Liverpool F.C.

The club was involved in two of the biggest tragedies in European football — at Heysel in 1985 when thirty-nine spectators died,^[4] and at Hillsborough in 1989 where ninety-six people lost their lives.^[5] After Heysel, English clubs were banned from European competition for a period of five years, and Liverpool were excluded for six years.^[4] The Hillsborough tragedy led to a review of ground safety at all top English league clubs, and paved the way for legislation necessitating all-seater stadiums in the top-flight.^[6]

History

Everton F.C. were founded 1878 and played at Anfield from 1884. In 1891 John Houlding, the leaseholder of Anfield, purchased the ground outright and proposed increasing the rent from £100 to £250 a year. The Everton members objected, left Anfield and moved to Goodison Park. With an empty ground and just three players remaining, Houlding decided to form his own football club and on 15 March 1892, Liverpool Football Club was born. The original name was to be Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds, Ltd., or Everton Athletic for short, but was changed to Liverpool F.C. after The Football Association refused to recognise the team as Everton. John McKenna was appointed director and signed thirteen Scottish professionals for the new club. Liverpool were elected to the Football League Second Division for the 1893–94 season. They ended the season unbeaten as Second Division Champions, and were promoted to the First Division. In 1901, Liverpool won their first Football League championship; a feat that was repeated in 1906. They played their first FA Cup final in 1914, but lost 1-0 to Burnley.

In 1921–22 and 1922–23 Liverpool won their first back-to-back League titles, captained by England full-back Ephraim Longworth. This was only to be followed by the longest barren spell in the club's history. It was felt that Liverpool might have recovered in 1947 when they became Champions once again, but it proved to be a false dawn, and in 1954 Liverpool were relegated. The years 1954-59 were the nadir for Liverpool, when the team languished in League Division Two (the old second level of professional football in England) and had no success in the F.A. Cup. Their record league defeat, 9-1 to Birmingham City, came in December 1954. A small glimmer of success was a 4-0 upset of rivals Everton in the F.A. Cup in January 1955. This was a the only light in a gloomy decade however that included a Cup exit to Southend United in January 1957.

Bill Shankly was appointed manager in December 1959. Over the next fifteen years he transformed Liverpool into one of the top club sides in Europe. Within his first year, he released twenty-four players and rebuilt the team. Shankly's efforts would pay dividends. In his third season as manager, Liverpool won the Second Division Championship by eight points and were promoted to the top flight where they have remained ever since.

Having started the 1960s in the Second division, Liverpool would end that decade as a major domestic power. In 1964, Liverpool lifted the League Championship for the first time in seventeen years. They were League Champions again in 1966, having won their first ever FA Cup in the previous season, beating Leeds United 2-1 in the final.

Liverpool had won their eighth league title and defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach to win their first European trophy, the UEFA Cup, in 1973. However, a year later, after another FA Cup victory, Shankly retired from management. His assistant, Bob Paisley, was offered the chance to manage the team. Paisley would prove to be one of the most successful managers in the history of football. In the nine seasons he managed the club, Liverpool would win a total of twenty-one trophies, including three European Cups, a UEFA Cup, six league titles and three consecutive League Cups.

Liverpool's first European Cup was won in 1977. The final was played in Rome, and Liverpool defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1. The next year Liverpool would retain the trophy, beating Club Brugge 1-0 in the European Cup final at Wembley, and in 1979 the club broke another record winning the league title with sixty-eight points and only sixteen goals conceded in forty-two matches. Paisley's third and last European Cup victory came in 1981 with a 1-0 victory in the final over Real Madrid. One domestic trophy eluded him however the FA Cup.

The succession of winning managers appointed from within the club's staff is worthy of note. These managers are often referred to as 'the boot room boys' after a part of Anfield where Liverpool staff learned strategy and allegedly stored gin^[7]. Just as Shankly had been succeeded by Paisley, so too did Paisley hand over the reins to his assistant, veteran coach Joe Fagan. He was aged 63 when he became manager in 1983. In his first season in charge, 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. However Fagan's career was only to last two seasons, and would end in tragedy. In 1985 Liverpool again reached the European Cup final. The match was to be played at Heysel Stadium but, before kick-off, disaster struck Liverpool fans breached a fence separating the two groups of supporters and charged Juventus fans causing a retaining wall to collapse, killing thirty-nine Juventus fans. The match was played regardless and Liverpool lost 1-0 to Juventus. All English clubs were consequently banned from participating in European competition for five years with Liverpool receiving a ban for ten years (later reduced to six), whilst fourteen of their fans received convictions for involuntary manslaughter.

