Profile

Promising wing-half starlet Alec Lindsay was signed by Liverpool from his home-town club Bury in March 1969 when he was 21-years-old.

Bill Shankly gave him his first-team debut in a 10-0 Fairs Cup thrashing of Dundalk in September that year but he didn't taste any First Division action until the middle of October, when he came off the bench to strike an equaliser against Ipswich Town at Portman Road.

But that was one of just six First Division matches he figured in that debut season. Lindsay was frustrated with life at Liverpool and handed in a transfer request which was accepted.

However, the Reds gave him a chance in the left-back role against Newcastle in his first full season and he made the position his own.

The left-back slot was a 'problem position' for the club at that time; no fewer than four men - Ian Ross, Roy Evans, Ron Yeats and Lindsay - played there at different stages of the 1970-71 season.

But by the end of the year it was Alec who had got the vote and he was picked for the 1971 FA Cup final against Arsenal.

Always capable of chipping in with a couple of goals himself and possessing a powerful left foot, he only missed four League matches the following season and just five in 1972-73, when he was an important part of the team which won the League Championship and UEFA Cup.

His strong left-foot brought him five goals that season and he also took over from Kevin Keegan as the club's penalty-taker a year later.

That was also the season when he wiped out the disappointment of the cup final defeat to Arsenal in 1971 by being a member of the side that outplayed Newcastle United at Wembley. With the score still locked at 0-0, his strong run and thunderous shot into McFaul's net was harshly deemed to be offside.

Alec lost his place to Phil Neal, Bob Paisley's first signing, mid-way through the 1974-75 season but remained at Anfield until August 1977 when he was transferred to Stoke City.

He always enjoyed his football and received four international caps, a run which allegedly began when Joe Mercer was caretaker England manager and whilst deliberating on his squad for a forthcoming European summer tour said to one of his colleagues: "Let's have that Lindsay from Liverpool. He's always smiling!"

After finishing his playing days in the Potteries, Alec returned to the North-West and became a publican in Leigh.

Other clubs:
Bury, Stoke, Oakland Stompers (USA), Toronto Blizzard (CAN), Newton (amateur)