Player Profile

Lindsay was signed by Liverpool from his hometown club Bury in March 1969 when he was 21-years-old. Bill Shankly gave him his first-team debut in a 10-0 Fairs Cup thrashing of Dundalk in September that year but he didn't taste any first division action until the middle of October, when he came off the bench to strike an equaliser against Ipswich Town at Portman Road. But that was one of just six League matches he figured in that debut season being tried all over the forward line. Shankly was left questioning whether he had bought the right player. "'Listen son. I want you to take men on, go past them and lash in those shots that brought you the goals when you were playing at Gigg Lane,'' Shankly demanded. 'But that wasn't me boss. That was Jim Kerr,' protested Lindsay. 'Jesus Christ, Bob,' said Shankly to Paisley. 'We've signed the wrong bloody player.'" Lindsay was frustrated with life at Liverpool and handed in a transfer request which was accepted, but then his Reds' career changed unexpectedly for the better. Lindsay had been a half-back before arriving at Liverpool and Shankly moved the naturally right-footed player to left-back against Newcastle on 12 September 1970, having experimented with Ian Ross and Roy Evans earlier. Despite lacking pace this decision launched his Liverpool career. Shankly was happy: "The lad looked as if he had been playing at left-back all his life. He places passes up the touchline with tremendous accuracy."

Liverpool had moved Lindsay further back but he still put his attacking skills to good use. He was clever at overlapping the defence on the left flank. He always chipped in with a couple of goals himself, possessing a powerful left foot. He only missed four League matches the following season and just five in 1972/73, when he was an important part of the team that won the League Championship and the UEFA Cup. He took over from Kevin Keegan as the club's penalty-taker a year later. That was also the season when he wiped out the disappointment of the cup final defeat to Arsenal in 1971 by being a member of the side that outplayed Newcastle United at Wembley. In that game, with the score still locked at 0-0, his strong run and thunderous shot into Iam McFaul's net was harshly deemed to be offside, when television replays later showed that the ball had come to him not from Kevin Keegan but a Newcastle defender. Lindsay was naturally disappointed. "It was quite funny because Keegan and me were celebrating on the greyhound track and we turned round to see that the ref hadn’t given it. He called Kevin offside, Emlyn Hughes was rowing with him and we had to get back because the game had kicked off again."

Lindsay lost his place to Phil Neal, Bob Paisley's first signing, midway through the 1974/75 season but remained at Anfield until September 1977 when he was loaned for a month and then transferred to Stoke City. Paisley was disappointed with how Lindsay's career progressed once Shankly retired and he took over as manager. "Alec peaked at the end of that successful 1973/74 season but was never the same player again after his life was overtaken by a series of personal problems," Paisley revealed in his book, "My 50 Golden Reds". "Unfortunately they badly affected his game and he began to lose heart and it showed in his performances. Sadly Alec was one of those players who wasted a lot of his talent and I am sure he would admit that himself now when he looks back at his career. It all went wrong when he was at the top of his profession." Lindsay received four international caps, a run which began when Joe Mercer was caretaker England manager and whilst deliberating on his squad for a forthcoming European summer tour said to one of his colleagues: 'Let's have that Lindsay from Liverpool. He's always smiling!' Lindsay's career at the Potteries didn't work out as he had three managers there in a short space of time. Lindsay made a clean break and moved to Oakland, playing in the North American Soccer League and was voted MVP in his debut season but then the club moved lock, stock and barrel to Edmonton, Canada. After four appearances for Toronto Blizzard in 1979 he returned to the North-West and later turned out for non-league team, Newton, and became a publican at Foundry Arms in Leigh.

Teammate Brian Hall was impressed by Lindsay. "One of the best left foots I've ever seen. Alec was one of those players who had such a lovely sweet movement and motion when he kicked a ball with his left foot that he could kick it three quarters the length of the pitch and made it look so easy."