In 1985 Kenny Dalglish, already idolised as perhaps Liverpool's greatest player, became Liverpool's first player-manager. His reign would see the club win another three League Championships and another two FA Cups including a double in 1985/86 at Everton's expense. His initial season in charge saw the club winning the league title and beating arch rivals Everton 3-1 in the FA Cup final to become only the third team to win the league championship/FA Cup double in the 20th century (after Spurs (1961) and Arsenal (1971)). However, Liverpool's successes were overshadowed by the Hillsborough disaster. On 15 April 1989, when Liverpool were playing Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semi-final, hundreds of Liverpool fans were trampled on the terraces. 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 never having regained consciousness. The Taylor Report later ruled that the main reasons for the disaster were overcrowding due to a failure of police control.

1992 saw Graeme Souness installed as manager. However, apart from an FA Cup win in his first year, his reign was not successful. After a shock exit from the FA Cup at the hands of Bristol City at Anfield, "Boot room" veteran Roy Evans took over. While his tenure saw some improvement in league form, in five seasons the club never finished higher than third. His only trophy win was the 1995 League Cup. 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 the partnership didn't work out and Evans resigned part way through the season.

2000–01 was Liverpool's best season for many years as the team completed a unique treble of the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup. They finished second in 2002, a year in which Houllier suffered a heart attack during a match with Leeds and had to undergo major heart surgery. Liverpool looked like becoming a force in English Football once again, but Houllier would only win one more trophy in his time in charge, another League Cup in 2003. Against a background of growing disquiet amongst Liverpool supporters, Houllier and Liverpool parted by mutual consent at the end of the 2003–04 season.

Spaniard Rafael Benítez took over and in his first season 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. The Reds met the heavily favoured Italian club A.C. Milan in an astonishing final. Liverpool trailed 3-0 at half time and looked much the poorer side over the first 45 minutes, but they made a dramatic comeback by scoring three goals in a period of only six minutes in the second half, forcing extra time. Liverpool went on to win the penalty shoot-out thanks to goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek.

In 2005–06 Liverpool gathered 82 points in the Premiership, their highest points total since 1988, and won the FA Cup in yet another dramatic final, this time against West Ham in which Liverpool trailed 3-2 until Captain Steven Gerrard fired home a goal from 35-yards out, as the P.A system was announcing extra time.

Notable former players

Over the course of Liverpool's history, many players have enjoyed extremely successful careers with the club, and established themselves as favourites with the fans. There is a huge amount of debate among supporters as to which players might be considered the most notable.

In the period before the Second World War several players played for Liverpool for lengthy periods of time, earning themselves great admiration. Among these were Ephraim Longworth, a solid full-back who became Liverpool's first England captain in 1921, and Elisha Scott, who played in goal for Liverpool for 22 years, making him the longest serving Liverpool player ever. In front of goal, of particular note is Gordon Hodgson, who scored a record 17 hat tricks playing for the club in the 20s and 30s.

In the 1960s, as Bill Shankly transformed the club into a European power, several players established themselves as key elements of Liverpool's success. Among them was Ron Yeats, who Shankly famously described as his "colossus",^[8] and Roger Hunt, who scored 245 league goals (still a club record) as well as being part of England's World Cup winning team in 1966.

Paisley's additions to the squad were a massively important factor in Liverpool's success during the 70s and 80s. Two Scottish signings of 1977 had a particular impact: Alan Hansen, who was a part of 3 European Cup winning teams, and Kenny Dalglish, known to fans as 'King Kenny'^[9], would excel as a Liverpool player before becoming Liverpool's first Double-winning manager. In 1980 Paisley also signed a young Ian Rush, who would go on to become the club's leading goalscorer.

Some of the Premiership's greatest ever players began and forged their careers at Liverpool. Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen began their careers at the Liverpool Academy, emerging across the 1990s among the batch that later included current captain Steven Gerrard.

Colours and badge

Liverpool's traditional colours are red and white, with the home kit being all red since the mid 1960s, however it wasn't always this way. In the early days, when the club took over Anfield from Everton, they also took the Toffee's colours of blue and white, wearing an almost identical kit to the Everton team of the time. In 1894 it was decided to adopt the city of Liverpool's colour of red, and in 1901 the city's liver bird was adopted as the club badge. For the next seventy years Liverpool's kit was red shirts with white shorts (socks alternated over the years from red, to black, to white, and back to red again).

