Geoff Twentyman

Geoff Twentyman
Personnel
Surname	Geoffrey Twentyman
birthday	January 19, 1930
place of birth	Brampton ,  England
date of death	February 16, 2004
Place of death	Southport ,  England
position	Middle runner , outer runner (left)
Juniors
Years	station
	Swift Rovers
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1947-1953	Carlisle United	149 0(2)
1953-1960	Liverpool FC	170 (18)
1960-1963	Ballymena United
1963-1964	Carlisle United	10 0(0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1960-1963	Ballymena United
1964-1965	Morecambe FC
1965	Hartlepools United
	Penrith FC
1 Only league games are given.

Geoffrey "Geoff" Twentyman (born January 19, 1930 in Brampton , † February 16, 2004 in Southport ) was an English football player and coach . After his active career at Carlisle United , Liverpool FC and Ballymena United, he was best known as a long-time scout in Liverpool between 1967 and 1986 under coaches Bill Shankly , Bob Paisley , Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish .

Athletic career

Carlisle United

Twentyman was born in Brampton , on the outskirts of the northern English city of Carlisle . There he stood out as a player in the Swift Rovers in the Carlisle and District League and moved in 1947 as a "part-time professional" to third division club Carlisle United . He made his debut at the age of 17 years and four months against AFC New Brighton (2-2) on May 26, 1947 and was the youngest player to date to have played in Carlisle's first team. Coach Ivor Broadis saw great potential in the two-footed talent, but initially carefully introduced Twentyman to professional football. In the second half of the 1948/49 season he developed into a regular player and made a name for himself as a physically robust footballer. In March 1949 Bill Shankly took over the coaching successor in Brunton Park and from then on used Twentyman as a middle runner . Together with Dennis Stokoe he formed a central axis in the defense network of Carlisle United, which conceded only 20 goals in 21 home games in the 1949/50 season and finished in a comparatively good ninth place.

When Twentyman then began his military service, he was threatened with frequent football breaks, but after Shankly's successful intervention at the War Office , he was released for 32 games. Shankly emphasized the urgency with the fact that Carlisle "could only win the third division championship in the 1950/51 season with Twentyman ". However, the team missed the common goal in third place in the final table and Shankly left Carlisle in the summer towards Grimsby Town . Twentyman also turned his back on the club for a good two years and in December 1953 he was hired by the first division club Liverpool (Shankly was still employed in Grimsby at the time). Twentyman's departure also had financial reasons, as a fire damage in the stadium had maneuvered Carlisle into financial difficulties and coach Fred Emery let him go for a transfer fee of 10,000 pounds.

Liverpool FC

Since the English international Laurie Hughes (and later Dick White ) had a regular place in the middle of the defense , Twentyman mostly had to act as a left wing runner . In addition, the ongoing 1953/54 season ended disappointingly with relegation as bottom of the table . The envisaged resurgence turned out to be problematic and after a midfield rank in the 1954/55 season , Twentyman with Liverpool only just missed the first division return in third place in the next two years. Although he had played regularly and scored ten goals, he made clear his dissatisfaction with the unpopular left runner position by threatening to leave in February 1957. In January 1959 the sporting development found a new low point when Twentyman and his men sensationally lost to the lower class club Worcester City in the FA Cup . Later in the year, coach Phil Taylor had to leave his seat. He was replaced by Shankly two weeks later in November 1959. Although Shankly Twentyman asked to stay in Liverpool, he had decided to make his way across the Irish Sea to take on the role of player-coach at Northern Irish club Ballymena United .

Career end

Under Twentyman's direction between 1960 and 1963, the Irish club was relatively successful, but without being able to win a championship. The now 33-year-old then returned to Carlisle. The club had just relegated to the fourth division and was aiming for direct promotion. The return to the third division finally succeeded, but on the way to the runner-up championship Twentyman had only marginally contributed to success with ten league appearances. The offer to continue working in the coaching staff of Carlisle United, he turned down. Instead, he got involved in the mid-1960s for Morecambe FC , Hartlepools United and Penrith FC . In Hartlepool he was replaced after only a short time by Brian Clough and Twentyman was then downright hostile to Clough. His old sponsor Shankly offered him a job as Liverpool FC chief scout in 1967; Twentyman accepted the offer and returned to the "Reds", who had now returned to the top English league.

Twentyman as a scout

Twentyman worked as a talent scout at Liverpool FC for almost two decades. Well-known players were initially John Toshack , Kevin Keegan , Terry McDermott , Joey Jones , Phil Neal , Alan Hansen , Gary Gillespie and Alan Kennedy . There were also a number of prominent discoveries ascribed to him that ended up with other clubs, such as Trevor Francis , Andy Gray and Martin Buchan . Later in his Liverpool time, Ian Rush , Steve Nicol , Bruce Grobbelaar and Jim Magilton followed . Between 1967 and 1986 Liverpool won nine English championships, six cup editions and six major European trophies. In addition to Shankly, Twentyman worked under Bob Paisley , Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish during this time . The end of his era was heralded in 1985 by the Heysel disaster . The European Cup suspension hit the English club hard. In addition, the city rivals Everton FC had become a stubborn title competitor and although Liverpool had won the "double" from the English championship and FA Cup in 1986 , Twentyman's time (as well as that of Chris Lawler in the coaching staff) ended after the end of the season. According to Norman Clarke, a close confidante of Twentyman's game observation, one of the deciding factors was the fact that the scouting had not recognized the talent of Everton's striker Gary Lineker for the time being.

Liverpool's ex-player Graeme Souness , who coached the Glasgow Rangers in Scotland from 1987 , took the opportunity and signed Twentyman. Together they guided players like Mark Walters , Trevor Steven , Terry Butcher and Mark Hateley to Ibrox Park . Twentyman stayed with the Rangers until 1991, when they decided to rely less on English players. Since his ancestral sighting area was in Scotland and in the north of England, Twentyman recognized the point of departure. The end with the Rangers marked Twentyman's final end in professional football and he said goodbye to retirement.

Twentyman's health deteriorated significantly in the last ten years of his life. He struggled to create a life beyond football and at the end of the 1990s he moved to a nursing home - now suffering from Alzheimer's disease . He died in mid-February 2004 at the age of 74.

Web links

• Liverpool FC profile
• Statistical data from the Post War English & Scottish Football League AZ Player's Database
• Profile on barryhugmansfootballers.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Players - Geoff Twentyman (LFCHistory.net)
2. ↑ Geoff Twentyman: Secret Diary of a Liverpool Scout (page 1) (LFCHistory.net)
3. ↑ Geoff Twentyman: Secret Diary of a Liverpool Scout (page 2) (LFCHistory.net)