August 29, 1930
Liverpool F.C. have rarely been so pleased about a season. They have never been fatuous optimists nor foolish pessimists, but they reckon that this famous half-back line of theirs is going to repay them three-fold. It reads: –
Morrison – Bradshaw – McDougall.
Not a thin red line by any means, but a solid Scottish phalanx. Morrison, near Christmas time, was expected to be due for a cartilage operation. He recovered and dodged that. Many thought the club bought a physical pup when they signed Bradshaw at the biggest fee they have ever paid. Bradshaw was sure tender, but he was also true, and his method of deadening a ball and getting the ball away to his forwards was such that the Liverpool attack, far from being a racing, struggling set of units, began to play collective cohesive football. The change was welcome. McDougall has always been a charm as wing half-back, and has aimed at linking up with the attack, but they have not quite fallen into the groove created by his ideas.
In the attack they tell me Gordon Hodgson is now fully recovered from the illness that bothered him last season; today he is faster than ever, and is expected to mix or blend with a line that carries much weight, much endeavour and determination, and some skill.
Liverpool: Arthur Riley, James Jackson, Tommy Lucas, Tom Morrison, Tom Bradshaw, Jimmy McDougall, Dick Edmed, Gordon Hodgson, Jimmy Smith, Archie Macpherson, Fred Hopkin.
Blackburn Rovers: Cliff Binns, Jack Hutton, Herbert Jones, Bill Imrie, Willie Rankin, Jack Roscamp, Jack Bruton, Syd Puddefoot, Clarrie Bourton, Tommy McLean, Arthur Cunliffe.
(Source: Liverpool Echo: August 29, 1930)
"Play Up, Liverpool" 