Players - Eddie Spicer

Eddie Spicer
Birthdate: 20 September 1922
Birthplace: Garston, Liverpool, England
Date of death: 25 December 2004
Other clubs: None
Signed from: Local
Signed for LFC: Amateur 1937 Professional October 1939
Liverpool debut: 30.01.1946
Last appearance: 19.12.1953
Debut goal: 06.12.1947
Last goal: 27.03.1948
Contract expiry: 30.06.1954
Win ratio: 40.48% W:68 D:39 L:61
Wartime games/goals: 56 / 0
League games / goals: 158 / 2
Total games / goals: 168 / 2

Player Profile

Garston lad Spicer went to Heath Road school in Allerton where he excelled in football and cricket. He was the captain of the Liverpool Schoolboy side which won the English shield in 1936/37 and as he said himself: "I had youthful longings to make football my living, though I hardly dared hope ever to appear in Liverpool’s first team." He signed a professional contract with Liverpool in 1939 but World War II delayed his proper debut for the first team. He joined the Royal Marines and the lieutenant had many interesting experiences, of which the most memorable was an encounter with a German footballer, as he wrote in a letter to his mother in 1944. He told her how a German medical corps sergeant-major surrendered to him, shouting: 'Don’t shoot. I am a soccer international!' “He spoke perfect English and said that he was a professional footballer back in the Fatherland and had played against several English touring clubs,” wrote Spicer. "He mentioned many well-known English players including Callaghan of Aston Villa, against whom he said he had played in 1937, and with whom he corresponded for a time. We had quite an interesting chat while he was being patched up, and you would have thought we were the best of friends.”

Spicer's dream finally came true on the opening day of the first post-war season, 1946/47, although he had played in an FA Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers the previous January, when regional leagues were still in operation. Spicer was still only 23 and made ten appearances as Liverpool won the League Championship, as either left or right-half, but needed four more games to receive a winner's medal. In the following couple of seasons he mainly got a chance if either Phil Taylor or Bob Paisley were out injured. Spicer made his long-awaited breakthrough in the 1949/50 season when left-back Ray Lambert was switched to the right enabling him to take Bill Shepherd's place on the left. Spicer was a firm fixture in the team that contested the club's first Wembley cup final in 1950 and finished ninth in 1951.

Spicer's career took a tragic turn when he suffered a dreadful leg fracture in a pre-season game against Malmö in Stockholm on 16 May 1951 which caused him to miss the complete 1951/52 season. The tough-tackling Spicer, who was equally comfortable on the right side, fought back bravely from his injury and made 28 appearances in the following season. The 31-year-old was finally having a trouble-free run in the side in 1953/54 when he arrived at Old Trafford on 19 December 1953. Liverpool's new 'keeper, Dave Underwood, was making his debut. "We didn’t know anything about him [Underwood] and after about 20 minutes I can remember Roger Byrne, who was outside-left that day, going down the wing," Spicer said. "I went with Tommy Taylor. Roger hit this ball, hard and low across the penalty box and I went for the ball expecting our goalkeeper to come out and drop on it. That’s what our other goalkeepers would have done and that’s what I thought Underwood would do. Instead he just took a woof at it with his boot, missed the ball and hit me.” Bob Paisley, who was playing that day, recalled: “That mighty blow shattered Ted’s left leg. It disintegrated just the way a piece of dead wood does if you tread on it. In all he had 19 fractures and he was in and out of hospital for the next 12 months having it set and reset and it took more than 12 months to get over it and to start to walk again.” Suffice to say Spicer never played professional football again and was indeed lucky to walk properly. 

Spicer was granted a testimonial match on 19 September 1955 where a combined Liverpool/Everton team played a Lancashire XI which attracted 41,266 spectators where Spicer pocketed £4,500. Testimony indeed to the high esteem in which he was held by colleagues and supporters alike. Later Spicer became a football correspondent in Wales for the Liverpool Daily Post and ran a pub near Ruthin, in North Wales.

