Francis Comber McPherson (14 May 1901 – 5 March 1953) was an English footballer who played as a forward. Born in Barrow-in-Furness, he began his professional career with Partick Thistle in the Scottish Football League, before spending almost 20 years in The Football League with Chesterfield Municipal, Barrow, Manchester United, Watford and Reading.
Career
Early career
Born in Barrow-in-Furness to parents from Aberdeen, McPherson worked as a ship plater for Vickers and played football for the works team, Barrow Shipbuilders. In April 1919, towards the end of the 1918–19 season, he signed as an amateur for Scottish club Partick Thistle,
Chesterfield Municipal
McPherson returned to Barrow Shipbuilders at the end of the season, and played in their 1919–20 FA Cup Preliminary Round defeat to Kells White Star; however, in October 1919, he was signed by Midland League club Chesterfield Municipal, who – either ignoring his cup-tied status or unaware of it entirely – gave him his debut in their FA Cup second qualifying round match against South Normanton Colliery on 25 October; starting at centre-forward, he scored twice as Chesterfield won 5–0. After the match, South Normanton submitted an appeal to The Football Association that McPherson should not have been allowed to play, resulting in Chesterfield being disqualified from the competition and McPherson being banned for a month. Chesterfield manager Tom Callaghan protested that he was unaware that McPherson had already played in the FA Cup that season, but McPherson maintained that he had told his manager he was not available for selection. Callaghan offered McPherson £5 to retract that claim, as well as ordering club captain Peter Irvine to back him up; however, he was found out and sacked from his position, never for the football world to hear from him again.
McPherson returned to action in a league match against Mexborough Town on 29 November, scoring both Chesterfield goals in a 2–1 win. After two games out of the side, when regular half-back Arthur Lacey took over at centre-forward, McPherson returned for a 10-game spell at inside left, scoring five goals from that position. He was left out for the game away to Worksop Town, but returned for the next two games at home to Halifax Town and Worksop Town, before losing his position to Teddy Revill for the games against the Grimsby Town and Barnsley reserve teams. McPherson played out the season with seven consecutive matches at centre-forward, scoring four more goals to finish with 11 league goals in 20 appearances as Chesterfield won the Midland League.
McPherson lost his place in the Chesterfield first team to newly signed centre-forward Tom Smelt at the outset of the 1920–21 season, but Smelt only lasted one match in the position and McPherson was recalled. He played two games at centre-forward then one in each of the inside forward positions, including Chesterfield's 11–0 win over Dronfield Woodhouse in the FA Cup preliminary round on 25 September; however, he failed to score in those four games and did not feature again for another month, making a goalscoring return in a 3–2 defeat to Mexborough Town on 30 October. Despite the goal, he was dropped again for the FA Cup third qualifying round match against Staveley Town, before making his final two appearances for Chesterfield – first at centre-forward at home to Sheffield United Reserves, then at outside left at home to Nottingham Forest Reserves. With just one goal in six league appearances in 1920–21, McPherson finished his Chesterfield career with a total of 12 goals in 26 appearances.
Barrow
Having not played for Chesterfield for more than two months, McPherson returned to Cumbria with Barrow in February 1921, and helped the team to win the Lancashire Combination title that season. At the end of the season, Barrow were elected as one of the founder members of the Football League Third Division North. In that inaugural season, Barrow finished in 15th place out of the 20 teams, and the following year was even worse, finishing 18th.
Manchester United
McPherson joined Manchester United in May 1923 for a fee of £500, making his first-team debut as an outside left in the first game of the 1923–24 season against Bristol City on 25 August.
Despite that brief run-out at centre-forward, McPherson played exclusively at outside left in 1924–25, missing just four games. He was also a more prolific goalscorer, his seven goals in 38 league appearances helping the club to a second-place finish at the end of the season and promotion back to the First Division. He began the following season as the starting outside left, playing in the first seven games before the re-emergence of Harry Thomas cost him his place, starting with the game against Burnley on 26 September 1925. McPherson made a goalscoring return to the team as a centre-forward on 24 October, scoring twice in a 2–0 away win over Cardiff City; he retained the number 9 shirt for much of the rest of the season, before a three-game spell without scoring culminated in a 7–0 defeat away to Blackburn Rovers; Charlie Rennox, Jimmy Hanson and Chris Taylor shared centre-forward duties for the remaining six games of the season. Despite being dropped for the final six games, McPherson finished the season with a career-high 16 league goals, and a further four in the FA Cup, in which Manchester United reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by rivals Manchester City. McPherson's new-found scoring form was attributed to his pace, coupled with a change to the offside law, which now only required two defenders between the attacking player and the opposing goal line for the attacker to be onside.
The 1927–28 season began with McPherson back at outside left for four straight games, but despite scoring in the fourth against The Wednesday on 7 September, he was dropped for the next three games. He returned to the side for a 10-game spell starting with a 3–0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on 24 September, scoring four goals in that time. After missing the game against Sheffield United on 10 December, he made a goalscoring return in a 4–1 win over Arsenal on 17 December. He was dropped again for the trip to Middlesbrough three games later on 31 December, before playing six games in a row from 7 January to 4 February, including three appearances at centre-forward in FA Cup games against Brentford and Bury. After missing four games, including cup ties against Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers, he was restored to the outside left position for four games in March 1928; he made one final appearance for Manchester United at outside left – a 4–3 defeat to Bury on 14 April 1928. Finishing the season with six goals in 26 league appearances, that brought McPherson's total for Manchester United to 45 goals in 159 appearances.
Manchester Central, Watford and Reading
After a brief stint with Lancashire Combination side Manchester Central at the start of the 1928–29 season, where he played 7 games, scoring 7 times, McPherson was signed by Watford for £850 in September 1928. He made his Watford debut at home to Fulham on 29 September, scoring both goals in a 6–2 defeat, before scoring a further three goals in the next two games. Despite his prodigious start in a Watford shirt, he missed their next match at home to Luton Town, but then went on an eight-game run in which he scored a further eight goals, including a hat-trick at home to Southend United. The next match – away to Northampton Town on 22 December – was the last one McPherson would miss all season, and after two further hat-tricks – away to Fulham on 9 February and at home to Walsall on 29 March – he finished the season with 33 goals in 33 league appearances, a club record that stood until Cliff Holton scored 42 goals in Watford's 1959–60 season, in which they achieved promotion from the Fourth Division. In March 1937, he re-signed for Barrow, where he saw out his career with a final two goals in three appearances.
After his retirement from football, McPherson became the licensee of the Greaves Arms Hotel in Oldham, a position he held until his sudden death in Davyhulme on 5 March 1953.
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="2"|Partick Thistle
|1918–19
|Scottish Football League
|1||0||0||0||0||0||1||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!1!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!1!!0
|-
|rowspan="3"|Chesterfield Municipal
|1919–20
|rowspan="2"|Midland League
|20||11||1||2||0||0||21||13
|-
|1920–21
|6||1||1||0||0||0||7||1
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!26!!12!!2!!2!!0!!0!!28!!14
|-
|rowspan="3"|Barrow
|1921–22
|Lancashire Combination
|21||1||2||0||2||0||25||1
|-
|1922–23
|Third Division North
|32||2||4||0||2||0||38||2
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!53!!3!!6!!0!!4!!0!!63!!3
|-
|rowspan="6"|Manchester United
|1923–24
|rowspan="2"|Second Division
|34||1||2||1||0||0||36||2
|-
|1924–25
|rowspan="2"|Third Division South
|33||33||4||2||0||0||37||35
|-
|1929–30
|rowspan="3"|Third Division South
|11||4||0||0||0||0||11||4
|-
|1934–35