In 1964, then Liverpool manager, Bill Shankly decided to send the team out in all red for the first time against Anderlecht, as Ian St. John recalled in his autobiography:

Liverpool's away colours are traditionally white shirts and black shorts or all yellow. However in 1987 an all grey kit was introduced. The away kit was then grey until the centenary season of 1991–92, when it was replaced by a combination of green shirt and white shorts. Grey has never been used since. The current away kit is all yellow, and there is also a Champions League away kit which is mainly white, with a green stripe down the right hand side of both the shirt and shorts.

The current Liverpool badge is based around the traditional liver bird, which is placed inside a shield. Above the shield is a representation of Anfield's Shankly Gates bearing the title of club's famous theme tune, "You'll Never Walk Alone". The twin flames at either side are symbolic of the Hillsborough memorial — an eternal flame burns outside Anfield in memory of those who died in the disaster.

Stadium

The Anfield stadium was built in 1884 on land adjacent to Stanley Park, and was originally inhabited by Everton F.C. They left the ground in 1892 over a rent dispute. Anfield's owner, John Houlding, decided to form a new club to play at the ground, which became Liverpool FC.

In 1906, the banked stand at one end of the ground was formally renamed the Spion Kop, after a hill in Natal that was the site of a battle in the Second Boer War, where over 300 men of the Lancashire Regiment died, many of whom were from Liverpool. Fans that regularly use the Kop are known as Koppites. At its largest, the stand could hold 28,000 spectators, and was one of the largest single tier stands in the world. Local folklore claimed that the fans in the Kop could "suck the ball into the goal" if Liverpool were playing towards that end - and in most games, Liverpool play the second half towards the Kop. The stand was considerably reduced in size due to safety measures brought in following the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, and it was completely rebuilt as an all seater stand in 1994, although it is still a single tier. The current capacity is 12,409.

The Anfield Road Stand is positioned at the opposite end to the Kop and houses the away-fans section. It is the newest stand at Anfield having been rebuilt in 1998 with a capacity of 9,074. The two side stands are the Main Stand, capacity 12,227, and the Centenary Stand, capacity 11,762. The Main Stand is the oldest part of Anfield, having remained largely untouched since it's redevelopment in 1973. It houses the players' changing rooms and the director's box. The dug-outs are also on this side of the pitch.

The Centenary Stand was previously known as the Kemlyn Road Stand until it was rebuilt for the club's centenary in 1992. This redevelopment saw all of the houses in Kemlyn Road demolished and the address become non-existent.

The current overall capacity of the stadium is 45,362. In Liverpool's 2004/05 the crowd capacity was at an average of 85 per cent full.

New stadium

On July 30, 2004, Liverpool City Council granted the club planning permission to build a new 61,000 seat stadium just 300 yards away from Anfield at Stanley Park.^[11] Despite pressure from Governmental and funding bodies, Liverpool refused to share the proposed ground with their local rivals, Everton, and final talks on a groundshare failed in January 2005.^[12] At that time the club was hoping to start construction in summer 2005 and open the ground in 2007, but agreements with regional funding bodies over the financing of associated regeneration projects proved to be difficult to obtain, and the start of construction delayed as a result. The old stadium will become a public plaza surrounded by apartments, offices, bars, restaurants and a hotel, and possibly including a memorial garden. Treatment of the old stadium requires sensitivity as a number of deceased fans have had their ashes officially scattered on the pitch over the years.

The plans needed to go before Liverpool City Council for a second time in March 2006 to ensure that the proposed stadium complied with new planning regulations. It was reported on 11 April 2006 that the plans had passed without amendment. The club is now looking for investors to help fund the (estimated) £160m, 61,000 all-seater stadium.^[13]

On September 8, 2006 Liverpool City Council agreed to give a 999 year lease of part of Stanley Park for construction of the new stadium. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2007, with the first game due to be held in Aug 2009.^[14]

Club culture

The song "You'll Never Walk Alone", originally from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and famously recorded by Liverpool musicians Gerry & The Pacemakers, is the anthem of Liverpool FC and has been sung by the Anfield crowd since the early 1960s.The song has since gained popularity among the fans of other clubs around the world. Claims that "You'll Never Walk Alone" was first sung by fans at other clubs have been dismissed as very unlikely.^[15] The song's title also adorns the top of the Shankly Gates which were unveiled 26 August 1982 in memory of former manager, Bill Shankly. The "You'll Never Walk Alone" banner portion of the Shankly Gates is also reproduced in the Liverpool FC crest.

