Past playersBrian Hall

He wanted to study at the university. He studied maths and graduated three years later with a Bachelor of Science degree.

He was an industrious player who always gave his all for the Reds. Hall was small in stature, but clever and a very efficient footballer. Bill Shankly liked those attributes, and he became a vital part of the team Shankly rebuilt in the early 1970s.

Hall made two brief appearances as a substitute towards the end of the 1968-69 season and just one more, also as a sub, the following year.

He managed to break into the team two years after his arrival when he replaced an injured Ian Callaghan on the right wing. He did such a good job that when Callaghan returned, Shankly moved Callaghan into a central midfield role to accommodate them both.

Hall's most memorable moment came in the 1970-71 season when he scored a dramatic winning goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Everton at Old Trafford that took Liverpool to Wembley for the first time since 1965.

"It's not so much me remembering my first-ever goal for Liverpool… I'm not allowed to forget it!" he once said. "To score it at Old Trafford in an FA Cup semi-final against Everton, and it turns out to be the winner, is not a bad memory. In fact, things don't come much better than that, do they?"

Hall had to settle for a runners-up medal on that occasion but was a member of the side that lifted the trophy three years later, to add to the league championship and UEFA Cup winner's medal he had from the previous season.

The midfielder played a big part in the Reds' FA Cup fortunes in 1974. Again Liverpool were in the semi-final, drawing 0-0 with Leicester City at Old Trafford and setting up a replay at Villa Park.

Hall scored Liverpool's first goal soon after the interval. He had just finished celebrating when the Foxes equalised two minutes later, but Kevin Keegan and John Toshack guaranteed a 3-1 victory and Newcastle United were routed in the final.

Hall played in all but seven of the league matches in 1974-75 but found his midfield position taken over by Jimmy Case before the halfway stage of the following season.

He moved on to Plymouth Argyle in the summer of 1976, before returning to the north west and finishing his playing career at Burnley. He later regretted his decision to leave Liverpool, saying, "I made a big mistake."

Hall took on teaching and was a schoolmaster for a while, but returned to Anfield in 1991 to head the club's public relations department.