50 years ago today: FA Cup glory

To commemorate this momentous day in the history of the club, the heroes who brought the famous trophy to the Anfield cabinet in 1965 have spoken to LFCTV about how they did just that.

A special programme, 'Ey-Aye-Addio - 1965 and all that...' premieres for the very first time tonight at 8pm BST, telling the story of what was at the time an incredible triumph.

Bill Shankly summed it up perfectly when he said: "Never mind the European Cup, that's virtually new. Winning the FA Cup is the hardest cup. It took 73 years and I thought it was a disgrace that we had to suffer the taunts of people saying you haven't won the cup yet."

Given how hard Liverpool had to work to win the trophy, you can see what caused Shankly to make such a declaration.

After a gruelling journey through to the final, the Reds had to face Leeds United, one of the best and hardest teams in the country.

Following a battle which was goalless in the scheduled 90 minutes, the Reds took the lead through Roger Hunt, but were soon to be pegged back by a strike from Scotland star Billy Bremner.

However, another Scotland hero, Ian St John, was to have the last laugh when he netted the winner that gave his side a long-awaited and special FA Cup.

Recalling his golden moment, St John said: "I just dived, it was coming behind me with a bit of bend on the ball from Cally, so I've just gone back a bit, but got my head to it and that was that.

"It was the most important goal, and the significance of it, for that was the goal which clinched the cup for the first time. It's one that lives with you. As kids we all wanted to score the winning goal in a cup final. All every kid that's ever kicked a ball anywhere, that's our ambition."

The coming years proved that the 1965 cup win was a watershed moment.

Another league title followed in 1966, while Ian Callaghan, Tommy Smith and Chris Lawler would prove the base for Shankly's next truly dominant team, who began Liverpool's astonishing decade of success in the 1970s with league, cup and European glory.

Anyone in any doubt as to what it meant should look at the pictures of the players being mobbed on their return to the city.

Fans swarmed around Liverpool Lime Street station as the players arrived to be picked up by an open top bus. The crowds astonished even footballers used to performing in front of thousands.

Record appearance holder Callaghan said: "It was just incredible the amount of people who turned out, making our way to the Town Hall. You have never seen so many people in your life, like all together, cheering. It was just a marvellous, fantastic day."

It seems fitting to give the last word to Shankly, though. The great man said: "That was the greatest moment of my life. Not for me but for the people of the city of Liverpool."