Liverpool FC

Liverpool Football Club is an English professional football club based in Anfield, Liverpool. The club currently plays in the Premier League, of which it was a founding member in 1992, and has competed in European competition every year since the 1999–2000 season. The club were founded in 1892 after Everton left Anfield after a dispute over rent. They were admitted to The Football League a year later, and first competed in Europe during the 1964–65 season. Liverpool have played at Anfield since their foundation, although the club have plans to move to a new stadium in the nearby Stanley Park.

Having won a joint-record 18 league titles, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups, Liverpool is is the joint most successful club in the history of English football and one of the wealthiest and most widely supported football teams in the world. They are the most successful English club in European competition, having won five European Cups and three UEFA Cups.

The club have long-standing rivalries with several other clubs, particularly the Merseyside derby with Everton and an intense rivalry with Manchester United. The club’s supporters have been involved in two major tragedies involving the club. The first was the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, where charging Liverpool fans caused a wall to collapse, resulting in the death of 39 Juventus supporters. The Hillsborough Disaster occurred four years later, 96 Liverpool supporters lost their lives due to a crush against perimeter fencing.

Liverpool are the sixth most valuable club in the world as of 2010, valued at $822m (£532m), excluding debt. The club is currently seventh in the Deloitte Football Money League. After a lengthy search for investment the club was purchased by George Gillett, Jr. and Tom Hicks in February 2007, in a deal that valued the club at £218.9 million.

History

Liverpool F.C. was founded after a multi-faceted dispute between the Everton Committee and John Houlding, the owner of the land at Anfield and Everton’s president. Everton F.C. founded and played at Anfield from 1884 to 1892. The catalyst that escalated the dispute was when the adjacent landowner wanted to run a road though the newly built main stand. Fundamental difference emerged in how the club should be run when the club assessed the purchase of 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.^[3][4]

Liverpool F.C. were 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 Football Association refused to recognise the team as Everton.^[5] The club won the Lancashire League in their first season, and successfully applied to join the Second Division for the following season. They won the league and were promoted to the First Division. They won their first title in the 1900–01 season, and were champions again during the 1905–06 season. They reached their first FA Cup final in 1914 but lost 1–0 to Burnley.^[6] The club won back-to-back championships in 1921–22 and 1922–23, but after this the club did not win another trophy until the 1946–47 season when they won the League for a fifth time. The club reached the FA Cup final in 1950, but lost to Arsenal. Liverpool were relegated to the Second Division in the 1953–54 season.^[7] During this period they suffered a 2–1 FA Cup defeat against non-league Worcester City FC in the 1958–59 season.

Not long after this infamous result, Bill Shankly was appointed manager and released 24 players. He also converted a room at Anfield originally used for boot storage into a room where the coaches could talk strategy over tea (and other beverages). There Shankly, along with other founding Boot Room members Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett, and Bob Paisley, started reshaping the team.^[8] Promotion to the First Division was achieved in 1961–62, and the club won the League for the first time in 17 years in the 1963–64 season. Another League title followed in 1965–66, after the club had won their first FA Cup the previous season. The club won the League and UEFA Cup during the 1972–73 season and the FA Cup again a year later; after this, Shankly retired and was replaced by assistant Bob Paisley.^[9] Paisley was even more successful than Shankly and the club won the League and UEFA Cup in the 1975–76 season, his second season as manager. The following season they retained the League title, won the European Cup for the first time, but lost in the 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.^[10] 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.^[11]

Paisley retired in 1983 and (as Shankly had done) handed the reins to a Boot Room veteran, assistant coach Joe Fagan.^[12] Liverpool won three trophies in Fagan’s first season in charge: the League, League Cup and European Cup, becoming the first English side to win three trophies in a season.^[13] Liverpool reached the European Cup final again in 1985. The match was against Juventus at the Heysel Stadium. Before kick-off, 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.^[14]

Fagan resigned after the disaster and Kenny Dalglish was appointed as player-manager.^[15] During his reign, the club won another three League Championships and two FA Cups, including a League and Cup “Double” in the 1985–86 season. Liverpool’s success was overshadowed by the Hillsborough Disaster: in an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989, hundreds of Liverpool fans were crushed.^[16] 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.^[17]

1989 also saw Liverpool involved in the most dramatic conclusion to a season of all time, with the club losing the title on goals scored and in the last minute of the season in a home defeat to eventual winners Arsenal.^[18] Dalglish cited the Hillsborough Disaster and its repercussions as the reason for his resignation in 1991. He was replaced by former player Graeme Souness, who achieved little success apart from winning the FA Cup in 1992. A former member of the “Boot Room”, Roy Evans, was appointed next, but he fared little better. The 1995 League Cup was the only trophy won during his tenure, although another highlight was a 4–3 victory over Newcastle United at Anfield on 3 April 1996, which was named in April 2003 as the Match of the Decade in the Premier League 10 Seasons Awards.^[19]

