Emlyn was one of the most enthusiastic players ever to pull on a Liverpool jersey. Bill Shankly tried to sign him immediately after he had made his League debut for Blackpool but eventually got his man in March 1967 (when the Barrow-born youngster was still a teenager) and selected him 10 times for First Division games before the end of that 1966-67 season.
Strong and with immense stamina, he quickly became a crowd-favourite with the nickname of 'Crazy Horse' for his sometimes reckless but whole-hearted approach to the game, when it came to tackling anyway!
But Emlyn could play and his strong runs from midfield made numerous openings for his colleagues, although he possessed a venemous shot which brought him nearly 50 goals as a Liverpool player, a typical example being his run from half-way in the home game with Spurs in December 1968 which he finished with a powerful drive that left Pat Jennings helpless.
Emlyn's Liverpool career started alongside most of the names that had brought the club so much success in the mid-60's but he was never going to be one of the casualties in the aftermath of the shock F.A. cup defeat at Watford in February 1970.
Shankly knew what a gem he had found and his was one of the first names on the team-sheet, not just when the Scot was in charge but also when Bob Paisley took over in 1974 and confirmed him as captain.
Emlyn was a versatile player equally at home in a full-back position (where he was often used by England) or in the latter part of his career as a central defender but maybe his best years at Anfield where when he was surging through from his midfield position.
1972-73 was the big breakthrough year for Emlyn and Liverpool. After narrowly missing out on honours the previous two seasons (beaten by Arsenal in the cup final and being deprived of the League championship - again by Arsenal - in the final fixture of 1971-72), the Reds gained ample compensation by winning the title after a 7-year absence and also collecting their first European trophy, the UEFA cup. Emlyn played in an astonishing SIXTY-FIVE competitive games for Liverpool that season but never openly displayed any signs of real tiredness.
The honours kept coming - the F.A. cup in 1974, another League/UEFA cup 'double' in 1976 and then finally in 1977 the biggest prize of all, the European cup won in the 'Eternal' city of Rome and collected - as so aptly put by commentator Barry Davies at the time - by the man wearing 'the smile of the season'.
He was also honoured by the sportswriters as their 'Footballer of the Year'. Emlyn's smile did show how much he loved playing football and how much he loved playing for Liverpool and what an honour it was for him to represent his country, for whom he made a total of 62 appearances. Hughes was still skipper when the European cup was retained at Wembley in 1978 but as his 30th birthday approached he could no longer be sure of his place in the side.
In August 1979, after 12 and a half wonderful years as a Liverpool player, he made the decision to move to Wolverhampton Wanderers, receiving a rapturous welcome when he returned to Anfield with his new club and also finishing his first season at Molineux by receiving the Football League cup, just about the only trophy he hadn't won as a Liverpool player.
Emlyn moved on to Rotherham as player-manager and proudly brought his team over to Anfield for a League cup tie in November 1982, which the Reds only won thanks to Craig Johnston's late strike. He also had brief spells with Hull City, Mansfield Town and Swansea City but never approached the success as a manager that he had enjoyed as a player.
As he passed his 50th birthday, Emlyn was working as hard as ever with his business interests but always talked with enormous affection about his decade and more on Merseyside. Very few men ever reached the heights that Emlyn Hughes did as a footballer and there is no doubt that he deserves to be in any "Hall of Fame" for what he achieved for the club he served so loyally and for so long.
