Wednesday, July 24 – 1968
Gerry Byrne is out of Liverpool’s friendly in Belfast, to-morrow, against Linfield. This was revealed to-day by manager Bill Shankly when he announced the 16 strong party for the trip.
Byrne has been fighting to recover from a second cartilage operation after his knee broke down in a Cup-tie at Bournemouth in January.
Byrne had been training hard and took part in a practice game at Melwood. After the game there was some reaction.
Byrne’s omission is the only shock in the party for the Belfast trip. The 16 named are all regulars with the first team squad and only Doug Livermore and Ray Clemence have yet to make competitive first team appearances.
In Byrne’s absence, Mr. Shankly has named three full backs – Lawler, Wall and Hughes – and it will be interesting to see whether he experiments with his line-up.
It had been suggested that Chris Lawler might move up to a midfield role with St John which would leave Wall and Hughes at full back, although Hughes played for much of last season in midfield.
The forward line seems to pick itself although Mr. Shankly could take the opportunity of this friendly to see how Livermore shapes. He could also introduce Clemence into goal after his fine season in the Central League last term in which he gained an England Under-23 cap.
The party is: Tommy Lawrence, Ray Clemence, Chris Lawler, Peter Wall, Emlyn Hughes, Tommy Smith, Ron Yeats, Geoff Strong, Ian Ross, Ian Callaghan, Roger Hunt, Tony Hateley, Ian St John, Peter Thompson, Doug Livermore, Bobby Graham.
(Liverpool Echo, 24-07-1968)
"Play Up, Liverpool" 