IAN
CALLAGHAN
stands alone as
Liverpool's greatest ever servant.
His record 856
appearances is never likely to be challenged.
SuperCally'sMatchStatisticRecord'sQuitePrecocious
856
The Mind Blowing statistics are, of course, an obvious place to start when dealing with the remarkable playing record of Liverpool's most battle hardened servant of all time. Yet Ian Callaghan will admit with an indifferent shrug to not really knowing how many games he played throughout an illustrious career that ran on and on, even after he finally left his home town club in 1978. A Liverpool player for over twenty years Ian Callaghan saw the lot, from Arsenal to Aldershot, from the old Second Division to the European Cup.
Division 2
(Level 2): 1962
League Title:
1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1977
Charity Shield:
1964*, 1965*, 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977* (* Shared); Runner-up: 1971
FA Cup: 1965,
1974; Runner-up: 1971, 1977
World Cup: 1966
UEFA Cup: 1973, 1976
European Cup:
1977, 1978
European Super
Cup: 1977
Welsh Cup: 1981
Cup Winners'
Cup: Runner-up 1966
Football League
Cup: Runner-up 1978
Division 3
(Level 3): Third place (promoted) 1979
Awards
FWA Footballer of the Year: 1974
MBE: 1974
A grand total of 968 games and 70 goals spread over three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Ian Callaghan holds the distinction as the only Liverpool player whose career at Anfield spanned that of Bill Shankly. "I was only a kid when he came and I can't say I knew much about him. He made an immediate impression at the club though and the best advice he gave me was to say 'You get out of the game what you put in'.
Born & raised in Toxteth,Ian Callaghan, a Liverpool Supporter as a youngster joined the Reds as an apprentice on the 28 March 1960, he made his debut that April against Britol Rovers at Anfield.In a remarkable twist of fate, the seventeen year old Callaghan was destined to take the place of his Boyhood Idol the Legendary Billy Liddel.Once he established himself during the promotion push in 1960-61, 'Cally" clung onto his place with both hands.
(Below the Reds win the 2nd Division Championship in 1961)
One of Ian Callaghan's proudest achievements arrived in 1966, when he was named, alongside Liverpool team mates Roger Hunt and Gerry Byrne, in Alf Ramsey's England World Cup twenty-two(3rd from right back row) ."Cally" actually played in the final group match against France, helping England to a 2-0 win at Wembley.
The winning of the World Cup capped a magnificent three years for Ian Callaghan. Shankly's Liverpool had captured the league title in '64, the F.A. Cup for the first time ever in '65 and taken the league title again in the spring of '66.
The disappointment of losing to Arsenal in the F.A Cup Final in 1971 was forgotten with the annihilation of Newcastle in the Cup Final 3 years later, in a season when , Ian Callaghan would be named the Football Writers Footballer of the Year (picture above) and also be honoured by being awarded the MBE
Magical European nights became the norm at Anfield, as first Shankly, then Bob Paisley and then Joe Fagan led Liverpool to the heights of club success at home and abroad.Inter Milan at Anfield & St Eienne in 1977 are two nights never too be forgotten & finally "Cally" completed his journey which had started 13 years earlier on a cold night in Rekyavik, with still Liverpool's arguably Greatest night..The 'Glory that was Rome in 1977.(picture above)
At the end of the 1977-78 season, Callaghan set his sights further afield. After a magnificent Anfield career, the writing was on the wall as far as his first team opportunities were concerned. "Bob Paisley had bought Graeme Souness and he told me that he wanted to use me to bring the kids on in the reserves. I still felt I had more to offer than that so I went off on loan to Fort Lauderdale in the U.S.A. I was out there for about five months because we got to the semi final of the play offs. Banksie was in goal and after I arrived George Best joined us too. I roomed with George and it was another great privilege to spend time with him out there when he was still relatively young. Then I got a call from John Toshack who was at Swansea."
Callaghan joined up with old pals Tommy Smith and John Toshack at the Vetch and played his part in another equally spectacular meteoric rise. Swansea went from the old Division Four to Division one in Five seasons. "I was there for eighteen months and was part of the side that went from Division Three to Division Two." A further six months at Crewe under Arffon Griffiths was brought to an end after Callaghan suffered an achilles problem. He finally hung up his boots in 1981.
Ian Callaghan sums it up perfectly himself "Liverpool wouldn't be the club it is today without Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley and the players who played there. When I first went there it was a typical Second Division ground and look at it now ! I feel proud that I was part of it all. To be in the promotion side of '61-'62 then to go on and win the European Cup in 1977 has been a marvellous experience. In my opinion I've played for the best club ever.
Suffice to leave the final words to Bill Shankly himself...
"Ian Callaghan is everything good that a man can be. No praise is too high for him. Words cannot do justice to the amount he has contributed to the game.
Ian Callaghan will go down as one of the game's truly great players."Now that Shankly bloke wasn't a bad judge of a player was he ?
