Roger Hunt: 1966 World Cup winner and Liverpool great dies, aged 83

Roger Hunt, England World Cup winner and Liverpool’s record league goalscorer, has died.

Hunt, 83, was part of Sir Alf Ramsey team of legends at Wembley in 1966, and such were his feats at Anfield under Bill Shankly, he was fondly referred to as ‘Sir Roger’.

The Warrington-born striker spent 11 years at Liverpool, scoring an incredible 285 times. That tally is only eclipsed by Ian Rush, but Hunt’s 244 league goals remains a club record.

At club level, Hunt will always be associated with Shankly’s all-conquering team of the 1960s. Hunt was at the club when Shankly arrived in 1959, and he would go on to form a devastating partnership with Ian St John to propel Liverpool to the pinnacle of English football.

Hunt scored 41 goals in 41 games as Liverpool won promotion to the top flight in 1962. He then helped Liverpool to the league title in 1964 and was pivotal to the club’s first FA Cup win in 1965, inevitably scoring against Leeds United in the Wembley final.

The ultimate achievement followed in the same stadium a year later as, having again inspired Liverpool to the league title, Hunt became a fixture of Ramsey’s England team.

He played in each of the country’s six World Cup games, first paired with Jimmy Greaves and then Geoff Hurst.

Such was Hunt’s integrity as a footballer, his assertion that Hurst's second goal of the final against West Germany did indeed cross the line was taken as the most compelling evidence of its legitimacy by his teammates.

Hunt was Liverpool’s leading goalscorer for eight successive years until he left Anfield in 1969 and spent three seasons at Bolton Wanderers.

Amid the ongoing calls for the England heroes of 1966 to receive royal recognition for their achievement, The Kop offered their own 'unofficial' knighthood to their hero. Hunt was finally awarded an MBE in 2000.

Having made his international debut under Walter Winterbottom in 1962, Hunt played 34 times for England and was only on the losing side twice for his country for whom he scored 18 times.

Anfield’s current generation are sure to pay their own tributes to one of the club's ultimate legends - a true pioneer who helped elevate Liverpool into a global footballing superpower - when the side faces Porto in tonight’s Champions League tie.

'One of the greatest goal scorers our club has ever seen'

Former Liverpool defender and Telegraph columnist Jamie Carragher has offered his condolences, commenting that Sir Roger and other legends from the 60s have made the club what it is today.

John Aldridge wore the number eight jersey which Hunt made so iconic. He has long named Hunt as the striker he idolised when standing on The Kop and dreaming of wearing his jersey, something he went on to do with such distinction in the 1980s.

Current Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said: "It's really sad news and our thoughts and our love go to his family.

"Unfortunately, it feels too frequent in this moment we are saying farewell to these giants of our club.

"Roger Hunt comes second to no one in his importance in the history of Liverpool FC, that much is clear.

"To be the goalscoring catalyst of the Shankly team to actually achieve promotion and then go on to win those precious league titles and the FA Cup puts him in a bracket of LFC legends who are responsible for making us the club we are today. Not only that, he was also a World Cup winner in 1966, too.

"I am told the Kop christened him 'Sir Roger' for all his achievements. A goalscorer who never stopped working to help his team-mates; I believe he would have fit in well within our current team.

"So, it is Sir Roger we will remember, honour and pay tribute to over the coming days. You'll Never Walk Alone."

Ex-Liverpool midfielder Jan Molby made reference to another former Liverpool striker, Iain St John, who died earlier this year.

Former Bolton, Everton and England midfielder Peter Reid said that Hunt helped him during his early days in his tribute.

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