Liverpool

Liverpool is a football (soccer) club from England.

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Liverpool Football Club is a professional association football club based in Liverpool, England. Liverpool plays in the Premier League, and has won List of football clubs in England by major honours won than any other English club. Liverpool has won a joint-record eighteen league titles, seven FA Cups, seven Football League Cups, and the UEFA Champions League five times, a record for an English club.

Liverpool was founded in 1892, and quickly became a strong force in English football, winning five league championships between 1900 and 1947. However, Liverpool spent several years in the Second Division (level 2) during the late 1950s, and did not win promotion again until the appointment of Bill Shankly as manager in 1959. Liverpool traditionally played in red and white, but this was changed to all red in the 1960s.

Under Shankly's management, Liverpool won three League Championship titles, two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup; Liverpool's first European trophy. In the past 30 years, they have been one of the most successful clubs in English and European football; they won four European Cups between 1977 European Cup Final and 1984 European Cup Final. Liverpool experienced a lean period during the 1990s, but saw a revival when they won a Treble (association football) Other trebles in 2001 and Liverpool's fifth European Cup in 2005 UEFA Champions League Final.

The Heysel Stadium disaster made Liverpool infamous in Europe; 39 Juventus F.C. fans died after a wall collapsed as they fled from charging Liverpool fans. Liverpool was involved in another disaster four years later—the Hillsborough Disaster— which saw the death of 96 Liverpool fans in a crush against perimeter fencing. Flames were added to Liverpool's crest in honour of the Liverpool fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough Stadium. Both disasters have had wide-ranging impacts on English and European football, and Liverpool to this day.

Liverpool F.C. has played at Anfield since its formation, but plans to move to a new stadium in Stanley Park Stadium, which was due to be completed by 2011 but has been put on hold until economic conditions improve. Liverpool has a large and diverse fan base, which holds long-standing rivalries with several clubs. The most notable of these are their rivalries with Liverpool F.C. and Manchester United football rivalry and Everton F.C., with whom they regularly contest the Merseyside derby.

History

Liverpool F.C. was founded after a dispute between Everton F.C. and John Houlding, the leaseholder of Anfield and Everton director. Fundamental difference emerged in how Liverpool should be run when Liverpool assessed the purchase the whole of the Anfield site. Houlding was accused of motives for personal financial gain. Everton who had been playing at Anfield for eight years departed from Houlding and Anfield moving to a new stadium in Goodison Park.

Liverpool F.C. was founded by Houlding to play at the vacated Anfield. The original name was to be Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds, Ltd., or Everton Athletic for short, but it was changed to Liverpool F.C. in June 1892 when The FA refused to recognise Liverpool as Everton.

Liverpool won the Lancashire League (football) in their first season, and successfully applied to join the Football League Second Division for the following season. They won the league and were promoted to the Football League First Division. They won their first title in 1900-01 in English football, and were champions again in 1905-06 in English football. They reached their first FA Cup final in 1914 FA Cup Final but lost 1–0 to Burnley F.C.. Liverpool won back-to-back championships in 1921-22 in English football and 1922-23 in English football, but after this Liverpool did not win another trophy until 1946-47 in English football when they won the League for a fifth time. Liverpool reached the FA Cup final in 1950 FA Cup Final, but lost to Arsenal F.C.. Liverpool struggled afterwards, and Liverpool was relegated to the Second Division in the 1953-54 in English football season.

Liverpool floundered until the appointment of Bill Shankly as manager in 1959. On his appointment he released 24 players and began to reshape the team. Shankly utilised The Boot Room for a second purpose; the location of coaches meetings. The founder members with Shankly of the boot room staff were Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett and Bob Paisley.

Promotion to the First Division was achieved in 1961-62 in English football, and Liverpool won the League for the first time in 17 years in 1963-64 in English football. Another League title followed in 1965-66 in English football, after Liverpool had won their first FA Cup the previous season. Liverpool won the League and UEFA Cup in 1972-73 in English football and the FA Cup again a year later; after this, Shankly retired and was replaced by his assistant Bob Paisley. Paisley was even more successful than Shankly and Liverpool won the League and UEFA Cup in 1975-76 in English football, his second season as manager. The following season they retained the League title, won the UEFA Champions League for the first time, but lost in the FA Cup 1977 FA Cup Final, narrowly missing out on a treble. Liverpool retained the European Cup the next season, and the season after won the League again with 68 points—a domestic record, conceding only 16 goals in 42 league matches. During the nine seasons Paisley managed the club, Liverpool won 21 trophies, including three European Cups, a UEFA Cup, six league titles and three consecutive League Cups. The only domestic trophy to elude him was the FA Cup.

