Liverpool F.C.

For the Uruguayan club, see Liverpool FC (Montevideo).

Liverpool

Liverpool emblem
Full name	Liverpool Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Reds
Founded	1892
Ground	Anfield Stadium Liverpool
Capacity	45,362
Chairman	David Moores
Manager	Rafael Benítez
League	FA Premier League
2005-06	Premier League, 3rd
Home colours Away colours

Liverpool Football Club (usually known simply as Liverpool) are a professional football club based in Liverpool, in the north west of England. They play in the FA Premier League and are the most successful club in English football. Liverpool have won eighteen First Division titles, seven FA Cups, seven League Cups, five UEFA Champions League titles and three UEFA Cups. Liverpool are also a member of the G-14 group of leading European football clubs.

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. 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. Liverpool were elected to the Football League two years later.

The club was involved in two of the biggest tragedies in European football — at Heysel in 1985 when thirty-nine spectators died, and at Hillsborough in 1989 where ninety-six people lost their lives. After Heysel, English clubs were banned from European competition for a period of five years. Liverpool were banned indefinitely, due to Liverpool fans being held completely responsible by UEFA, but were allowed back one year after the other English sides. 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.

History

Main article: History of Liverpool F.C.

File:Liverpool Champions League.jpg

Steven Gerrard lifting the European Cup in 2005.

File:Kop ynwa banner.jpg

Fans on the Kop hold aloft the team badge

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 to increase 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. 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.

Liverpool played their first FA Cup final in 1914. It was the last final to be played at Crystal Palace, and the first to be attended by the reigning monarch, George V. Liverpool 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. Then followed the longest barren spell in the club's history, only ended in 1947 when the Championship was won again. It was perhaps a false dawn though, as in 1954 Liverpool were relegated.

Bill Shankly became Liverpool manager in December 1959. Over the next fifteen years he transformed them into one of the top club sides in Europe. Within his first year, he released twenty-four players. Fellow Scots Ian St John and Ron Yeats were signed as striker Roger Hunt, winger Ian Callaghan and full back Gerry Byrne also established themselves in the team. In Shankly's 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, never finishing below eighth in the league. In 1964, Liverpool lifted the League Championship for the first time in seventeen years. The next season, the club won their first ever FA Cup, beating Leeds United 2-1 in the final, and the same season saw Liverpool's first ever European Cup campaign, which ended at the semi-final stage against Inter Milan.

Liverpool's first ever European final took place in 1966 when they lost in the Cup Winners' Cup against Borussia Dortmund. Around this time, future internationals Emlyn Hughes and Ray Clemence were signed from clubs in the lower divisions. Shankly then added Kevin Keegan in 1971, again from the lower leagues, as the 60s team was gradually dismantled and built anew.

In 1973, Liverpool achieved their eighth league title. They also defeated Borussia Moenchengladbach to win their first European trophy, the UEFA Cup.

After another FA Cup victory in 1974, Shankly retired, handing over the reins to his assistant Bob Paisley. Paisley would prove even more successful. In the nine seasons under his management, the club would win a total of twenty-one trophies, including three European Cups, a UEFA Cup, six league titles and three consecutive League Cups. Under Paisley, a new era of stars emerged including Graeme Souness, Ian Rush, Alan Hansen and Kenny Dalglish.

In 1977, Liverpool won their first ever European Cup. The final in Rome was won 3-1 over old foes Borussia Moenchengladbach in what was Kevin Keegan's final game for the club. Liverpool retained the European Cup in 1978, 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. Two domestic trophies previously eluded him, the FA Cup and the League Cup. The League cup was won that season with defender Alan Hansen grabbing the winning goal. He never won the FA Cup during his illustrious career as Liverpool FC manager.

Veteran coach Joe Fagan, aged 63, succeeded Paisley as manager in 1983. His first season in charge 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. In Fagan's second and final season as manager, Liverpool again reached the European Cup final. The match was to be played at Heysel Stadium but, before kickoff, disaster struck as crowd violence caused a retaining wall to collapse, killing thirty-nine fans. The match was played regardless and Liverpool lost 1-0 to Juventus. Liverpool were banned from participating in European competition for six years.

