Cally's tribute to 'gold' Geoff
Record appearance holder Ian Callaghan has paid a glowing tribute to former Liverpool player Geoff Strong following the news that the 75-year-old had passed away on Monday.
Callaghan shared a dressing room with the versatile Geordie for six seasons during the 1960s and explained that Strong would be 'worth his weight in gold' in modern football.
"It's a very sad day. Geoff was a really lovely man, very popular with everyone who met him," Callaghan told the Liverpool Echo.
"We were good friends on and off the pitch. My thoughts are with his family at this sad time."
Strong signed for the Reds from Arsenal in 1964 and featured in almost every position, making a total of 201 appearances and contributing 33 goals.
"He signed as an inside forward, a prolific goalscorer," Callaghan continued.
"He was someone we had come up against for Arsenal, and he always gave us problems. So when we signed him, I think everyone was pretty pleased!
"He played everywhere except in goal. He excelled wherever he played as well. He was some player. He would be worth his weight in gold if he was playing today, no doubt about it."
Strong won a league championship and an FA Cup during his stay at Anfield; his finest moment perhaps came when he defied injury to head Liverpool into the 1966 Cup Winners' Cup final.
The man who provided the cross for that famous goal added: "He had done his cartilage in that game. He didn't play again that season.
"But he still managed to score the goal which took us to the final. That says a lot about what kind of character he was, what kind of player he was."