History of Liverpool Football Club

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Liverpool Football Club, the most successful club in English football, has a long and detailed history.

Contents

[edit] Early history

Everton were founded 1878 and played at Anfield from 1884. In 1891 John Houlding, the leaseholder of Anfield, purchased the ground outright. Rent increased from £100 in 1884 to £250 by 1890. The Everton members decided to leave Anfield and moved to Goodison Park. With just three players remaining, John Houlding was left with an empty ground and no team to play in it. He therefore decided to form his own football club and on 15 March 1892, Liverpool Football Club was born. John McKenna was appointed director, and went to Scotland and where he signed thirteen professionals for the new club. The team was labelled "the team of the Macs" - with eight of the thirteen Scottish signings having a "Mc" prefix.

An ambitious application to join the Football League was rejected. After a 7-1 home friendly match victory on 1 September 1892 against Rotherham Town, Liverpool kicked off life in the Lancashire League with an 8-0 win at Anfield against Higher Walton. Malcolm McVean scored the first competitive goal. Ending the first season as champions and beating Everton 1-0 in the first Merseyside derby, the 1893 Liverpool Senior Cup final at Bootle F.C., Liverpool were elected to the Football League alongside Woolwich Arsenal.

McVean scored the club’s first league goal in a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough Ironopolis and ended the season unbeaten and Second Division Champions, winning a test match 2-0 against Newton Heath (soon to be renamed Manchester United) and promotion to the First Division.

Upon the arrival of manager Tom Watson, a 3-time-championship-winner at Sunderland, the strip changed from blue and white quarters to the famous red and white, and in 1901 Scottish international Alex Raisbeck was the first Liverpool captain to collect the Football League championship. League champions again in 1906, when Everton also won the FA Cup, the ground capacity was increased with the building of a huge cinder bank behind the south end goal. It was christened the Spion Kop after a Boer War battle of 1900 when over 300 men of the Lancashire Regiment died, many from Liverpool.

Liverpool played their first FA Cup final, the last at Crystal Palace, and the first attended by the reigning monarch, George V, losing 0-1 to Burnley in 1914. However, the club were also involved in the 1915 British football betting scandal, one of the earliest match-fixing scandals which saw four Liverpool players banned, although the bans were rescinded in 1919. Liverpool soon bounced back; in 1921-2 and again in 1922-3, captained by England full-back Ephraim Longworth, Liverpool were champions.

In 1946-7, the first season after the Second World War, Liverpool were surprise League champions. In 1950 the club lost its second FA Cup final, 0-2 to Arsenal at Wembley.

[edit] The Bill Shankly Era (1959-1974)

(Honours won: UEFA Cup (1973), Football League Championship (1964, 1966, 1973), FA Cup (1965, 1974))

In January 1959 Liverpool were knocked out of the FA Cup by non-League Worcester City. By November manager Phil Taylor had resigned. Bill Shankly became Liverpool manager in December 1959 and over the next 15 years he transformed them into one of the top club sides in Europe. Within a year he had released twenty four players. Fellow Scots Ian St John and Ron Yeats were signed from Motherwell and Dundee United respectively. Striker Roger Hunt, winger Ian Callaghan and full back Gerry Byrne also established themselves in the team. By the beginning of 1961-62 Shankly had assembled the nucleus of the new team. That season, Shankly's third season as manager, they duly won the Second Division championship by eight points and were promoted to the top flight where they have remained ever since, never finishing below eighth in the league.

In 1964, Liverpool lifted the League Championship. It was also the year in which the team adopted its now famous all red strip. They failed to retain the championship trophy the following season but compensation came in the form of a first-ever FA Cup (a 2-1 Final win over Leeds United). Their first ever European Cup campaign ended at the semi-final stage against Inter Milan. In a tie still remembered on Merseyside, Liverpool won the first leg 3-1 only to lose the second leg 3-0, going out 4-3 on aggregate.

