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Liverpool FC legend Tommy Smith is retiring as the Liverpool ECHO’S longest serving columnist.

Smithy, dubbed the Anfield Iron because of his reputation as one of the hardest men ever to have played the game, has been writing for the ECHO for more than 35 years.

Tommy, who was made captain of his beloved Liverpool by Bill Shankly, played 638 times for the Reds - he stands eighth in the club’s all time appearance list - and joined the ECHO in the late 1970s towards the end of a glittering Anfield career.

He starred in Liverpool’s first ever FA Cup winning side of 1965 and after establishing himself at the heart of the side, became the first ever Liverpool captain to lift a European trophy in 1973, when he proudly collected the UEFA Cup after a two legged victory over Borrusia Moenchengladbach.

But he was still far from finished and three years after Bob Paisley took over the reigns from Shankly in 1977, Smithy famously scored the winning second goal with a header in Rome, again against German side Gladbach, which saw Liverpool win the first of their five European Cups.

Smithy, now 69, married to wife Sue and living in Blundellsands, was born and bred in Liverpool and supported the Reds as a boy before joining the club’s ground staff in 1960.

He made his debut for the Reds on May 5, 1963 in a 5-1 demolition of Birmingham City.

Despite all the honours he won and memorable matches he played in, he still lists that day as the greatest of his footballing life.

Said Smithy: “I was just so chuffed to have actually played for Liverpool.”

“I remember that after the game I walked around the ground, not once, but twice to try and take it all in.

“I was actually a Liverpool player....”

Tommy was just as hard hitting in the ECHO off the pitch as he came to be on it.

During the early part of his time writing for the ECHO, he’d respond to readers letters with a verdict of ‘Fair Tackle’, ‘Over the Top’ or ‘Bounce Ball’ on the various points they made.

He’s written weekly on the Reds fortunes for many years, more recently as a Football ECHO Saturday columnist. And he’s been a regular in the press box at Anfield to make sure he remained close to the action - well informed on all the big issues and the form of Brendan Rodgers’ boys.

He said: “I’ve had a fantastic run as a columnist in the ECHO and loved every minute of it. But now seems the right time to finally call it a day.

“There are one or two things keeping me busy right now - including the grand children - and all in all I just feel it’s best that I step aside after all these years and let somebody else have a go.

“Of course it was a privilege to play for Liverpool - it was my dream as a boy and it came true.

“I’ve supported Liverpool all my life and of course I’ll go on doing so. I really believe they are going places again under Brendan Rodgers and his team.

“Bill Shankly was of course the greatest manager who ever lived for me, and to have played for him along with the others lads was incredible.

“But it has also been a privilege to write about the Reds for a great paper like the ECHO too, for all these years.

“So many people would stop me in the street and tell me they’d read what I’d said and agreed with me. Even the Evertonians now and again! And a few others of course who said I talked rubbish!

“Seriously, although I’m Liverpool through and through, I’ve always regarded myself as a Merseysider and therefore regarded Everton as my second team.

“I always want them to win too – except when they’re playing us, of course.”

ECHO Sports editor John Thompson said: “It’s honestly hard to believe we are saying goodbye to Tommy after all these years.

“It has been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to have had him as part of the sports team for so long and it just won’t feel the same without him on board now.

“He was a great player – far better than some people ever gave him credit for in my book – but first and foremost Tommy was a fan, and the fans of course are the most important people of all to us.

“He’d be as happy as any Kopite when Liverpool won, and hurt like hell when they lost. That much was obvious in his columns.

“He never pulled his punches though, or sat on the fence, ducked an issue etc. It just wasn’t in Tommy’s nature, of course. I remember my former sports desk colleague Dave Jones once describing Tommy as ‘the salt of the earth’. Among everything else, that is exactly what he was – and still is.

“We’ll be honouring him over the next few weeks to mark his retirement as a columnist in a proper and fitting way. And everyone at the ECHO wishes him the very best for the future now.

“And whenever we need an honest opinion on a hot topic at Anfield, well we’ll be on the phone to him for sure!

“You can’t keep a good man down.”