In a packed committee room at the Presbyterian School on Royal Street, Everton Valley, a meeting took place in 1892 which would ultimately lead to the birth of one of the most successful and well-known football clubs in Europe.
The city’s first football club, Everton, had won the newly formed Football League title in 1891 but all was not well as the club president John Houlding, a brewer, local politician and owner of the club’s Anfield stadium was making plenty of enemies in the boardroom.
Directors were unhappy with a range of issues including the fact that the team had to change in the nearby Sandon Pub opposite the ground, as well as the fact that Houlding had tried to set up a new company, the Everton Football and Athletic Grounds Company Limited; only fuelling rumours that their landlord wanted to raise the rent and was preparing for the future if his tenants didn’t cooperate.
When Everton joined the Football League in 1888 their gates at the time were among the largest in the country and the revenue generated resulted in Houlding charging £240 a year in rent, but when they won the Football League title for the first time three years later Houlding saw it as a golden opportunity to cash in.
Houlding suggested an increase that, in total, would amount to around an extra £100 per year, the club felt this was an unrealistic hike from what they had been paying and asked Houlding to reduce the cost; but Houlding was having none of it.
His opponents, of which there were many, believed that it was his intention to steal the club away from them while making a tidy profit in the process and categorically refused to pay up – something had to give, or in this case someone would have to budge.
A vote was called by Everton’s board members to decide the future of the club and the equation was simple; if Houlding was defeated Everton would be shipping out, leaving him with a football ground, but no team to play there.
So on March 15, 1892, the inevitable happened as Houlding lost by 500 votes to 10 at a Special General Meeting, and as a result of the split the former Everton President formed what we now know as Liverpool Football Club who would now play their football at Anfield.
Along with Bootle FC the city now had a third football team and one of the greatest rivalries in football which had begun in the boardroom would go on to divide families and friends throughout the city and around the country for the next century and beyond.
Houlding hastily assembled a squad of players dubbed the “team of Macs,” thanks to the fact that so many of them were Scottish and appointed William Edward Barclay as manager of Anfield’s new inhabitants, while Everton moved across Stanley Park to a new home on Goodison Road.
However, his application to join the Football League was rejected so Liverpool entered the Lancashire League and on September 3, 1892, still playing in their blue and white shirts, which they wore until 1896, ran out for their first competitive game at home to Higher Walton, in front of a crowd of just 300; a match Liverpool won 8-0.
Winning the Lancashire League at the first attempt Liverpool joined the Football League Second Division at the start of the 1893/94 season, ironically replacing Bootle who had resigned from the league, and after finishing in first place the club was finally promoted to the First Division.
They won their first league championship in 1901 and again in 1906; just two of many titles the club would go on to claim in the years to come as they went on to become one of the most decorated sides in English football as well as conquering Europe too.
