A new book recalling the triumphant season which set Merseyside fans’ hearts racing is reviewed by Eric Brown…
BY ERIC BROWN
In 1906, The Athletic News published a cartoon to commemorate Merseyside’s domination of English club football.
The cartoon consisted of an Everton and a Liverpool player sitting astride a giant football.
The Liverpool player holds a pennant inscribed “The League” while the Everton figure holds aloft the FA Cup. The ball is inscribed “1905-06 Supremacy.” Merseyside was then indeed on top of the football world, with each of its two major clubs claiming football’s glittering prizes.
The story of how they rose like cream to the top of English football in a single season has been pieced together by Liverpool fan Kieran Smith in a new book, “Scouse Supremacy: Liverpool, Everton and the Story of the 1905-06 Season.”
Carefully researched material from newspapers of the day includes match-by-match accounts of Liverpool’s title march under captain Alexander Raisbeck and Everton’s FA Cup journey under Scottish captain Jack Taylor.
Perhaps more informative for general football fans are Smith’s scene-setting chapters. He takes the reader back 120 years with such fervour and accuracy that one can almost imagine Sherlock Holmes popping up, blowing pipe smoke across the pages.
Advanced copy of my new book. After a personally challenging 18 months it’s amazing to finally hold it. Big thanks to @PitchPublishing & my family & friends https://t.co/Ff8ocvGfF9 #liverpool #everton #scousesupremacy https://t.co/GidCsxnVIN
— Kieran Smith (@lfchistorical) July 30, 2026
The Mersey clubs’ joint golden season arrived when England’s Prime Minister was Liberal Henry Campbell Bannerman, actress Greta Garbo was born, and more than 700 people lost their lives in a devastating San Francisco earthquake.
Football was very different. Star players lived in digs within walking distance from their respective clubs rather than the five-star hotels routinely occupied by current out-of-town signings. A million pounds would probably have bought you all the First Division clubs then, but now it wouldn’t pay for a decent striker’s left foot.
Fans of both clubs worked Saturday mornings in the docks or the factories collecting tiny pay packets barely exceeding £3 a week and counting out the cash for admission money before setting out for the walk to Goodison Park or Anfield.
Supporters had their standards. A photograph in the book shows Everton followers in London heading for the 1906 FA Cup Final. All of them seem to be wearing their best suits with waistcoats, pocket watches on chains, and neatly-fastened collars and ties.
In the background, bystanders are wearing top hats. Players on maximum wages were limited to £4 a week during the season, and the lucky ones might have summer jobs found for them by club directors.
Everton and Liverpool headed into the record books mainly through the efforts of two men, says Smith. Tom Watson ran Liverpool, and Will Cuff did the same job at Everton.
There were no managers then. Watson and Cuff were nominally secretaries but administered the clubs from top to bottom.
They would be responsible for booking trains to away matches, recruiting and housing players, paying wages, gate receipts, season ticket administration, arranging fixtures, transfer negotiations and keeping the books as well as ground maintenance.
Directors actually picked the teams, but Cuff and Watson had a major say in that by presenting the Board with a list of players fit and available for each fixture. Such demanding multi-tasking would surely be greeted with disbelief today by major clubs who employ a small army of people to cover those roles.
Meanwhile, fans had to be content with frequent soakings in grounds with little cover where the only refreshment might be a cup of hot Bovril if you didn’t mind missing the start of the second half while queuing for it. After the game, they’d seek out a Liverpool Echo match report which might have been delivered to impatient editors by carrier pigeon.
Oh, and as an aside, Mr Smith mentions a scandal of the day in which a top club inflated payments. The club? Manchester City.
Their charismatic winger Billy Meredith reckoned he was worth more than £4 a week since his skills drew large crowds wherever he played. The club agreed, but the FA got wind of City’s scheme, and charges and hearings followed.
Heavy fines were implemented and 17 players were suspended with secretary Tom Maley banned for life, although this was later reduced.
Maybe football hasn’t changed so very much after all.
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