Oh, that is really sad to hear. Always came across as a great fella with a sense of humour to match. One of my favourite football personalities of all time.
So, sometime pre-95 by my recollection I was invited out on an evening all expenses covered jolly over in deepest, darkest Essex for an evening of iistening to well known sports stars, one of whom was ISJ. There was about 5 of them lined up from various sports and, as is the way of such events, the stories were great and getting a lot of laughs. Unfortunately, ISJ was number 5 on the agenda. By this time the whole room was well-oiled, laughing and having a great time looking forward to each speaker in turn with great expectations of more to come. However, I suspect he too may have been enjoying the evening as much as we all were, if not more so, because when he got to the microphone, what came out wasn’t that version of his voice that we were all so familiar with from his Saint and Greavsie days. What we heard was something that sounded like a rather thick, well-oiled Scottish accent that nobody in the room, certainly at least near where I was sitting, could understand a word of.
RIP. Saint featured in the first "proper" football match I attended that didn't involve Charlton: the 1965 Liverpool v Leeds cup final. He scored in extra time to give Liverpool their first FA Cup win. A top player.
RIP. Saint featured in the first "proper" football match I attended that didn't involve Charlton: the 1965 Liverpool v Leeds cup final. He scored in extra time to give Liverpool their first FA Cup win. A top player.
Dave the Scouser is touring the USA. Along the way, he stops off at a remote bar in the Nevada desert and chats to the bartender when he spots a Red Indian in full tribal dress seated in the corner of the bar.
"Blimey!" remarks Dave. "Who's he?"
"Gee, that's the memory man," replies the bartender. "He knows everything there is to know. Got a memory like an elephant, he can remember any fact. Heck, go and try him out!"
Dave heads over to the Red Indian, thinking that he can outsmart him with a question about English football.
He asks the memory man, "Who won the 1965 FA cup final?"
"Liverpool," came the instantaneous reply.
Dave was stunned. He tried again asking, "Who did they beat?"
"Leeds," replied the memory man.
Dave tried once more asking, "What was the final score?"
The wise Red Indian didn't hesitate in answering, "2-1."
Dave thinks he'll get smart, asking the memory man for the name of the winning goal scorer. Without so much as blinking, the Red Indian says, "Ian St John."
Dave is stunned and returns home to Liverpool, where he tells everyone about the Red Indian. Dave's curiosity lingers, and he vows to return to America and pay his respects to the Indian. Ten years later, Dave finally saved up enough money to return and, after weeks of searching the Nevada desert, once more he finds the Red Indian, now in a cave.
Humbled by the Red Indian, Dave steps forward, bows, and greets the brave in his traditional tongue.
"How," Dave says.
The memory man squints at him and replies, "A diving header in the six-yard box."
Got a trip to watch the recording of Saint & Greavsie as a wedding present from a good mate who was working for ITV at the time. Great fun though must admit the passage of time has faded the detailed memory of it somewhat!!
Really sad at this news. As a player Ian St John was before my time but absolutely loved watching him alongside Greavsie as a young un. In fact the only time I’ve been on TV was on their show. Torquay were playing at Scarborough on a Friday night and for some reason me and a mate went and decided to go in the away end with about thirty diehard Torquay fans who travelled up. The game was settled by a penalty to the Gulls in front of us and the highlight(s) was shown on Saint and Greavsie the following afternoon. My mate and me were on screen for about twelve seconds.
RIP....as others have said, Saint and Greavsie were hilarious.
Ditto. I’m just old enough to remember it. Remember Skinner & Baddiel used to do a good spoof of it on fantasy football. They seemed like they had a great laugh filming it and you just can’t imagine something like it ever being done with today’s generation of footballers in years to come.
Footballing wise, way before my time, but I know he was a top player
Comments
Always came across as a great fella with a sense of humour to match.
One of my favourite football personalities of all time.
RIP.......Ian.....RIP
Saint featured in the first "proper" football match I attended that didn't involve Charlton: the 1965 Liverpool v Leeds cup final. He scored in extra time to give Liverpool their first FA Cup win. A top player.
Another person who remembers him for the brilliant Saint and Greavsie and his other TV work, rather than his playing days
RIP ISJ.
RIP Ian.
Footballing wise, way before my time, but I know he was a top player
RIP