John Carlin

Carlin first appeared in Liverpool's forward-line at Stoke on 17 January 1903. This was his only game of the 1902/03 season and was the only match missed by Liverpool's star striker Sam Raybould, who scored 32 times in 34 games. In view of the club's reliance on Raybould to score, perhaps it was not surprising that Carlin's debut for the club was one of only six matches in which they failed to score during the League campaign. The joint Everton/Liverpool programme commented on him in a preview to the 1904/05 season: "Is so clever and has such knowledge of the game that one is forced to explain “What a pity it is that he is only a little ‘un.” He is apt to be lost in a melee in front of goal." Carlin never settled down in Liverpool's first eleven and the highest number of appearances he made in a single season was the 16 he managed during 1905/06 when he scored six goals, a vital contribution to the club's second League title.

When he retired as a footballer he worked as a bricksetter in the Mersey docks. He was also a keen runner with the Liverpool Harriers and a member of the Eton Bowling Club in Woolton Road for over thirty years. He died on 29th June 1935 and is buried in Allerton Cemetery.