Paisley retired in 1983 and (as Shankly had done) handed the reins to his assistant, veteran coach Joe Fagan. The succession of coaches came from the Anfield Boot Room where the Liverpool staff discussed strategy and allegedly stored gin. Liverpool won three trophies in Fagan's first season in charge: the League, Football League Cup and European Cup, becoming the first English side to win three trophies in a season. Liverpool reached the European Cup final again in 1985 European Cup Final. The match was against Juventus F.C. at the King Baudouin Stadium. Before kick-off, Heysel Stadium Disaster struck: Liverpool fans breached a fence which separated the two groups of supporters and charged the Juventus fans. The resulting weight of people caused a retaining wall to collapse, killing 39 fans, mostly Italians. The match was played regardless and Liverpool lost 1–0 to Juventus. English clubs were consequently banned from participating in European competition for five years; Liverpool received a ten-year ban, which was later reduced to six years. Fourteen of their fans received convictions for involuntary manslaughter.

Fagan resigned after the disaster and Kenny Dalglish was appointed as player-manager. During his reign, Liverpool won another three League Championships and two FA Cups, including a League and Cup "The Double" in 1985–86 in English football. Liverpool's success was overshadowed by the Hillsborough Disaster: in an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest F.C. on 15 April 1989, hundreds of Liverpool fans were crushed. 94 fans died that day; the 95th victim died in hospital from his injuries four days later, and the 96th died nearly four years later without regaining consciousness. After the Hillsborough tragedy there was a governmental review of stadium safety. Known as the Taylor Report, it paved the way for legislation which required top-division teams to have all-seater stadiums. The report ruled that the main reason for the disaster was overcrowding due to a failure of police control. Dalglish cited the Hillsborough Disaster and its repercussions as the reason for his resignation in 1991. He was replaced by former player Graeme Souness. Apart from winning the FA Cup in 1992 FA Cup Final, Souness achieved little success and was replaced by a former member of the "Boot Room", Roy Evans. Evans fared little better: a League Cup victory in 1995 Football League Cup Final was his only trophy. Gérard Houllier was appointed as co-manager in 1998-99 in English football, but was left in sole charge after Evans resigned in November 1998.

In his second season in charge Liverpool won a unique Treble (association football) of the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup. In the 2001-02 in English football, during which Houllier underwent major heart surgery, Liverpool finished second behind Arsenal F.C.. The following seasons failed to live up to expectations and Houllier was replaced by Rafael Benítez. Liverpool finished fifth in his first season in charge but won the UEFA Champions League by beating A.C. Milan 3–2 in a Penalty shootout (association football) after the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final finished 3–3. The following season Liverpool finished third with 82 points—their highest total since 1988. They won the FA Cup as they had the Champions League victory the previous season, by beating West Ham United F.C. in penalty shootout after the match finished at 2006 FA Cup Final. In Liverpool F.C. season 2006-07, Liverpool's search for investment came to an end when American businessmen George N. Gillett Jr. and Tom Hicks became the owners of Liverpool in a deal which valued Liverpool and its outstanding debts at £218.9 million. That season, Liverpool reached another Champions League final, but this time they lost 2007 UEFA Champions League Final to AC Milan.

Colours and crest

Liverpool traditionally played in red and white, but this was changed to an all red kit in the mid 1960s. Red has not always been used, in the early days, when Liverpool took over Anfield from Everton; they used the Toffees' colours of blue and white. Their kit was almost identical to that worn by the Everton team of the time. By 1894 Liverpool had chosen red, and in 1901 the city's liver bird was adopted as Liverpool's badge.
For the next 60 years Liverpool's kit was red shirts with white shorts. The socks were changed over the years from red, to black, to white, and back to red again.

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

Liverpool's away colours are traditionally either white shirts and black shorts or all yellow. However, in 1987 an all grey kit was introduced, which was used until the centenary season of 1991–92 in English football, when it was replaced by a combination of green shirts and white shorts. After various colour combinations in the 1990s, including gold and navy, bright yellow, black and grey, and ecru, Liverpool alternated between yellow and white away kits until the Liverpool F.C. season 2008–09 season, when they re-introduced the grey kit. The current kits are designed by Adidas, who made Liverpool's kits between 1985 and 1996. The only other branded shirts worn by Liverpool were made by Umbro until 1985 and Reebok for ten seasons starting in 1996. A third kit, consisting of a turquoise top and black shorts, has been designed primarily for Champions League away games, but is used for any domestic games where both red and grey would clash.

Liverpool was the first British professional club to have a sponsor's logo on their shirts, after they agreed to a deal with Hitachi, Ltd. in 1979. Since then they have been sponsored by Crown Paints, Candy (company) and Carlsberg Group. The contract with Carlsberg, which was signed in 1992, is the longest-standing current agreement in English top-flight football. The Liverpool badge is based around the city's liver bird, which is placed inside a shield. Above the shield is a representation of the Shankly Gates with the title of club's famous anthem, "You'll Never Walk Alone (song)". The twin flames at either side are symbolic of the Hillsborough memorial outside Anfield, where an eternal flame burns in memory of those who died in the Hillsborough Disaster.