Gérard Houllier was appointed as co-manager in 1998–99, but was left in sole charge after Evans resigned in November 1998.^[20] In Houllier’s second full season in charge, Liverpool won a treble of the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup.^[21] In the 2001–02 season, during which Houllier underwent major heart surgery, Liverpool finished second behind Arsenal.^[22] The following two seasons failed to live up to expectations and Houllier was replaced by Rafael Benítez in 2004. The club finished fifth in his first season in charge but won the UEFA Champions League by beating Milan 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the match finished 3–3.^[23] The following season Liverpool finished third with 82 points, their highest total since 1988, and won the 2006 FA Cup Final by beating West Ham United in a penalty shootout after the match finished 3–3.^[24]

American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks became the owners of Liverpool during the 2006–07 season in a deal which valued the club and its outstanding debts at £218.9 million.^[25] The club reached the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final in a repeat of the 2005 final against Milan, this time however, they lost 2–1.^[26] In the 2008–09 season Liverpool achieved 86 points, their highest Premier League points total, and finished as runners up to Manchester United. The following season, however, saw the club finish seventh, thereby failing to qualify for the Champions League. Benitez was subsequently sacked and replaced by Fulham manager Roy Hodgson.^[27]

Colours and crest

Liverpool’s original home colours (1892–1894)

For much of Liverpool’s history, their home colours have been all red, though this has not always been the case. When the club was founded their kit bore more of a resemblance to Everton’s colours at the time. The blue and white quartered shirts were used until 1894, when the club adopted the city’s colour of red.^[3] The city’s symbol of the liver bird was adopted as the club’s crest in 1901, though it was incorporated into the kit until 1955. Liverpool continued to wear red shirts and white shorts until 1964 when then-Liverpool manager decided to change to an all red strip.^[28]

Shankly wanted his players to be more distinctly dressed, he decided to update the kit, changing the white sorts and socks to red. Liverpool played 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.[29]

”

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 1991–92 centenary season, 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, the club alternated between yellow and white away kits until the 2008–09 season, when they re-introduced the grey kit. The club’s third kit is designed for European away matches, though on occasions when the current away kit clashes with a team’s home kit in domestic matches, the kit would be worn. The current kits are designed by Adidas,^[30] who made the club’s kits between 1985 and 1996. The only other branded shirts worn by the club were made by Umbro until 1985 and Reebok for ten seasons starting in 1996.^[31]

Liverpool was the first English professional club to have a sponsor’s logo on their shirts,^[32] after they agreed to a deal with Hitachi in 1979. Since then they have been sponsored by Crown Paints, Candy, Carlsberg and Standard Chartered Bank. The contract with Carlsberg, which was signed in 1992, was the longest agreement in English top-flight football.^[33] The association with Carlsberg was ended at the start of the 2010–11 season with Standard Chartered Bank becoming the club’s sponsor.^[34] The Liverpool badge is based on 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”. 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 disaster.^[35]

Stadia

Liverpool have played at Anfield since they were founded in 1892. Anfield was built in 1884 on land adjacent to Stanley Park, the ground was originally used by Everton before they moved to Goodison Park.^[36] Everton 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 at the time was 20,000, although only 100 spectators attended Liverpool’s first match at Anfield.^[37]

In 1906, the banked stand at one end of the ground was formally renamed the Spion Kop^[38] after a hill in Natal. The hill was the site of the Battle of Spion Kop in the Second Boer War, where over 300 men of the Lancashire Regiment died, many of whom were from Liverpool.^[39] At its peak, 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.^[39]

Anfield could hold over 60,000 supporters at its peak, and had a capacity of 55,000 until the 1990s. The Taylor Report and Premier League regulations obliged Liverpool to convert Anfield to an all-seater stadium in time for the 1993–94 season, thus reducing the capacity to 45,276.^[1] The findings of the Taylor Report precipitated the redevelopment of the Kemlyn Road Stand. The stand was rebuilt in 1992, coinciding with the centenary of the club, thus the stand was renamed the Centenary Stand. An extra tier was added to the Anfield Road end in 1998, which increased the capacity of the ground further, though the stand encountered problems upon opening. A series of support poles and stanchions were inserted to give extra stability to the top tier of the stand after movement of the tier was reported at the start of the 1999–2000 season.^[40]

