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The 1950s was not a particularly good decade for Liverpool Football Club.

Aside from an FA Cup final appearance right at the start of it and the appointment of Bill Shankly at the end of it, the rest was hugely disappointing.

The Reds had won the First Division title as recently as 1947, but by the time Don Welsh took charge in 1951 they were already a side on the wane.

The Manchester-born boss was brought in from Third Division (south) outfit Brighton to try and boost the club's flagging fortunes. It was a welcome arrival, particularly as he had made a good impression guesting for the Reds as a player during the war in the 1939-40 season.

However, Welsh took charge of an ageing team and despite bringing in a number of new players he could not halt the slump.

The Balmer/Stubbins era would shortly come to an end and the team relied too much on the mercurial Billy Liddell, who had become so important and influential that some supporters nicknamed the club “Liddellpool” in his honour.

But even Liddell couldn’t stop the team’s slide down the table. They survived the drop in 1953 with a last day of the season victory at Chelsea, but there would be no escaping their fate. A year later Welsh became the first Reds boss in over 50 years to put Liverpool through relegation. They finished bottom of the pile with only nine victories and just 28 points.

These were difficult times for the club and the writing was on the wall for Welsh when the club could only manage an 11th place finish in 1955 - a season that included a terrible 9-1 humiliation at the hands of eventual champions Birmingham City.

The directors believed that a change was needed and Welsh was dismissed towards the end of the 1955-56 season.