Alec Lindsay (born 27 February 1948) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Bury, Liverpool and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Career

Born in Bury,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, England, Lindsay played 139 matches for Bury, helping the club gain promotion in 1967–68. Manager

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. Shankly brought su ...

signed him for Liverpool in March 1969 for £67,000. He made his debut against Irish side

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is hal ...

in the European Fairs Cup, on 16 September 1969. Liverpool won by an emphatic 10-0 scoreline, a record win until Liverpool thumped

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

side

Strømsgodset I.F. Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county), Norway, today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes ( Drammen). But sinc ...

11–0 in the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised ...

, on 17 September 1974. After an initial settling in period in which Lindsay played seven times, he was the selected as first choice left back during the 1970–71 season, which included the

1971 FA Cup Final In the finale to the 1970–71 FA Cup season, the 1971 FA Cup Final was contested by Arsenal and Liverpool at Wembley on 8 May 1971. Arsenal won 2–1 after extra time, with all three goals coming in the added half-hour. Steve Heighway opened ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. League champions and double hunting

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

lay in wait. After the allotted 90 minutes the scores were level 0–0; during extra time the Reds took the lead, the Gunners scored a scrappy equaliser and went on to win the game 2–1 thus completing the league and FA Cup double. Arsenal were victorious that day - Lindsay would be back for another go in 1974 - but first Liverpool won a double of their own in 1973, winning the League championship and

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

, against

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

in the final. He played in the

1974 FA Cup Final The 1974 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Liverpool and Newcastle United on Saturday, 4 May 1974 at Wembley Stadium, London. It was the final match of the 1973–74 FA Cup, the 93rd season of England's primary cup competit ...

against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

and despite him having a goal ruled out for offside, Lindsay got his winners medal as Liverpool beat the Magpies 3–0. This was to be the peak of Lindsay's Liverpool career. Shankly, the man who brought Lindsay to

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral ...

, decided to retire in the summer of 1974. Unfortunately, for Lindsay, new manager

Bob Paisley Robert Paisley OBE (23 January 1919 – 14 February 1996) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded, due to his achievements with the club, a ...

selected

Phil Neal Philip George Neal (born 20 February 1951) is an English retired footballer who played for Northampton Town, Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers as a full back. He is one of the most successful English players of all time, having won seven First ...

as his regular left-back the following season and even after Neal then moved to his favoured right back role, Lindsay was still rarely selected with Paisley preferring

Welshman Welshman or The Welshman may refer to: * any male Welsh person * ''The Welshman'', one of two named passenger railway trains * ''The Welshman'' (newspaper), defunct weekly (1832–1984) * Adam the Welshman (), bishop of St. Asaph * Welshman Ncube ...

Joey Jones Joseph Patrick Jones (born 4 March 1955) is a Welsh former international football full-back who most notably played for Liverpool, with whom he won two European Cups. Club career Wrexham Jones was born in Llandudno, and joined Wrexham in 1 ...

. He had already played four times for the England team, but was not selected for England again after falling out of favour at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

. Liverpool won two more League titles during the next three years but Lindsay did not play enough games on either occasion to collect a league title medal. He also missed out on the 1976 UEFA Cup success and the 1977 FA Cup final when Liverpool, in search of a "treble", lost narrowly to rivals

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. However, he was named as one of the five substitutes for the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

final in Rome three days later, when Liverpool beat

3–1. He left Anfield in the summer of 1977 and joined

. He made a good start to his Stoke career converting three penalties in his first five matches for the club under

George Eastham George Edward Eastham, OBE (born 23 September 1936) is an English former footballer. He is known for playing for Newcastle United, Arsenal and Stoke City, as well as a member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad. However, he is also notab ...

. However, with the expectation at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

to gain an instant return to the First Division Eastham was sacked in early January 1978 with the club languishing in mid-table. New manager

Alan Durban William Alan Durban (born 7 July 1941) is a Welsh former international footballer and manager, whose career was at its peak between the 1970s and 1990s. He played in the Football League for Cardiff City, Derby County and was player-manager ...

decided to play the younger Geoff Scott at left back and Lindsay was allowed to make a move to America. In 1978, Lindsay moved to the

Oakland Stompers The Oakland Stompers were a soccer team based out of Oakland, California that played the 1978 season in the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Stompers played in the Western Division of the American Conference and finished the year with ...

of the North American Soccer League (NASL). Following the 1978 season, the Stompers moved to

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

, Alberta, Canada and Lindsay moved to the

Toronto Blizzard Toronto Blizzard may refer to: * Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984), the original soccer club, a franchise of the North American Soccer League * Toronto Blizzard (1986–1993), the later club and franchise of the Canadian Soccer League * Toronto Azzurr ...

, also of the NASL. He played four times for Toronto Blizzard in 1979 before hanging up his boots at the age of 31.

International career

Alec was given his first cap, and subsequently all of his caps, by caretaker manager

Joe Mercer Joseph Mercer, OBE (9 August 1914 – 9 August 1990) was an English football player and manager. Mercer, who played as a defender for Everton and Arsenal in his footballing career, also went on to manage Aston Villa, Manchester City and En ...

on 22 May 1974, England were playing host, at Wembley, to a friendly with

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

, he was in good company as fellow Reds

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 and ...

and the England captain

Emlyn Hughes Emlyn Walter Hughes (28 August 1947 – 9 November 2004) was an English footballer. He started his career at Blackpool in 1964 before moving to Liverpool in 1967. He made 665 appearances for Liverpool and captained the side to three league ti ...

were in the starting line-up, the game was played in front of 68,000 people and ended in a 2–2 draw.

Post-retirement

Lindsay is placed at 85 in the 2006 poll

100 Players Who Shook The Kop Liverpool Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside, who currently play in the Premier League. They have played at their current home ground, Anfield, since their foundation in 1892. Live ...

. He is now retired and lives with his partner in Scotland. He remains an avid Liverpool supporter and was a contributor to the Hillsborough Family Support Group's (HFSG) "Project 96" in August 2009. After his retirement he became a

publican In antiquity, publicans (Greek τελώνης ''telōnēs'' (singular); Latin ''publicanus'' (singular); ''publicani'' (plural)) were public contractors, in whose official capacity they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the c ...

Career statistics

Club

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Charity Shield.

International

Source:

Honours

; Bury *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following th ...

runner-up: 1967–68 ; Liverpool *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First D ...

champions: 1972–73, 1975–76 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

winner:

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

* UEFA Cup winner:

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

* Charity Shield winner:

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phil ...

References

External links

Player profile at LFChistory

Thisisanfield.com Forgotten Heroes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsay, Alec 1948 births Living people Bury F.C. players England international footballers English expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Canada English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English footballers English people of Scottish descent Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate soccer players in the United States Association football defenders Liverpool F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Oakland Stompers players Footballers from Bury, Greater Manchester Stoke City F.C. players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players English Football League players UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Cup winning players FA Cup Final players