Second Division 3rd | FA Cup Fourth Round | |
Manager Bill Shankly (from 1 December 1959)
Phil Taylor (to 17 November 1959) Top goalscorer League:
Roger Hunt (21)
All:
Roger Hunt (23) Highest home attendance 56,736 (v Manchester United, FA Cup, 30 Jan) Lowest home attendance 19,411 (v Derby County, League, 6 Apr) | ||
The 1959–60 season was the 68th season in Liverpool F.C.'s existence, and was their 5th consecutive year in the Second Division, and covers the period from 1959-08-22 to 1960-04-30.
Contents
Pre-season
On 12 June, having spent three years at Liverpool and missing only six matches, 29-year-old goalkeeper Tommy Younger was allowed to leave to take on a player-manager role at Scottish Second Division side Falkirk. In exchange, Liverpool signed Falkirk's 23-year-old goalkeeper Bert Slater. Slater had made 134 appearances for Falkirk, winning a Scottish Cup winners medal in the process, before the club were relegated at the end of the 1958-59 season. Slater was small for a goalkeeper standing at just 5 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1.740 m) and was nicknamed 'Shorty' but he was immediately put into the Liverpool goal upon his arrival.
There were promotions to the first-team for local-born 22-year-old defender John Nicholson and 18-year-old inside forward Willie Carlin - the latter a promising youngster who had represented his country at schoolboy and youth levels; 19-year-old full back Alan Jones, a Welsh schoolboy international who had signed professional forms for Liverpool two years earlier; Wrexham-born forward Reginald Blore who had risen through the junior ranks at Anfield; 17-year-old midfielder Ian Callaghan from Toxteth, considered by Liverpool legend Billy Liddell to be his successor; and 20-year-old striker Roger Hunt, signed a year earlier by Phil Taylor when he was brought to his attention playing for Stockton Heath.
Taylor resigned as manager on 17 November and was succeeded by Bill Shankly on 14 December.