Stadia

Liverpool has played at Anfield since they were founded in 1892. Anfield was built in 1884 on land adjacent to Stanley Park, Liverpool, and was originally used by Everton F.C.. They left the ground in 1892 over a dispute about rent with the owner of Anfield, John Houlding, who decided to form a new club to play at the ground. The capacity of the stadium was 20,000, although only 100 spectators attended Liverpool's first match at Anfield.

In 1906, the banked stand at one end of the ground was formally renamed the Spion Kop (stadia) after a hill in KwaZulu-Natal Province. The hill was the site of the Battle of Spion Kop in the Second Boer War, where over 300 men of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment Museum 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. Many stadia in England had stands named after the Spion Kop, but Anfield's was the largest Kop in the country at the time; it was able to hold more supporters than some entire football grounds.

On 30 July 2004, the Liverpool City Council granted Liverpool planning permission to build a Stanley Park Stadium just away from Anfield at Stanley Park, and on 8 September 2006 the Council agreed to grant Liverpool F.C. a 999-year lease on the land on the proposed site. Following the takeover of Liverpool in February 2007 by George Gillett and Tom Hicks, the proposed stadium was redesigned. In November 2007, the new design was approved by the Council, and construction started in June 2008. HKS, Inc are building the new stadium which is expected to be completed in 2011.

Training ground

Melwood, in West Derby, Liverpool, has been the home of Liverpool's training ground since the 1950s. It is not attached to Liverpool F.C. Reserves and Academy, which is in Kirkby. The ground previously belonged to St Francis Xavier, a local school.

Supporters

Liverpool has a large and loyal fan-base, and nearly all home matches sell out. During the current Liverpool F.C. season 2008–09, Liverpool has the fifth-highest average League attendance for an English club: 43,398, which is 95.6% of available capacity. Liverpool fans often refer to themselves as "Kopites", which is a reference to the fans who once stood, and now sit, on the Kop at Anfield.

The song "You'll Never Walk Alone (song)", originally from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel (musical) and later recorded by Liverpool musicians Gerry & The Pacemakers, is Liverpool's anthem, and has been sung by the Anfield crowd since the early 1960s. It has since gained popularity among fans of other clubs around the world. The song's title adorns the top of the Anfield, which were unveiled on 2 August 1982 in memory of the former manager Bill Shankly. The "You'll Never Walk Alone" portion of the Shankly Gates is also reproduced on Liverpool's crest.

Liverpool's longest-established rivalry is with fellow Merseyside team Everton F.C., against whom they contest the Merseyside derby. This stems from Liverpool's formation and the dispute with Everton officials and the then owners of Anfield. Religious differences have been cited as a cause of division, although both teams stem from a Methodist origin, which undermines the notion of a Catholic–Protestant split. The Merseyside derby is usually a sell-out fixture. More players have been Ejection (sports) in it than in any other fixture in Premier League history. It is one of the few local derbies that does not enforce fan segregation. Liverpool has a Major football rivalries Liverpool vs Manchester United with its neighbours Manchester United F.C.. This is mostly due to the success enjoyed by the two clubs and the proximity of the two cities. The rivalry is so intense that the last player to be transferred between the two clubs was Phil Chisnall in 1964, when he moved to Liverpool from United.

The club's supporters have been involved in two major tragic events. The first was the Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 Juventus F.C. fans were killed. They were penned into a corner by Liverpool fans who charged in their direction, the sheer number of fans cornered caused a wall to collapse. After the final UEFA laid the blame for the incident solely on the fans of Liverpool, English clubs were banned from European competition for five years and Liverpool served an extra year, a six-year ban. There were 27 arrests on suspicion of manslaughter – the only Extradition offence applicable to events at Heysel. The majority of these people were from Merseyside. Some of these people had previous convictions for football-related violence. In 1989, after a 5-month trial in Belgium, fourteen Liverpool fans were given 3-year sentences for involuntary manslaughter. Half the terms were suspended and it is unclear how many served their sentences.

The second was during an FA Cup semi-final in 1989 between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest F.C., 96 Liverpool fans died due to overcrowding in what became known as the Hillsborough Disaster. The Sun newspaper published an article entitled "The Truth", in which it claimed that Liverpool fans had robbed and urinated on the dead and had attacked the police. Subsequent investigations proved the allegations to be false, and this led to a city-wide boycott of the newspaper. Many organisations were set up as a result of the disaster, such as the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, which represents bereaved families, survivors and supporters, who campaign for justice for the 96 people who died in Sheffield on 15 April 1989.

