This week we asked you again to share what you'd like us to write about and two of our users suggested the same topic:
💬 Colin Campbell: "Why not about Emlyn Hughes, a great footballer and captain or Bob Paisley, the most successful manager in England, who won 3 European cups?"
💬 Ian Smith: "Why is Emlyn Hughes not talked about? He was a great captain. At least he's part of Bob Paisley's statue. But I don't think he's been given enough attention."
Speaking about Bob Paisley, you can read a piece on his pre-Liverpool days here and for sure, we'll have more on Bob in future. Meanwhile, indeed, Emlyn Hughes deserves all possible recognition, so let's get back to the 1960s and 1970s when the Reds had Crazy Horse galloping all over the field!
- 'Don't you know who I've got in this car?'
Emlyn Hughes joined Bill Shankly's Liverpool from Blackpool in February 1967. The transfer fee was £65,000 and even if you convert it into the modern-day equivalent it will be funny money, just £1.189m! These days, clubs pay more for teenagers who are yet to taste first-team football.
He was only 19 years old and it's safe to say not many people were aware of his talent and quality. But Bill Shankly was a special manager and he knew e had signed a special player.
Shankly was driving Hughes in his car to Liverpool when a police officer stopped him. "Don't you know who I've got in this car? The captain of England!" Bill said. The policeman looked at Bill and admitted he couldn't recognise him. "No, but you will!" Shankly replied.
"You couldn't not sign for him," Emlyn recalled later. "He believed so much in what he did. The big fallacy about Shanks was that he was a great coach. He wasn't, but he was a great manager. He knew how to motivate.
"He would buy players who were already set in their ways. How could you coach Kevin Keegan, or Peter Thompson or Ian St. John? What we were coached in was control and passing."
Their relationship was indeed special. One day, when Shankly already left Liverpool, Hughes was inch-close to hearing what could potentially have been the biggest revelation of Shank's life.
"One day he asked me if I wanted a drink, and I said 'yes please I'll have a cup of tea'," Hughes recalled. "'No' he said, 'I mean a proper drink. I want to tell you the real reason why I left Liverpool.'
"I said 'no boss you don't have to, I don't want to know', but he insisted. He asked Ness to go and get us a couple of whiskies and we retired to the front room of his house.
"Ness brought the drinks through and just as we settled down the doorbell rang. It was his daughter with the two grandkids and that was that. The moment had gone. He never did tell me and I never ever asked."
- From challengers to winners
The young footballer became a part of the team which was undergoing huge transformation, initially playing as a midfielder. Bill Shankly was busy replacing the decorated old guard of the mid-sixties and Hughes attracted him with his dynamism, work rate, versatility and leadership skills which were already obvious.
The Reds remained trophyless between 1966 and 1973 but at the end of the 1972/73 season they won the League Championship and UEFA Cup.
That season was a turning point for Hughes who inherited the armband from Tommy Smith at the end of the campaign. He led the Reds to the FA Cup final win against Newcastle in May 1974, Shankly's final season in charge.
From there, the only way was up. Bob Paisley took over and the future held three First Division titles and two European Cups for Hughes.
- Why Crazy Horse?
Footballers' nicknames are mostly quite boring since they are often based on their names. Emlyn Hughes got a nickname Crazy Horse and wore it proudly and for a reason.
Hughes' father, Fred, was a rugby league footballer and Emlyn practised that 'rugby' approach in his defensive game. In his debut season, he tackled Newcastle winger Albert Bennett. The way he did it would earn him much praise from any rugby coach. However, the tackle was illegal according to the football rules. Still, Emlyn benefited from it: he got his unique nickname after that.
Crazy Horse was the nickname he enjoyed throughout his entire career but honestly, sometimes he looked more like a wild rhinoceros, scaring the opposition to death.
- From football star to media celebrity
After 665 games in a Liverpool shirt and 13 years at Anfield, Emlyn left the Reds for the Wolves in 1979. Spells at Rotherham United, Hull City, Mansfield Town and Swansea City followed but finally, in 1984, he called it a day.
He quickly turned into a media figure, featuring frequently on BBC's quiz show A Question of Sport. A tough guy on the pitch, he was really nice and funny on TV and his Princess Anne moment still is one of the most hilarious things which have happened on British television.
"Is it John Reid?" asked Emlyn when shown a photo of a jockey covered in mud. Bad, bad mistake, as it was none other than Princess Anne. Hughes' reaction was priceless: "Don't put that out. They'll hang me." However, they did put out, moreover, in two weeks, HRH Princess Anne became Hughes' teammate on the show.
On February 5, 1987, around 19 million viewers watched how Princess Anne was trolling Emlyn (not sure the word existed back then but that's exactly what she was doing) while Hughes was constantly trying to hug the royal teammate. And his boy-like laughter seemed to never stop.
- Last days
20 years after his retirement, Emlyn Hughes was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He died in his home in Sheffield on November 9, 2004 at the age of 57.
Legendary Reds' goalkeeper and former teammate, Ray Clemence said on that day: "It's a very sad day. One of the greats of a great Liverpool side is no longer with us."
"He was just such a lovely and enthusiastic bloke," remembered an opponent on A Question of Sport, Bill Beaumont. "He liked the dressing room humour, that mickey-taking, and he was trying to laugh at himself as well."
It's impossible to forget Emlyn, a lovely lad off the pitch and a ruthless figure on it.
