Liverpool F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Liverpool Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Reds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1892 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Anfield, Liverpool | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 45,362 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  David Moores |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager |  Rafael Benítez |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | FA Premier League | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004-05 | Premier League, 5th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Liverpool Football Club (also known simply as Liverpool) is an English football club based in the North-West of England. It is the most successful team ever to have played in the English league. Since its founding in 1892, Liverpool has won five European Cups, the most recent in the 2004-5 season, and eighteen Football League titles. The club's home ground is the 45,362 capacity Anfield stadium, which is about three miles from the centre of Liverpool.
The club was founded on March 15, 1892 by John Houlding, the owner of Anfield. Houlding decided to form his own team after Everton left Anfield in an argument over rent. The original name was to be Everton F.C. but was changed to Liverpool F.C. (after the F.A. refused to recognise the team as Everton).
The club was present at two of the biggest tragedies in European football — at Heysel in 1985 and Hillsborough in 1989. UEFA banned all English clubs from European competition for a period of five years after the Heysel disaster but Liverpool F.C. was banned for six years as an extra punishment.
Liverpool Football Club is not to be confused with Liverpool (Rugby) Football Club which was formed in 1858 and is now known as Liverpool St. Helens.
Contents |
History
Liverpool F.C. were formed by John Houlding in 1891, being elected to the Football League alongside Woolwich Arsenal two years later. In 1901 Scottish international Alex Raisbeck was the first Liverpool captain to collect the Football League championship, and Liverpool were league champions again in 1906.
Liverpool lost their first FA Cup final to Burnley in 1914. In 1922 and again in 1923, captained by England full back Ephraim Longworth, Liverpool were champions. In 1946-7, the first season after World War 2, Liverpool were surprise League champions. Over a decade of mediocrity was to follow.
Bill Shankly is largely credited with bringing Liverpool from relative obscurity to the forefront of English football. He was appointed manager of Liverpool before the start of the 1959-60 season when they were in the Football League Second Division. Promotion to the Football League First Division was achieved in 1962 when Liverpool won the Second Division championship. Liverpool won the First Division Championship in 1964 and regained it two years later (1966), winning their first FA Cup in the season between their two title triumphs (1965). Liverpool won their first European trophy, the UEFA Cup, in 1973.
Bob Paisley, Liverpool's most successful manager, succeeded Shankly from the 1974-75 season. In the nine seasons until his retirement in May 1983, Liverpool had won six Football League Championships, three European Cups, one UEFA Cup, three successive League Cups, one European Super Cup and three Charity Shields - a total of 21 trophies. Paisley's achievement remained unsurpassed in English football until Sir Alex Ferguson won the Premiership title with Manchester United in 2001.
Success continued under Joe Fagan whose 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.
Joe Fagan's second and final season as Liverpool manager had a traumatic ending when 39 supporters attending the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus were killed in the Heysel Stadium disaster. Kenny Dalglish succeeded him, clinching a Football League Championship/FA Cup double success in his first season, only the fifth team in English football to achieve such a feat. Two seasons later, Liverpool regained the League Championship, before a shocking 1-0 FA Cup final defeat against minnows Wimbledon.
Despite his successes, Dalglish's stint as manager was overshadowed by the tragic death in 1989 of 96 Liverpool supporters at the FA Cup semi final against Nottingham Forest, commonly referred to as the Hillsborough disaster. That season Liverpool dramatically lost the League Championship to Arsenal in the final match of the season. Liverpool's most recent league title was won in 1989-90, Dalglish's last full season in charge.
The past fifteen years have been relatively barren for Liverpool, with the domestic game being dominated by Manchester United and Arsenal. The major exceptions to this are the remarkable 2000-01 season, when Liverpool won three major cups, and the 2004-05 season when they won the European Cup under current manager Rafael Benítez.
