1. Early career
    Motherwell  Liverpool  Coventry City and Tranmere Rovers  International career 

2. After playing

3. Career statistics
    International appearances  International goals 

4. Honours

5. Media

6. References

Ian St John (born 7 June 1938) is a former footballer who played for Scotland 21 times and for Liverpool throughout most of the 1960s as a stalwart member of the team that won several major championships and was runners-up for several more. He later became a manager and pundit. In 2008, he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

Early career

Motherwell

Ian St John began his career at boyhood favourites Motherwell, signing in 1957.^[2] He was managed by Bobby Ancell, and he was part of a group of talented young players that were nicknamed the "Ancell Babes".^[3] His debut was against Dumfries side Queen of the South in an away fixture at Palmerston Park. St John scored a hat-trick for Motherwell in two minutes and 30 seconds against Hibernian in 1959, one of the fastest recorded in Scottish football history.^[4] He left Motherwell in 1961, having scored 80 goals in 113 Scottish league appearances for the club.^[2]

Liverpool

On 2 May 1961 he was transferred to Liverpool for a transfer fee of £37,500,^[6] setting a new club record. He was brought to the club by manager Bill Shankly, who was preparing for the 1961–62 season with the club still in the Second Division.^[6] Many years later, after Shankly's retirement as manager, he described St John's arrival at the club – along with that of Ron Yeats during the same summer – as the "turning point" for the club as they began their transformation into one of Europe's top footballing sides.^[5]

Ian made his debut in a red shirt against Merseyside rivals Everton in the Liverpool Senior Cup.^[6] Although Liverpool lost 4–3, he announced his arrival in spectacular style by scoring all three of his side's goals.^[6] That first game served notice of the new boy's talent for goals, returning totals of 18, 19 and 21 goals in his first three seasons. His official debut came in a 2–0 league victory against Bristol Rovers at the Eastville Stadium on 19 August 1961, and his first official goals came 11 days later when he scored twice in a 4–1 win over Sunderland at Roker Park. His strike partner Roger Hunt got the other two goals, and the two would go on to strike up a productive partnership with St John the creative spark and Hunt the primary goalscorer.

Along with Ron Yeats, St John was brought in to turn around Liverpool's luck as they had been stuck in the Second Division for seven years, narrowly missing out on promotion in six of those seasons. The purchases paid dividends as Liverpool comfortably won the Second Division title by eight points over nearest challengers Leyton Orient.^[6] St John played 40 times that season and scored 18 goals.^[6] They finished in a respectable 8th place in their first season back in the top flight, 1962–63, and also reached the FA Cup semi-finals.^[6]

Liverpool then produced a surprise by winning the league championship in 1963–64, overturning a 17-point deficit to win the title by 4 points over Manchester United and five over reigning champions Everton, St John played a major role in the title success by scoring 21 goals, which was his highest total in a season for the club.^[6] His most important goal for Liverpool came a year later, a diving header past Leeds goalkeeper Gary Sprake in extra time of the 1965 FA Cup Final.^[6] This goal won the FA Cup for Liverpool, the first time in the club's history that it had won the trophy.^[6]

Another league championship followed in the 1965–66 season,^[6] as Liverpool finished six points clear of Leeds. St John chipped in with 10 goals from 41 outings. Liverpool also reached their first European final, as Borussia Dortmund beat them 2–1 in the 1966 European Cup Winners' Cup Final at Hampden Park.^[7]

Like the vast majority of Bill Shankly's first great team, St John was at his peak during the mid-1960s. He continued to play regularly during the later 1960s, mainly playing in a deeper position.^[6] As he entered his thirties his form and fitness began to dip, and he was eventually dropped from the team by Shankly.^[8] St John was a reserve team player in 1970–71,^[6] and he left Liverpool on 25 August 1971, after playing 424 games and scoring 118 goals for the club.

Coventry City and Tranmere Rovers

St John played for South African club Hellenic during the middle of 1971. After his return to England in August 1971, he was transferred to Coventry City.^[6] After a short spell with Tranmere Rovers, then managed by Ron Yeats, he retired from playing football in 1973.^[6]

International career

St John was selected to play for Scotland 21 times,^[9] making his debut in a 3–2 friendly victory against West Germany at Hampden Park on 6 May 1959.^[25][26] The first of his 9 international goals came a year later, again at Hampden, but this time in a 3–2 friendly defeat at the hands of Poland on 4 May 1960.^[25][26] He scored twice in a 1962 FIFA World Cup qualification playoff match against Czechoslovakia in November 1961, but Scotland lost 4–2 after extra time and did not qualify for the World Cup finals.^[29]

After playing

After retiring from playing, St John managed both his former club Motherwell (1973–1974) and Portsmouth (1974–1977).^[6] He also served as assistant manager at Sheffield Wednesday and Coventry City.^[10] As Motherwell manager, St John sold goalkeeper Keith MacRae and gave a debut to young forward Willie Pettigrew.^[32] Motherwell finished ninth in the 1973–74 season, his only term in charge.^[11]

After leaving Sheffield Wednesday in 1979, St John became a football pundit. He struck up a successful TV partnership with fellow ex-footballer Jimmy Greaves,^[6] with their Saint and Greavsie programme running for several years until 1992. He has also set up several football academies for the coaching of younger players called the Ian St John Soccer Camps. Often still seen at Anfield, St John is still a crowd favourite. Liverpool FC twice ran a fan poll of their favourite Liverpool players, "100 Players Who Shook The Kop"; St John finished 21st in 2006^[12] and 33rd in 2013.^[13]

In June 2014, St John announced that he had undergone surgery for bladder cancer in April of that year, removing his bladder and prostate gland.^[14]

Career statistics

International appearances

International goals

Honours

Liverpool

• Football League First Division (2): 1963–64, 1965–66^[6]
• Football League Second Division (1): 1961–62^[6]
• FA Cup (1): 1964–65^[6]
• FA Charity Shield (3): 1964, 1965, 1966

Personal

• Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductee: 2008^[18]

Media

• Signed for Granada Television in 1978
• Presenter of World of Sport for ITV in 1979
• Joined forces with Jimmy Greaves for the Saint and Greavsie football preview show 1984
• Appeared with Jimmy Greaves in "Saint and Greavsie's Trivia Challenge" computer game. Developed by Core Design, published by Grandslam Entertainment
• Hosted Sport In Question for Central Independent Television, part networked by ITV for several series in the mid-1990s.
• Pundit for 6 World Cups and 5 European Championships for ITV
• Co-presenter of The Saint and Beekie with Graham Beecroft on Talksport radio in the early 2000s.
• Writer of a column for the Sunday Post called 'Saint on Sunday'
• Contributes to Radio City 96.7 sport

References

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