Liverpool Football Club: A Legacy of Triumphs And Ambitions

Liverpool Football Club: A Legacy of Triumphs And Ambitions

Liverpool Football Club is currently one of the best clubs in England. The club has won several major European titles and honors. In fact, Liverpool has the most European titles lifted by any English club with a total of 6. The club also boasts impressive numbers winning the League 19 times (the Premier League just once), the League Cup 8 times, and the FA Cup 7 times. The club’s Merseyside rivals include Everton and League rivals include Manchester United. Liverpool Football Club was founded towards the end of the 19th century. The club has a history of more than 125 years.

The club is based out of the city of Liverpool and plays all home games at Anfield. While the club has been around for a while, it established itself as a force to reckon with in the 70s and that continued until the 90s. From the mid-90s to 2019, Liverpool won just one major competition – the UEFA Champions League. Since 2019 under Klopp, Liverpool has seen a resurgence with another champion League win in 2019 followed by a first Premier League title in 2020. We take a deeper look at the past, present, and future of Liverpool Football Club.

Liverpool Football Club’s Past

Liverpool is originally known as Everton FC and then Everton Athletic. This was before the club changed its name to Liverpool Football Club. Right from 1892, Liverpool has lifted several trophies over the decades. However, the club managed to get relegated for more than 12 years in 1950. The club appointed the now legendary Bill Shankly as the manager who won promotion in 1962. In the next few seasons, he built a formidable team that lifted the Division trophy, the FA Cup, and more. Paisley was appointed manager after Shankly retired. Under Paisley, Liverpool managed to win more trophies. In 9 years, the club lifted 20 trophies (including 6 League Cups and 3 European Cups).

1. The Heysel Stadium Disaster – In 1985, Liverpool faced Juventus in the European Club final. Liverpool fans were guilty of breaching protective fencing used to partition two sides. The excess weight of the fans in the restricted area caused a wall to fall and ended up in 39 deaths and several injuries. However, the game went on and Juventus won the game. As a result of the Heysel Stadium disaster, Liverpool and all English clubs receive a ban from European competitions for a minimum of 5 years.

Liverpool earned a ban for 10 years (brought down to 6).

That ban would effectively change the face of English football as the world knew it.

First, it ensured that one of the strongest teams that Liverpool ever built never got a chance to contest for continental glory and add to their European Cup trophies. It also denied clubs like Everton the opportunity to lift that silverware as they were in one of their best forms ever during that timeframe.

For teams like Wimbledon, Luton Town, and Oxford United, it effectively meant that they’d lost their only shot at playing on the continental scene. There’s also no telling what ripple effects the ban had further down the road.

2. The Hillsborough Disaster – While most clubs would be happy to do without one disaster, Liverpool Football Club was involved in 2, the perpetrators in the former and victims in the latter. In 1989, 96 Liverpool fans meet their demise in the Hillsborough Disaster. Nottingham Forest was to play Liverpool in the FA Cup final. Several hundreds of Liverpool fans ended up crammed between the crowd and the perimeter fence. Several of the club’s own fans met their demise in the Hillsborough disaster. The League mandated that all top-tier games have all-seater stadiums to avoid another incident in the future.

Sadly, the Hillsborough incident would be the worst, not the first.

Before 1989 and the Taylor Report, it was widespread for terraces in English soccer to be made up of rough areas. Also, it was common for stadiums to be packed so full that your feet wouldn’t even be able to touch the ground due to the large swarm of fans.

Lastly, there was the fact that frequent bouts of violence and hooliganism would break out during or after football matches.

However, changes after this incident ensured that many of these problems had become a thing of the past.

Liverpool’s Present

Looking at Liverpool’s performances over the past 10 years, we can understand where the team currently stands in the League and Europe.

Since the start of the 21st century and the Premier League, Liverpool is one of the original top-4 and is now part of the top-7. However, they couldn’t win the league title in the Premier League. In 2015, the club appointed Jurgen Klopp and started rebuilding the squad. With Klopp at the helm, Liverpool Football Club has gone back to their winning ways, playing in two Champions League finals in the last three, winning one against Tottenham. Some of the club’s current stars include Salah, Mane, Firmino, Allison, Van Dyke, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Alcantara, Jones, etc.

Some of the club’s older legends include Steven Gerrard, Paul Ince, Jamie Redknapp, Ian Rush, Graeme Souness, Alan Hansen, Matt Busby, etc.

Despite what many critics might say, it’s hard to dispute that the current Liverpool lineup is in fine form. The team is raring to go after losing out to groups like Manchester City and Chelsea in the 21/22 season due to significant injury woes.

At the moment of writing, they remain potent contenders for the Premier League title and are one of the complete teams in the EPL.

Again, the argument can be made that some of the pillars the club rests on may be getting along in years. However, so far, this hasn’t hindered their performance. The argument is that the experience and consistency they bring to the table make these players even more invaluable to the structure and prosperity of the team.

The coach of the team, Jorgen Klopp, takes after Man United’s Alex Ferguson and constantly demands nothing short of the best from his players every time they step out onto the green. He’s quick to identify the flaws in his lineup and doesn’t hesitate to make daring moves.

Liverpool Future

Liverpool Football Club has one of the largest fan-bases in England, Europe, and across the globe. The club has done well in the past and is currently in its prime with the current crop of players. However, with an aging frontline, Liverpool will have to start looking for younger reinforcements in attacking positions. The club brought in Van Dyke, Alisson, and Diogo Jota to bolster their defensive positions. However, the club must also look to bring in midfielders who fit in with the team system and philosophy.

So, by and large, the immediate future of the Reds look seems to be looking very bright. However, as the adage goes, complacency is the enemy of empires, and the fact is that the club finds itself in a somewhat tricky position at the moment.

While they may not want to mess with a lineup and tactic that has delivered outstanding results for them in times past, the fact remains that, sooner or later, they’ll have no choice but to do just that.

So, it’s left to the likes of the coach and the management of the club to find a way to strike a balance between getting the best out of their seasoned players while keeping an eye on the long-term future of the club and grooming young blood to fill in the sizable shoes that the likes of Mo’ Salah will inevitably leave.

But on the whole, if the club's movement in the transfer market is anything to judge by, there’s a high chance they’ll be able to manage this feat successfully. It means that Liverpool has a very bright and secure future to look forward to.