Metcalf Arthur Image 2 Liverpool 1913

Description

Sunderland born inside forward Arthur Metcalf had played junior football for St George’s (Sunderland), Herrington Swifts and Hebburn Argyle before joining First Division Newcastle United in April 1909 from North Shields Athletic, who he’d joined a year earlier. He made his Football League debut at Bradford City in March 1910, playing 4 times for The Magpies in each of his three seasons and scoring in March 1911 in a 5-1 win over Bury and again the following month in a 3-3 draw with Manchester City. When he arrived at Liverpool, 23 years of age, for £150 in May 1912, clever and thoughtful he soon made a sizeable impact with 18 goals in his first season including 5 goals in his opening four games, which left him the club’s top scorer featuring as an outside-left and inside-right. He also scored a hat-trick in the FA Cup that year in a 4-1 second round victory at Arsenal.

The following season Metcalf was badly injured against Sunderland on 13th September and hardly featured for five months, but played a big part in Liverpool’s cup run that got them all the way to their first-ever FA Cup Final on 25th April 1914. Unfortunately, Liverpool lost 1-0 to Burnley. Despite the outbreak of World War One, the 1914-15 season was completed and Metcalf added another seven goals to his career total of 28 goals in 63 games. Although he never played competitive League football for Liverpool again, Metcalf was a prolific scorer for the club in the local Lancashire Leagues that were arranged to replace the four national divisions during the War. The Lancashire Daily Post said he was a “likeable man who knew the whole alphabet of the game.”

On resumption of peacetime football he joined Stockport County in August 1918 top scoring for them with 13 goals in 38 appearances in 1919-20 before moving to Swindon Town in June 1920. He scored 4 times in their inaugural Football League season and scored 6 goals in 31 appearances before joining Accrington Stanley in June 1922. His 18 goals in 31 games at Stanley during 1922-23 saw him again top the club’s goalscoring charts, but he moved once more, this time to Aberdare Athletic, where he enjoyed 2 seasons scoring 11 goals in 79 games. His final move took him to Norwich City in July 1925, but he only played 2 games that autumn at The Nest before retiring from the professional game.