Ownership and finances

Liverpool is owned by George N. Gillett Jr. and Tom Hicks, who acquired Liverpool on 6 February 2007 from previous chairman David Moores. The deal valued Liverpool and its outstanding debts at £218.9 million. The pair paid £5,000 per share, or £174.1m for the total shareholding in the club, and £44.8m to cover Liverpool's debts. Disagreements between Gillett and Hicks, and their lack of the fans' support, have precipitated rumours that Dubai International Capital (DIC), who were interested in buying Liverpool before Gillett and Hicks took over, would bid for the club. Another group, Share Liverpool FC, also expressed interest in purchasing the club. They proposed to pay £500m, which would be funded by 100,000 fans contributing £5,000 each for a club share. However, the group have been unable to raise the required capital to make an offer for the club.

In April 2008, business magazine Forbes ranked Liverpool as the fourth most valuable football team in the world, after Manchester United F.C., Real Madrid C.F. and Arsenal F.C.. They valued Liverpool at $1.0bn (£605m), excluding debt. Accountants Deloitte rate Liverpool eighth in the 2008 Deloitte Football Money League, which ranks the world's football clubs in terms of revenue. Liverpool's income of £133.9m in the 2006–07 in English football season moved them up from tenth the previous season.

Liverpool in popular culture

As the most successful team in the history of English football, Liverpool is often featured when football is depicted in British culture and has appeared in a number of media "firsts". Liverpool appeared in the first edition of the BBC's Match of the Day, which screened highlights of their match against Arsenal at Anfield on 22 August 1964. Liverpool was also the subject of television's first colour football transmission, which showed their match against West Ham United F.C. live. Liverpool fans feature in the Pink Floyd song "Fearless (Pink Floyd song)", in which they sang excerpts from "You'll Never Walk Alone". Liverpool released a song known as the "Anfield Rap" in 1988. It was Liverpool's FA Cup anthem for the 1988 FA Cup Final against Wimbledon F.C., and featured John Barnes (footballer) performing a rap with other members of the squad participating.

A documentary drama on the Hillsborough Disaster written by Jimmy McGovern was screened in 1996. It features Christopher Eccleston as Trevor Hicks, whose story formed the focus of the script. Hicks, who lost two teenage daughters in the disaster, went on to campaign for safer stadia and helped to form the Hillsborough Families Support Group. Liverpool feature in the film The 51st State (also known as Formula 51). Ex-hitman Felix DeSouza (Robert Carlyle) is an avid fan of Liverpool and the last scene of the film takes place at a match between Liverpool and Manchester United. Liverpool was featured in a children's television show called Scully (TV series); the plot revolved around a young boy, Francis Scully, who tried to win a trial with Liverpool. The show featured prominent Liverpool players of the time such as Kenny Dalglish.

Statistics and records

Liverpool's first competitive game was an 8–0 victory in the Lancashire League (football) against Higher Walton.
Ian Callaghan holds Liverpool's overall appearance record—he played 857 matches over the course of 19 seasons from 1958 to 1978— and the record for League appearances with 640.

Liverpool's all-time leading scorer is Ian Rush, who scored 346 goals while at Liverpool from 1980 to 1987 and 1988 to 1996. Rush holds the record for the most goals in a season with 47 in 1983–84 in English football. However, during his career, Rush could not surpass Roger Hunt's record number of league goals, which has stood at 245 since 1970. In the 1961–62 in English football season, Hunt scored 41 goals, which is Liverpool record for league goals in a single season. Gordon Hodgson, Liverpool's third highest scorer with 240 goals, holds Liverpool record of 17 hat trick Football (soccer). Fowler also holds Liverpool and Premier League record for the fastest hat trick: he scored three goals in four minutes, 32 seconds against Arsenal F.C. in the 1994–95 in English football season. Steven Gerrard is Liverpool's all-time leading goalscorer in European competition with 29 goals. Liverpool's heaviest defeat, 1–9, came against Birmingham City F.C. in 1954.

First team players

The Football League 1900-01, The Football League 1905-06, The Football League 1921-22, The Football League 1922-23, The Football League 1946-47, The Football League 1963-64, The Football League 1965-66, The Football League 1972-73, The Football League 1975-76, The Football League 1976-77, The Football League 1978-79, The Football League 1979-80, The Football League 1981-82, The Football League 1982-83, The Football League 1983-84, The Football League 1985-86, The Football League 1987-88, The Football League 1989-90

- Football League Second Division (level 2)

- Lancashire League (football)

Cups

- FA Cup

- Football League Cup

- FA Community Shield / FA Community Shield

- Super Cup (English football)

European

- European Cup and UEFA Champions League

- UEFA Cup

- UEFA Super Cup

Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Hull City, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Portsmouth, Stoke City, Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United, Wigan Athletic