In 1985 Kenny Dalglish became Liverpool's first player-manager. His reign would see the club win another three League Championships and another two FA Cups. His initial season in charge saw the club winning the league title and beating neighbours Everton 3-1 in the FA Cup final to become only the third team to win the league championship/FA Cup double in the twentieth century.

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.

1992 saw Graeme Souness installed as manager, and he won the FA Cup in his first full season. However, his time at the club was not successful. Souness resigned in January 1994 after Liverpool suffered a shock defeat against Bristol City in the FA Cup.

"Boot room" veteran Roy Evans took over from Souness. 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. The likes of Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard and Sami Hyypia 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 UEFA Cup was won by defeating 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.

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. 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 seven 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 a dramatic FA Cup final 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 penalty shoot-out. Pepe Reina saved three of four West Ham penalty kicks to clinch victory for Liverpool.

Liverpool started the 2006–07 season by winning 2-1 against Premiership champions Chelsea to win the Community Shield, with goals from John Arne Riise in the 9th minute, Peter Crouch in the 80th and Andriy Shevchenko equalising in the 43rd for Chelsea.

Colours and badge

Liverpool's original home colours (1892–94)

Liverpool's tradional 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 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:

He thought the colour scheme would carry psychological impact — red for danger, red for power. He came into the dressing room one day and threw a pair of red shorts to Ronnie Yeats. “Get into those shorts and let’s see how you look,” he said. “Christ, Ronnie, you look awesome, terrifying. You look 7ft tall.” “Why not go the whole hog, boss?” I suggested. “Why not wear red socks? Let’s go out all in red.” Shankly approved and an iconic kit was born.

Liverpool's away colours are tradionally 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 and uses the club's famous theme tune "You'll Never Walk Alone" as it's motto. The twin flames at either side are symbolic of the Hillsborough memorial — an eternal flame burns beside the Shankly gates outside Anfield in memory of those who died in the disaster.

Stadium

Main article: Anfield Stadium

The Anfield stadium was built in 1884 on land adjacent to Stanley Park, and was originally inhabited by Everton F.C. They were founder members of the Football League in 1888, but 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.

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. 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. 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 other stands are:

• Main Stand - rebuilt in 1973 and more or less unchanged to the present day, with a capacity of 12,277.
• Centenary Stand - known as the Kemlyn Road stand until it was rebuilt for the club's centenary in 1992, with a capacity of 11,762. This redevelopment saw all of the houses in Kemlyn Road demolished and the address become non-existent.
• Anfield Road Stand - rebuilt in 1998, with a capacity of 9,074, including the away fans section.

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An evening game at anfield

The current overall capacity is 45,362.

New stadium

On July 30 2004, Liverpool City Council granted the club planning permission to build a new 61,000 seat stadium, nearby at Stanley Park . 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. At that time the club was hoping to start construction in summer 2005 and open the ground in 2007, but finance proved difficult to obtain 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.

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 .

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 aroudn the world, most notably Celtic. Claims that "You'll Never Walk Alone" was first sung by fans at other clubs have been dismissed as unlikely . 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".

Under Rafael Benitez, today's Liverpool FC has a strong 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. There are three Spaniards in the current squad and ten players in total brought to Liverpool directly from La Liga.

Liverpool Ladies F.C.

Main article - Liverpool L.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 419 (as of 19 August, 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 between 1980–1996. 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).

See also Liverpool F.C. statistics

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	POL	Jerzy Dudek
2	DF	NED	Jan Kromkamp
3	DF	EIR	Steve Finnan
4	DF	FIN	Sami Hyypiä
5	DF	DEN	Daniel Agger
6	DF	NOR	John Arne Riise
7	MF	AUS	Harry Kewell
8	MF	ENG	Steven Gerrard (captain)
9	FW	ENG	Robbie Fowler
10	MF	ESP	Luis García
11	MF	CHI	Mark González
12	DF	BRA	Fábio Aurélio
14	MF	ESP	Xabi Alonso
15	FW	ENG	Peter Crouch
16	MF	ENG	Jermaine Pennant
17	FW	WAL	Craig Bellamy

