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Tommy Smith


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Very sad news. Always loved Tommy and he and Sir Roger were my first Liverpool heroes. A real hard man as everyone knows but he could also play a bit. 

 

My three abiding memories are seeing him clear out Sniffer Clarke early in a game (perfectly legal then but at least a yellow card now) and Sniffer didn't want to know after that ; the Newcastle final when he and the defence completely closed out Supermac who was supposed to be going to destroy us and he still had time to get upfield and create a goal; and that goal in Rome. 

 

RIP the Anfield Iron. 

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52 minutes ago, JohnnyH said:

Just can’t bring myself to express the usual sympathies.  He was an utterly horrible human being. Great player, but such an awful person that it just can’t be ignored. 

I was going to say that I've heard this from some people. I take it you met him then Johnny?

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Just in case people are wondering what I’m talking about or think I’m being a twat (again) see below. Also his comments about Emyln Hughes after he passed away were shithouse in the extreme. I just think the comments below are too extreme to be ignored though . They define the man. 

870AD405-D5CF-44E1-BED2-06D14498C43A.jpeg

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1 hour ago, JohnnyH said:

Just in case people are wondering what I’m talking about or think I’m being a twat (again) see below. Also his comments about Emyln Hughes after he passed away were shithouse in the extreme. I just think the comments below are too extreme to be ignored though . They define the man. 

870AD405-D5CF-44E1-BED2-06D14498C43A.jpeg

Fucking hell. That’s truly awful.

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4 hours ago, JohnnyH said:

Just in case people are wondering what I’m talking about or think I’m being a twat (again) see below. Also his comments about Emyln Hughes after he passed away were shithouse in the extreme. I just think the comments below are too extreme to be ignored though . They define the man. 

870AD405-D5CF-44E1-BED2-06D14498C43A.jpeg

I hadn't read that before but had heard from somebody I respect the opinion of that he wasn't a particular nice fella. That excerpt is truly awful though.

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1 hour ago, TheHowieLama said:

Well, he came from a very different time and place than we know now. That said he doesn't come across as a very enlightened representative for a club that had John Barnes in it less than a decade later. No excuses.

He did and judging what he said through our eyes today is unfair. That said even then most wouldn't have been so outspoken when talking about black people . Can't imagine Shanks would have been impressed. He was a great player for us but I can't say I ever held him in great affection to the same extent as Cally or Hughes. 

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Coming from one of the 'flower' streets off Stanley Road - Daisy Street or Pansy Street - Smith was a bit of an anamoly for that area, growing up to be a staunch Tory. Being the son of a docker makes it even harder to understand how his poliitics developed in the way they did. I know he lost his father at an early age and, being an only child, probably had to harden up without any familial back up and that self reliance may have given him the view that self advancement was the only way in life, taking no prisoners and showing little compassion for those less capable. It would certainly sum up his attitude on the pitch  and probably explains his attitude to life.

 

As a player he was outstanding and that is probably how we should all judge him. Yet his surly nature, even when dealing with fans, made it tough for people to warm to him. His dislike of Hughes seems to stem from the fact that they were actuially kndred spirits - Tories, self centered and ruthless - and maybe Smith didn't like what he failed to recognize in himself. Emlyn, apparently, was as phoney as a nine bob note; Jimmy Greaves once said that Hughes was 'proof that you can fool all of the people all of the time', but he said that when Hughes was at his peak. Smith saved a little bit of bile to spit out when Emlyn died. Sad stuff.

 

Yet Smith was a Liverpool great. A powerful defensive midfielder, becoming a masterful defender anywhere across the back line. The first Liverpool captain to lift a European trophy. He deserves every footballing tribute he receives and even those who merely come to bury Smith, not to praise him, shouldn't be as curmudgeonly as Tommy could be. If he was a bit of a mean bastard, so what? At least he was our mean bastard.

 

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1 hour ago, magicrat said:

He did and judging what he said through our eyes today is unfair. That said even then most wouldn't have been so outspoken when talking about black people . Can't imagine Shanks would have been impressed. He was a great player for us but I can't say I ever held him in great affection to the same extent as Cally or Hughes. 

He said them in 1988 when everyone else in Liverpool was supporting our best player, John Barnes. They were abhorrent views at the time too 

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