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Chris Lawler


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The Silent Knight has a serious hip problem that needs medical intervention. According to the Echo, his family have launched an appeal to raise the 20 grand. Best wishes to Lawler and I hope sufficient funds are now available to him.

 

A former Liverpool player has offered to help foot the bill for Reds legend Chris Lawler to undergo a life-changing operation.

The family of the Anfield great started a fundraising appeal on Tuesday aimed at acquiring the £20,000 needed to pay for an urgently-needed hip replacement. Mere hours after being launched, the fund was already 20% towards target with supporters group Spirit of Shankly having donated £1,000.

 

And a former Liverpool player - who is choosing to remain unnamed - swiftly pledged a sizeable donation to ensure the remainder of the costs of surgery are met, with the fundraising subsequently suspended.

Liverpool have also contacted family members directly to see how they can support their former defender.

Lawler, who is now 77 and still lives on Merseyside, is struggling with his health due to an ongoing debilitating hip problem.

 

And with a waiting list of at least 12 months on the NHS, his family took the decision to open a fundraising page in an attempt to raise the £20,000 required to pay for the operation through private health care. "Over the years he’s had two hip replacements on the same leg," said Lawler's son, Leon. "His other hip is so bad now that he is unable to walk properly and is in constant pain.

"He struggles to get through every day life. Medication rarely works and I've genuinely seen him pass out through the pain.

"During the last year, since lockdown had come into effect, he’s had to self-isolate. This has meant he hasn’t been able to go out much and has affected his mental state like you wouldn’t believe.

 

"Some people may think, with him being an ex-professional footballer, that he may be loaded and pay for it himself. This is far from the case. "He hasn’t lived a privileged life like the modern day footballers. Football back then was in a total different world to what it is today. Liverpool-born Lawler spent 16 years at Anfield as a player and was a mainstay during the Bill Shankly era, winning two league titles, two FA Cups and the UEFA Cup before leaving in 1975. He later returned as reserve team coach in the 1980s.

 

The defender, who won four England caps, played 316 consecutive games for the Reds between 1965 and 1971 and ended up netting 61 goals in 549 games - none of which came from the penalty spot.

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From 65/66 season until 72/73 he missed just 3 league games (plus they were 42 game campaigns).  Just staggering by today's standards when a broken toenail can mean a month on the treatment table. Hope he's ok , always liked him 

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Great player and great man.

 

Probably the worst thing about that horrible night in Athens was Chris having his taken stolen from his hand on the concourse - ex player or not, that should never happen to such a lovely fella. 
 

after Stevie Nicol ( and maybe Robbo now), probably our greatest ever full back.

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Smashing player Chris Lawler and a fantastic servant to the club.

Stig's right, the club should be all over this, thankfully though the money has been raised.

It's a sad state of affairs when someone has to suffer like he is for so long, but hopefully not for much longer.

Get well soon Chris.

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Knowing FSG they'll say we can't afford to help a club legend and then after the backlash after someone else pays for the care he needs they will buy him a bunch of grapes, some flowers and pay for him to have a weekend at Butlins in Prestatyn.

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1 hour ago, JoeBuck01 said:

Great player and great man.

 

Probably the worst thing about that horrible night in Athens was Chris having his taken stolen from his hand on the concourse - ex player or not, that should never happen to such a lovely fella. 
 

after Stevie Nicol ( and maybe Robbo now), probably our greatest ever full back.

Didnt know that. Hope the twat who robbed it dies of aids.

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Spoke to my aunt before. He needs both a knee and a hip replacement. His hip grinds against his bone and he has problems walking. The pandemic has really hit him hard as he rarely got out apart from hobbling round Asda and attending the matches. He's on a waiting list which could take over 15 months.

 

He got injured at QPR in 1975 and never recovered as the surgery on his knee never replaced the cartilage so he's been in pain ever since then.

 

As the article says people probably think that as an ex footballer he would have some cash saved up. He doesn't live anywhere fancy like Heswall or Freshfield, after he finished playing he had to go into the insurance business and then took a coaching role. 

 

Kenny Dalglish sacked him after an argument in 1986. The club didn't even tell him so he only found out when he picked up the Daily Mirror the next morning. He went into business with someone who ripped him off. 

 

I saw him just before Christmas as I got a signed photo from Jupp Henckes for him from my mate in Germany who knows him. He seemed a bit fed up but the photo cheered him up. 

 

I've messaged my aunt and told her that everyone on here wishes him well. I've never known anyone to have a bad word to say about him, either as a person and a player. 

 

 

 

 

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The more you think about this makes the FA and the clubs seem wanting.

 

Players like Chris Lawler played at a time when they didn't receive the obscene amounts of money that players who are not fit to lace his boots receive now.

 

There are vast amounts of money in the game, so I don't see why there isn't some sort of benevolent fund for just this type of thing.

 

Chris played at a time when more games were played per season, there were tiny squads by today's standards, the pitches were nothing like the bowling green level pitches we have today, and the game was much harder with seriously bone crunching tackles flying in from all angles.

 

The wear and tear on their bodies and the pain that causes must be horrendous and in my view it's criminally negligent that when these players have stopped playing they are just left to it.

 

A legacy duty of care is the very least Chris and ex players like him deserve.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, sir roger said:

i did think we had an ex-players association , were they not involved with Ray Kennedy. I assume it is a funding issue.

I think there is and you're probably right about funding, but like I say, there is a lot of money in football and the FA have very deep pockets.

Pity they've got arms like Jordan Pickford.

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Scored 61 goals for us from his right back position, all from open play. Not one of them was a free kick or a pen. Quite an achievement.

Shanks once said to Tommy Smith: "It's not your knee, it's Liverpool's knee". Can we now say to the Ghost: "It's not your hip, it's Liverpool's hip" and chip in what he needs?

 

 

 

 

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Was once in the unique situation of being in a room where the two gentlest footballers of all time , Chris Lawler and Ian Callaghan , were both spitting feathers at the same time. 

 

At a mixed Sportsmans dinner with Cally , Lawler and Boersma for Liverpool and Joe Royle , John Bailey and Roger Kenyon for Everton. All pretty affable at first until Kenyon ( who came across as a prick ) started launching into Kevin Keegan saying he thought he was Billy Big Bollocks. Well it all went off with our three queuing up to say how nice Kevin was and Kenyon swearing away in the background. To be fair , Royle backed our lads up too.

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