Left half Alan Grenyer’s Everton career was hugely interrupted by the onset of the First World War, limiting him to less than 150 senior appearances in a Goodison career that spanned more than 14 years. But he was to make a decisive contribution to Everton history scoring the goal in April 1915 that propelled Everton towards their second League Championship win.
Born in North Shields in August 1892, Grenyer caught the eye of Everton scouts while playing as an 18-year-old amateur for North Shields. They had been scouting for a centre-forward named Dawson, but upon seeing Grenyer convened an emergency board meeting at which a £125 transfer fee and 50 shillings weekly wages were authorised. A condition of the players engagement was that he be permitted to complete his apprenticeship as a riveter with a local firm.
Grenyer had to wait a couple of years before getting a run in the first team, when injury to the brilliant cricketer-footballer Harry Makepeace gave him his chance. Little in contemporaneous reports suggest that he particularly shone and Makepeace, fitness permitting, remained first choice.
But when injury robbed Makepeace of his first team place near the end of the 1914/15 season, Grenyer got his chance again. A disastrous run of three defeats had knocked Everton out of the FA Cup at the semi final stage and in many minds also ended the club’s league challenge. But a comprehensive victory at Sunderland bred some hope. ‘Grenyer played a capital game yesterday,’ reported ‘Critic’ in the Liverpool Evening Courier after the 3-0 win. ‘Now that he has had two or three games on the run the ability he undoubtedly possesses is beginning to show itself.’
Optimism intensified after a 2-1 victory at West Bromwich Albion. Next was a visit to Bradford Park Avenue. ‘When Everton visited Bradford before in the snowstorm the Yorkshiremen were winning easily when the match was abandoned, so that the replay proved quite a lucky stroke for the Blues,’ reported the Courier. ‘The conditions were quite summerlike on this occasion. Everton were the better side throughout. It is pleasing to record that the “new” forward, Grenyer, shaped exceedingly well, and he had the satisfaction of scoring the winning goal.’ That came after he combined with Sam Chedgzoy and his strike was described as ‘beautiful’. The following Saturday Everton went top with a 1-0 win over Manchester City. Their rivals, Oldham, then lost their two games in hand, making Everton champions on goal average. They then went a point clear after drawing their final game with Chelsea.
Celebrations, coming some ten months into the First World War, were understandably muted. ‘Our gratification was chilled by the catastrophe of the Great War,’ recorded the club historian and former director, Thomas Keates. The Football League was abandoned and teams played in regional leagues. Grenyer was a regular throughout this period, playing more than 120 games. He was also recognized by England, playing a Victory international against Wales in October 1919.
By then league football had resumed and observers took comfort in the solidity of the reigning champions’ defence. ‘The half back line – [Tom] Fleetwood, [Billy] Wareing and Grenyer, who were the mainstay of the team during the past season or two, will again do duty, and here again there is no cause for anxiety,’ recorded one correspondent on the eve of the 1919/20 season.
However, more than four years away from league football had seen Everton go into decline. Grenyer, now approaching his thirties found Joe Peacock then Hunter Hart preferred at left half. In October 1924, having failed to make the first team in twenty months, his transfer back to the north east, to South Shields, was agreed. He later crossed town, to where he had started, when he was appointed North Shields coach in 1931.