The following year Liverpool regained the championship. They also reached the European Cup Winners Cup Final - losing 2-1 to Borussia Dortmund. By now Shankly was one of the most highly rated managers in the game and his squad contained some of the finest players in England. Despite this success Shankly was already planning further signings. Future internationals Emlyn Hughes, Ray Clemence and Kevin Keegan were signed from clubs in the lower divisions as the 60s team was gradually dismantled.

Liverpool won their first European trophy in 1973 in the UEFA Cup, as well as winning another league title that season. The UEFA Cup Final appeared over after the first leg with Liverpool 3-0 winners. However, German team Borussia Moenchengladbach fought back in the second leg to win 2-0, giving Liverpool a narrow 3-2 aggregate victory.

They won the FA Cup again a year later with a convincing 3-0 final win over Newcastle United. Shankly stunned the footballing world soon afterwards by announcing his retirement. The club's players and fans tried to persuade him to carry on, and a local factory even threatened to go on strike. Shankly ignored these pleas and joined the club's fans on The Kop as a spectator, while he handed over his managerial duties to Bob Paisley.

[edit] The Bob Paisley Era (1974-1983)

(Honours won: UEFA European Cup (1977, 1978, 1981), UEFA Cup (1976), Football League Championship (1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983), Football League Cup (1981, 1982, 1983))

Shankly's 55-year-old assistant Bob Paisley, was promoted to the position of manager for the 1974-75 season after failing to persuade his predecessor to carry on. Paisley was manager of Liverpool from 1974 until 1983, and during those nine years he became one of the most successful managers ever to take charge of an English club. His one and only season without winning a trophy was his first, 1974-75. His second season brought the first of six league titles. In 1977 the championship was retained and the team won the European Cup for the first time in its history. The final in Rome was won 3-1 over old foes Borussia Moenchengladbach in what was Kevin Keegan's final game for the club. The European Cup was retained the following year with a 1-0 win in the final against FC Bruges. The goal was created by future captain Graeme Souness and scored by Keegan's replacement Kenny Dalglish.

1978-79 was a record breaking year as the league title was won with 68 points and only 16 goals conceded in 42 matches [1]. The following season brought another league title. Paisley's third and last European Cup victory came in 1981 with a 1-0 victory in the final over Real Madrid. The unexpected scorer of the winning goal was defender Alan Kennedy. The only domestic trophy to previously elude them, the League Cup, was also won that season with another defender, Alan Hansen, grabbing the winning goal.

A defeat to Manchester City on Boxing Day 1981 saw Liverpool drop to eleventh place but a string of victories brought the title back to Anfield. The League Cup was also retained. The emerging star of that campaign was Welsh striker Ian Rush. It was more of the same the following year with both the league championship and League Cup being retained. Of Liverpool's eight league defeats that year, five were recorded after the title was already won. Eventually, the league was won by eleven points.

The big question for fans at the conclusion of that season was who would replace Bob Paisley. Before retiring he won a total of twenty-one trophies, including three European Cups, a UEFA Cup, six league titles and three consecutive League Cups during his spell as manager. Under Paisley, a new era of stars emerged. They included Graeme Souness, Ian Rush, Alan Hansen and Kenny Dalglish.

[edit] The Joe Fagan Era (1983-1985)

(Honours won: UEFA European Cup (1984), Football League Championship (1984), Football League Cup (1984))

Veteran coach Joe Fagan moved up to the manager's seat, aged 63, upon Paisley's retirement, and his first season at the helm saw Liverpool become the first English club to win three major trophies in a single season - the league title, the League Cup and the European Cup.

He remained in charge for just two seasons before handing in his retirement, but his first season (1983-84) saw Liverpool set some of the most impressive records in English football. They won their fourth successive League Cup and their third successive League Championship as well as winning the European Cup for the fourth time in eight seasons, thanks to the efforts of Fagan and his high quality squad which was mostly made up of players from the Bob Paisley era. A significant breakthrough star in the Liverpool team was young striker Ian Rush, who had been signed from Chester in 1980 and after a couple of seasons in the reserves had broken into the first team and established himself as a prolific goalscorer.

