Liverpool Football Club are the most successful club in the history of English football. They have won more trophies (58) than any other English club, their nearest challengers being the mighty Manchester United FC with 49.
They boast a record eighteen English League titles, but the last time they won the title was in 1990, Liverpool never having actually won the Premiership title. Liverpool have brought five European Cups back to their city, another English record. They have also been very active on the domestic cup front, winning the FA Cup and League Cup seven times. They are one of the best-supported teams in Britain, and Liverpool tickets are sought madly in the soccer-crazy city.
In their first ever season Liverpool began as they meant to go on, winning the Lancashire League. They were consequently promoted by election to the Football League Second Division, where they played for the 1893–94 season. They ended the season as undefeated Second Division Champions, and were promoted to the First Division. Liverpool won their first League championship in 1901, and again in 1906. They played their first FA Cup final in 1914, losing 1–0 to Burnley FC.
Over the years, Liverpool have been managed by a succession of accomplished coaches, each of which has won the hearts of the fans, but Bill Shankley remains for many the favourite. Shankley came to power in December 1959 and created on of the top club sides in Europe over the next 15 years. Shankly expertly built the core of his new team, signing many influential and scintillating players. Ian St John and Ron Yeats, Roger Hunt, and Ian Callaghan were all to become household names in England. By the time Liverpool won the League Championship in 1964, they were launched on a non-stop joyride to success, and had switched to their famous all-red kit.
During their glory years of the 70s and 80s, Liverpool rampaged across Europe and England, defeating all comers with their seemingly invincible “Liverpool Machine”, a team which shunned the limelight and focused exclusively on playing solid productive football. Bob Paisley was now the manager, and he proved to be an excellent successor to Shankley. Stars from that era, like Kenny Dalglish, Terry McDermott, Emlyn Hughes, and John Toshack, are fondly remembered on Merseyside by the Liverpool faithful.
Liverpool’s home is Anfield, and has been since they were founded in 1892. There are now plans in motion to relocate the famous club a short distance away, to a new 60,000 all-seater stadium, in nearby Stanley Park. This stadium may be expanded to 80,000, which is good news for those around the world hunting down Liverpool tickets. The venture will be funded by Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who became the club’s owners in February, 2007. This is an echo of Manchester United’s takeover by Americans, though we must hope that Liverpool’s involvement with our American cousins won’t be as fraught with the same degree of antagonism as was United’s. This is unlikely, as Liverpool’s buy-out isn’t expected to plunge the club into debt, as did Malcolm Glazer’s takeover of United.
Liverpool supporters have been involved in two major football disasters. When they met Juventus for the 1985 European Cup Final at the Heysel Stadium in Belgium, 39 Juventus F.C. fans died after a wall collapsed during crowd trouble. Several years later, at Hillsborough in 1989, 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death due to overcrowding in the inadequately designed Sheffield Wednesday stadium. The Hillsborough disaster led to the Taylor Report, which recommended that all top-flight stadiums in England be all-seater. This in turn spawned the Premier League, one of the wealthiest in the world, and brought a more international flavour to English football.
Full name Liverpool Football Club
Nickname The Reds
Founded 1892
Ground Anfield, Liverpool, England
Capacity 45,362
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