A local amateur, Norman Rodgers developed into one of County's best-ever goalscoring inside-forwards, all his goals being scored in the top two divisions.
At the age of 17, he joined Park Albion in Heaton Norris before moving into the Manchester League with Hooley Hill.
As a free-scoring forward, he was persuaded to have a trial with County and, on 21 October 1911, signed as an amateur. Within a fortnight, he had made his debut, scored in his first two games and was an instant success.
A versatile player with good control, he was unselfish but never afraid to shoot at any opportunity, capable of scoring with either foot and preferring to hit the ball low into the corners of the goal.
Although he could not fail to be aware of the acclaim he was receiving, he remained unaffected, quietly concentrating on maitaining his fitness and improving his game.
At the end of his first season, Rodgers finished as County's top scorer with 11 goals in 23 appearances and, on April 26, he signed professional forms.
In the last three season prior to the abandonment of professional football in 1915, Rodgers was a remarkably consistent goalscorer and became the first County player to scored 50 League goals.
He remained in Stockport through the war years and, in three successive seasons, scored 20 goals, completing wartime football with a record of 70 goals in 115 appearances.
On the resumption of League football, Rodgers continued to score regularly but, only nine days after his benefit game against Leicester City, County found themselves unable to reject an offer of £2,500 for the most gifted inside-forward to have played for them.
Having scored 76 goals in 164 League and Cup appearances, on February 23, 1920, Blackburn Rovers signed Rodgers in a desperate attempt to preserve their First Division status.
Without a win for ten weeks and looking doomed, Rovers signed three players in the space of nine days. All made a contribution to the fight for survival, but none more than Norman Rodgers who scored a superb 13 goals in 11 games.
This, together with a victory by Manchester United at Notts County on the final day of the season, ensured both Rovers' survival and Rodgers' place in the hearts of Blackburn supporters.
Rodgers spent another three years at Ewood Park but suffered from a series of bad injuries which restricted him to only 32 League games in which he scored eight goals.
In the summer of 1923, Rodgers accepted that his football career was at an end and returned to Stockport where he ran a shop for 12 years before, at the age of 44, going into semi-retirement in Romiley.
Norman Rodgers was County's fourth leading League and Cup goalscorer until 1993 when Kevin Francis overtook him, but including his wartime record, Rodgers is County's leading scorer with 146 goals.
Thanks to Stockport County - A Complete Record by Peter Freeman with assistance from Richard Harnwell.
