27
BACK STORY
27
Bill Shankly boys
Saturday 1 October 1966 and the league champions pause
for a pre-match photograph ahead of their meeting with
Aston Villa.
Such a posed squad picture – especially with the effort
of bringing out a school-style bench here – is rarely seen
outside of pre-season photoshoot days, but the change-
strip, and game about to go ahead behind them, tells the
campaign is in full swing!
On the back row left-to-right stand Geoff Strong, Tommy
Smith, Ron Yeats, Tommy Lawrence, Chris Lawler, Willie
Stevenson and sub Ted MacDougall. On the front row sit
Ian Callaghan, Roger Hunt, Ian St John, Bobby Graham and
Peter Thompson.
The match itself saw Liverpool run out 3-2 winners in
front of 24,909 at Villa Park. Two second-half goals in as
many minutes from Callaghan and Graham added to St
John’s first half effort to swing the game in the Reds’ favour.
Tony Hateley got both for the hosts, the centre-forward
who later became the club’s record signing when he joined
from Chelsea two seasons later.
Villa were one of St John’s favourite opponents – he
scored against them more often than any other side (six,
level with Chelsea) – and this was the Scottish forward’s
sixth successive season in which he hit double-figures for
goals. Season 1966/67 also saw him score for the 100th time
for the club.
Callaghan meanwhile found the net for the third time in
four games and was a couple of weeks shy of his 250th
appearance for LFC. He had a fair few to go!
The winning goal was Graham’s only one of that term,
the forward still a couple of seasons away from a more
prominent role in the side. Villa of course were also the
opponents when the striker enjoyed a league debut hat-trick
against them in September 1964.
The previous summer of course saw England become
World Champions with Callaghan, Hunt and Byrne in the
squad. Two league titles, an FA Cup and the Jules Rimet
was quite the haul for the lads in just three years.
Reds boss Bill Shankly, pictured above-left with his side’s
65/66 trophy haul on the day of the actual team photoshoot
for the coming campaign, was also at the tournament as a
TV (television, not the then-club president Williams) pundit,
with his accreditation pass also on the opposite page.
How many trophies will feature on the current squad’s
photo next season?R
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