[LFC History] Part III: Between the Wars

The third title

Back row: W Connell (Trainer), Harry Chambers, Jock McNab, Elisha Scott, Walter Wadsworth, Tom Bromilow, Dick Forshaw. 

Front row: Dave Ashworth (Manager), Bill Lacey, Ephraim Longworth, Donald MacKinlay, Tommy Lucas, Fred Hopkin, George Patterson (Secretary).
On ground: Danny Shone, Harry Lewis.

An opening day thrashing at Sunderland's Roker Park hardly boded well for a renewed assault on the league title, but Liverpool recovered from the 3-0 reverse to bring a third Championship back to Anfield.

The close season saw manager David Ashworth draft in Manchester United winger Fred Hopkin for a hefty £2,800, and the Yorkshireman proved an effective ever-present as the Reds brought sides such as Bradford, Huddersfield, Preston and Aston Villa to heel.

Up front, Harry Chambers and Dick Forshaw battled it out for the title of top scorer, netting an impressive 21 and 20 respectively.

Dick Forshaw

The biggest win of the league campaign came in front of 50,000 supporters at Anfield, Chambers claiming a hat-trick in a 5-1 demolition of high-flying Cardiff. At the other end of the spectrum, a 4-0 defeat at Oldham's Boundary Park was hard to swallow.

Still, despite losing two of the final three games of the season, Liverpool ended 1921-22 as comfortable champions, six points ahead of second-placed Tottenham.

To make things even sweeter, north-west rivals Manchester United were relegated after finishing bottom.

#	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	G.Avg	Pts
1	Liverpool FC	42	15	4	2	43	15	7	9	5	20	21	1.75	57
2	Tottenham	42	15	3	3	43	17	6	6	9	22	22	1.67	51
3	Burnley	42	16	3	2	49	18	6	2	13	23	36	1.33	49
4	Cardiff City	42	13	2	6	40	26	6	8	7	21	27	1.15	48
5	Aston Villa	42	16	3	2	50	19	6	0	15	24	36	1.35	47
6	Bolton Wanderers	42	12	4	5	40	24	8	3	10	28	35	1.15	47
7	Newcastle United	42	11	5	5	36	19	7	5	9	23	26	1.31	46
8	Middlesbrough	42	12	6	3	46	19	4	8	9	33	50	1.14	46
9	Chelsea	42	9	6	6	17	16	8	6	7	23	27	0.93	46
10	Manchester City	42	13	7	1	44	21	5	2	14	21	49	0.93	45
11	Sheffield United	42	11	3	7	32	17	4	7	10	27	37	1.09	40
12	Sunderland	42	13	4	4	46	23	3	4	14	14	39	0.97	40
13	WBA	42	8	6	7	26	23	7	4	10	25	40	0.81	40
14	Huddersfield Town	42	12	3	6	33	14	3	6	12	20	40	0.98	39
15	Blackburn Rovers	42	7	6	8	35	31	6	6	9	19	26	0.95	38
16	Preston North End	42	12	7	2	33	20	1	5	15	9	45	0.65	38
17	Arsenal	42	10	6	5	27	19	5	1	15	20	37	0.84	37
18	Birmingham City	42	9	2	10	25	29	6	5	10	23	31	0.80	37
19	Oldham Athletic	42	8	7	6	21	15	5	4	12	17	35	0.76	37
20	Everton	42	10	7	4	42	22	2	5	14	15	33	1.04	36
21	Bradford City	42	8	5	8	28	30	3	5	13	20	42	0.67	32
22	Manchester United	42	7	7	7	25	26	1	5	15	16	47	0.56	28

Back to Back titles

1st and 2nd row are players that made less contribution to the title triumph among them in top row: Danny Shone (3rd from left), John Bamber (7th) and Cyril Gilhespy (8th).

Harold Wadsworth, Walter's brother is second from right in the 2nd row and Joe Hewitt (Trainer) on the extreme right.
3rd row: Charlie Wilson (Trainer), Billy Lacey, Dick Forshaw, Jock McNab, Walter Wadsworth, Elisha Scott, Donald MacKinlay, Ephraim Longworth, Tom Bromilow, Dick Johnson, Harry Chambers, Fred Hopkin, W Connell (Trainer).
Front row: Matt McQueen (Director), W. Cartwright (Director), E. Bainbridge (Director), R. Martindale (Director), W.R. Williams (Chairman), J. Astbury (Vice Chairman), T. Compton (Director), W. Webb (director), ?, George Patterson (Secretary).

They say it's harder to retain the Championship than to win it in the first place – and the task is made even tougher when your manager jumps ship midway through the season.

But this is exactly what the Reds did in 1922-23 despite the departure in February of boss David Ashworth, who, with his side on the brink of back to back titles, decided to return to the club where he started out, Oldham Athletic.

His decision was never fully explained to the Anfield faithful. It seemed even more bizarre given the fact Oldham were bottom of the League at the time, and indeed went on to suffer relegation.