"One of the outstanding memory of my football life was the sight from the Queen Mary as we sailed into New York harbour for the American tour in 1946. That was something never to be forgotten," Spicer said in 1950.
Appearances per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 158 10 0 0 0 168
1945-1946 0 1 0 0 0 1
1946-1947 10 0 0 0 0 10
1947-1948 14 1 0 0 0 15
1948-1949 4 0 0 0 0 4
1949-1950 37 7 0 0 0 44
1950-1951 42 1 0 0 0 43
1951-1952 0 0 0 0 0 0
1952-1953 28 0 0 0 0 28
1953-1954 23 0 0 0 0 23
A more detailed look at the player's appearances
Apps Minutes Opponent
10 900 Wolves
10 900 Arsenal
9 810 Bolton Wanderers
8 720 Portsmouth
8 720 Aston Villa
8 720 Charlton Athletic
8 720 Newcastle United
7 630 Manchester United
7 630 Chelsea
7 630 Blackpool
7 630 Huddersfield Town
7 630 Middlesbrough
6 540 Manchester City
6 540 WBA
6 540 Burnley
5 450 Sheffield Wednesday
5 450 Tottenham
5 450 Preston North End
5 450 Derby
5 450 Stoke City
5 450 Sunderland
4 360 Sheffield United
4 360 Everton
4 360 Fulham
2 180 Birmingham City
2 180 Cardiff City
2 180 Blackburn Rovers
1 90 Nottingham Forest
1 90 Norwich City
1 90 Stockport County
1 90 Brentford
1 90 Exeter City
1 90 Grimsby Town
Total Venue
83 Away
83 Home
2 Neutral
Total Competition
158 League
10 FA Cup
Total W D L Win % Manager
102 42 26 34 41.2% George Kay
59 22 11 26 37.3% Don Welsh
7 4 2 1 57.1% Caretaker Manager
Goals per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 2 0 0 0 0 2
1945-1946 0 0 0 0 0 0
1946-1947 0 0 0 0 0 0
1947-1948 2 0 0 0 0 2
1948-1949 0 0 0 0 0 0
1949-1950 0 0 0 0 0 0
1950-1951 0 0 0 0 0 0
1951-1952 0 0 0 0 0 0
1952-1953 0 0 0 0 0 0
1953-1954 0 0 0 0 0 0
A more detailed look at the player's goalscoring
Total Opponent
1 Aston Villa
1 Grimsby Town
Total Competition
2 League
Total Goal minute period
1 1-15 minutes
1 16-30 minutes
Total Goal origin
2 Open play
Wartime Appearances / Goals
Season Appearances Goals
1939-1940 1 0
1940-1941 31 0
1941-1942 10 0
1942-1943 2 0
1944-1945 1 0
1945-1946 11 0
Milestone Appearances
# Date Against Stadium Competition
1 30.01.1946 Bolton Wanderers Anfield FA Cup
50 31.12.1949 Arsenal Anfield League
100 13.01.1951 Derby Baseball Ground League
150 02.09.1953 Newcastle United St James' Park League
Milestone Goals
# Minute Date Against Stadium Competition
1 3 06.12.1947 Aston Villa Anfield League
Related Articles
Reliable Liverpool full-back invalided out of football at the peak of his powers

Eddie Spicer obituary from 6 January 2005.

Liverpool's player career ended with 19 leg fractures against Man Utd

Eddie Spicer suffered the worst of luck regarding injuries. The second leg break of his career retired him.

Related Quotes

"As the captain of the Liverpool Schoolboy side which won the English shield in 1936-37, I had youthful longings to make football my living, though I hardly dared hope ever to appear in Liverpool’s first team. Still less did I visualise the day would come when I would tour America with the Anfield club. One of the outstanding memory of my football life was the sight from the Queen Mary as we sailed into New York harbour for the American tour in 1946. That was something never to be forgotten."

Eddie Spicer in 1950

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