Due to the restrictions of expanding the capacity at Anfield, Liverpool announced plans to move a new stadium 300 yards (270 m) at Stanley Park in May 2002.^[41] Planning permission was granted in July 2004,^[42] and in September 2006, Liverpool City Council agreed to grant Liverpool FC a 999-year lease of the land on the proposed site.^[43] Following the takeover of the club 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 preparation of the site started in June 2008, with HKS, Inc. contracted to build the stadium.^[44] Construction of the stadium was halted in May 2008, as Gillett and Hicks had trouble financing the £300 million needed for the development.^[45]

Supporters

During the 2009–10 season, Liverpool had the fourth-highest average League attendance for an English club: 44,392, which is 94.4% of available capacity.^[46] 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.^[47] In 2008, a group of fans decided to form a splinter club, A.F.C. Liverpool, the club was set up to provide a match-going experience for fans who had been priced out of watching Premier League football.^[48]

The song “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, originally from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and later recorded by Liverpool musicians Gerry & The Pacemakers, is the club’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.^[49] The song’s title adorns the top of the Shankly Gates, 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 the club’s crest.

The club’s supporters have been involved in two major tragic events. The first was the 1985 Heysel Stadium disaster, in which 39 Juventus fans were killed. They were penned into a corner by Liverpool fans who had charged in their direction; the sheer number of fans cornered caused a wall to collapse. UEFA laid the blame for the incident solely on the fans of Liverpool,^[50] and banned all English clubs from European competition for five years.^{[note 1][51]} 27 fans were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, they were extradited to Belgium to face trial in 1987.^[52] In 1989, after a 5-month trial in Belgium, fourteen Liverpool fans were given three year sentences for involuntary manslaughter,^[53] although half of the terms were suspended.^[54]

The second was during an FA Cup semi-final played between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield on 15 April 1989. 96 Liverpool fans died due to overcrowding in the Leppings Lane End, 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.^[55] Subsequent investigations proved the allegations to be false, and this led to a city-wide boycott of the newspaper.^[56] Many organisations were set up as a result of the disaster, such as the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, which represents bereaved families, survivors and supporters in their efforts to secure justice.^[57]

Rivalries

Liverpool’s longest-established rivalry is with fellow Merseyside team Everton, 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.^[58] The Merseyside derby is usually a sell-out fixture. More players have been sent off in it than in any other fixture in Premier League history.^[59] It is one of the few local derbies that does not enforce fan segregation, as a result it is known as the “friendly derby”.^[60]

Liverpool has a rivalry with its neighbours Manchester United. The rivalry is viewed as a manifestation of the cities’ competition during industrial times, when they competed for supremacy of the north-west; Liverpool was considered the world’s pre-eminent port, while Manchester was famous for its textile industry.^[61] 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.^[62]

Ownership and finances

As the owner of Anfield and the founder of the club John Houlding was the club’s first chairman. His reign lasted from the founding of the club in 1892 until 1904 when he left allowing John McKenna to become chairman.^[63] McKenna would later assume Presidential offices in both the Football League and the Football Association.^[64] The role of chairman changed hands numerous times before John Smith took up the role in 1973. Smith’s father was a shareholder of the club, he oversaw the most successful period in the club’s history before stepping down in 1990.^[65]

David Moores assumed the role of chairman after Smith’s resignation, his family had owned the club for more than 50 years. His uncle John Moores was also a shareholder at the club and was chairman of Everton from 1961 to 1973. Moores owned 51% of the club, and in 2004 he stated that he was open to takeover bids for the club.^[66] Fellow shareholder Steve Morgan, who owned a 5% stake in the club, and the then Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra lodged bids for the club, though neither bid was accepted.^[67]

Moores eventually sold the club to American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks, who acquired the club on 6 February 2007. The deal valued the club 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 the club’s debts.^[68] 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 the club before Gillett and Hicks took over, would bid for the club.^[69] 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.^[70]

On 16 April 2010, Martin Broughton was appointed Chairman of the Club in order to oversee the sale of the club by the owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett.^[71] In May, accounts were released showing the club to be £350 million in debt with losses of £55m, causing auditor KPMG to qualify its audit opinion.^[72]

In April 2010, business magazine Forbes ranked Liverpool as the sixth most valuable football team in the world, after clubs such as Manchester United, Real Madrid and Arsenal. They valued the club at $822m (£532m), excluding debt.^[2] Accountants Deloitte ranked Liverpool seventh in the Deloitte Football Money League, which ranks the world’s football clubs in terms of revenue.^[73] Liverpool earned income of £184.8m in the 2008–09 season.^[73]

