I think that video was filmed a year or so ago, but I hope he's well. He was awful during 'The Frenchman's' era, but he's been a great servant to the club. (And that left hook of his - fabulous!)
Thanks, that was it! I knew there was a point when he was very vocal in his criticism of the club. I thought it was the Souness era, but yeah, it was under Houllier. I think it was Tommy Smith who didn't like Souness.
I remember seeing that footage of St John fighting years ago. It came as a bit of a shock, as my only image of him then was of him spending an hour every Saturday lunchtime laughing with Jimmy Greaves on ITV.
Was it some kind of loyalty to Evans? I mean, I can understand that, but if he had an issue then it should have been with the club rather than Houllier.
Did you feel sorry for Greavsie that time they were on the ferry and his hat blew off*?Tommy Smith, God rest him, didn't like anybody as far as I could tell. Mind you he wasn't the only one who didn't like Souness as Liverpool manager.
I was a "Saint and Greavsie" habitué as well. Ah, the memories.
Anyone remember Jimmy holding the punch bag for Tyson?
Was it a rigged draw?I don’t recall that, sadly.
I do however recall (probably only because I have been reminded of it in recent years) that Saint and Greavsie once had Donald Trump on as a guest to help do the draw for the Rumbelows/Littlewoods Cup!
Was it a rigged draw?
Thanks, that was it! I knew there was a point when he was very vocal in his criticism of the club. I thought it was the Souness era, but yeah, it was under Houllier. I think it was Tommy Smith who didn't like Souness.
I remember seeing that footage of St John fighting years ago. It came as a bit of a shock, as my only image of him then was of him spending an hour every Saturday lunchtime laughing with Jimmy Greaves on ITV.
It wasn't Souness that Tommy despised. It was Emlyn Hughes to whom he lost the captaincy.
I love that fight. Partly because the Fulham (?) guy falls down like in a cartoon, and partly because of the beauty of teamwork - I think it's Peter Thompson who thoughtfully holds the lad so St john can really get a clean hit:
Haha. I love that you can literally see the bottle go right past him, he's not remotely bothered and then there's a second where the penny finally drops - "oh, opportunity here".
I assume he didn't get away with it?
Off at a tangent, but about Tommy Smith: we were losing a Cup Winners' Cup game away, and one of the home fans threw a bottle on to the pitch. As far as I recall, it landed nowhere near Smith but, sensing an improbable chance to have the opponents banned for crowd trouble, he collapsed holding his head. It made Rivaldo's play-acting seem like something from the Method School.
Edit: Blimey, I found film of it - first time since then I've seen it. It happens 3.37 in:
When men were men! No play acting or faffing about back then like they do now!
Really surprised me that. And the fact that it was Tommy Smith, no less.
I was there!
My mate and I set off to hitch hike to London on the Friday afternoon but we were too lucky with our lifts, so that we arrived quite early on Friday evening. We tried sleeping in various places such as Kensington Gardens and Victoria Station, but it was impossible.
As you can see in the video Fulham's Mark Pearson pulled St. John down by his hair - yes he had hair then - and Saint floored him with a great punch. Even then, this was considered a serious offence and St. John was sent off. Liverpool lost.
After the game we were looking for a lift back to Liverpool. A football coach driver said two people had not turned up for the return journey, and he accepted a ten shilling note from each of us. Unfortunately, just as the coach was pulling off, the two latecomers arrived and claimed their seats. We spent the return trip standing up by the driver. Every so often I would fall asleep, but woke up as my legs were buckling under me.
I think this probably backs up the claim that play acting wasn't anywhere near as common back then. If it was then Smith probably wouldn't have done such a laughably poor job of it.