Just As Sweet As Beating United
Posted by teine on September 3, 2024, 07:30:05 am
Bob Paisley was the last Liverpool boss to do what Arne Slot has just done - get a victory in his first game against United. That was in November 75 - a 3-1 win at Anfield.
Doing it at Old Trafford also has its precedent, but you have to go right back to November 21st 1936, when George Kays team came away with a 5-2 win.
If we look back at that time, we find some fascinating things going on, and we discover that, while you'd think nothing could surpass the feeling of a thumping win at United, there was another opponent back then against whom victory was just as sweet (and I don't mean Everton).
In the Football Echo after that win at Old Trafford, alongside reports of Fred Howes hat-trick, there was a feature about a new piece of equipment George Kay had introduced, called a shooting box.
When Kay took over in August, moving from Southampton, he said he planned to revolutionize the clubs training methods, and on October 1st the Liverpool Daily Post reported that the clubs car park was to be covered with asphalt and a new open-air gymnasium constructed. This would include a shooting box - a device for developing forwards who can shoot with both feet - and a football tennis court.
By the middle of November, just in time for the trip to United, the new equipment was in place, and we could see pictures of the players trying it out. This is from the Echo:
This is from the Liverpool Evening Express on the same day, and shows the football tennis court too. Have a look at the fellow on the far side of the net:
Recognize him?
Its Matt Busby.
Three days later came that 5-2 victory, which left United rock bottom of the table. These were the cartoons in the Echo that evening:
George Green would have drawn those cartoons before the result was known, but they must have brought a smile to the faces of fans snapping up copies of the paper when they arrived back at Lime Street that evening. It seemed George Kays training methods had produced instant dividends.
Sadly, there was a dark side to the days events. Liverpool fan Joseph Windsor, aged, 75, of Badminton Street in Toxteth, collapsed and died at the game.
And there is also a darker side to this whole story.
In the same week as the Echo was telling us about George Kays new ideas, there were two stories about Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists. One told us that his visit to Liverpool was going ahead as scheduled on October 11th. He planned to lead a march from Lime Street to the Stadium on Pudsey Street, where there would be a rally of his followers.
There was also this curious snippet of news:
The purpose of his visit was not revealed at the time, but he had gone to Germany to marry Diana Mitford, the wedding taking place at the home of Joseph Goebbels, Hitlers Minister of Propaganda. Hitler himself was one of the wedding guests.
Just before he left London, Mosley had planned a march through the East End, which resulted in the infamous Battle of Cable Street, when police tried to break down barricades set up by anti-fascist demonstrators.
When Mosley and the BUF arrived in Liverpool, there were an estimated 50,000 people on the streets of the city determined to disrupt proceedings. Mosley had intended to give a fascist salute on the steps of the Adelphi Hotel, but the crowds were too large, and he was prevented from doing so.
The BUF rally went ahead as planned at the Stadium.
It was a year later that Mosley returned to Liverpool and got his comeuppance.
He had just climbed on to the roof a van in Queen's Drive in Walton to give a speech. Before he began, he gave a fascist salute and was immediately met by a hail of bricks and stones. One of them hit him, with Fred Howe-like accuracy, right in the temple, and he collapsed with blood streaming from the wound:
Mosley was taken to Walton Hospital, where he remained for several days.
That was the last we heard of the British Union of Fascists in the city.
So two very sweet victories to look back on. It just leaves two questions to be raised:
Was there any connection between George Kay's 'shooting box' and the famous Shankly 'sweat box' at Melwood? They are of a similar shape and size, and it would be great if anyone could shed any further light on this.
What would happen if a Mosley-like figure tried to pull a similar stunt today? He would no doubt get a similar reception from the people of Liverpool. And how about Manchester? You'd like to think it would be the same. But with thousands of Mancunians on Sunday aligning themselves once again with that Goebbels-like propaganda in Murdoch's newspaper, you have to wonder.
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