Former Liverpool player Willie Stevenson, who won two league titles and the club’s first-ever FA Cup, has died at the age of 85.
Stevenson was a key member of Bill Shankly‘s first great side that went to the top of the English game and put Liverpool properly on the map in Europe.
Originally from Edinburgh, Stevenson was born in 1939 and broke into the Rangers team just under 19 years later, providing a youthful energy to push them onto the league title in his first season.
He played a further three seasons in the Rangers first team, during which he won the Scottish Cup and reached the European Cup semi-finals – a feat he would also manage five years later with Liverpool.
His long-term future wasn’t to be in Glasgow, though, as Rangers brought in gifted Scotland international Jim Baxter for a Scottish record fee of £17,500.
After a loan, the Reds beat out competition from Shankly’s former club, Preston, to sign Stevenson for £20,000 in 1962.
Liverpool had just been promoted when he arrived but were struggling at the start of their first season back in the top flight.
Things eventually began to turn for Liverpool and they finished eighth. Stevenson’s impact as a creative left of the midfield wasn’t instant, but he adapted with time and was crucial to their title triumph the following campaign.
As a tireless worker, the Scotsman was excellent in what we would describe now as transition. Peter Thompson’s arrival meant Stevenson’s defensive abilities became more important as he provided cover for the tricky winger on the left.
By the 1964/65 season, fellow Scots Ian St John and Ron Yeats were pushing Liverpool towards in Europe, too.
Thanks to the goals from Roger Hunt and the flying right-winger, Ian Callaghan, the Reds reached the semi-finals and beat defending champions Internazionale 3-1 in a memorable first leg at home.
Having won the club’s first-ever FA Cup just three days earlier, supporters bounced into Anfield and were greeted with the trophy being paraded before kick-off.
Hunt, Callaghan and St John scored that night, with Stevenson doing a great job on the left. However, unfortunately like in 1960 against Frankfurt, he wouldn’t reach the final.
The Reds lost the second leg 3-0 at San Siro, with the referee widely believed to have been bribed to favour the home team.
Stevenson and Liverpool, though, started afresh the next year and won their second league title in three years but again came agonisingly close in Europe.
Hampden Park was the venue for the 1966 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final, with Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund the competing teams.
Shankly’s side lost 2-1 after extra time and Stevenson left disappointed.
“We should have won that game but on the night we were awful. All us Scots had all our families and friends there,” he said.
“I was so disappointed that in the shower room I picked up my medal and hurled it through the window. It must have fallen somewhere in the car park below.”
The next year would see Stevenson play another 51 times for Liverpool before the arrival of Emlyn Hughes signalled the Scot’s time on Merseyside was coming to an end.
He left for Stoke in December 1967 but not before going out on a high, scoring a decisive penalty late on against Wolves at Anfield.
After Stoke, Stevenson would go on to play for Hellenic on loan, Tranmere, Limerick Vancouver Whitecmps and Macclesfield Town, before retiring in 1975 to run a cleaning business.
He once said: “I’d just like to think I’d been a good player, I did my best for the club. I loved playing for the club.
“To win the Scottish Cup, the Scottish league and the FA Cup and the two league titles with Liverpool, that’s not bad achievements – I’ve been very fortunate.”
Rest in peace, Willie Stevenson.
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