New Stadium
On July 30, 2004, Liverpool City Council granted the club planning permission to build a new 60,000 seat stadium, nearby at Stanley Park. Despite pressure from Governmental and funding bodies, Liverpool refused to share the new ground with their local rivals Everton and "final" talks on a groundshare failed in January 2005. At that time the club was hoping to start construction in summer 2005 and open the ground in 2007, but finance has not yet been obtained and the likely completion date is not currently known. 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.
Honours
- First Division titles 18*
- 1901, 1906, 1922, 1923, 1947, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990
- Football League Second Division Champions 4
- 1894, 1896, 1905, 1962
- Lancashire League Champions 1
- 1893
- UEFA Champions League 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. AC Milan
- UEFA Cup Winners 3*
- 1973, 1976, 2001
- FA Cup Winners 6
- 1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001
- FA Youth Cup Winners 1
- 1996
- League Cup Winners 7*
- 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003
- FA Community Shield Winners 14
- 1964+, 1965+, 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977+, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986+, 1988, 1989, 1990, 2001
- European Super Cup Winners 3*
- 1977, 2001, 2005
- Super Cup Winners 1
- 1986
- Reserves Division One Winners 16
- 1957, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1990, 2000
* More than any other English club + Title shared
Miscellaneous Facts and Figures
Match statistics
- Liverpool's first ever competitive game was in the Lancashire League against Higher Walton. They won 8-0. Their side did not have one English player.
- FA Cup debut: September 1892 4-0 v Nantwich
- League debut: 2-0 v Middlesbrough Ironopolis F.C. on September 2, 1893 (Division 2)
- First Honour: in the 1893/94 season they became the Second Division champions.
- Liverpool played against Blackburn Rovers F.C. on September 5th 1896. Rovers won 1-0, but six goals were disallowed during this game.
- December 1909 Newcastle United led 5-2 at Anfield, but the reds rallied to win 6-5.
- In 1910 Liverpool won the first match at Old Trafford beating Manchester United 4-3.
- Biggest defeat: 0-8 v Huddersfield in 1935 and 1-9 Birmingham City F.C. on 11 December 1954 in Football League Division 2.
- Roger Hunt has the most league goals for one season - in the 1961/62 season he scored 41 goals.
- First European match: on August 17th 1964 they played against KR Reykjavik, Iceland, for the European Cup, and won 5-0 away.
- Only 14 first team players were used in the 1965/66 season, when Liverpool won the League.
- Biggest win: 11-0 v Strømsgodset on September 17th 1974.
- Ian Rush holds the record in Liverpool FC for most goals in all competitions for one season - he scored 47 goals in the 1983/84 season.
- Biggest league win: 9-0 v Crystal Palace F.C. on September 12th 1989.
- Only four people have scored 5 goals in one match. These are:
- Andy McGuigan, 1901/02
- John Evans, 1954/55
- Ian Rush, 1983/84
- Robbie Fowler, 1993/94
- Most career hat tricks: Gordon Hodgson 17 (1926-36)
- 3 consecutive hat tricks: Jack Balmer 1946-7 (his only hat tricks)
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 is included in their crest), and has become almost synonymous with the club.
Lyrics:
When You Walk
Through A Storm
Hold Your Head Up High
And Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark
At The End Of The Storm There's A Golden Sky
And The Sweet, Silver Song of A Lark
Walk on, Through the Wind
Walk on, Through the Rain
Though Your Dreams Be Tossed
And Blown
Walk On
Walk On
With Hope In Your Heart
And You'll Never Walk Alone
You'll Never Walk Alone
Walk on, Walk on
With Hope In Your Heart
And You'll Never Walk Alone
You'll Never Walk Alone
Other Popular Chants Include:
Fields of Anfield Road, Poor Scouser Tommy, Liverbird Upon My Chest, We've Won it Five Times, Ring of Fire.
- Celebrity fans of the club include the late DJ John Peel, Ian McCulloch, Elvis Costello, Cherie Blair. The late Pope John Paul II, who played as goalkeeper in Poland like keeper Jerzy Dudek, also professed a fondness for Liverpool, amongst other clubs.
