The beginning of Liverpool FC.

A lil look down memory lane. I’m fairly certain Tommy wasn’t even born at the beginning but I’m sure he’ll convince us all he was.

Liverpool FC was formed on March 15, 1892 following a disagreement between the directors of the BlueShite and it’s president, John Houlding who owned the club’s ground, Anfield. A dispute over rent resulted in the BlueShite being booted out and moving into a shed for being very, very naughty.

Former Lord Mayer of Liverpool , John Houlding upped the annual rent from £100 in 1884 to £250 annually by 1892.

Houlding wanted to sell the ground to the BlueShite but the BlueShite only wanted to negotiate a long term rental agreement. Houlding would only agree to this by offering extortionate rent terms. The directors of the BlueShite declined and moved out and sort another ground. Oh dear.

Houlding had a problem. He had a stadium with no tennant. He thought about it for a bit and came up with the idea of creating a new club, well, why not🤷.

He actually attempted to retain the name “BlueShite by registering it as BlueShite football club and Athletic Grounds Company, Limited”. The footy league said no because the name ‘Blueshite’ was already registered whom had acquired a new ground called Goodished.

Houlding therefore adopted the name Liverpool FC. No idea how he thought of that one.

Liverpool FC was born, beginning life in the Lancashire league ( Liverpool the city back then was part of Lancashire. Merseyside only became a region in the 70’s n yes I remember it clearly, though I do wear glasses these days which helps, obviously)

Liverpool played their first ever match in a preseason friendly on 1 September 1892 against Rotherham Town. We battered them 7-1.

The team fielded against Rotherham ( Jock is gonna love this ) was comprised of entirely Scottish players. I know, where the fook are the Scouser’s🤷.

Liverpool’s first win in the Lancashire league was a 8-0 pummeling of Higher Walton in front of 200 spectators . As the season progressed and Liverpool continued to win the crowd swelled. Approximately 2000 spectators watched Liverpool defeat South Shores in the penultimate match of the 22 game season at Anfield.

Houlding died in 1902. In 1905 the club was restructured. Of the 3000 shares, 2000 were held by the Houlding family. The club owed a debt of £10,000 to Houlding and a further £5,000 bank overdraft was guaranteed by his family. The family offered to give up 2,000 shares and wipe the debt, if the club relieved them of the bank loan guarantee. The club agreed and a new share issue was released in 1906 with 15,000 shares available for £1 each.

After winning the league in our first season LFC were accepted into the footy league, division 2 for the 1893/94 season following the resignations of Accrington and also Bootle.

The appointment of Tom Watson as the club’s manager in 1896 led to our first period of sustained success. Liverpool consolidated their position in the league following promotion to the first division and won their first league title in 1901. A further championship followed in 1906.

In 1914 the club reached it’s first ever FA Cup final, but we lost to Burnley. I’ve never liked Burnley ever since 😁.

Watson died suddenly in 1915 of pneumonia after the outbreak of the First World war. ( That’s one way to dodge the draft. A bit extreme, granted ).

Liverpool won two more titles in 1922 and 23 after footy resumed after the war.

An expansion of the Main Stand in the late 19th century increased the capacity to 20,000 as more people began to watch Liverpool. The Spion Kop was expanded in the 1920’s to further increase capacity. The Spion Kop was originally given it’s name by a journalist called Ernest Edwards, a sports editor after a famous hill in South Africa were local regiments suffered heavy losses during the Boer War. ( I wonder if Tommy fought in that.., probably, he’s such a lad.)

Our fortunes took a downward spiral during the inter war years were we often finished mid table. It wasn’t until 1947 were we would become Champions of England once again in the first season after WW2.

Unfortunately we couldn’t sustain the momentum and were relegated in 1954… I know..,us relegated WTAF🤷.

We were in the wilderness for half a century before the master technician took over, the Great Bill Shankly………..

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……,,.,,To be continued.