🕯️ EOTK Insider: A tribute to Alex South; a remarkable man with a special Kop moment
Alex South is not the most well-known Liverpool player but he's one of the final members of the 1950's side that languished in the Second Division and his Anfield story had moments enviable by any fan
“I suppose a lot of players when it comes to the end of their days, they look back at what they should have done, I suppose it's just life really. Certainly, in football you look at what could have been and should have been if you acted a bit more sensibly, it's always too late by the time you realise.”
Alex South - 2020
The news that Alex South had passed away, aged 93, didn’t make headline news - such was his impact in ten career appearances for the Reds. However, as short as his story may be at Anfield, it’s still worth telling and especially when it’s for a man as charismatic and entertaining as the tall defender.
In these handful of appearances during a two-season stay on Merseyside, Liverpool were a Second Division side with little more than one man keeping any hopes of a bright future alive - Billy Liddell.
It was because of the man so good that this side was known as Liddellpool, that this story is even being told. During research for my book ‘Liddell at One Hundred: A Family Portrait of a Liverpool Icon’, there was a big effort made to speak with as many former Reds who had shared a pitch with the Scot, as possible.
This led to an interview in which the then 90-year-old ex-pro shared his stories of his time as a Liverpool player, in the era of Billy Liddell. Thanks to the family agreeing for these quotes to be shared, his comments can be fully broadcast for the first time:
“You'll have to bear with me, I'm 90 years-of-age and my mind is slowing down and I'm going scatty!”
I saw you played with Billy Liddell at Liverpool and I was just wondering if you had any memories of him?
“Yes, that's right. He was above me; he was lordly. He was lorded by everybody was Billy Liddell. I never got on with Billy as I was misbehaving a lot in those days, I was a bit of a prat, I'm still a bit of a prat now!
“I was going through a funny period at that time, I was only 22 when I was at Liverpool and Billy was the king of everyone, he was a magistrate, he sat on this and he sat on that. He was well behaved; he was too good to be true was Billy.
“A great player, a great, great player. I only had 10 first-team games at Liverpool but one of them was at left-half and Billy was always a left winger of course, so consequently I was directly linked with Billy up the left flank.
“On one occasion, the referee had accused me of something and he gave a free-kick and I threw the ball down the line. Billy ran after it, this was the sort he was, Billy ran all the way down 40 or 30 yards, picked the ball up, brought it all the way back and gave it to their player to take the free kick.
“They all booed me and cheered Billy, of course, because everybody loved him. He was too good to be true from my point of view but that was because I was misbehaving and he was leading the perfect life.
“We were poles apart but we played, as is often the case with football, the 11 characters that you play with are all mixed up, some are well behaved and some are prats, I was going through the prat period at that time! I have fond memories of Billy, he was such a good player, tremendous left foot.”
I saw you played with him a few times, you said you disagreed with him / didn't get on. Did you have any arguments or any words with each other?
“No, he just didn't talk to me. I was way below his level of intelligence according to Billy, I had very little to do [with him].
“When we were playing, most of the games I played, I played a couple at centre-half but eight of them were at left-half behind Billy, so I was directly contacting with him. I was up and down the left flank all the time, so we had no choice but to be together at that time but if he'd have had his way, I would have been 10 miles away!
“He was a very, very good player, I admired him, I never let him know that, but you couldn't help but admire Billy because he was such a good player. Tremendous left foot, ooh he couldn't half hit a ball with that left foot of his!”
You said you were below his intelligence; did he ever say that to you?
“No, not necessarily no. I have a teaching certificate, I don't think he has!”
You played with him a few times, was there other any on field memories?
“I remember, I went up for a corner, Billy took the corner and it landed between me and a defender. He claimed he clipped it but I came above him, I came running in from behind and he was already standing there.
“I sort of timed my run, a 12-yard run from centre-half, and I got there just perfectly and it just smashed off my forehead and it hit the crossbar and, it had been raining that day and, I don't know if you've ever seen this happen in football but it hit the underside of the crossbar, my header, and it zoomed all the way down the back of the net, down the nearside of the net.
