Kevin Lewis (soccer player, 1940)
| Kevin Lewis | ||
| Personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
| Surname | Kevin Lewis | |
| birthday | September 19, 1940 | |
| place of birth | Ellesmere Port , England | |
| position | Right winger | |
| Juniors | ||
| Years | station | |
| Sheffield United | ||
| Men's | ||
| Years | station | Games (goals) 1 |
| 1957-1960 | Sheffield United | 62 (23) |
| 1960-1963 | Liverpool FC | 72 (39) |
| 1963-1965 | Huddersfield Town | 45 (13) |
| 1965-1966 | Port Elisabeth City | |
| 1966-1967 | Wigan Athletic | 8 (3) |
| 1967-1968 | Port Elisabeth City | |
| 1 Only league games are given. | ||
Kevin Lewis (born September 19, 1940 in Ellesmere Port ) is a retired English football player . As a right winger , he was part of the Liverpool FC team at the beginning of the 1960s , which returned to the top English league in 1962. The great football career was denied to him and he emigrated to South Africa in 1965.
Athletic career
Lewis was born in Ellesmere Port , not far from Liverpool . His father Tommy Lewis was even footballers and had in Liverpool for Everton and for Blackpool played. His teammate and friend Joe Mercer was finally the discoverer of the son when he had drawn attention to himself in the school team. As the coach of the second division team Sheffield United at the time , Mercer Lewis initially took on an amateur basis and at the age of just 16 the newcomer ran into Sheffield's reserve team. As a right winger , he was a regular player after his promotion to the professional squad, especially in the two seasons 1958/59 and 1959/60. For his age, he already looked very robust, with a strong head and shot. Equipped with good speed and technique, the youth national player was considered one of the greatest talents in the second division and with nine goals as dangerous. Concerns about an operation as a result of a cartilage damage were discarded due to good performance after recovery, so that in June 1960 he moved to ambitious second division rivals Liverpool FC for a five-figure transfer fee . Liverpool coach Bill Shankly had been watching Lewis for a long time, starting from the time Mercer left Sheffield in December 1958.
In his debut season 1960/61 Lewis missed the promotion goal with Liverpool, but with 22 goals (19 of them in the second division) he developed into the club's top scorer. Then, in the summer of 1961, he was at the center of a controversy when he declared that he wanted to give up professional football to gain a foothold in the clothing industry. He had forged this plan with teammate Dave Hickson, who was eleven years his senior . While Hickson left the club, Shankly was able to convince the 20-year-old with the maximum salary at the time to stay. So this remained an important factor in the rise in 1962 and with his brace to 2-0 against Southampton FC he secured Liverpool the second division championship in April 1962. Back in the top English league, Lewis scored the first goal for Liverpool, but lost 2-1 to Blackpool. During this time, however, Lewis found it increasingly difficult to establish himself in the team. This was also due to Ian Callaghan , who had successfully ousted him in the right midfield in the year of promotion and Lewis was primarily a substitute for Ian St. John . In the 1962/63 season he made frequent moves to the left for the ailing Alan A'Court , but when Peter Thompson was signed on there in the summer of 1963 , Lewis' days at Liverpool were numbered.
Lewis moved to second division Huddersfield Town in August 1963 , before turning his back on English professional football at the age of just 24 and emigrating to South Africa in 1965. There he won the championship in 1967 before an ankle injury ended his active career in 1968. From November 1966 he also played some game for Wigan Athletic in the Cheshire County League .
title
- South African Champion (1): 1967
Web links
- Kevin Lewis in the barryhugmansfootballers.com database
- Statistical data from the Post War English & Scottish Football League AZ Player's Database
Individual evidence
- ↑ How winger Lewis eventually got the boot from Shanks (LFCHistory.net)
- ↑ Players - Kevin Lewis (LFCHistory.net)
- ↑ cf. Dean Hayes: The Latics: The Official History of Wigan Athletic FC Yore Publications, Harefield 1996, ISBN 978-1-874427-91-9 .
- ^ Two-goals debut for Kevin Lewis . In: Liverpool Echo , November 21, 1966, p. 15. (paid link)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lewis, Kevin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English soccer player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 19, 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ellesmere Port |