In Fagan's second and final season as manager, Liverpool lost out on the league title to local rivals Everton - with four matches to spare. They reached the European Cup final to face Italian champions Juventus at the decrepit Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. Before kick-off, a violent rampage by Liverpool supporters resulted in the death of 39 people who were crushed to death when a wall collapsed. The shockwaves from this reverberated round European football and lead to UEFA banning all English teams from European competitions until 1990.

Fagan retired after the Heysel Disaster and handed over the reins to former Liverpool striker Kenny Dalglish, who was given the role of player-manager. He died at the age of 80 in July 2001 after a long illness.

[edit] The Kenny Dalglish Era (1985-1991)

(Honours won: Football League Championship (1986, 1988, 1990), FA Cup (1986, 1989) - None of Dalglish's Liverpool sides were eligible for European competition)

Fagan handed over the reins to striker Kenny Dalglish, who had established himself as a world class player and now wanted to prove himself as a manager. His first season in charge as Liverpool's first player-manager - 1985-86 - could not have been better, as the Reds fought off competition from Everton, West Ham United and Manchester United to win the league title. They also beat neighbours Everton 3-1 in the F.A Cup final to become only the third team to win the league championship/F.A Cup double in the twentieth century. Dalglish was still a top striker despite his advancing years, and his partnership with Ian Rush was the most prolific in the English league.

1986-87 was trophyless as Liverpool finished league runners-up to Everton and lost to Arsenal in the League Cup final. Pundits were predicting further disappointment for the following season when star striker Ian Rush was sold to Juventus in a £3.2 million deal.

Rush's £750,000 successor John Aldridge silenced the critics by topping the club's goalscoring charts in the 1987-88 season and inspiring the Reds to another championship success - Liverpool won the First Division Championship by nine points from runners-up Manchester United and suffered just two league defeats all season. New winger John Barnes was credited with the Player of the Year Award. The downside of the season was a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Wimbledon in the F.A Cup final. Liverpool had by this stage been one of the world's strongest clubs for more than twenty years. Wimbledon, meanwhile, had been First Division members for just two seasons and had only joined the league eleven years earlier.

Ian Rush returned to Liverpool for the 1988-89 season, after an unsuccessful spell at Juventus. Liverpool came close to repeating the double once more in 1988-89. They lifted the FA Cup with another victory over Everton in the final, but the league title slipped out of their grasp in the last minute of their last game of the season at home to Arsenal. A last minute goal from Arsenal's Michael Thomas (who later joined Liverpool) gave the league title to the visitors - while the two teams ended the season with the same number of points and an identical goal difference, the Gunners took the title by virtue of having scored more goals. But the season was overshadowed by the Hillsborough disaster, which had struck the club in the FA Cup semi-final. Hundreds of Liverpool fans were trampled on the terraces at Hillsborough. Ninety-four fans died that day and a ninety-fifth fan died in hospital from his injuries four days later. A ninety-sixth fan died nearly four years later having never regained consciousness. The Taylor Report later ruled that the main reasons for the disaster were overcrowding due to a failure of police control.

In 1989-90, Dalglish guided Liverpool to their third league title in five seasons. Although the 5 year ban on English clubs in European competition was lifted for the following season, Liverpool had to serve an extra year and were unable to compete in the 1990-91 European Cup.

On February 22, 1991, with Liverpool halfway through a two-horse race with Arsenal for the league title and the day after an epic 4-4 FA Cup clash with Everton (a game which saw their rivals come back from a goal down 4 times), Kenny Dalglish dropped a bombshell by handing in his resignation as manager, claiming he could no longer cope with the pressure of managing the club. First-team coach Ronnie Moran took charge of team affairs for several weeks before Graeme Souness was named as the club's new manager. By that stage, Liverpool were slipping behind in the title race and finished runners-up to Arsenal who completed the season with just one defeat from 38 games.

[edit] The Graeme Souness Era (1991-1994)

(Honours won: FA Cup (1992))

Graeme Souness had a reasonable start to his career as Liverpool manager. His first season saw the club win the FA Cup with a 2-0 win over Sunderland at Wembley, a success which ensured they would be competing in the European Cup Winners Cup for the 1992-93 season. He spent recklessly on many new players who did not all prove to be successful, especially compared to younger players like Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Jamie Redknapp. The veteran striker Ian Rush meanwhile, was still scoring goals as freely as ever despite being in his thirties. Long-serving goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar was often being kept out of the team by promising young shot-stopper David James.

