Gary Liddell

Gary Liddell
Personnel
birthday	August 27, 1954
place of birth	Bannockburn ,  Scotland
date of death	April 29, 2015
Place of death	Falkirk ,  Scotland
position	striker
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1971-1977	Leeds United	3 0(0)
1977-1981	Grimsby Town	105 (22)
1981-1982	Heart of Midlothian	24 0(4)
1982-1983	Doncaster Rovers	37 0(4)
1 Only league games are given.

Gary Liddell (born August 27, 1954 in Bannockburn , † April 29, 2015 in Falkirk ) was a Scottish football player . The striker , mostly used as a right winger , was in the extended squad of the successful Leeds United team at the beginning of the 1970s, but did not get beyond sporadic appearances. Other club stations were Grimsby Town , Heart of Midlothian and the Doncaster Rovers .

Athletic career

Leeds United (1971-1977)

Immediately after Liddell finished school, which, incidentally, was the same school Billy Bremner had attended, Liddell joined Leeds United . After completing his football training, he signed his first professional contract in September 1971. The young striker had to wait until the end of the 1972/73 season when he made his debut on the penultimate match day against Birmingham City for the first league appearance in the first team . The game, which ended in a 1: 2 defeat, had little sporting significance, as Leeds had already lost the battle for the English championship . In addition, the FA Cup final against AFC Sunderland took place five days later and therefore coach Don Revie decided to play with a better reserve team. When the "Whites" won the league title in the subsequent 1973/74 season , Liddell continued to contribute little to the team's success. Only in the 1-1 home game against Newcastle United on March 2, 1974 he was substituted on for Peter Lorimer as a right winger, but he did not qualify for an official medal. Instead, he played two games in the first three rounds of the UEFA Cup , started against Strømsgodset IF and scored his only goal in the second leg against Vitória Setúbal (3-1, after a 1-0 first leg win) after another substitution Leeds United.

The former Scottish youth international came under Revie's successor Brian Clough and later Jimmy Armfield not beyond the reserve existence and so the next appearance on April 1, 1975 against Sheffield United (1: 1) was the last. Again, Leeds United was heavily weakened, as a week later in the semi-final first leg of the European Cup of the national champions of FC Barcelona guest on Elland Road . It took just under two more years before he moved to third division Grimsby Town in March 1977 for a transfer fee of £ 15,000 .

Stations after Leeds (1977–1983)

Although Liddell could not avoid Grimsby's relegation to the fourth division in the remaining matches of the 1976/77 season, but at the new club he matured to become a regular. He scored eleven league goals in the 1977/78 season and returned to the third division the following year. Only a year later, the "Mariners" even rose to the second-rate Second Division , but injury problems - including a broken leg - ultimately cost him his regular place. A short time later he returned to his Scottish homeland and tried his hand at Heart of Midlothian from February 1981 .

The stay in Edinburgh was unsuccessful. Liddell fell short of expectations with two goals in 13 league games and the "Hearts" rose at the end of the season as bottom of the table in the Scottish second division. Shortly thereafter, he received clearance to change clubs, but it wasn't until March 1982 that an opportunity arose. Billy Bremner, who meanwhile worked as a coach at the English third division club Doncaster Rovers , hired his former teammate. By the end of the 1982/83 season Liddell completed 37 league games in Doncaster, was there 25 times in the starting line-up and scored four goals. These were the last known appearances on a larger stage before the end of Liddell's active career. His son Andy , born in 1973 , would later also make it into professional football; he played alongside the Scottish U-21 national team for Barnsley FC , Wigan Athletic , Sheffield United , Oldham Athletic and Rotherham United .

Web links

• Profile at ozwhitelufc.net.au
• Statistical data from the Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database
• Profile at Playerhistory.com ( Memento from February 13, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Gary Lidell - Obituary. Obituary notice in the Stirling Observer dated May 6, 2015 (accessed May 7, 2015).
2. ^ RIP Garry Liddell
3. ↑ Norrie Price: Gritty, Gallant, Glorious - A History and Complete Record of the Hearts 1946-1997 . Norrie Price, 1997, ISBN 978-0-9521426-3-8 , pp. 82 .