📖 Anfield Annals: Tom Wyllie - Liverpool's first ever player and derby scorer 🔴

Thomas Graham Wyllie may not be a household name but achieved more than the average Liverpool player, in just one year as a Red

To be the first player to do anything is quite a feat but when you consider the greats to have played for Liverpool, then holding the accolade of being the very first to ever hold that role is certainly special.

Something that will be no surprise to anyone with an understanding of our strong Scottish connection during the birth of the club and the famous ‘Team of Macs’ at Anfield, is that Tom Wyllie was born in Glasgow.

His story within the city began before wearing a Liverpool shirt. The slight right winger was born in 1870 and was far from being an imposing figure. Weighing in at less than 11st and measuring at 5ft 6in, opposition defences didn’t exactly quake in their boots at the sight of Wyllie.

He made his name for his hometown side Maybole and performances here gathered the attention of Glasgow Rangers. His spectacular goal scoring impact during his two years in the famed Scottish city was enough to attract Merseyside eyes.

It was soon to be a well trodden path but Wyllie was among the first to make the move, even if departing his home nation meant he also had to all but say goodbye to any hopes of international football - such was the distaste towards English football and the lack of worthwhile transport links for southern scouting missions.

16 goals in 18 matches for Glasgow Rangers meant that the winger had one cap for his nation when he headed to Anfield to join his new club - Everton.

This being the days when the Blues were both the only club within the city and playing their football inside Liverpool’s famous home; Wyllie played four times, scored four goals and helped clinch the 1890/91 First Division title in the weeks that immediately followed his move.

A second Anfield campaign was far less successful and a slump to the Reserves meant that the Scot was possibly questioning whether he could perform at the top level of English football. That was until a seismic change rocked the city.

What followed was a decision that would change the shape of Merseyside football forever, John Houlding clashed with the board members of Everton and swiftly created his new team - Liverpool. Anfield remained his side’s home and the first three signings he made were Tom Wyllie, Jock Smith and Hugh Clifford.

The Reds, adorned in blue and white, lined up for their first official game with Wyllie starting and providing an assist for Smith. 300 supporters watched on as the newest team in the city put eight goals past Higher Walton and set their sights on Lancashire League success.

Promotion would inevitably follow but the moment that the winger would always be best known for, certainly by the ‘red’ half of the city, was his performance in the first ever Merseyside derby.

The Liverpool Cup final was contested in front of 10,000 supporters and a fitting event for the meeting. On the hour mark, the Scot was allowed the opportunity to get on the end of a John Miller pass and fire the ball low into the back of Dick Williams’ Everton net.

Wyllie opened the scoring against his old side, the team that was also huge favourties to win the trophy too. John Houlding was eager to get the last laugh over his former tenants and colleagues, something which was nearly snatched away from him with a last gasp penalty appeal for the Blues occurred, but it was ultimately waved away.

The game ended yet the mass appeals from Evertonians that followed meant that the trophy wasn’t given out on the day. After intense debates within the Liverpool FA in the following week, it was finally confirmed that Wyllie’s goal was enough to win the game and no replay would be required.

This was to be a golden moment that meant the Scot had two winners’ medals in three seasons at Anfield (for two different clubs) but the end of the campaign in which he had scored the most famous goal in Liverpool history, was to be followed with a Merseyside departure.

Bury was to be the next club that Wyllie would call home and when Liverpool’s eventual relegation from the First Division was decided in April 1985 - it was the Scot’s new club that beat the Reds in a play-off, thus taking their top tier status.

Two more seasons in the First Division with Bury were followed with a transfer to Bristol City where Wyllie would eventually retire from football. The former winger became a newsagent in the southwest, later he worked as an insurance agent, before his death in Glasgow, in 1943.

Although Tom Wyllie’s total of 25 games is far from noteworthy (even if his record of 15 goals is more than decent for a winger), it’s what the Scot represents that is important. Not only part of an exclusive club to have played for both Merseyside teams but also an even more unique honour of playing for both at Anfield.

Add onto this being the first signing, a first-ever Merseyside derby appearance and then scoring the only goal of the game - Tom Wyllie may not be the most famous player in our history but he certainly achieved more in 25 games than many will ever manage in much longer careers on Merseyside.

A truly unique story from the annals of Anfield history.

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