Years: 1961/1971 | Appearances: 425 | Goals: 118
Trophies: Second Division (1961/62), First Division (1963/64, 1965/66), FA Cup (1965)
Ian St John defied his modest physical stature to leave an indelible mark on Liverpool Football Club’s history, emerging as one of the transformative figures who propelled the Reds from Second Division obscurity to the summit of English football.
Alongside Roger Hunt and Ron Yeats, the Scottish striker formed the backbone of Bill Shankly’s great revival in the 1960s. When Shankly learned that Motherwell were entertaining offers for St John in May 1961, the Liverpool manager made an immediate journey north to secure his signature and ensure Anfield would be the forward’s destination.
Shankly’s assessment of his new acquisition was characteristically emphatic. “Hard player, tough player, cute player,” he said. “The very beginning of Liverpool’s rise. Yeats at the back, St John at the front. They did more for the rise than anybody else.”
The prodigious goalscorer vindicated that judgement immediately, finding the net 18 times in league football during his debut campaign to help secure promotion back to the top flight. He increased that tally to 19 the following season before enhancing his output further with 21 league strikes in 1963/64 as Shankly’s first great Liverpool side captured the championship.
The goal that broke a curse
A slight dip in output across the 1964/65 campaign was rendered irrelevant by St John producing arguably the most significant goal in Liverpool’s history to that point. His stooping header against Leeds United at Wembley sealed a 2-1 victory in the 1965 FA Cup final, ending a frustrating wait for a trophy that many whispered the club was cursed never to claim.
“I’ve never headed a more important goal,” St John reflected. “That was the most important goal, we’d won the cup. The whole of your career after that, they can’t take it away from you.”
Yet his contribution extended far beyond goalscoring. St John possessed a creative instinct that benefited his teammates, while the intensity of his competitiveness and appetite for combat embodied everything Shankly demanded from his players. A second league championship followed in 1965/66, completing a remarkable transformation in the club’s fortunes over the preceding five years.
A legacy of service
By the end of his decade of outstanding service on Merseyside, St John had surpassed 400 appearances and 100 goals for Liverpool, joining an elite group of only eight men to have achieved both milestones.
“I just would like to be thought of as part of the evolution of the club,” he said. “Part of the resurgence of Liverpool under Bill Shankly. I believe I played my part in it, the way that all the boys in our team played their part in it. We were very fortunate to have a boss who took over the club and sent us off in that direction.
“I just want to be remembered as one of the guys who were very much part of that.”
