June 24, 1910
A good story is told of Mr. John McKenna, who has just been elected President of the English Football League.
Mr. McKenna, who is the leading light of the Liverpool Club, went to Edinburgh on one occasion to capture a well-known centre-forward, but on arrival he found that a representative of Burnley had forestalled him.
Concealing his disappointment, he accompanied the Burnley man to watch a game in which the much-sought-after forward was playing.
To the secret delight of Mr. McKenna, the boy gave a most ordinary display, and long before the finish his colleagues had ignored him. The Burnleyites were, of course, in a quandary, not wishing to take so moderate a player back to Lancashire, but the wily McKenna ventured the opinion that he might after all develop into a good footballer.
“Do you think so?” was the query.
“I do,” said the Liverpool agent.
“Would you care, then, to buy his papers?” said Burnley, clutching a straw.
“I would at a price,” said Brer Rabbit from Liverpool, and that is how the Mersey club got George Allan, who in the same season helped Scotland to defeat England at the Crystal Palace by 2 goals to 1.
(Source: Ballymena Observer: June 24, 1910)
"Play Up, Liverpool" 