George Kay (21 September 1891 – 18 April 1954) was an English football player and manager of Luton Town, Southampton and Liverpool.
The highlight of his playing career was when he captained West Ham United in the first FA Cup final to be played at Wembley, the White Horse Final.
He was manager of Liverpool FC for 14 years and 5 months, August 1936 to January 1951, and led them to the Football League title in 1947, the first post-war football season, as well as taking them to the 1950 FA Cup Final (the club's first in thirty-six years).
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Playing career
Kay was born in Manchester and joined Bolton Wanderers in 1911. After failing to agree re-signing terms, he joined Belfast club Distillery at the start of the 1911–12 season, helping to win the Gold Cup and the CAS despite a long-term injury interrupting his playing career, and becoming the first Englishman to captain an Irish Football League representative team.
He served with the Royal Garrison Artillery during the First World War and, following the war, he moved back to England to join West Ham United in July 1919, where he spent the next seven seasons. He made his debut at home against Barnsley in September 1919 and, having taken over the captaincy from Billy Cope for the 1922–23 season, led the West Ham side that gained promotion to the First Division and reached the FA Cup Final against his former club, Bolton Wanderers, in 1923. This was the first FA Cup final to be played at Wembley, the so-called White Horse Final. He was one of the few members of the Cup Final side never to win an international cap but became the first West Ham player to play over 200 league games for the club.
Even at this age, Kay's health was never good and on a tour of Spain in 1926 he fell ill and he remained in Spain for three weeks before he was fit enough to return to England. As a result, he retired from active playing, although he did turn out twice for Stockport County in 1927.
Management career
Luton Town
In 1927, he became coach at Luton Town, before moving up to manager in 1929. In his two seasons as manager, the Hatters languished in mid-table in the Third Division South, finishing 13th and 7th, before Kay accepted the challenge to run Southampton in May 1931.
Southampton
He joined Southampton in May 1931, following the resignation of Arthur Chadwick, who had stood down after Saints had embarked on a policy of selling their best players to survive financially.
In an effort to rebuild the club's fortunes and help them survive during these difficult times financially, Kay created Saints' first nursery side, and before long a new generation of young players came into the first team having come through the nursery ranks, including Ted Drake (who later joined Arsenal and played for England) and Charlie Sillett (father of John and Peter), thus ushering in a new era for the club.
Kay "was tremendously enthusiastic and he worked hard throughout his stay at The Dell, using up a considerable amount of nervous energy at every match. He 'played' every kick and his body would visibly vibrate to the stresses and strains on the playing field".
During Kay's five seasons at The Dell, Southampton languished in Division 2, finishing each season in the lower half of the table and being eliminated from the FA Cup each year in the early stages. He started his Southampton career brightly with an opening day victory over Burnley on 29 August 1931 and by mid-September they topped the division. Such form could not last, however, and injuries soon resulted in the club sliding down the table. Kay was unable to field a settled side and used 30 different players during the season, including six different centre forwards. Other than the emergence of youngsters such as Drake and Sillett, the bright spots of this first season in charge were Johnny Arnold, who was top scorer with 20 goals, and Arthur Haddleton, who scored in eight consecutive games at the start of the season.
During the 1932 close season, in order to balance the books several players left the club including Bill Fraser, Bert Jepson and Haddleton (who all joined Fulham), Johnny McIlwaine (who joined Llanelli after failure to agree terms) and Willie Haines, who retired to join Weymouth. Despite the large number of departures the team had a more settled look about it and during the 1932–33 season Kay had a squad of 15 players of whom twelve were the mainstay of the side. Led by Ted Drake, the team improved slightly on the previous season, winning a club record 15 out of 21 home matches, but only registering three away victories. Once again the directors needed to raise cash and in February 1933 they sold Arnold and Mike Keeping to Fulham for a combined fee of £5,000. Jimmy McIntyre, the former Saints manager now in charge at Fulham boasted that this was "the best deal I ever brought off". The fans were now disillusioned with the club and attendances dropped to record lows, with only 2,949 turning out for the match against Bradford City on 25 February, well below the break-even target of 14,000. Despite the financial difficulties faced by the club, the team were not badly affected and ended the season in mid-table.
Liverpool
At Southampton, severe financial problems and the continual sale of the club's best players, prevented Kay from realising his full potential as a manager. He was, however, experienced, well respected and knowledgeable and not afraid to try out new ideas, and the combination of these qualities brought him to Liverpool's attention when it was clear that George Patterson would be unable to continue the managerial side of his role.
Kay's career as Liverpool manager started poorly, with only three wins and four draws from the first twelve matches. This run included a 2–6 defeat at Portsmouth's Fratton Park on 2 September and a 2–5 defeat at Brentford; the only bright spot in this spell was a 7–1 victory over Grimsby Town on 12 September, with two goals from Fred Howe. Results improved slightly as the season progressed and Liverpool finished Kay's first season in charge in 18th place in Division 1.
Despite the set-back of an opening day 1–6 defeat at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, Liverpool finished the 1937–38 season comfortably in mid-table, with Alf Hanson top scorer on 14 league goals. In the following season, Liverpool again finished in 11th position in the table, with Berry Nieuwenhuys, Willie Fagan and Phil Taylor joint top scorers in the league with 14 goals each.
In readiness for the next season, Kay snapped up young defender Bob Paisley on a free transfer from Bishop Auckland, as well as another future Liverpool legend Billy Liddell, but all their careers were then interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.
After the war, the club took the unusual decision to tour the United States and Canada. It was Kay's theory that the climate and diet in North America would be extremely beneficial to the players. The punishing schedule of 10 matches in less than a month meant that the Liverpool squad started the first post-war season in far better physical shape than many of their competitors.
The season started slowly, with four victories and three defeats in the first seven games. The victories included a 7–4 match against Chelsea on 7 September, in which Bob Paisley made his league debut for the club and Billy Liddell scored his first league goal. There was also a 5–0 defeat away to Manchester United (played at Maine Road). Things began to improve and a run of seven consecutive victories in February and March set the club on the way to the championship.
Honours
As a player
Lisburn Distillery
Gold Cup: 1914
County Antrim Shield: 1915
City Cup: 1913
West Ham United
Football League Second Division runner-up: 1922–23
FA Cup runner-up: 1922–23
As a manager
Liverpool
Football League First Division: 1946–47
FA Cup runner-up: 1949–50