Reserve squad
- Liverpool's reserve team plays its home games at the Racecourse Ground, the home stadium of Wrexham A.F.C..
Other
- First broadcast of BBC TV's Match of the Day: on the 22nd August 1964, playing against Arsenal F.C.; the BBC 2 broadcast was presented by Kenneth Wolstenholme [1].
Current First Team squad
Liverpool squad as of 31 August 2005:
Players out on loan
Bruno Cheyrou (on loan to Bordeaux)
Salif Diao (on loan to Portsmouth F.C.)
Robbie Foy (on loan to Wrexham A.F.C.)
Chris Kirkland (on loan to West Bromwich Albion F.C.)- Anthony Le Tallec (on loan to Sunderland A.F.C.)
- Carl Medjani (on loan to FC Metz)
- John Welsh (on loan to Hull City A.F.C.)
See Also: List of Liverpool FC players
Staff
| Manager | Rafael Benítez |
| Assistant manager | Pako Ayesteran |
| First team coach | Alex Miller |
| Reserve team manager and coach | Paco Herrera, Hughie McAuley |
| Goalkeeping coach | Jose Ochotorena |
| Chief scout | Paco Herrera |
| Scout | Ron Yeats |
| Academy director | Steve Heighway |
| Assistant Physiotherapist | Mark Browes |
| Club Masseur | John Wright |
| Masseur | Paul Small, Stuart Welsh |
| Club Doctor | Mark Waller |
| Kit Manager | Graham Carter |
Stars
1892 to 1959:
- Alan A'Court - Matt Busby - Sam Hardy - Gordon Hodgson - Billy Liddell - Jimmy Melia - Bob Paisley - Elisha Scott - Cyril Sidlow - Albert Stubbins
1960 to 1990
- Gary Ablett - John Aldridge - John Barnes - Peter Beardsley - Jim Beglin - David Burrows - Gerry Byrne - Ian Callaghan - Jimmy Case - Ray Clemence - Peter Cormack - Kenny Dalglish - Alun Evans - Roy Evans - David Fairclough - Howard Gayle - Gary Gillespie - Bruce Grobbelaar - Brian Hall - Alan Hansen - Steve Heighway - David Hodgson - Mike Hooper - Ray Houghton - Emlyn Hughes - Roger Hunt - Glenn Hysen - David Johnson - Craig Johnston - Joey Jones - Kevin Keegan - Alan Kennedy - Ray Kennedy - Chris Lawler - Tommy Lawrence - Mark Lawrenson - Sammy Lee - Alec Lindsay - Larry Lloyd - Terry McDermott - Kevin MacDonald - Steve McMahon - Mike Marsh - Ronnie Moran - Jan Mølby - Phil Neal - Steve Nicol - Michael Robinson - Ronnie Rosenthal - Ian Rush - Ian St. John - Tommy Smith - Graeme Souness - Nigel Spackman - Steve Staunton - Peter Thompson - Phil Thompson - John Toshack - Barry Venison - Paul Walsh - John Wark - Ronnie Whelan - Ron Yeats
1990 to present
- Nicolas Anelka - Nick Barmby - Patrik Berger - Jamie Carragher - Stan Collymore - Robbie Fowler - Brad Friedel - Steven Gerrard - Paul Ince - Rob Jones - David James - Harry Kewell - Jari Litmanen - Jason McAteer - Gary McAllister - Steve McManaman - Danny Murphy - Michael Owen - Jamie Redknapp - Ronnie Rosenthal - Neil Ruddock - Dean Saunders - Michael Thomas - Sander Westerveld - Mark Wright - John Arne Riise - Djibril Cisse - Fernando Morientes - Steve Finnan - Jerzy Dudek - Xabi Alonso - Jamie Carragher - Sami Hyypia - Milan Baros.
