Tom Robertson

John Thomas Robertson was known as Tom while his namesake at the club was referred to as Tommy. Robertson was brought south by first division Stoke. The Scottish full-back was a powerful kicker of the ball and timed his tackles to perfection. Robertson was only on Liverpool's books for two years but he did win the league title in the first of those seasons, 1900/01, which was also a first for the club too. He made 22 consecutive appearances from the start of the season before John Glover took over for the next nine matches. But Robertson was back in place for the final three fixtures as the title was secured by two points from runners-up Sunderland. Glover started the 1901/02 season as a regular but Robertson came back into contention during the second half of the campaign and made a further 17 first division appearances. Robertson joined the Saints in the Southern league in May 1902. Liverpool were quite annoyed by the transfer as the Evening Telegraph explained: "It cost them close upon £400 for his transfer from Stoke, and they have not had two years’ service out of him. So far as they are aware, Robertson had no grievance, and as he was offered the maximum rate of wages, some very unpleasant things are being said in Liverpool as to the inducement for him to journey south." Robertson enjoyed great success with the Saints winning the Southern league two years in succession from 1902-1904. He joined Brighton in the summer of 1904. He took the common route of many ex-footballers to run a pub following his retirement. Robertson was described as a quiet guy who would rather walk on hot coals than being interviewed by a football reporter.