Liverpool-born inside-forward Alan Banks showed considerable promise at Anfield, scoring six goals in just eight first-team appearances, but had to leave his hometown club to establish himself in senior football. A former Rankin Boys Club player, he joined Liverpool as an amateur in August 1956 and caught the eye with ten goals for the reserves during March and April 1958. He signed professional forms on 5 May and made his first-team debut under Phil Taylor against Brighton at Anfield on 3 September 1958, just over a month before his twentieth birthday. Banks marked the occasion by scoring Liverpool’s third goal in a commanding 5–0 victory. However, with competition from established players such as Alan A’Court and Jimmy Harrower, he made only two further appearances that season, adding another goal.
Banks didn't feature in the first team during 1959/60, the season in which Bill Shankly succeeded Taylor, but continued to demonstrate his scoring ability in the reserves. He scored 21 reserve goals in 1960/61 and struck four times in five appearances for Shankly’s senior side that season. All four goals came during a productive spell in March: he scored after nine minutes in a 2–2 draw at Portsmouth on 4 March, then struck twice, in the nineteenth and fifty-second minutes, as Liverpool beat Huddersfield Town 3–1 at Anfield a week later. After drawing a blank in a defeat at Swansea, he scored his sixth and final Liverpool goal after 28 minutes of the 1–1 home draw with Plymouth Argyle on 24 March. His final appearance came at Stoke City on 3 May 1961, and he departed for Cambridge City that summer. All eight of his Liverpool appearances had come in the Second Division, with his six goals offering an impressive return despite his limited opportunities.
Moving into the Southern League gave Banks the regular football he needed. He scored more than 120 goals in just over two seasons for Cambridge, earning a return to the Football League with Exeter City in October 1963. His arrival helped transform Exeter’s fortunes: 18 goals in 28 league appearances contributed to their first promotion in 1963/64. Banks later picked out the 6–1 victory over Chesterfield in their final home match of that campaign, in which he scored twice, as his finest performance for the club. A broken leg against Port Vale in February 1965 interrupted his progress. The challenge came from John Nicholson, a former Liverpool teammate. Banks recovered to score 17 league goals in 1965/66, but Exeter’s relegation prompted a move to Second Division Plymouth Argyle in May 1966. His time at Home Park brought five goals in 19 league appearances, and he returned to Exeter in November 1967.
Banks remained capable of troubling distinguished opposition. He scored twice against Tottenham Hotspur in a 6–3 League Cup defeat at White Hart Lane in September 1968, then scored Exeter’s goal against reigning European champions Manchester United in a 3–1 FA Cup defeat in January 1969. His two Exeter spells ultimately produced 109 goals in 285 competitive appearances, including 101 goals in 258 league matches. After leaving Exeter in 1973, Banks played for Poole Town and Tiverton Town, but his association with the Grecians continued long after his playing career. He became involved in matchday hospitality and remained a familiar presence at St James’ Park. Voted Exeter’s all-time favourite player in a PFA survey published in December 2007, he was also inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame in 2014. Despite finding his greatest success elsewhere, Banks retained warm memories of Liverpool, naming Shankly as the best coach he had played under and Billy Liddell as a player he particularly admired.
