Club Legend – Matt McQueen

matt mcqueen liverpool fc manager

Nowadays, you can easily point to any number of Scottish influences when it comes to Liverpool Football Club. Bill Shankly is the most prominent, of course, but Kenny Dalglish would rival him in terms of a Scot with close ties to Anfield, whilst players such as Andy Robertson have put themselves into the great pantheon of those that have lined up in the famous Red kit.

From a managerial point of view, though, there is a solid argument that Matt McQueen was the one who started it all. Born in Harthill in 1863, he made a name for himself as a player and was part of the ‘Team of All the Macs’ that John McKenna assembled.

He enjoyed some success as a Liverpool player, taking the qualifications needed in the wake of his retirement as a player to become a professional referee and linesman. In some ways, it is perhaps not all that surprising that he took on the manager’s role at Liverpool given his experience, with the only shock being that he did so on a temporary basis initially.

Despite the fact that he was neatly 60 when he was asked to step in as a temporary manager, he remained in the post for nearly five years before poor health eventually forced him to step down from his position at the club after more than decade’s association.

The Early Years

Matt McQueen was born in the small rural village of Harthill on the 18th of May 1863. Harthill is split between North Lanarkshire and West Lothian, being roughly halfway between Edinburgh and Glasgow. It is perhaps not all that surprising, then, that McQueen went to play for West Benhar Football Club in the mining settlement after which it was named, given its proximity to where he grew up.

He didn’t remain there for long, however, being snapped up by Leith Athletic in 1885 and remaining there for two years before Heart of Midlothian signed him. He played 29 times for them, scoring three goals.

At that point, McQueen returned to Leith Athletic, adding another 93 appearances and two goals to his name. South of the border, John McKenna was putting a team together for Liverpool that he hoped would eventually be able to rival Everton, the club that had abandoned Anfield and given a reason for Liverpool’s existence.

He was look for Scottish players to fill the ranks, with Matt McQueen and his brother Hugh being amongst a horde of Scots that he persuaded to head to Liverpool and join the club. He made his debut on the 29th of October 1892, just a few days after signing, being part of the team that defeated Newton 9-0 in the FA Cup second round.

Playing for Liverpool

Matt McQueen scored his first Liverpool goal on the third of December, getting the opening goal in a 7-0 win over Fleetwood Rangers in a Lancashire League game. When the Reds played their first Football League game against Middlesbrough Ironopolis on the second of September 1893, the McQueen brothers were in the starting line-up for the 2-0 win.

During that first season, McQueen’s best position could be settled on and he played virtually every one on the pitch, including five games as the goalkeeper. He would eventually wrack up 37 league appearances for Liverpool in goal, which amounted to more than a third of his league starts.

That odd season meant that McQueen achieved a unique record, becoming the only man in the history of the English game to win league winners’ medals as both a goalkeeper and an outfield player in the same season.

Those winners’ medals came as part of the Liverpool team that won the Second Division in both 1893-1894 and 1895-1896, with the player eventually notching up 150 matches for the Reds in all competitions, playing every outfield position, with another 12 starts as goalkeeper on top of the 37 in the league. He also played for Scotland on a couple of occasions, though both came whilst he was a Leith player.

Becoming Liverpool Manager

In the December of 1922, David Ashworth shocked the footballing world when he decided to leave Liverpool in order to return to his former club of Oldham Athletic. The departure might not have been much of a shock in and of itself, but Ashworth had won the First Division title with Liverpool and was on course to win his second when he left, whilst Oldham Athletic were battling relegation.

Liverpool needed someone to step in and help defend the First Division title, turning to former player and one-time referee Matt McQueen on what was thought would be a temporary basis, with McQueen accepting the role.

Not only was McQueen an obvious candidate on account of the fact that he had been a player for the Reds, he had also been appointed as a Director on Liverpool’s Board as the end of the First World War approached. In spite of the fact that Liverpool struggled in the absence of Ashworth, McQueen managed to get them to hold on to successfully defend the title, which goes down in history as having been won by him.

McQueen was nearly 60 when he was given the manager’s job, but he remained in position for another five years, even though Liverpool’s fortunes declined under his stewardship with a 12th place finish in his first full year in the role.

Liverpool’s Decline & McQueen’s Departure

They finished fourth the season after and seventh and then ninth in the two that followed, with the 1927-1928 campaign getting underway in poor form. The Reds had achieved a mere six wins from 17 games when Manchester United arrived at Anfield on Christmas Eve. When the campaign had reached its conclusion the record books would show that Liverpool ended up relatively comfortably in 16th position.

That doesn’t tell the full story, however, with Middlesborough and Tottenham Hotspur relegated with 37 and 38 points respectively, but seven different clubs including Liverpool escaping the drop with 39 points.

That, though, was not all that much to do with McQueen. In the early part of the 1920s, McQueen had been in a road traffic accident that had resulted in him losing a leg. As the decade wore on, his health deteriorated and it became clear that he wouldn’t be able to remain in position. He did still have an eye for a player, however, and was responsible for signing South African player Gordon Hodgson.

Though another Hodgson would be seen as a failure at Liverpool many years in the future, Gordon was a resounding success, scoring just shy of 250 goals in fewer than 400 appearances for the Reds.

Matt McQueen Honours List

As with so many other Scots over the years, Matt McQueen took Liverpool to his heart. He lived just a stone’s throw from Anfield on the Kemlyn Road, being a frequent visitor until he died. That happened on the 28th of September in 1944, when he was 81-years-old.

In total he took charge of 229 matches for Liverpool, resulting in 93 wins, 60 draws and 76 losses for a win percentage of 40.61%. He won the Second Division twice as a player, but achieved just one trophy win as manager and even that is seen as debatable by some:

  • Football League First Division: 1923

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