Thankfully, Ashworth's bombshell didn't affect things on the pitch and Liverpool went on to clinch the Championship by finishing six points ahead of Sunderland.

There were memorable victories against Arsenal (5-2) and Sunderland (5-1) along the way, though the highlight of the campaign undoubtedly came with a 5-1 victory in the Merseyside derby. Liverpool had actually fallen behind early in the game, but an unforgettable victory was sealed thanks largely to top scorer Harry Chambers.

It was he who netted a bullet header to level things up before firing again shortly after the restart. Match reports suggest many Kopites missed the latter because they were still drinking Brown Ale at the bar.

The former shipyard worker went on to complete a hat-trick against the old enemy with a curler from outside the box.

Chambers finished the season with an impressive tally of 25 goals in all competitions, but he wasn't the only star in the title-winning side of 1922-23.

There was Dick Forshaw, who bagged 20 goals including a hat-trick against Preston North End.

Legend: Elisha Scott

Then there was legendary goalkeeper Elisha Scott, an ever present in what was the 10^th of his 22-year Anfield career. What he lacked in size, he made up for in courage and agility, and it's unlikely the title would have once again found its way back to Merseyside without him.

#	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	G.Avg	Pts
1	Liverpool FC	42	17	3	1	50	13	9	5	7	20	18	2.26	60
2	Sunderland	42	15	5	1	50	25	7	5	9	22	29	1.33	54
3	Huddersfield Town	42	14	2	5	35	15	7	9	5	25	17	1.88	53
4	Newcastle United	42	13	6	2	31	11	5	6	10	14	26	1.22	48
5	Everton	42	14	4	3	41	20	6	3	12	22	39	1.07	47
6	Aston Villa	42	15	3	3	42	11	3	7	11	22	40	1.25	46
7	WBA	42	12	7	2	38	10	5	4	12	20	39	1.18	45
8	Manchester City	42	14	6	1	38	16	3	5	13	12	33	1.02	45
9	Cardiff City	42	15	2	4	51	18	3	5	13	22	41	1.24	43
10	Sheffield United	42	11	7	3	41	20	5	3	13	27	44	1.06	42
11	Arsenal	42	13	4	4	38	16	3	6	12	23	46	0.98	42
12	Tottenham	42	11	3	7	34	22	6	4	11	16	28	1.00	41
13	Bolton Wanderers	42	11	8	2	36	17	3	4	14	14	41	0.86	40
14	Blackburn Rovers	42	12	7	2	32	19	2	5	14	15	43	0.76	40
15	Burnley	42	12	3	6	39	24	4	3	14	19	35	0.98	38
16	Preston North End	42	12	3	6	41	26	1	8	12	19	38	0.94	37
17	Birmingham City	42	10	4	7	25	19	3	7	11	16	38	0.72	37
18	Middlesbrough	42	11	4	6	41	25	2	6	13	16	38	0.90	36
19	Chelsea	42	5	13	3	29	20	4	5	12	16	33	0.85	36
20	Nottingham Forest	42	12	2	7	25	23	1	6	14	16	47	0.59	34
21	Stoke City	42	7	9	5	28	19	3	1	17	19	48	0.70	30
22	Oldham Athletic	42	9	6	6	21	20	1	4	16	14	45	0.54	30

Spion Kop gets a roof

The summer of 1928 would mark a significant day in Liverpool Football Club's history.

Spion Kop

But it was not a date that would see the emergence of one of our most illustrious players. Nor was it the fact that club Secretary George Patterson had just replaced the retiring Matt McQueen in the managerial hot-seat.

The Spion Kop opening program souvenir

Instead it saw the development of what would become one of football's most famous stands.

The Spion Kop had already developed a reputation for being one of the most vocal stands in the country, but after undergoing a major revamp that saw it extended to 425 feet by 131 feet, it transformed into an imposing sight for opposition players, housing up to 30,000 standing spectators.     

The most important addition saw it topped by an iron cantilever roof, a feature that would act an as an amplifier for the deafening roars of a passionate crowd that would go on to become one of world football's most talked about stands.

Mr. John McKenna was on hand to officially open it and thus begin a tradition that would stretch well into the 1990s and beyond with fans arriving as early as 11.30am on a match day in order to secure their much coveted place in the famous Kop.

Balmer sets the quickest goal record

Jack Balmer achieved much in his 17-year Anfield career, not least the feat of scoring hat-tricks in three consecutive games in 1946.

Jack Balmer

This wasn't his first entry into the record books, however, because in February 1938 he netted what is thought to be the fastest goal in Liverpool Football Club's long and illustrious history.

Just 10 seconds had passed in the season's second Merseyside derby at Goodison Park when Balmer rippled the back of the net in front of 33,465 largely baffled spectators.

The game finished 3-1 to Liverpool – and what a day it was for their talented striker, who as a boy had been on Everton's books.

#WECOMENOTTOPLAY

Next: WWII to The Shankly Era.