Lawrence, who died on Wednesday at the age of 77, won three major trophies at Anfield during the 1960s where he became known as ‘The Flying Pig’ and kept Clemence, arguably the Reds’ greatest goalkeeper, out of the team for two-and-a-half years.
Clemence tweeted: “Sad to hear of the passing of LFC legend Tommy Lawrence. A gentleman who I had the privilege of training with. I learnt so much about being a sweeper keeper from him. My thoughts are with his family RIP Tommy.”
A Scotland international, Lawrence was born in Dailly, Ayrshire, not far from where Shankly himself hailed, not that his background was immediately obvious with an accent tweaked from moving to the north-west as a youngster.
He graduated from being a Liverpool trainee to become a trusted lieutenant of Shankly’s for eight years having made his debut in 1962.
His athleticism despite his stocky frame earned him the ‘The Flying Pig’ moniker and his ability to rush out and clear up behind the Liverpool defence led one-time England manager Joe Mercer to claim Lawrence was the top-flight’s first sweeper keeper.
In an interview with the club, Lawrence had revealed: “(Shankly) said, ‘You know the way you’ve been playing in five-a-side, tackling and clearing it all the time, doing all the running for us at the back. We’re going to try something this week’.
“I had to play outside the 18-yard box and as soon as the game started all I could hear was 30,000 Kopites, ‘Lawrence! Get back in your goal!’. In the end we were losing less goals than anybody.”
His successor Clemence was signed from Scunthorpe in 1967 despite reservations he would not play because of Lawrence’s form. Shankly told him Lawrence would not hold the spot for much longer. But he did, for a further two-and-a-half years.
During his time at Anfield, Lawrence rarely sat out a game, missing only four League matches in the six seasons between 1963 and 1969, including three ever-present campaigns.
He played in every game when Liverpool won the title in 1965-66, reclaiming the trophy he had also helped them secure two years earlier.
And in the season between those successes he was part of the club’s first ever FA Cup triumph as they beat Leeds 2-1 in the final.
In early 1970, Clemence came into the team and the following year Lawrence joined Tranmere, where he made 80 League appearances and he then played for non-League Chorley, before taking up the role of a factory quality controller in Warrington until his retirement.
As unmistakable as he was on the pitch, Lawrence was unrecognisable just three years ago when a BBC reporter was questioning passers-by if they remembered the 1967 Merseyside derby against Everton.
A small smile broke across Lawrence’s face when he was asked if he could recall the fixture.
“That’s right, I do,” he replied. “I played in it. I was goalkeeper for Liverpool!”