The Man Who Created Merseyside Football

A comprehensive look into early professional football, this biography of Everton and Liverpool’s founding father John Houlding breaks new ground by addressing the important role of football club ownership in the early history of the game.

Football supporters the world over are aware of the great rivalry that exists between the two giants of Merseyside football, Everton and Liverpool. This rivalry was created out of a split within Everton FC that gave rise, in 1892, to Liverpool FC. The two clubs subsequently went on to dominate the English game, amassing twenty-seven English top flight titles between them, more than any other city in the country.

What isn’t as well known is that one man was responsible for the rise of both clubs: former Lord Mayor of Liverpool, John Houlding. In The Man Who Created Merseyside Football: John Houlding, Founding Father of Liverpool and Everton, David Kennedy recounts the sporting legacy of Houlding. A brewer and Conservative politician, Houlding was a polarising yet fascinating figure. His financial input, first at Everton Football Club and then at Liverpool Football Club, provided the launch pad for the establishment of two nationally and internationally known sporting organizations. By the time of his death in 1902, both clubs had reached the pinnacle of the English game and Houlding’s place as the founding father of professional football in Merseyside was assured.

More than just a football biography, The Man Who Created Merseyside Football also details the many other aspects of Houlding’s life—a family man, businessman, and local politician with parliamentary aspirations. His business and political life, in fact, became entangled in dramatic fashion with the Liverpool football scene on more than one occasion. The complete story of this captivating and influential individual is finally told for the first time in this book, in full and wonderful detail.

“Expertly researched and exquisitely written, this long overdue book profiles the life of an unsung pioneer without whose ambition, influence, and financial support Everton enthusiasts would still be playing in Stanley Park and Liverpool Football Club would not exist. Under his stewardship, both Merseyside clubs captured the League title and reshaped the second city of the British Empire into the capital of British football. This fascinating biography deserves a prominent place on the bookshelves of both Blues and Reds as well as those of other football devotees.”

A riveting story, beautifully researched, about a man at the very heart of the nineteenth century nexus of politics, drink, religion and football in Liverpool, that helped to shape its contemporary form, but also impacted on the future of the 'people's game' and its clubs in one of the sport's greatest northern strongholds.

--John Williams, University of Leicester

David Kennedy has produced a biography of Everton and Liverpool's founding father John Houlding that breaks new ground by addressing the important role of football club ownership in the early history of the game. This book will be of interest to football fans, social historians and readers interested in how the connections between sport, business and politics played out in one of the hubs of the English game.

--Aaron Gourley, Editor, FCBusiness Magazine

The early history of Everton and Liverpool, and Everton's famous split from Anfield, are some of the most remarkable and fascinating events in the foundations of English football. It is immensely valuable to have such a thorough and comprehensive telling of that history by David Kennedy, through the life of John Houlding, the dominant and controversial Victorian magnate who founded Liverpool after Everton's bitter exit

--David Conn, The Guardian

This is a fascinating, stimulating and much needed biography of the most important--and most controversial--figure in the early histories of Liverpool and Everton football clubs. David Kennedy breathes fresh life into the complex story of John Houlding not only from a football perspective, but also his humble beginnings, his rise up the social ladder through his brewing business to his wider role in the city of Liverpool and its civic culture.

--Neil Carter, International Centre for Sports History and Culture, De Montfort University

David Kennedy, PhD, is a researcher and author whose focus is on football (soccer) club governance. He has written multiple articles on the subject and is the author of A Social and Political History of Everton and Liverpool Football Clubs: The Split, 1878-1914 (2017). He is also the author of Football Supporters and the Commercialisation of Football: Comparative Responses Across Europe (2012), Fan Culture in European Football and the Influence of Left Wing Ideology (2013), Football in Neo-Liberal Times (2016), and DIY Football: The Cultural Politics of Community Based Football Clubs (2017).

A comprehensive look into early professional football, this biography of Everton and Liverpool's founding father John Houlding breaks new ground by addressing the important role of football club ownership in the early history of the game. Football supporters the world over are aware of the great rivalry that exists between the two giants of Merseyside football, Everton and Liverpool. This rivalry was created out of a split within Everton FC that gave rise, in 1892, to Liverpool FC. The two clubs subsequently went on to dominate the English game, amassing twenty-seven English top flight titles between them, more than any other city in the country. What isn't as well known is that one man was responsible for the rise of both clubs: former Lord Mayor of Liverpool, John Houlding. In The Man Who Created Merseyside Football: John Houlding, Founding Father of Liverpool and Everton, David Kennedy recounts the sporting legacy of Houlding. A brewer and Conservative politician, Houlding was a polarising yet fascinating figure. His financial input, first at Everton Football Club and then at Liverpool Football Club, provided the launch pad for the establishment of two nationally and internationally known sporting organizations. By the time of his death in 1902, both clubs had reached the pinnacle of the English game and Houlding's place as the founding father of professional football in Merseyside was assured. More than just a football biography, The Man Who Created Merseyside Football also details the many other aspects of Houlding's life-a family man, businessman, and local politician with parliamentary aspirations. His business and political life, in fact, became entangled in dramatic fashion with the Liverpool football scene on more than one occasion. The complete story of this captivating and influential individual is finally told for the first time in this book, in full and wonderful detail.

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