Callaghan played 857 times for Liverpool between 1960 and 1978, breaking into the first team just after the appointment of Bill Shankly as Liverpool manager. He was a regular member of the first team by the time Liverpool won promotion to the First Division in 1962, and went on to help them win the league title in 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976 and 1977, as well as the 1965 and 1974 FA Cup Finals, the UEFA Cup in 1973 UEFA Cup Final and 1976 UEFA Cup Final, and the European Cup in 1977 and (as a substitute) in 1978. He was voted FWA Footballer of the Year in 1974. He was booked only once in his career, in the 1978 League Cup Final replay at Old Trafford, which Liverpool lost to Nottingham Forest.