Tommy Smith and Emlyn Hughes

[Swipe]

clicky

 

Article on the Beeb about Smith, which mentions that he disliked Hughes "intensely".

 

Anyone know why?

[RP]

Saw Tommy Smith speaking a couple of years ago and he still hates Hughes.

[McBain]

As much as he hates Vlad?

[RP]

Tommy Smith was an old-style footballer - a so-called 'hard man'. I would have thought it highly likely that he would despise a modern-day cowardly footballer. But that's off-topic.

 

Back to Emlyn.

[Swipe]

Tommy Smith was an old-style footballer - a so-called 'hard man'. I would have thought it highly likely that he would despise a modern-day cowardly footballer. But that's off-topic.

 

Back to Emlyn.

 

Was it just a difference of personalities, mate?

 

Hughes seemed to irk quite a few people didn't he

[Ian Garro]

Might have had something to do with the fact that as a player, Smith wasnt fit to lace Hughes' boots.

 

Gets on my nerves this "I was a hard man" thing he does. You only have to look at the way Bremner took the piss out of him. He's now a bit of a rent-a-quote embarassment, reguarly trotting out the tired old "we won the league with 14 players" crap. This was also the man who swore blind that Steven Gerrards natural position was Right Back...

[Bigal]

Was it just a difference of personalities, mate?

 

Hughes seemed to irk quite a few people didn't he

 

Thought hughes was like Shankley's eyes and ears

[Flight]

Childhood memory from the back of my mind, so maybe total b******s. Didn't Hughes replace Smith as captain, then go on to win major trophies in the same year ?

[The walters step over]

According to Smith, the start of it began when Hughes did his "Liverpool are magic, Everton are tragic" bit in public after we'd won something (might have been the '77 European Cup - but that part I'm not sure about). For some reason Smith went off his head about it and they never made up - Smith also accused Emlyn of saying that Brian Clough was a better manager than Bob Paisley which pi**ed Smithy of even more.

 

Of course, that's just one side of the story - and imo it all seems a bit petty really.

[mally]

seriously, is there anyone tommy smith does like?

[Chili Palmer]

a slight aside, but watched Phil Neals dream team on LFCTV last night, f*** me he is one boring git...I mean really really really boring, I swear the girl interviewing him nodded off a few times during his answers.

[Nerik]

It started before the Liverpool are Magic, Everton are Tragic chant I think.. In his book Tommy states that Emlyn was always sucking up to Paisley and trying to tell him who to play etc. etc. There was one time when Tommy was dropped and Liverpool played a shocker. At half-time Paisley had a go at Hughes stating "and you claimed we were slow at the back and needed to change things" or something of the sort which Smith took as Hughes having told Paisley to dtop Tommy. I think the issue of the captaincy was also one thing that bothered Smith.

[Will]

Might have had something to do with the fact that as a player, Smith wasnt fit to lace Hughes' boots.

That's a little harsh on an extremely fine player for us

[casey]

I couldn't stand Smithy when he was a player still cant, but it was nothing to do with his football. He was a damn good player.

[RP]

I like Smithy, he was my Grandad's favourite - my Grandad was a cantakerous old f***er, I always saw Smithy the same way.

[Tommy Cockles]

I met Emlyn at the 25th Anniversary Dinner for the 78 EC winning side.

 

He was an absolute gentleman & I cried my eyes out when he died a few months later.

 

Some people just don't get on, that's life.

 

As for Phil Neal, had a few beers with him the same night, he's a good bloke. Not boring at all!

[D.Boon]

At half-time Paisley had a go at Hughes stating "and you claimed we were slow at the back and needed to change things"

 

That sounds a bit far fetched

[Chili Palmer]

As for Phil Neal, had a few beers with him the same night, he's a good bloke. Not boring at all!

 

you should watch that programme then mate...

[Bologna]

Shankly created Liverpool, combining genius, wit, psychology, passion and iron-smelting. He believed in being first or nowhere. What he believed, his players believed, and Smith deferred to no man in his faith. Even when Emlyn Hughes replaced him as captain in 1974, and he could not bear to talk to the man, they played together in harmony on the pitch. "It was my club. I'd been there a damn sight longer than him.

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"Everything in my life was football, especially Liverpool, so why should I let this two-faced little so-and-so spoil my football life? But I did not entertain him, or speak to him off the pitch. Never."

 

Their mutual loathing had been cemented earlier when Smith alleges that Hughes told him that a number Arsenal players were willing to throw a match for £50 a man.

 

"I'd take a lie-detector test. He did say that, but I thought he might have been trying to set me up. I was that disgusted I didn't tell anyone except Ian Callaghan. From then on, I disliked him that much and he disliked me that much. As a footballer, he was very good. As a person, he wasn't."

 

SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm....xml&page=3

[Tommy Cockles]

you should watch that programme then mate...

 

you haven't exactly sold it to me...

[Ian Garro]

That's a little harsh on an extremely fine player for us

Yes, I realise that now - I meant more about how good Emlyn was rather than how bad Smith was - which he clearly wasnt.

 

I just dont think the man has an ounce of dignity in him - he is still doing interviews saying what he'd do to Ronaldo nowadays or how he'd have had Keane etc etc.

 

Bit pathetic really, especially when he probably wasnt even the hardest man in our dressing room - I'm thinking Jimmy Case or Ray Kennedy.

[Falconhoof]

I quite like the fact that Hughes and Smith loathed each other. There's a bit too much of this all mates together having a huddle in the centre circle nowadays. Sometimes an edgy relationship can bring out the best in people.

[Falconhoof]

Yes, I realise that now - I meant more about how good Emlyn was rather than how bad Smith was - which he clearly wasnt.

 

I just dont think the man has an ounce of dignity in him - he is still doing interviews saying what he'd do to Ronaldo nowadays or how he'd have had Keane etc etc.

 

Bit pathetic really, especially when he probably wasnt even the hardest man in our dressing room - I'm thinking Jimmy Case or Ray Kennedy.

 

He says he'd keep his eye on the ball when facing Ronaldo, nothing to do with being a hard man.

I didn't think Ray Kennedy was a hard man, was he ?

[Raj]

I'm thinking Jimmy Case.

 

Souness said that he was the one of the hardest players he ever came across.

Bremner, Giles & Yorath were also mentioned.

[Mike]

hughes took the captaincy off him.