Ian St John, the former Liverpool striker who helped lead the club to glory under Bill Shankly, has died aged 82.
St John, known as ‘The Saint’, announced he was battling cancer in 2014 and had surgery to remove remove his bladder and prostate gland.
The Scot’s 21 league goals were crucial to Liverpool winning their first title under Shankly in 1963-64 and he scored the winner against Leeds United in the 1965 FA Cup final, Liverpool’s first success in the competition. He won 21 caps for Scotland, scoring nine goals at senior level.
After his playing days were over, St John became a household name as one half of football television programme Saint and Greavsie alongside fellow centre forward Jimmy Greaves. The show ran on ITV from 1985 to 1992.
St John began his career at Scottish club Motherwell where he caught the eye of Shankly during his time as Huddersfield Town manager. He signed for Liverpool for a then club record £37,500 in May 1961, scoring a hat-trick on his Liverpool debut against Everton in a 4-3 loss in the Liverpool Senior Cup final at Goodison Park.
St John became at integral part of Shankly’s side who rose from the second division to the summit of English football in a special epoch for the city of Liverpool, laying the foundations for the decades of sustained success that followed. In 1966, Liverpool reached their first European Cup final but lost to Borussia Dortmund at Hampden Park.
His relationship with Shankly was bittersweet however, with Shankly’s decision to drop St John unceremoniously before a game at Newcastle in 1969 causing lasting rancour. Writing in his autobiography, St John said of his old boss: “I’m torn between love and hate, admiration and, sometimes, let me be honest, at least a little anger and disillusionment.”
St John’s finished his playing career with spells at Coventry City and Tranmere Rovers after a short stay in South Africa, and managed Motherwell and Portsmouth between 1973 and 1977.
In a fan vote conducted by Liverpool’s website in 2006, St John came 21st in a list of the club’s 100 greatest players.
