Every team had their enforcer/thug. He was Liverpool's. RIP
Was it Tommy Smith who was on disability benefit, took a penalty in a charity game at Anfield and lost his benefit when someone reported him to the DHSS?
Every team had their enforcer/thug. He was Liverpool's. RIP
Was it Tommy Smith who was on disability benefit, took a penalty in a charity game at Anfield and lost his benefit when someone reported him to the DHSS?
Yes Henners, here you go from wiki;
Smith had his benefit payments stopped for a short time after he managed to take a penalty on the Wembley pitch at half-time during the 1996 FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Manchester United; he stated that "I couldn't believe they would do that, I was getting money for charity. I only kicked the ball once."
RIP. In the modern game he would of held world records for bookings, sending offs, bans for crippling, referee retirements... the lot!
Agreed, Vinny Jones was a pussy cat by comparison.
Smith used psychological ploys to threaten and intimidate opposition players.That said, he certainly had the respect of his peers, with fellow "hard man" Jack Charlton once saying "Tommy Smith was easily the hardest player I faced. I ran into him once and he knocked every ounce of breath out of me. I tried to get up and look like he hadn't hurt me, but he had." Source Wiki.
RIP tommy, was only talking about him this week with a guy who is an electrician who did some private work for Graeme Souness when he lived nr Winchester. Souness told him that Tommy Smith hated him and they never got on.
Hard man, and wasn't he crippled n later life due to all the injections he had in his near to get him through matches.
The real Len Glover accidentally nobbled Tommy once when he was playing for Leicester against Liverpool and, by his own admission, spent the rest of the match absolutely bricking it!
Ahh...that's sad news. Proper old school footballer but was also a very good player too. You didn't get in the Liverpool team of the 70's without being able to play as well put it about a bit.
The thing about the hard players of the 60s and 70s is although they wouldn’t get away with it in ‘the modern game’, neither would those cnts that that dive and play act in todays game and get away with it because they would get the shit kicked out of them.
My earliest memory of watching football on television was the 1965 FA Cup Final, Tommy Smith against Billy Bremner! No question who was the hardest of the two but whereas Bremner was a dirty player (probably the dirtiest I've ever seen), Smith was just granite.
A controversial character on and off the pitch, but today I'll reflect on him as a footballer.
Comments
Was it Tommy Smith who was on disability benefit, took a penalty in a charity game at Anfield and lost his benefit when someone reported him to the DHSS?
Smith had his benefit payments stopped for a short time after he managed to take a penalty on the Wembley pitch at half-time during the 1996 FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Manchester United; he stated that "I couldn't believe they would do that, I was getting money for charity. I only kicked the ball once."
RIP Tommy.
Smith used psychological ploys to threaten and intimidate opposition players.That said, he certainly had the respect of his peers, with fellow "hard man" Jack Charlton once saying "Tommy Smith was easily the hardest player I faced. I ran into him once and he knocked every ounce of breath out of me. I tried to get up and look like he hadn't hurt me, but he had." Source Wiki.
RIP tommy, was only talking about him this week with a guy who is an electrician who did some private work for Graeme Souness when he lived nr Winchester. Souness told him that Tommy Smith hated him and they never got on.
Hard man, and wasn't he crippled n later life due to all the injections he had in his near to get him through matches.
I visualise him playing in the European Cup Final for Liverpool.
Hard as nails, but not really dirty like Chopper Harris.
UEFA Cup Final 1976.
Tommy Smith at 2.40.
Look at The Kop.
European Cup Final 1977.
Smith no 4.
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/who-would-want-leicester-city-2698540
RIP Tommy.