“But it had been so pissing down with rain that I can see the rain now spraying into the crowd. In those days the Kop, which was the end I scored at, it used to hold 28,000 on the Kop alone.
“It was packed and they used to sway, you used to see the crowds and someone from the back would push and they would all sway down and sway back, do you remember those days?
“It's all seats now but in those days, they used to stand on the terraces behind the Kop, I think it was 28,000 they used to hold, out of the 40-odd thousand people in the ground and I can see that crowd now, swaying down towards me.”
Who were Billy's mates in the team?
“Nobody! Billy used to, he was no sooner off the training pitch than he was in his civvies and he was off to do his private work. He was a full-time pro, but he trained and then he was away, he was never hanging around doing useless things, he always had something worthwhile to do, he was too good to be true was Billy.
“He was right and I was wrong, he was on too much of a pedestal, he never did anything wrong which used to upset me! Not upset me but I used to think, ‘is he absolutely perfect this guy?’
“He was a magistrate as well, he sat in the courts and all sorts, he was very highly respected and rightly so because he was a great player and a good person, he was a tremendous person and he did nothing wrong.”
You played under Don Welsh, what was he like?
“He was a lovely man, very intelligent, big and strong. I liked Don Welsh, he was at Brighton when I was there and when he came to Liverpool, he came down for me! I was at Brighton with Don.
“He was big, powerful, a great personality and really alive all the time. Strong player, he was at Charlton Athletic, they were the club that he made his name with. Big, powerful centre-forward and a lovely man, I liked him.
“I somehow got the feeling that, once again, he originated from the Devon area, and in Liverpool you Scousers, you don't take too kindly to us Southerners because you look upon us as soft bastards! That was my opinion anyway, I used to think that was a trend that they had, I suppose you'd get some that felt that way and some that wouldn't, it takes all sorts to make a world.”
What type of manager was Don Welsh?
“He knew the game, he was so lively, bubbly, alive all the time, never a dull moment with Don Welsh. Full of life, vigour, vim he was very much alive and a very very good player. I rated him as a good manager as well.”
Why was he replaced with Phil Taylor?
“Phil was more of a local chap, but I don't think the crowd gave Don Welsh enough credit for what he did. But they were a Second Division side then, you know.”
Do you remember any of Don Welsh's team talks?
“Most team talks are much the same; ‘up and at them!’, ‘back each other up!’, the usual. One of the chaps who was best at team talks was Bob Paisley. I always found that he was a master of football.
“He was a very ordinary bloke, in fact he was a bit thick outside of football but as far as football goes, he had the mind of a professor, he was a really intelligent football man but as thick as ten planks without the football!
“I always remember when I signed, he met me at the station, he was second team trainer then. I was going to Liverpool to start in the second team and work my way up, hopefully, that was the boss's idea!
“He sent Bob Paisley down to meet me from the station, I hadn’t met him five minutes and he'd borrowed a tenner off me! A tenner was a lot of money in those days, 1954 or something like that, he used to give it me back every week and then on the Wednesday he used to borrow it again!
“We'd get paid on a Saturday morning, I think, and it was permanently in his possession, he always gave it me back, I gave up on him, I just thought that's a tenner gone! He always gave it back a few days later. He used to go round the bookies, he liked his bets and his racing, big horse man - lovely, lovely character. As far as football was concerned, he had the mind of a professor, but he was a bit on thick side outside of football, he was lost!”
Liddell was captain whilst you played, what was he like?
“He let everyone get on with it, I had very little to do with him because we were poles apart in terms of lifestyle. Me, Barry Wilkinson, and Roy Saunders, we would be at the dogs all the times, dog racing and birding and doing all untoward things!
“Whereas Billy had his own private life away from football, he was a magistrate, he sat on this jury and that jury. He was highly acclaimed, but a thoroughly decent man, whilst I never got on with him, I was behaving like a prat in those days and he was a pure gentleman, he was right, and I was wrong.
