Alf Hanson

“A slip of a lad he was not entirely a one-footed player but it was that left boot which put fear into the hearts of goalkeepers when they saw Alf prancing down the wing,” wrote the Liverpool Echo. Left-winger Hanson represented Liverpool for six seasons during the 1930’s. After one season in Everton’s A-team and reserves he first appeared in Liverpool’s reserve line-up in 1931/32 before finally making his first-team bow in the middle of the 1932/33 season. He featured regularly for Liverpool save for an injury-hit 1935/36 season. Liverpool received a club transfer record of £7,500 when Hanson joined Chelsea in the summer of 1938. He played 46 games and scored nine goals for them, but his professional career was effectively over with the outbreak of World War II. Hanson was player-manager of a few amateur teams after the war; South Liverpool, Shelbourne and Ellesmere Port Town. Alf says that he was actually born Hansen because his father was a Norwegian mariner. He was always reported in the newspapers as Hanson. Alf featured for Liverpool in 16 wartime games where he did his best to hide his christian name, Adolph!