History of Liverpool FC (Part 3) George Kay (1936–1951)

Honours Won : League Championship (1947)

George Kay was recruited from Southampton in June 1936, to replace George Patterson, who was unable to continue the managerial side of his role. Kay's career as Liverpool manager started poorly, with only three wins and four draws from the first twelve matches. This run included a 2–6 defeat at Portsmouth's Fratton Park on 2 September and a 2–5 defeat at Brentford; the only bright spot in this spell was a 7–1 victory over Grimsby Town on 12 September, with two goals from Fred Howe. Results improved slightly as the season progressed and Liverpool finished Kay's first season in charge in 18th place in Division 1.

Despite the set-back of an opening day 1–6 defeat at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, Liverpool finished the 1937–38 season comfortably in mid-table, with Alf Hanson top scorer on 14 league goals. In the following season, Liverpool again finished in 11th position in the table, with Berry Nieuwenhuys, Willie Fagan and Phil Taylor joint top scorers in the league with 14 goals each.

In readiness for the next season, Kay snapped up young defender Bob Paisley on a free transfer from Bishop Auckland, as well as another future Liverpool legend Billy Liddell, but all their careers were then interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.

After the war, the club took the unusual decision to tour the United States and Canada. It was Kay's theory that the climate and diet in North America would be extremely beneficial to the players. The punishing schedule of 10 matches in less than a month meant that the Liverpool squad started the first post-war season in far better physical shape than many of their competitors.

The season started slowly, with four victories and three defeats in the first seven games. The victories included a 7–4 match against Chelseaon 7 September, in which Bob Paisley made his league debut for the club and Billy Liddell scored his first league goal. There was also a 5–0 defeat away to Manchester United (played at Maine Road). Things began to improve and a run of seven consecutive victories in February and March set the club on the way to the championship.

Liverpool had a long run in the F.A. Cup, eventually going out to Burnley in the semi-final, after a replay. The club did, however, pick up the Lancashire Senior Cup, Lancashire County Combination Championship Cup and Liverpool Senior Cup along the way.

As the season reached its climax, several clubs were still in contention and on 31 May 1947 Liverpool went to Molineux to meet the leaders,Wolverhampton Wanderers needing to win to take the championship, as well as other results going in their favour. Liverpool won the match 2–1, other results went their way and the Reds were champions of the Football League for a fifth time. It was George Kay's finest moment as a football manager.

Top scorers in the Championship season were Jack Balmer and Albert Stubbins with 24 league goals each. They continued to be prolific scorers during Kay's period in charge but the club was unable to come close to another championship, finishing each of the next three seasons in the lower part of the top half of the table. In 1950, they reached the F.A. Cup final for the first time in 36 years, but the match atWembley ended in a 2–0 victory for Arsenal.

By now, Kay was clearly not a well man and he retired in January 1951, to be replaced by Don Welsh.

History of Liverpool FC (Part 2) From 1892 Onwards

In the early 20th century, rivals Liverpool and Everton produced a joint matchday programme. This example is from April 1910.

Houlding and the new Liverpool F.C. had an international standard ground, but no team. John McKenna was appointed a director of Liverpool, and went to Scotland, where he signed thirteen professionals for the new club. The team was labelled "the team of the Macs" because eight of the thirteen Scottish signings had a "Mc" prefix. They played their first game against Rotherham Town, winning 7–1 with Malcolm McVean scoring their first ever goal, the match being the first occasion that an English domestic team had fielded a side consisting entirely of non-English players.

An ambitious application to join the Football League was rejected. Liverpool kicked off life in the Lancashire League with an 8–0 win at Anfield against Higher Walton with a team composed entirely of Scottish players. John Smith scored the first competitive goal. Ending the first season as champions and beating Everton 1–0 in the first Merseyside derby, in the 1893 Liverpool Senior Cup final at Bootle F.C. Liverpool F.C. was elected to the Football League alongside Woolwich Arsenal.

McVean scored the club's first league goal in a 2–0 win over Middlesbrough Ironopolis and ended the season unbeaten and Second Division Champions, winning a test match 2–0 against Newton Heath (soon to be renamed Manchester United) and promotion to the First Division.

Upon the arrival of manager Tom Watson, a 3-time-championship-winner at Sunderland, the strip changed from blue and white quarters to the famous red and white, and in 1901 Scottish international Alex Raisbeck was the first Liverpool captain to collect the Football League championship. League champions again in 1906, when Everton also won the FA Cup, the ground capacity was increased with the building of a huge cinder bank behind the south end goal. It was christened the Spion Kop, after a Boer War battle of 1900 where over 300 men of the Lancashire Regiment died, with many being from Liverpool.

Liverpool played their first FA Cup final, the last at Crystal Palace, and the first attended by the reigning monarch, George V, losing 0–1 to Burnley in 1914. However, the club were also involved in the 1915 British football betting scandal, one of the earliest match-fixing scandals which saw four Liverpool players banned, although the bans were rescinded in 1919. Liverpool soon bounced back; in 1921-2 and again in 1922-3, captained by England full-back.