a 3-2 friendly victory over
Germany at Hampden
Park on the
6 May 1959. The first of his 9
goals came a year later, again, at Hampden, but this time in a 3-2
friendly defeat at the hands of
Poland on the
4 May 1960.
Like the vast majority of
Bill
Shankly's first great team, St John was at his peak during the
mid-1960s. And as he entered his thirties during the latter years
of that decade his form and fitness began to dip - until the end
came - as it did for several other members of his side - with the
shock FA Cup defeat at
Watford on
February 21 1970.
The Saint was sold to
Coventry
City on the
25 August 1971 after playing 424 games and scoring 118 goals for
Liverpool. He played for Coventry for just that season, before
moving on to
Tranmere Rovers
for the 1972/73 season, after which he retired.
After playing career
Since retiring from playing he has managed both former club
Motherwell (1973–1974) and
Portsmouth (1974–1977). He has also served
as assistant manager at
Sheffield Wednesday (1978–1979) and
Coventry City (1972–1973).
He retired from club management after leaving Wednesday in 1979,
and became a football pundit, striking up a hugely successful TV
partnership,
Saint and Greavsie,
with fellow ex-footballer
Jimmy
Greaves which lasted until the programme was axed in 1992. He
has also set up several football academies for the coaching of
younger players called the Ian St John Soccer Camps.
Often still seen at Anfield, St John is still a huge crowd
favourite and was voted in at No.21 on the
Official Liverpool
Football Club web sites poll
100 Players Who Shook The
Kop.
He can often be seen on a golf course and appears in numerous
Charity events around the world, he
plays off a 13 handicap. He is also a much requested
after dinner speaker.
He is the host of weekly football show Terrace Talk on Liverpool
radio station Radio City 96.7 on Saturday afternoons, usually 12pm
- 2pm.
Career details
Football
* Motherwell F.C - (1957 - 1961) - 113
appearances 80 goals
* Liverpool F.C - (1961 - 1971) - 425
appearances 118 goals
- 2 First Division (level 1) championship winners medals (1964
and 1966)
- FA Cup winners medal (1965)
- Second Division (level 2) winners medal (1962)
- 2 Charity Shield winners medals
(1965 (shared) and 1966)
- First Division runner-ups medal (1969)
- European Cup winners Cup runner-up medal (1966)
* Scotland - (1959 - 1965) 21 caps, 9
goals
Media
References
- This is in fact only partially true: in his own book ( My
Autobiography (2005,London, Hodder and Stoughton Ltd ISBN
0340841141 pp195/196)St John records the first time he was dropped-
against Newcastle United F.C. in the Autumn of
1969
- After Dinner Speakers 4 U (commercial
site)
External links
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