services, with the minutes from
a further club meeting declaring:
“If the L’pool FC had negotiated
with Hodgson and paid for his
fare, we take no action, but
should he come to us as a
freelance & offer his services we
enter into negotiations.”
Everton were not given the
opportunity to discuss terms as
he was registered as a player
at Anfield on 15 December- Four days later, as the
fashionable Lewis’s store in
Liverpool city-centre was
opening until 9pm for Christmas
shopping, he made his debut
in a 1-0 reserve-team defeat at
Manchester City.
March 1926 saw him net his
maiden goals for the first team,
two in a 3-3 draw at Manchester
United. After becoming a regular
in the side he also settled quickly
off the field, marrying Doris
Huckell from Brunswick Road
in Liverpool's Islington at West
Derby Registry Office in 1928.
A stunning total of 241 goals in
377 appearances during just a
decade at the club included
17 Hodgson hat-tricks – a figure
still unequalled.
The first came in a 5-1 Anfield
win over Sheffield United on
Saturday 11 September 1926.
Arguably the most famous was
on Boxing Day 1928 at Anfield
in an 8-0 thrashing of Burnley.
Full-back Bob Done even missed
a penalty for Liverpool that day
which begs the question why
Gordon wasn't on spot-taking
duty; as it was, he did convert
sixteen of the 19 penalties he
took for the Reds.
His 36 goals, all in the league,
during 1930/31 wouldn’t be
surpassed until Roger Hunt
came along three decades later.
So impressive was his form
that Hodgson was picked to
represent England, the birthplace
of his parents, despite having
already played for his native
country. And his popularity
on the Anfield terraces wasemphasised by the fact that
a local biscuit-seller named
his homemade ginger nuts
‘Hodgson’s Choice’!
Between 1928 and 1933 he
also played cricket 56 times for
Lancashire, and he was gifted
at baseball: it was said he could
strike one as unerringly as
American ace Babe Ruth – quite
a compliment.
Gordon was eventually
joined in the Reds first XI by hiscompatriot Riley, who was the
last line of Liverpool’s defence
on 338 occasions. The only
downside to their time at the
club was the lack of silverware,
with a fifth-placed finish in
1928/29 the best the team
managed.
That season, the year after
Everton centre-forward Dixie
Dean scored his legendary 60
league goals, Hodgson plundered- There were two hat-tricks,
including a first-half treble
against Arsenal.
His most productive season for
the Reds came in 1930/31 when
he set a new club-record with 36
league goals in 40 appearances.
IT IS NOT ALWAYS
ADVISABLE TO TRY
TO BREAK THE NET
- A PLACED SHOT IS
MORE SATISFACTORY
125: THEN
Third-from-left giving a team-mate
a piggy-back in training, 1930