Liverpool legend Tommy Smith is laid to rest
Thursday 25 April 2019 22:51, UK
The funeral of Liverpool legend Tommy Smith, who died aged 74 after a long battle with dementia, took place on Thursday.
St Joseph's Church in Crosby, Merseyside was packed with friends and former players who came to pay their respects to the man known as the "Anfield Iron".
Ian St John, Ian Callaghan, Alan Hansen and Roy Evans were among the mourners, along with Jamie Carragher and Phil Thompson.
Born in Liverpool in 1945, Smith made 638 appearances for the club between 1960 and 1978.
He scored 48 goals and won nine major trophies, as well as captaining the Reds for three years.
Smith was a key part of the Liverpool team that won the FA Cup for the first time in 1965 and in 1977 he scored in the club's maiden European Cup win against Borussia Monchengladbach in Rome.
The club's chaplain Bill Bygroves spoke at the service.
"He could inspire his own team and intimidate his enemy at the same time," he said. "In his own words, he was born with football in his blood - red, of course.
"But don't think that Tommy was just hard. He had technical excellence - he wasn't just a man of grit and granite, on the ball he had real grace. He could run with it, he could pass the it, dribble it and control it instantly."
Smith's coffin was draped in Liverpool's red and white colours and the club's anthem You'll Never Walk Alone was played as it was carried out of the church.