Liverpool finished sixth in the first-ever FA Premier League and never looked like title challengers at any stage during the season. The 1993-94 season was no different and Souness resigned in January 1994 after Liverpool suffered a shock defeat against Bristol City in the FA Cup.

During his tenure as Liverpool manager, Graeme Souness suffered from heart problems. This indirectly led to him falling out of favour with Liverpool fans as he sold the story of his recovery to The Sun. The Sun has long been boycotted by people from Merseyside (regardless of footballing allegiance) due to its reporting of the Hillsborough disaster.

[edit] The Roy Evans Era (1994-1998)

(Honours won: Football League Cup (1995))

"Boot room" veteran Roy Evans took over from Souness. Evans had been on the club's pay roll since the late 1950s. He guided Liverpool to an eighth place finish in the 1993-94 Premier League campaign, young striker Robbie Fowler scoring 29 goals in all competitions which led to him being voted PFA Young Player of the Year. In his first full season (1994-95) Liverpool finished fourth in the Premiership and won the League Cup, beating Bolton Wanderers 2-1 in the final.

In the summer of 1995, Liverpool paid Nottingham Forest a British record fee of £8.5 million for striker Stan Collymore. Fowler and Collymore formed an impressive partnership for the 1995-96 season which saw veteran striker Ian Rush relegated to the substitute bench for much of the season before his departure on a free transfer to Leeds United. Liverpool continued to progress that season, being within a shout of the domestic double right up to the final few weeks of the season. But they finished third in the Premiership, eleven points behind champions Manchester United, seven behind runners-up Newcastle, and lost 1-0 to Man United in the FA Cup final. Still, Liverpool were recognised as a top team once again, and were starting to attract top players once more, to aid a talented group of young stars like Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler and Jamie Redknapp, who were peaking.

Liverpool led the Premiership at several stages during the 1996-97 season, but in the end they finished fourth and had to settle for a UEFA Cup place. They had been hoping to win the Cup Winners Cup for the first time, but lost to Paris St Germain in the semi finals. The squad's off the field lad culture excesses and underachievement tag on it had also resulted in the team getting derogatorily labelled as the 'Spice Boys'.

1997-98 saw Liverpool finish third in the Premiership for the second time in four years where they finished fourth on both other occasions. Though the critics had accused them as being 'nearly men' again, the highlight of the club's season was the emergence of young striker Michael Owen. Owen became the Premiership's equal top scorer in 1998 with eighteen goals and became the youngest full England international at the time. He was also awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year Award.

[edit] The Gérard Houllier Era (1998-2004)

(Honours won: UEFA Cup (2001), FA Cup (2001), Football League Cup (2001, 2003))

Gérard Houllier, the former French national coach, was drafted into the Liverpool management team for the 1998-99 season to work alongside Roy Evans. But Evans found that the partnership did not suit him and he quit during the season, at the end of which Liverpool finished a disappointing seventh - not even enough for a UEFA Cup place.

2000-01 was Liverpool's best season for many years. The likes of Owen, Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Sami Hyypiä contributed to the club's third place in the Premiership (thus qualifying for the Champions League) as well as completing a unique treble of the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup, followed by the FA Community Shield and European Super Cup later in 2001. The League Cup was won by beating Birmingham City on penalties after a 1-1 draw, the FA Cup by beating Arsenal 2-1 with two goals from Michael Owen in the last ten minutes and the UEFA Cup by beating Alavés, in an extraordinary game, 5-4 in extra time. This feat made Liverpool the first club in English football to achieve two 'trebles' of any kind.

By now, Liverpool's side contained a new set of players including goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, defender and captain Sami Hyypiä, young midfielder Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen's strike partner Emile Heskey.

Liverpool finished Premiership runners-up in 2001-02, their best league finish since 1991, but suffered a humiliating defeat in the League Cup Third Round at the hands of Grimsby Town. 2001 was also dramatic for Houllier personally as he suffered a major heart problem which kept him away from the club for part of the season.

