Hodgson: Gordon

1937-1939 (Player Details) (Leeds United War-time Guest Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Johannesburg, South Africa: 16-04-1904

Debut: Everton (a): 03-03-1937

6’0” 12st 7lb (1928)

South African-born English International Hodgson, who was a boilermaker by trade, began his career in his native country in 1921 with Benoni and Rustenburg, and then had two years at Pretoria in 1922 and 1923 and Transvaal F.C. in 1924 and 1925. He represented South Africa and he arrived in England in 1925 with the South African team, as one of its youngest members, netting fifteen goals on their tour. He was signed up by Liverpool in December 1925, along with compatriots Arthur Riley and James Gray, and quickly set about re-writing the club's goal-scoring records. He scored a remarkable tally of two hundred and thirty-three goals in three hundred and fifty-eight League games, and two hundred and forty-one goals in three hundred and seventy-seven games in total, to earn a place in Liverpool’s “Hall of Fame”. Such talent brought him three full England caps, three Football League XI appearances and four Amateur caps for South Africa. His first England appearance came on 20th October 1930 at Inside Right in a 5-0 win over Northern Ireland at Bramall Lane Sheffield, his second was at Inside Right on 22nd November 1930 in a 4-0 win over Wales at Wrexham, in which he scored the second goal, and finally at Inside Right on 28th March 1931 in a 0-2 defeat by Scotland at Hampden Park. During an era when Liverpool often found themselves cast in the shadow of their near neighbours, Everton, the South African inside forward was one of the few shining lights for the Reds. He played in twelve matches towards the end of the 1925-26 season, scoring four times, but that was just a taste of what was to come. Over the next nine seasons, he missed very few games in he League and F.A. Cup and scored prolifically throughout that period. It was a shame that this golden run coincided with a barren period for the club because his contribution to the Liverpool cause was massive and he deserved to end up with more than the handful of England and Football League representative honours he received. Seen as Liverpool's answer to Everton legend Dixie Dean, Hodgson was a prolific marksman whose achievements in front of goal set new records at Anfield. In 1930-31 he set a new club record of thirty-six league goals in a season and it was a feat not surpassed until the emergence of Roger Hunt in the sixties. His record of seventeen Liverpool hat-tricks, however, is yet to be broken. One of the Liverpool's greatest-ever goal-scorers, only Roger Hunt has scored more in league games for Liverpool, but all of Gordon's two hundred and thirty-three League strikes came in the First Division at a fantastic goals-per-game ratio. Hodgson was such a consistent performer that it is perhaps difficult to single out years that were extra-special for him, but perhaps the two seasons when he scored thirty or more First Division goals, 1928-29 & 1930-31, showed him at his peak. There were three hat-tricks in the 1930-31 season in home games but perhaps it was the four goals he scored in an away match at Hillsborough that gave him most satisfaction of all. He joined Aston Villa in January 1936 for £3,000 but within a few months he had become a Leeds player, as he could not stop Villa’s relegation from the First Division. He was a month short of his thirty-third birthday when Leeds paid £1,500 to take him from Villa in March 1937, but he led the Leeds attack with zest and vigour in the years leading up to World War Two. He still holds the club record as the only United player to have scored five goals in a game, which he did against Leicester City on 1st October 1938. The goals he scored for Leeds in the First Division made him became one of the very few men to have scored over three hundred times in Football League matches. He even turned out for Leeds in War-time football and helped to coach the younger players at the club between 1942 and October 1946. He scored twelve goals in twenty-eight Wartime appearances for United, as well as another two in six games in the League War Cup. In his final season of 1940-41 he showed his versatility as Leeds struggled to field a competitive team, when, apart from his striker's roles of centre-forward and inside right, he featured three times at centre-half and once on the right and once on the left wing and even played one game in goals at Saltergate on 14th December 1940 as United went down 0-3. He also guested for Hartlepools United, playing once in the 1939-40 season, and York City, where he scored twice in five games in the same season, during the War Years. Hodgson left United to take charge of team affairs at Port Vale in October 1946. He was there for over four years and saw them move to their current stadium, Vale Park, in 1950. With a promising managerial career still in its infancy, it came as a great shock when he died in Stoke-on-Trent on 14th June 1951 at the early age of forty-seven. He also excelled at other sports, being a fast-bowler with Lancashire, making fifty-six appearances, scoring two hundred and forty-four runs, and taking one hundred and forty-eight wickets, as well as being an accomplished baseball player.