Liverpool's best ever goalkeeper, Ray Clemence joined the club in June
1967 in an £18, 000 deal from Scunthorpe United, where he had made 48
League appearances. Aged only 18, he gained valuable experience in
Liverpool's highly successful reserve side before making his first team
debut in a 2-0 home win over Swansea City in a League Cup 3rd round tie
on September 25, 1968. However, with the legendary Tommy Lawrence still
in fine form between the sticks, Ray did not play again for nearly a
year, appearing in a 10-0 demolition of Irish minnows Dundalk in a
European Fairs Cup 1st round 1st leg tie at Anfield on September 16,
1969. He finally made his League debut in a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham
Forest on January 31, 1970, but did not become Liverpool's regular
keeper until Lawrence was dropped following a shock 1-0 defeat at
Division Two side Watford in a 6th round FA Cup tie a few weeks later.
Ray played the last 13 League games of that season (conceding 11 goals
as Liverpool finished 5th in the table), his great agility and fine
judgement effectively putting an end to Lawrence's long and illustrious
Anfield career. An excellent shot-stopper, especially in one-on-one
situations, and a superb commander of his penalty area, Clemence would
go on to surpass his famous predecessor both in terms of quality of
performances and trophies won. Now established as the club's No 1, Ray
missed only one of Liverpool's 62 games in the 1970-71 season, and
helped the side equal a defensive record by conceding only 24 goals in
their 42 League games (though two of those goals came in the game in
which he was rested, a 2-2 draw at Manchester City in April 1971).
He
kept 22 clean sheets in the League that term, including a run of four in
a row in January-February 1971. However, Liverpool struggled for League
goals, scoring just 42, and finished a disappointing 5th in the table,
14 points behind champions Arsenal. There was no success in knockout
competions either, the Reds losing in the semi-finals of the European
Fairs Cup (1-0 on aggregate to Leeds United) and then being defeated 2-1
by Arsenal in the FA Cup final on May 8, a game in which Clemence was
given no chance by Charlie George's superb 20-yard strike that won the
Cup for the Gunners. In season 1971-72, he conceded only 30 League goals
and again kept 22 clean sheets in that competition, including an
excellent run of seven in a row in February-March 1972. One of these
clean sheets came in the crucial last game of the campaign, a 0-0 draw
away to Arsenal on May 8, but the team's failure to score in that match
meant they had to settle for 3rd place in the table, just one point
adrift of champions Derby County. Liverpool made early exits in the
three cup competitions they contested that term, but the young team
rebuilt by manager Bill Shankly was steadily improving, with Clemence
looking very solid in goal. Ever present in Liverpool's 53 games in all
competitions, Ray's fine performances had not gone unnoticed at
international level and he made his first England Under 23 start that
season, a prelude to his full England debut in a 1-0 win against Wales
in November 1972. That would be the first of 61 caps in a distinguished
international career, a figure which would have been far higher but for
the presence of Peter Shilton. (Martin Greensill)
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