Liverpool won another League Cup in 2003 but Houllier had again failed to deliver the league title, in fact finishing thirty points behind the champions Arsenal. Although Liverpool qualified for the Champions League by finishing fourth, (making three qualifications during his tenure) fans saw Houllier's ultra-conservative and defensive tactics as sacrificing too much attacking impetus to challenge Arsenal and Manchester United for the top prize. During this period Liverpool had their longest streak of not winning any games in the top flight. Against a background of growing disquiet amongst the Liverpool supporters Houllier and Liverpool parted by mutual consent at the end of the 2003-04 season, his replacement being the Spaniard Rafael Benítez who had just guided Valencia to the Spanish league title and UEFA Cup.

[edit] The Rafael Benítez Era (Since 2004)

(Honours won: UEFA Champions League (2005), UEFA Super Cup (2005), FA Cup (2006))

Spaniard Rafael Benítez took over from Houllier, arriving from Valencia CF with whom he had just won La Liga title for the second time and the UEFA Cup. Liverpool finished a disappointing fifth in the Premier League. The season had a surprising ending, however, as Liverpool won their fifth European Cup final in Istanbul. After eliminating favourites Juventus in the quarter-finals, they beat English rivals Chelsea in the semi-finals, on the strength of a controversial second-leg goal from Luis Javier Garcia Sanz. Many TV replays have been inconclusive as to whether the ball crossed the line.

The Reds met the heavily favoured Italian club A.C. Milan in the final. Liverpool, having trailed 3-0 at half time, made a dramatic comeback and scored three goals in the second half forcing extra time. Liverpool went on to win the penalty shoot out with the heroics of goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek.

This Champions League final win ensured that Steven Gerrard stayed with Liverpool, after rumours linked him with a move to Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at the end of the season.

Although they were the current champions Liverpool were in danger of not being able to defend their title. The England’s Leagues high UEFA ranking allows the maximum number of teams, four, to be entered into the Champions League competition. In the 2004-05 season, five English teams had qualified under then existing UEFA guidelines for the Champions League competition: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, and Everton, who had finished in places first to fourth place respectively in the Premier League, and Liverpool, who had won the competition. UEFA regulations stipulated that the choice of which team to be excluded fell to The Football Association. The FA chose to exclude Liverpool in favour of fourth-place finishers, Everton. This highly-unusual situation was eventually resolved by UEFA, which added Liverpool to the first qualifying round of the 2005-06 event.

For more details of Liverpool’s entry into the 2005-06 competition, see Liverpool FC’s 2005-06 Champions League Qualification.

After a solid run through qualifying and the group stage, Liverpool's defence of the Champions League title ended in the last sixteen in March 2006, being knocked out 3-0 on aggregate by the unfancied Portuguese side, Benfica. Because of Liverpool's near-miss, UEFA created a title-holder provision for both the Champions League and UEFA Cup.

As the UEFA Champions League 2005 winners, Liverpool competed in the 2005 European Super Cup, beating CSKA Moscow 3-1 AET. Liverpool also earned the right as European Champions to represent UEFA in the FIFA Club World Championship 2005 held in Japan. Liverpool met São Paulo in the final where the game was decided by a single goal scored by São Paulo midfielder Mineiro. During the match, three Liverpool goals were ruled offside.

After starting their FA Cup run against Luton with a 5-3 victory, Benitez's side broke an 85-year jinx [2] by beating Manchester United 1-0 in at Anfield on 18 February 2006, their first victory over their arch-rivals in the competition since 1921. The quarter final tie, away to Birmingham City F.C., saw Benitez's highest scoring result with the Reds winning 7-0, this result was also Liverpool's biggest away win in the FA Cup. On 22 April 2006, Liverpool defeated Chelsea 2-1 in the semi-finals, with John Arne Riise and Luis Garcia scoring to reach the FA Cup final to face West Ham United. This was the 13th time Liverpool had reached an FA Cup final.


