Profile

When David Ashworth suddenly and surprisingly left Anfield for Oldham Athletic early in 1923, Liverpool turned to one of their directors as a temporary answer.

The Reds were top of the table and battling to retain the title so it needed to be the right choice if they were to succeed.

Up stepped 60-year-old Matt McQueen, a former Reds player who would not only keep the team on course for back-to-back titles, but would also remain in the hot-seat for the next five years.

Matt and his brother Hugh had been two of the many Scotsmen recruited by John McKenna shortly after Liverpool were founded in 1892 following Everton’s decision to move from Anfield to Goodison Park.

Both had played in Liverpool’s first-ever Football League match, against Middlesbrough Ironopolis in September, 1893.

When his playing days were over, McQueen took the qualifications necessary to become a Football League referee and officiated as a linesman for a brief period in 1904.

Towards the end of the First World War, he was appointed to become a director on Liverpool’s board before eventually taking over team affairs.

However, after the successive championships of 1922 and 1923, the club’s fortunes declined somewhat with finishes of 12th, fourth, seventh and ninth.

The 1927-28 campaign would prove to be the last straw for McQueen and he resigned midway through the season with the Reds just about managing to avoid relegation.

He had tragically lost a leg in a road accident in the early 1920s and his health had deteriorated further by the end of the decade.

Before he stood down, McQueen had made one of Liverpool’s most significant signings ever, when he brought in South African Gordon Hodgson, a wonderful striker of the ball who would go on score nearly 250 senior goals for the club in less than 400 appearances.