The story of Liverpool’s historic first FA Cup final – the manager arrived in a taxi!

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Here, This Is Anfield publishes an exclusive extract, which details how Watson shocked the sporting press by eliminating Aston Villa at the FA Cup semi-final stage, securing Liverpool’s first appearance in the final at Crystal Palace in 1914: Extract from ‘Red Dawn: The Ballad of Tom Watson and Liverpool FC’s First Champions‘, written by Jeff Goulding and Kieran Smith. Before the game, he assembled his players in a hotel for lunch and, as they finished, he rose to his feet to deliver one of the greatest battle-cries the team had ever heard.

In it he describes Watson’s harsh words for the gentleman of Fleet Street, and by all accounts “Owd Tom” had turned red in the face, such was his anger. This meant so much to Tom, and the thought that his players were giving the occasion anything less than their utmost concentration had infuriated him. ‘[…] Manager Tom Watson, one of the greatest the club ever had,’ the Echo continues, ‘tore such a large strip off them they would far rather be sent Anfieldwards to escape such a verbal lashing.’ Secrecy around the events was maintained for five decades, and supporters who attended the match never heard of what happened before the game.

Campbell explains how the team had been aware of the challenge that lay ahead of them, but they were nonetheless confident that they would ‘take a lot of beating.’ He would also recall how the loss of captain, Harry Lowe would prove extremely costly: ‘[…] our hopes got a wee bit shattered by an unfortunate incident, and I do not hesitate to say that it had a deal to do with what happened to us at the Palace. ‘We played Middlesbrough in a League match the week previous to the final, and owing to our having a somewhat weak team out – Lacey, Sheldon, Longworth, and myself of the cup-tie team were not playing – we went down 4-0. ‘That in itself would have been a bit of a shock, but what really did tell was a regrettable accident to Harry Lowe, our centre-half, who had his knee injured in this game. The players joked amongst themselves that they had been kidnapped, but Tom Watson was beside himself with worry.