Gordon Wallace (born 13 June 1944 in

Lanark Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...

) is a Scottish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, who played for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

during the 1960s.

Career

Wallace was raised in Wales after his father

Dougie The Dougie ( ) is a hip hop dance generally performed by moving one's body in a shimmy style and passing a hand through or near the hair on one's own head. The dance originated in Dallas, Texas, where it took its name from similar moves perfo ...

, also a footballer, transferred to Llanelli Town in 1949. Gordon attended school with future

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

star

Barry John Barry John (born 6 January 1945) is a former Welsh rugby union fly-half who played, during the amateur era of the sport, in the 1960s, and early 1970s. John began his rugby career as a schoolboy playing for his local team Cefneithin RFC befor ...

and had trials with

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

while

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winnin ...

was the Yorkshire club's manager. Shankly moved to

in late 1959, and soon brought in the teenage Wallace as an apprentice. During his spell at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

, his main claims to fame were netting the opening goal in the

1964 FA Charity Shield The 1964 FA Charity Shield was the 42nd FA Charity Shield, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's First Division and FA Cup competitions. The match was played on 15 August 1964 at Anfield, Liverpool and conte ...

, scoring twice in a match covered on the very first

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary L ...

" programme, and being Liverpool's first ever European Champions' Cup goalscorer (the first goal in an away tie against

KR Reykjavík KR is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and WMO country code for South Korea. KR or Kr may also refer to: Sports * KR (basketball club), associated with Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur * Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, an Icelandic football club * Kickoff r ...

), all occurring in August 1964. Despite such a promising start his first team opportunities were limited by the consistency, fitness and excellent disciplinary records of Liverpool's twin strike force,

Roger Hunt Roger Hunt (20 July 1938 – 27 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Eleven years with Liverpool, he was the club's record goalscorer with 286 goals until being overtaken by Ian Rush. Nonetheless, Hu ...

and

Ian St John John "Ian" St John (; 7 June 1938 – 1 March 2021) was a Scottish professional football player, coach and broadcaster. St John played as a forward for Liverpool throughout most of the 1960s. Signed by Bill Shankly in 1961, St John was a key mem ...

, respectively

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

internationals. Wallace played for Liverpool Reserves between 1965 and 1967. When

Tony Hateley Anthony Hateley (13 June 1941 – 1 February 2014) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward. He scored 249 goals from 499 appearances in the Football League, and played First Division football for Aston Villa, Chels ...

joined Liverpool in 1967, Wallace left on a free transfer, joining

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

. He shone at Crewe and was an important element of the team that won promotion to Division 3 in the 1967–68 season. His form the following season began to attract interest from higher league sides until a home game versus

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

on 28 September 1968, when a tackle from behind broke his leg. It took him 13 months to return to first team football, but he never managed to regain the form of old. He played his final game for Crewe away at

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

on 17 September 1972. Wallace scored 20 goals in 94 league appearances for Crewe.

Honours

;Liverpool * Charity Shield:

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

(Shared) ;Crewe Alexandra *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

fourth-place promotion: 1967–68

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Gordon 1944 births Living people Sportspeople from Lanark Sportspeople from Carmarthenshire Scottish footballers Association football inside forwards Liverpool F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players English Football League players Scottish people of South African descent Footballers from South Lanarkshire