Liverpool Football Club (Liverpool FC), founded in 1892, is a top-ranked English professional football club. With an estimated global fan base of 101.6 million in 2022, it is one of the most popular and followed football clubs worldwide.
The Reds (the Liverpool home kit is all red, and the club has always worn red since 1896), as they are popularly known, are based in – you guessed it – Liverpool, particularly Anfield Stadium. Liverpool FC is one of the mainstays in the top tier of English football, the Premier League; the club has competed in the Premier League since the 1992/93 season. Since 1892, the club has won 19 league titles, including a Premier League championship in 2019/20.
A large part of what makes Liverpool FC so great is its managers. Liverpool FC has had around 21 managers since its establishment in 1892. You can see their impact in the titles, cups, shields, and all the silverware the club has amassed in its trophy room through the years. However, the managers’ true measure is found in the moments that have left an indelible mark on football’s collective memory and in their contribution to what Liverpool FC is today.
In this article, you will read about the managers who have shaped Liverpool FC’s history through the years – from the club’s founding in Anfield until its rebirth as the now-elite Liverpool FC under the management of the legend that was Bill Shankly.
1892: John McKenna & William Barclay
John McKenna and William Barclay make up the duo that got the ball rolling, so to speak, after John Houlding decided to establish Liverpool Football Club. McKenna and Barclay shared the secretarial and managerial duties and went to Scotland to recruit the club’s first players.
That first Liverpool FC team was called the ‘Team of Macs’. It earned the moniker because of the many players whose surnames begin with ‘Mc’.
1896: Tom Watson
Tom Watson, formerly of Sunderland club, led Liverpool FC to its first Division One title in 1901. While the club was relegated to Division Two in 1904, it quickly turned things around, winning the Second Division championship in 1905, getting promoted back to top-tier football, and promptly winning the Division One title in 1905/06, the first season it was back.
Watson was the club’s longest-serving manager, remaining with Liverpool FC until he died in 1915.
1918: George Patterson
George Patterson, who had been part of the team occupying various roles since 1908, took over when Watson died in 1915. He became the official club manager in 1918 but managed the team only for 18 games before his contract expired and a new club manager took charge in 1919.
1919: David Ashworth
David Ashworth, an Irishman and a former referee, was club manager from 1919 until 1922. He was at the helm when Liverpool FC won its third league title in the 1921/22 season. It was a shock for everyone when Ashworth suddenly left Liverpool FC to return to Oldham, a club he used to manage, in the middle of the 1922/1923 season.
1923: Matt McQueen
Matt McQueen, one of Liverpool FC’s Team Macs players, became the club manager in the wake of Ashworth’s sudden departure. He successfully defended Liverpool FC’s league ascendancy, retaining the club’s First Division championship (its fourth league title) in 1922/23. He also signed South African striker Gordon Hodgson, who would score almost 250 senior goals in less than 400 appearances.
McQueen stepped down as manager in 1928. Before he did, however, the club’s fortunes had already started turning.
1928: George Patterson
When McQueen resigned in 1928, George Patterson again took on the role of club manager. He kept the club afloat for eight years, but the pressure of keeping the club in the top tier proved too much for him. He decided to resign as club manager but held his post as club secretary.
1936: George Kay
George Kay, formerly of Southampton, was the club manager when Liverpool FC won its fifth league title in 1946/47, the first full football season played after World War II. Unfortunately, the team languished and did not come close to winning another league title during the rest of his term as club manager.
1951: Don Welsh
When Kay retired in 1951, the board convinced Don Welsh to leave Brighton & Hove Albion for Liverpool. He remained for five years and managed 232 games.
Unfortunately, no title was forthcoming during his term, and in 1954, Liverpool FC was relegated to Division Two. There, it would remain until Welsh left the club in 1956.
1956: Phil Taylor
Former Liverpool FC player Phil Taylor was part of the team that won the 1947 championship post-World War II. Unfortunately, as a club manager, he spent all his years in Division Two. He resigned in November 1959.
1959: Bill Shankly
If you ask football fans for the names of the most important figures ever associated with Liverpool FC, Bill Shankly or ‘Shanks’ would be right up there with the club founder. He is the ‘father of modern Liverpool’. He was the man whose determination took the club out of Division Two, where it languished for eight consecutive seasons, and back to top-tier football in 1962.
Within two seasons of the club’s promotion to Division One, in 1963/64, Liverpool FC was back on top, winning its sixth league title. Bill Shankly’s Liverpool FC won two more league titles, its seventh and eighth, in 1966 and 1973.
Liverpool FC won the Football Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup) in 1965. It had come within reach of the FA Cup when it made its appearance in the 1914 final under Watson’s management, but this was the first time it won the silverware. Shankly’s Liverpool FC then went on to win the 1973 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Cup and the 1974 FA Cup.
Shankly quit the club in 1974 after the FA Cup win and nearly 15 years since he joined Liverpool FC. In a BBC interview, he stated that he felt it was time to rest. While he wanted to continue helping the club after retirement, the club board eventually banned him from attending training sessions because his presence undermined the authority of the new manager.
Shanks’ relationship with the directors might have soured at the end, but all Liverpool FC fans know the score. Shanks’ legacy remains and will continue to be remembered by millions of Liverpool FC fans worldwide.
Liverpool FC Managers: From Birth to Rebirth
The years 1892 until 1974 were a tumultuous period for Liverpool FC and still make for exciting conversation in sports bars among club fans. It began at the top, stagnated and fell off its pedestal, but soon regained its footing as an elite football club. Through it all, the club managers took charge and guided the team through their ups and downs, making a contribution and leaving their mark.
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