Liverpool fans, singing "You'll Never Walk Alone", were featured in the Pink Floyd song, "Fearless". Other popular chants include "Fields of Anfield Road" (to the tune of "The Fields of Athenry"), "Poor Scouser Tommy" (first section to the tune of "Red River Valley; second section to the tune of The Sash"), "Liverbird Upon My Chest" (to the tune of "Ballad of the Green Berets"), "We've Won It Five Times" (to the tune of "Sloop John B"), and "Ring of Fire". They also cheerfully sung Always Look on the Bright Side of Life as broken leg victim Alan Smith was carried off the pitch.

Under Rafael Benitez, today's Liverpool FC has gained a Spanish influence. As well as having a Spanish manager, the assistant manager, Pako Ayesteran, and the goalkeeping coach, Jose Ochotorena, are also Spanish, as is physiotherapist, Víctor Salina. However, there are only three Spaniards in the current squad, although ten players in total have been brought to Liverpool directly from La Liga.

Liverpool Ladies F.C.

Liverpool also has a ladies team. They play in the FA Women's Northern Division - the 2nd tier of the game, though they did spend a season in the Premier League in 2004. They started to use the Liverpool name in 1995, and their greatest achievement was an FA Cup final appearance in 1996.

Club records and statistics

Ian Callaghan holds Liverpool's appearance record, having made 848 over the course of 19 seasons from 1958–78. He also holds the record for league appearances with 640. Of the current squad Jamie Carragher has the most appearances with 426 (as of 27 September 2006). Carragher's total of 290 Premier League appearances is a club record.

Liverpool's all time leading goal-scorer is Ian Rush, who scored 346 in two spells at the club in 1980–1987 and 1988-1996. Rush also holds the record for the most goals in a season with 47 in 1983–84. However, during his career, Rush could not surpass the league goal-scoring record of Roger Hunt, which has stood at 245 since 1970. In the 1961–62 season, Hunt scored 41 goals, setting the club record for league goals in a single season. Gordon Hodgson is the club's third highest scorer, and holds the club record of 17 hat tricks. The most goals scored by a player in a single match is 5, which has been achieved by Andy McGuigan, John Evans, Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler. Fowler also holds the club and Premiership record for the fastest hat trick from when he scored three past Arsenal in 4 minutes, 32 seconds in the second game of the 1994–95 season.

Liverpool's first ever competitive game was in the Lancashire League against Higher Walton. They won 8-0 with a team not containing a single English player, consisting as it did largely of Scottish imports. Liverpool's biggest ever victory was 11-0 against Strømsgodset I.F. in 1974. Nine of the ten outfield players scored in this game — a Liverpool record. Crystal Palace were the victims of Liverpool's biggest league win, as in 1989 they were defeated 9-0. Liverpool's heaviest defeats were against Huddersfield in 1935 (0-8) and Birmingham City F.C. in 1954 (1-9).

Managers

As of August 19, 2006. Only competitive matches are counted.

Honours

• League^[20] titles: 18
  • 1901, 1906, 1922, 1923, 1947, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990

• European Cups and UEFA Champions League^[2] titles: 5
  • 1977 3-1 vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach
  • 1978 1-0 vs. Club Brugge
  • 1981 1-0 vs. Real Madrid
  • 1984 1-1 (4-2 in penalty shootout) vs. AS Roma
  • 2005 3-3 (3-2 in penalty shootout) vs. A.C. Milan
• UEFA Cups: 3
  • 1973, 1976, 2001
• FA Cups: 7
  • 1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001, 2006

• League Cups: 7
  • 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003
• Community Shields^[21]: 15
  • 1964 (shared), 1965 (shared), 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977 (shared), 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986 (shared), 1988, 1989, 1990 (shared), 2001, 2006
• UEFA Super Cups: 3
  • 1977, 2001, 2005

Liverpool's tally of eighteen Football League championships is a record for English clubs, their nearest challenger being Manchester United with fifteen. Liverpool have also achieved the League and FA Cup "Double" in 1986 and two "Trebles". The first treble of League, League Cup and European Cup was achieved in 1984 (the first English club to win three major competitions in a single season) and a second treble was achieved in 2001 with the winning of the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup.

Liverpool's total of five European Cups^[2] is an English record and the third highest total overall, after Real Madrid and A.C. Milan. The fifth victory in 2005 entitled Liverpool to receive the UEFA badge of honour, thus allowing them to keep the trophy permanently.

Liverpool's total of three UEFA Cups is a record for English clubs and also ties the overall record with Inter Milan and Juventus. The tallies of seven League Cups and three European Super Cups are also English records.