May 20, 1912
Liverpool are proceeding satisfactorily with their signing-on. James Speakman and Jack Parkinson having come to terms with the club. During the week the Anfielders made an important acquisition in Bob Ferguson, the captain and centre half-back of Third Lanark. Ferguson is a prince of half-backs, although his services may not have been required by the selectors, excepting in a Glasgow and Sheffield inter-city game, and the only other honour Robert has is a Glasgow Cup medal. He earned both.
Standing 5ft. 10½in. in height and weighing 12 stone. Nature has endowed him with a bulk which opposing forwards find difficult to circumvent.
Strong as a lion, and active as a mouse, it is not to be wondered at that his forte is in breaking up combination – and admirable point in a centre half-backs’s play.
Ferguson was born in Cleland, a little Lanarkshire village, some 25 years ago, and after playing for the local Rangers, was spirited away to Cathkin, where he has been held in the highest esteem for six years. He waited with complacency for two seasons before finding his true position, and since has never relinquished it.
Abounding with an earnestness of purpose, he is a loyal club-man, and many have been glad to emulate his example. Never afraid to find the location of the goal area, he has often turned defeat into victory, and as a defender is hard to surpass. He should be a worthy successor to Alex Raisbeck.
The very antithesis of the rolling-stone, he is nevertheless an ostentatious player, and although taking the game as serious as a judge he is a very human sort of fellow in the pavilion. A decided gain to Liverpool, his transfer, which is said to be for climatic reasons, will be a serious loss to Third Lanark.
(Source: Athletic News: May 20, 1912)
Bob Ferguson.
"Play Up, Liverpool" 