Roy Saunders (4 September 1930 – 29 January 2009) was a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played for

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

and Swansea Town. He was the father of footballer

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and se ...

Life and playing career

Born in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

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, Saunders began his career as an amateur with

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's ...

before moving to

when manager

George Kay George Kay (21 September 1891 – 18 April 1954) was an English football player and manager of Luton Town, Southampton and Liverpool. The highlight of his playing career was when he captained West Ham United in the first FA Cup final to be pla ...

signed him in May 1948. His debut, which did not come for almost five years, was against Gateshead in the third round of the

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 ...

on 10 January 1953. The match was one to forget, as Liverpool were humbled 1–0 in one of the biggest upsets in the team's history. Saunders's only goal came on 25 August 1956 in a 2–0 league win at

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gig ...

. It was the second goal as the Reds wrapped up both the points against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–1 ...

by the 17th minute. Saunders struggled to get into the starting lineup, appearing 15 times in 1953 and 20 times during the following campaign. It was not until Liverpool's relegation in 1954 that Saunders became a regular, when he was selected 32 times. That was the first year of a three-year run where he held on to the left-half spot in the first team. In 1956, Saunders was chosen 42 times, which ended up being his best season 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 ...

. He followed this up with 28 appearances. Saunders lost his place again in 1957 and did not get a run in the side until a cup match against

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

in January 1958. He started the next four matches but again was replaced. The 1958–59 season was even worse for Saunders, who was eventually allowed to leave just before the end of the season in March 1959. After just four outings, he joined South Wales club Swansea Town where he played almost 100 times. Before retiring, Saunders played for Welsh amateur club Ammanford Town. Saunders's connection with Liverpool did not end when he left for the Swans; his son,

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

, was also a professional footballer who played up front for the Reds during the 1990s. Dean Saunders also played for Swansea, now City, and became a

Welsh international The Welsh International is an international badminton championship held in Wales since 1928 and is thereby one of the oldest badminton tournaments in the world. The tournament was halted during World War II and until 1956, between 1960 and 1966 ...

Career details

*Liverpool F.C (1948–1959) - 146 appearances, 1 goal *England capped at youth level

External links

Player profile at LFChistory.net
South Wales Evening Post, 30 January 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Roy 1930 births 2009 deaths Liverpool F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Footballers from Salford English footballers Association football wing halves English Football League players