Liverpool won the first of their 18 League Championships when they beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at The Hawthorns on 29th April 1901.
Three months earlier, Liverpool had looked anything but champions lying eighth in the table. However a 1-0 win at leaders Sunderland on the 23rd of that month was the first of an eleven game unbeaten run that was to bring them to the brink of glory.
On 27th April Liverpool beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 at Anfield to go level on points with Sunderland, who had completed their fixtures, at the top of the league. However Liverpool had an inferior goal average meaning that one more point was still needed to clinch the championship.
In front of a crowd of 4,000, both sides had chances early on but failed to capitalise until Liverpool took the lead when Albion’s keeper was only able to parry a Raybould shot, leaving John Walker(below) to slot home the rebound. Although Albion were already relegated, they continued to give Liverpool a game and bombarded the goal for a large part of the second half, but the Reds held out for victory.
At the end of the game the players surrounded the team’s captain, Scottish international Alex Raisbeck and lofted him shoulder high before Football League officials presented Liverpool with the trophy. The team travelled home by train, where they were greeted by thousands of fans that were waiting at Central Station at midnight. As a band played The Conquering Hero Alex Raisbeck was once more carried around on peoples shoulders, but this time the rest of the team were given the honour too. However, the crowd refrained from lifting larger than life manager Tom Watson.
The players and club officials finally arrived back at Anfield in the early hours where the trophy was proudly displayed in the boardroom to the delight of club founder John Houlding, who would sadly die a year later aged 70. The next day, the Daily Express was very praiseworthy of the Reds, writing ‘Their late form has been good enough for anything and tom Watson and his team are to be congratulated’.