See also: List of Liverpool FC players
Managers
| W. E. Barclay | 1892 - 1896 |
| Tom Watson | 1896 - 1915 |
| David Ashworth | 1920 - 1923 |
| Matt McQueen | 1923 - 1928 |
| George Patterson | 1928 - 1936 |
| George Kay | 1936 - 1951 |
| Don Welsh | 1951 - 1956 |
| Phil Taylor | 1956 - 1959 |
| Bill Shankly | 1959 - 1974 |
| Bob Paisley | 1974 - 1983 |
| Joe Fagan | 1983 - 1985 |
| Kenny Dalglish | 1985 - 1991 |
| Graeme Souness | 1991 - 1994 |
| Roy Evans | 1994 - 1998 |
| Gerard Houllier | 1998 - 2004 |
| Rafael Benítez | 2004 - Present |
Statistics
Main article: Liverpool F.C. - Statistics
Famous Liverpool fans
- Curtly Ambrose
- Johnny Ball
- Cilla Black
- Cherie Blair
- Paul Boardman
- Stan Boardman
- Ian Broudie
- Mel C
- Craig Charles
- Darren Clarke
- Elvis Costello
- Kelly Dalglish
- Laura Davies
- Chris De Burgh
- Les Dennis
- Dr Dre
- Kirsty Gallacher
- Adam Gilchrist
- DJ Harvey
- Michael Howard
- Samuel L. Jackson
- Martin Johnson
- Sue Johnston
- Angelina Jolie
- John Lennon
- Gerry Marsden
- Ian McCulloch
- Mark Owen
- Urs Meier
- Pope John Paul II
- John Peel
- Brian Regan
- DJ Spooney
- Joss Stone
- Jimmy Tarbuck
- Billy Bob Thornton
- Ricky Tomlinson
- Adam Woodyatt
See also
External links
Unofficial
- lfc-news
- Anfield Red
- Anfield Online
- Anfield Road
- LFCStreams.com
- LFC Online
- LFC Fans Forum
- LFCHistory.net
- Liverpool FC Bootroom
- Liverpool.no (in Norwegian)
- Liverweb
- Red All Over The Land
- Red and White Kop
- Shankly Gates
- TalkLFC
- The Kop's Last Stand
- The Liverpool Way
- The Road End
- This Is Anfield
- Through The Wind And Rain
- You'll Never Walk Alone.tv
- www.LiverpoolFC.se (in Swedish)
| UEFA Champions League 2005/06 |
| Ajax | Anderlecht | Arsenal | Artmedia Bratislava | Barcelona | Bayern Munich | Benfica | Chelsea | Club Brugge | Fenerbahce | Inter Milan | Juventus | Lille | Liverpool | Manchester United | Lyon | AC Milan | Olympiakos | Panathinaikos | Porto | PSV | Rapid Vienna | Real Betis | Real Madrid | Rangers | Rosenborg | Schalke 04 | Sparta Prague | Thun | Udinese | Villarreal | Werder Bremen |
| FA Premier League, 2005-2006 | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Arsenal | Aston Villa | Birmingham City | Blackburn Rovers | Bolton Wanderers | Charlton Athletic | Chelsea | Everton | Fulham | Liverpool | Manchester City | Manchester United | Middlesbrough | Newcastle United | Portsmouth | Sunderland | Tottenham Hotspur | West Bromwich Albion | West Ham United | Wigan Athletic |
||
| FA Premier League seasons | ||
|
1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 |
||
| (Women's) Football in England | ||
| League competitions | The FA | Cup competitions |
| FA Premier League | FA Cup (Women's) | |
| The Football League (Champ, 1, 2) | England (men) |
League Cup |
| Football Conference (Nat, N, S) | FA Community Shield | |
| Northern Premier League (Prem, 1) | (women) | Football League Trophy |
| Southern League (Prem, 1W, 1E) | List of clubs |
FA Trophy |
| Isthmian League (Prem, 1, 2) | FA Vase | |
| English football league system | Records | FA NLS Cup |
