Jack Cox
Birthdate: 21 December 1877
Birthplace: Liverpool, England
Other clubs: South Shore Standard, South Shore (1896-97), Blackpool (1897), Blackpool (2 / 1909-11)
Bought from: Blackpool
Signed for LFC: £150, 24.12.1897
International debut: 09.03.1901 vs. Ireland
International caps: 3/0 - 04.04.1903
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Liverpool debut: 12.03.1898
Last appearance: 30.04.1909
Debut goal: 12.03.1898
Last goal: 06.02.1909
Contract expiry: May 1909
Win ratio: 48.2% W: 174 D: 69 L: 118
Games/goals ratio: 4.46
LFC league games/goals: 327 / 73
Total LFC games/goals: 361 / 81
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Player profile
After one season with Blackpool in the Second Division where he scored 12 goals in 17 games Cox was transferred to Liverpool for the considerable sum of £150 enabling the Lancashire club to announce a loss of £441 as opposed to over £1,000 for the previous campaign. The twenty-year-old scored on his debut three months after his arrival in a 2-0 win over Notts County on 12 March 1898 as Liverpool sought to establish themselves as a first division club. Cox was in the line-up in the first game of the 1898/99 season as well as newcomer Alex Raisbeck. They quickly became key components of Tom Watson's side who seemed finally ready to challenge for the League Championship and the Cup. Their heroics didn't, however, guarantee them silverware as Liverpool were knocked out of the semi-finals of the FA Cup by Sheffield United in a second replay and defeated 5-0 by Aston Villa in the last League game of the season when a win would have guaranteed Liverpool the title instead of Villa. The 1899/00 season was a terrible anti-climax for Cox. Liverpool lost their first eight games of the season and Cox got injured in the middle of November and was out for two months. Liverpool won eight out of their final ten games but only finished a disappointing tenth. The arrival of centre-forward Sam Raybould in January 1900 had given the team much needed firepower. Cox only missed two games in the 1900/01 season when Liverpool incredibly were only twice top of the League, after the first game and, crucially, the last! Cox contributed ten goals in 32 matches as Liverpool won their first League Championship, a fantastic goal ratio for a winger. Despite his success Cox "wanted a change" but since Liverpool offered him the maximum wage as his contract was renewed for the following season the Football League refused his application.
At the beginning of the 1902/03 season Cox moved from right to left-wing as future legend Arthur Goddard, who had joined seven months earlier, established himself on the right. Liverpool had played well below expectations following their 1901 triumph and were relegated in 1904. The joint Everton/Liverpool programme described Cox in 1904 as a "brilliant, but erratic genius. His great weakness is a tendency to over elaboration when in possession of the ball, but when the mood is on him, there is no hesitation; no finessing to discover the way towards goal. This is Cox, in his International humour, and when such is the case, the opposing defence know about it. On his day there is no cleverer outside-left in the kingdom than Cox." Liverpool fans were shocked to hear that Cox had signed for southern league's Fulham on 2 May 1904 but thankfully "failed to satisfy the Football Association Council as to his reasons for transferring his services to the Fulham Football Club." Cox had been offered the wage limit at Liverpool as well as the privilege of residing at home in Blackpool from where he could commute on a complimentary railway season ticket. Cox refused those terms, preferring to go to London as he objected to playing in the Second Division. Merseyside rivals, Everton, were a big fan of Cox and tried to tempt Liverpool to cash in on him. Everton certainly had a stronger team at the time having finished the season in third place in the First Division while Liverpool had been relegated. Everton offered £400 for his services, but the Anfield club wanted a minimum of £500 so the Blues were prized out of the move. Finally, Cox re-signed for Liverpool on 29 June 1904. It would have been a disaster for Liverpool to lose Cox to their neighbours as he was instrumental in Liverpool's remarkable achievement of winning the Second and First Division in two consecutive seasons in 1905 and 1906. Cox was missing through injury in the 2-0 semi-final defeat to Everton in the FA Cup in 1906 and in the last six League matches of the 1905/06 season. He had by that point scored eight goals in 28 League games and while Liverpool's form suffered, three wins in six games were still enough to bring the League Championship back to Anfield.
In May 1909 Cox returned as player-manager to Blackpool where he had already achieved legendary status after only one season in the beginning of his career. The tricky and speedy winger gave Liverpool fantastic service for eleven and a half years despite being unsettled at times and certainly deserves to be in Liverpool's Official Hall of Fame.