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	FW	NED	Dirk Kuyt
22	MF	MLI	Momo Sissoko
23	DF	ENG	Jamie Carragher (vice-captain)
24	FW	FRA	Florent Sinama-Pongolle
25	GK	ESP	José Reina
26	MF	ENG	Paul Anderson
28	DF	ENG	Stephen Warnock
29	DF	ARG	Gabriel Paletta
32	MF	NED	Boudewijn Zenden
33	FW	ENG	Neil Mellor
35	MF	ENG	Danny Guthrie
36	MF	ENG	Adam Hammill
37	MF	ENG	Lee Peltier
38	FW	ENG	Craig Lindfield
39	DF	ENG	Stephen Darby

see also Liverpool F.C. Reserves

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
20	GK	ENG	Scott Carson (Charlton - to June 2007)
34	MF	EIR	Darren Potter (Wolves - to June 2007)
--	GK	ENG	Chris Kirkland (Wigan - to January 2007)
--	DF	ENG	Danny O'Donnell (Crewe - to December 2006)
--	MF	FRA	Anthony Le Tallec (Sochaux - to June 2007)[1]
--	FW	FRA	Djibril Cisse (Marseille - to June 2007)

For recent transfers, see the "Transfer Deals" section of 2006-07 in English football.

Notable former players

• See List of Liverpool F.C. players
• See 100 Players Who Shook The Kop

Current staff

Manager	Rafael Benítez
Assistant manager	Pako Ayesteran
First team coach	Alex Miller
Reserve team manager	Gary Ablett
Reserve team coach	Hughie McAuley
Goalkeeping coach	Jose Ochotorena
Head of Recruitment	Malcolm Elias
Joint chief scouts	Frank McParland and Eduardo Macia
Academy director	Steve Heighway
Physiotherapist	Mark Browes, Rob Price, Víctor Salinas
Club masseur	John Wright
Masseurs	Paul Small, Stuart Welsh, John Wright
Club doctor	Mark Waller
Kit manager	Graham Carter

Managers

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

Name	Nat	From	To	Record
				P	W	D	L
W. E. Barclay and John McKenna		August 1892	July 1896	101	58	17	26
Tom Watson		August 1896	May 1915	740	327	141	272
David Ashworth		December 1920	February 1923	58	25	24	9
Matt McQueen		February 1923	February 1928	229	94	61	74
George Patterson		February 1928	May 1936	370	139	86	145
George Kay		May 1936	February 1951	359	143	93	123
Don Welsh		March 1951	May 1956	234	82	60	92
Phil Taylor		May 1956	November 1959	153	77	32	44
Bill Shankly		December 1959	July 1974	753	393	185	175
Bob Paisley		July 1974	May 1983	490	275	124	91
Joe Fagan		May 1983	May 1985	122	65	34	23
Kenny Dalglish		May 1985	February 1991	297	180	76	41
Ronnie Moran		February 1991	April 1991	10	4	1	5
Graeme Souness		April 1991	January 1994	157	65	47	45
Roy Evans		January 1994	July 1998	226	116	57	53
Roy Evans and Gérard Houllier	/	July 1998	November 1998	18	7	6	5
Gérard Houllier		November 1998	May 2004	306	157	75	74
Rafael Benítez		June 2004	Present	124	70	24	30

Honours

• Football League titles: 18
  • 1901, 1906, 1922, 1923, 1947, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990
• Football League Second Division titles: 4
  • 1894, 1896, 1905, 1962
• European Cups and UEFA Champions League 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. AC 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: 15
  • 1964 (shared), 1965 (shared), 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977 (shared), 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986 (shared), 1988, 1989, 1990 (shared), 2001, 2006
• European 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 then went on to win the following Charity Shield and European Super Cup to reach an unprecedented five titles in one calendar year.

Liverpool's total of five UEFA Champions League titles is an English record and the third highest total overall, after Real Madrid and AC 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 Barcelona, Inter Milan, Valencia and Juventus. The tallies of seven League Cups and three European Super Cups are also English records.

See also

• Anfield Stadium
• History of Liverpool F.C.
• List of Liverpool F.C. players
• Liverpool F.C.’s 2005-06 Champions League qualification
• Liverpool F.C. statistics
• Stanley Park Stadium

External links

Official websites

• Liverpool F.C. official site
• Extensive list of official international fan sites

Other websites

• Official page for Liverpool Echo and Daily Post stories covering Liverpool F.C.
• Premierleague.com — Liverpool Football Club
• LFChistory.net — The most comprehensive LFC statistics website