Elisha Scott (24 August 1893 – 16 May 1959) was a Northern Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper who played for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

from 1912 to 1934, and still holds the record as their longest-serving player.

Life and playing career

Elisha Scott played for Linfield and Broadway United before Liverpool manager Tom Watson signed him at 10 am on Sunday 1 September 1912, following a recommendation from Scott's older brother Billy Scott. Liverpool only got the chance to sign Scott when Everton decided that the 19-year-old Elisha was too young. Scott was reported as signed by

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

in August 1913, presumably under some sort of loan arrangement. He succeeded Thomas Charles Allison as deputy for the first choice keeper, Arthur Box and played for them in the early part of season 1913/14. Scott finally made his Liverpool debut on 1 January 1913 at

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Park ...

. The team drew 0–0 with

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. During the early days of his career, Scott was understudy to

Ken Campbell Kenneth Victor Campbell (10 December 1941 – 31 August 2008) was an English actor, writer and director known for his work in experimental theatre. He has been called "a one-man dynamo of British theatre". Campbell achieved notoriety in the 1 ...

and only appeared occasionally. The

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

interrupted Scott's career for four years. Scott finally got a chance of a run in the Liverpool goal at the end of the season. Scott's goalkeeping position was set in stone when Campbell was allowed to leave in the April 1920. Scott established himself as Liverpool's number 1. He was a major part of the back-to-back Championship winning teams of 1922 and 1923, missing just 3 games of the first title and none in the second. Numerous stories about Scott exist in Liverpool folklore. One such story relates to a 1924 game, after Scott had just made a phenomenal save at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

against

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

. A man appeared from the crowd went over to Scott and kissed him. Scott was part of one of the legendary rivalries of the day along with Everton's Dixie Dean. The two of them were the main topic of discussion when

derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

day was approaching – Everton declared that Dean would score whilst Liverpool disagreed, saying Scott wouldn't let a single shot past. A famous story, possibly apocryphal, associated with the two men was that of how they once encountered each other in Belfast city centre the day before an Ireland versus England game. Dean, famed for his remarkable heading ability touched his hat and nodded to Scott as they were about to pass only for Scott to respond by diving as if to try to save an imaginary header, much to the initial shock and then delight of the locals who witnessed it while a mildly shocked Dean smiled and quietly continued on his walk. Towards the end of the decade, Scott lost his starting position to another Liverpool goalkeeper,

Arthur Riley Arthur Riley (26 December 1903 – July 1984) was a South African international footballer who also played football for Liverpool. Life and playing career On 26 November 1939, Riley played in goal as part of an All-British XI versus a Footbal ...

, but he never gave up the battle for the position of goalkeeper. However, at the beginning of the 1930s it was becoming more and more difficult for Scott to get into the line-up; eventually Scott asked if he could return to his homeland when his old team Belfast Celtic offered him a player-manager role in 1934. Liverpool consented. Scott played the last of his 467 appearances at Chelsea on 21 February 1934.

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

defeated Liverpool 2–0 in Scott's final appearance at Chelsea. Upon Liverpool's final home match of the season Scott headed to the director's box to give his adoring fans a farewell speech. Scott played his final game for the Belfast club in 1936 at the age of 42. In his time as manager of the Celtics Scott won 10 Irish League titles, 6

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

s, 3 City Cups, 8 Gold Cups and 5 County Antrim Shields. He died in 1959 and is buried in

Belfast City Cemetery Belfast City Cemetery ( ga, Reilig Chathair Bhéal Feirste) is a large cemetery in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between Falls Road and Springfield Road, near Milltown Cemetery. It is maintained by ...

Career statistics

International

Honours

Player

Liverpool *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 2 ** 1921–22, 1922–23 Belfast Celtic * Irish League **''Winners'' 1918–19, 1935–36 *

**''Winners'' 1917–18 * Gold Cup **''Winners'' 1935 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Fo ...

**''Winners'' 1936

Manager

Belfast Celtic * Irish League **''Winners'' 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1947, 1948: 10 *

**''Winners'' 1937, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1947: 6 * Gold Cup **''Winners'' 1935, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947: 8 *

**''Winners'' 1936, 1937, 1939, 1943, 1945 5 * Belfast City Cup **''Winners'' 1940, 1948, 1949 3

Sources

*The Official Liverpool FC Illustrated History (Carlton Books 2002), p37.

References

External links

*
Player profile at LFChistory.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Elisha 1893 births 1959 deaths Belfast Celtic F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Association footballers from Belfast Association football goalkeepers Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff Association footballers from Northern Ireland Football managers from Northern Ireland Pre-1950 IFA international footballers Irish League representative players Burials at Belfast City Cemetery Ireland (IFA) wartime international footballers