In the final they claimed victory against West Ham, drawing 3-3 at full time with captain Steven Gerrard scoring an incredible equaliser in the 91st minute to take them to extra time and then penalties. They went on to win 3-1 on penalties with Pepe Reina saving three out of four penalties. Being the last FA Cup game at the Millennium Stadium, it was fitting that it has been noted as one of the best modern FA Cup finals [3].

In 2005-06 Liverpool also gathered 82 points in the Premiership [4] - their highest points total since 1988 and the largest number of points achieved by a team in third position.

At the start of the 2006-07 season, several commentators have started the myth that the zonal marking system Rafa Benitez favours means Liverpool can't defend free-kicks and corners into their box. As eminent Liverpool fan Paul Tomkins has pointed out several times in his column at [1] this isn't true as the statistics from him below show:

"The truth is that Liverpool only conceded from two corners all last season, both coming in Premiership games (Chelsea away and Everton at home). In total the Reds faced 137 corners in the league, meaning Benítez's men conceded on just 1.5 per cent of them. Only one team, Chelsea, were able to come even close to that, allowing three goals from 127 (2.4 per cent).

In terms of goals conceded from free-kicks delivered into the box, Liverpool also allowed only two in the Premiership all season, again one less than Chelsea. So the Reds conceded one-third fewer league goals than the next-best team when defending set-pieces.

The 2006-07 season has been a mediocre one for Liverpool as Christmas draws near. They experienced dreadful away form that included 3-0 losses to Everton and Chelsea and the new signings have had mixed results so far. Craig Bellamy has been inconsistent, Dirk Kuyt has been impressive, Jermaine Pennant has yet to shine and Mark Gonzalez has a way to go. They had scored only one away goal until 2 December 2006 when they beat Wigan Athletic 4-0 away from home. Their home form has been excellent all the way through the season. On 15 December 2006 Liverpool were drawn against Barcelona having reached the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

[edit] Goalkeepers

The club has had more than its fair share of notable goalkeepers. Matt McQueen, one of the original ‘team of the Macs’ who played in Liverpool's very first game, appeared in every position including goalkeeper and managed the club from 1923-28. Scotsman Ted Doig signed from Sunderland in 1904, and is still the club's oldest debutant at 37 years 11 months. Sam Hardy, acquired from Chesterfield in 1905, played 219 games and became an England international. In 1912 he was replaced by Scottish international Kenny Campbell, who played in the 1914 FA Cup final. In March 1920 the opposing keepers in an international at Celtic Park were Liverpool’s Kenny Campbell (Scotland) and Elisha Scott (Ireland).

The great Elisha Scott kept goal in 402 league games from 1913 until 1934. A Belfast man, he was known for his distinctive long johns and knee pads, his agility, command of the penalty area, and his profanity. This often led to admonishment from skipper Jimmy "Parson" Jackson, a devout Presbyterian and later an ordained minister.

Tommy Younger captained Scotland at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.

Shankly's fellow Scot Tommy Lawrence, christened "The Flying Pig", was the first of the "keeper sweepers".

Ray Clemence, three times a European Cup winner, and twice a UEFA Cup winner, was one of the finest English goalkeepers of all time.

Bruce Grobbelaar, a showman and an eccentric South African , made hair-raising dashes from his penalty area, not always successfully. His finest moment was the penalty shoot-out of the 1984 European Cup final in Rome. His wobbly legs antics distracted the Roma players, two of whom missed. He was also implicated in allegations of "match fixing" which led to two criminal trials which failed to convict him, and a libel trial against The Sun newspaper where the Appeal Court overturned a jury verdict in his favour and reduced a damages' award from £85,000 to £1 and left Grobbelaar liable for £500,000 in legal costs which bankrupted him.

[edit] Chronological list of trophies won

[edit] Season-by-season record

Main article Liverpool F.C. seasons

Sources: The official Liverpool FC website and The Official Liverpool FC Illustrated History by Jeff Anderson with Stephen Done (ISBN 1-84222-665-7)

Liverpool Football Club
The Club | History | Statistics
Players | 100 notable players
Seasons | Merseyside derby | 2005-06 Champions League qualification
Anfield | Boot Room |Stanley Park Stadium
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