“But we didn't have a lot in common, so there's not really a lot I can tell you about him other than he was a really fine player and a gentleman. But he hardly ever spoke to me, he looked upon me as a piece of shit, I think!”
What were the fans like with him?
“They loved him, absolutely adored him. He was king there; he couldn't do wrong. Super player, if they ever picked an all-time Liverpool team, he would surely be in it.”
How would you sum up Billy Liddell?
“A gentleman, a scholar, and a fine football player. He was some player, was Billy. Once he got a run with the ball, by Christ he took some stopping! He was like an express train down that wing!
“I always felt he was more effective as a left-winger than a centre-forward. He was a household name and they adored him, and he couldn't do any wrong. He deserved to be praised because he was such a wonderful player.
“I have good fond memories of him, deep down I had a tremendous amount of respect for Billy, but I wouldn't let him see it because he was too good to be true. Whilst I was misbehaving, birding, and drinking! I was never a heavy drinker, but I used to drink more than I should do.
“I suppose a lot of players when it comes to the end of their days, they look back at what they should have done, I suppose it's just life really. Certainly, in football you look at what could have been and should have been if you acted a bit more sensibly, it's always too late by the time you realise.”
Although the subject matter was focused around people other than South, his personality certainly shone through. To listen to a man in his nineties reflect on a short-lived Liverpool career with a twinge of regret for how he carried himself during his time as a Red, is sobering, entertaining and inspirational.
It wasn’t as if the Brighton-born defender didn’t make an impact on Merseyside though, it was just that an unfortunate run of injuries meant that when he filled in for Laurie Hughes - he was soon also sidelined.
Such was the fitness concerns at the time though, South still managed to make six first-team league appearances between February and April of 1955 and was widely praised for his ability to play at centre-half and left-half. Such was the impact of Liddell too, that when the ‘soft southerner’ pulled a thigh muscle away to Fulham - the ‘too good to be true’ leader of the side would fill in defence to help the team (this being the days before substitutions).
South was more than just a tall defender with aerial talent though, his ability to carry the ball out from the back and join the attack was praised during one match against Luton Town. This skill that would see him excel in the modern era was reported in the Liverpool Echo: ‘South was always prepared to come up and help his forwards and his assistance was welcomed by Liverpool, if not by Luton.’
It was this match in which the self-titled ‘prat’ would go on to have his crowning moment as a Red. His only goal for the club, that was described so beautifully above, was not only a powerful header in front of the Kop but also an 85th-minute equaliser, in a dramatic 4-4 draw.
For a career so brief, South had a moment that would have no doubt caused an eruption inside Anfield that is only to be paralleled with few others. Especially considering that, with little over 10 minutes remaining, the scoreline was 4-2 to the visitors, who were also sat top of the division. In the same Liverpool Echo match report, the famous moment was described further:
‘Liverpool had faded right out of the picture, at least as an attacking force although [Bernard] Streten had to drop down smartly to keep a toe-ender by South from crossing the line.
‘A corner to Liverpool saw Liddell put in another and South, who had some up to help with his height, rose just above the clutching hands of Streten to equalise at the 85th minute. South was injured as a result of his action, but I don’t suppose he cared a tinker’s cuss about that, having scored such a vital goal.’
Alex South will probably not be remembered by many as a Liverpool great but when you consider the men he’s rubbed shoulders with, in Liddell and Paisley, add on a crucial goal at the Kop end in dramatic fashion too - he achieved more for the Reds than any of us could ever dream of.
It’s not the usual code for me to write in first-person but if I can add that Alex was quite comfortably one of the best interviews I’ve ever had the pleasure of conducting. I hope that his wit, intelligence and honesty comes across from an interview I consider myself so lucky to have conducted and, even if it’s from just one more person, the name Alex South should now be given the credit it deserves.
In what was a short but exciting spell as a Liverpool player, he lived our dreams and the world is a little bit worse off now that such a wonderful man is no longer a part of it.
Keep up to date with all the latest around Liverpool Football Club with Empire of the Kop!
Great memories ,
I remember it all