Liverpool football club in popular culture

As one of the most successful clubs 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”. The club 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. The club was also the subject of television’s first colour football transmission, which showed their match against West Ham United live.^[74] Liverpool fans feature in the Pink Floyd song “Fearless”, in which they sang excerpts from “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.^[75] To mark their appearance in the 1988 FA Cup Final, Liverpool released a song known as the “Anfield Rap”, featuring John Barnes and other members of the squad.^[76]

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.^[77] The club features in the film The 51st State (also known as Formula 51). Ex-hitman Felix DeSouza (Robert Carlyle) is an avid fan of the team and the last scene of the film takes place at a match between Liverpool and Manchester United.^[78] The club was featured in a children’s television show called Scully; 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.^[79]

Statistics and records

Liverpool’s first competitive game was an 8–0 victory in the Lancashire League against Higher Walton.^[80] Ian Callaghan holds Liverpool’s overall appearance record—he played 857 matches over the course of 19 seasons from 1958 to 1978—^[81] and the record for League appearances with 640.^[82] Of the current squad, Jamie Carragher has the most appearances; he played his 600th game for the club early in 2010.^[83]

Liverpool’s all-time leading scorer in all competitions is Ian Rush, who scored 346 goals in two spells at the club from 1980 to 1987 and 1988 to 1996,^[84] and also holds the record for the most goals in a season with 47 in 1983–84. However Rush could not surpass Roger Hunt’s record number of league goals of 245.^[85] In the 1961–62 season, Hunt scored 41 goals, which is the club record for league goals in a single season.^[86] Gordon Hodgson, the club’s third highest scorer with 240 goals,^[87] holds the club record of 17 hat tricks.^[84] The most goals scored by a player in a single match is five; John Miller, Andy McGuigan, John Evans, Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler have achieved this feat.^[88] Fowler also holds the club and Premier League record for the fastest hat trick: he scored three goals in four minutes, 32 seconds against Arsenal in the 1994–95 season.^[89] Steven Gerrard is Liverpool’s all-time leading goalscorer in European competition with 34 goals.^[84]

Liverpool’s record home attendance is 61,905, for a FA Cup match against Wolves on 2 February 1952. The record modern (all-seated) attendance is 44,983 for a match against Tottenham Hotspur on 14 January 2006.^[90] The club’s record lowest attendance is 1,000 for a match against Loughborough during the 1895–96 season.^[91]

Liverpool’s biggest victory is 11–0 against Strømsgodset IF in 1974.^[92] Liverpool’s 10–1 defeat of Rotherham Town in 1896 was its largest league win.^[86] This margin of victory was matched when Crystal Palace were defeated 9–0 at Anfield in 1989.^[93] Liverpool’s heaviest defeat, 1–9, came against Birmingham City in 1954.^[92] Liverpool’s 8–0 win against Beşiktaş J.K. in the Champions League was the largest victory in the competition’s history at the time.^[94]

Current squad

As of 23 August 2010.^[95]

First team squad

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Brad Jones 2 DF Glen Johnson 5 DF Daniel Agger 6 DF Fábio Aurélio 8 MF Steven Gerrard (captain) 9 FW Fernando Torres 10 MF Joe Cole 12 FW Daniel Pacheco 14 FW Milan Jovanović 16 DF Sotirios Kyrgiakos 17 MF Maxi Rodríguez 18 FW Dirk Kuyt 19 FW Ryan Babel 20 MF Javier Mascherano 21 MF Lucas 22 DF Danny Wilson 23 DF Jamie Carragher (vice-captain) 24 FW David N’Gog 25 GK Pepe Reina 26 MF Jay Spearing 28 MF Christian Poulsen

No. Position Player 30 GK Charles Itandje 31 MF Nabil El Zhar 32 DF Stephen Darby 33 MF Jonjo Shelvey 34 DF Martin Kelly 36 DF Steven Irwin 37 DF Martin Škrtel 38 FW Lauri Dalla Valle 39 FW Nathan Eccleston 40 DF Daniel Ayala 41 GK Martin Hansen 42 GK Péter Gulácsi 43 GK Dean Bouzanis 44 MF Victor Pálsson 45 MF Thomas Ince 46 MF David Amoo 48 MF Gerardo Bruna 49 DF Jack Robinson — DF Emiliano Insúa — MF Damien Plessis

On loan

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

No. Position Player 4 MF Alberto Aquilani (at Juventus until the end of the 2010–11 season)[96] 27 DF Philipp Degen (at VfB Stuttgart until the end of the 2010–11 season)[97]

Reserves and Academy squad

For the reserve and academy squads, see Liverpool F.C. Reserves and Academy.

Former players

For details of former players, see List of Liverpool F.C. players and Category:Liverpool F.C. players.

Managers

There have been 17 permanent managers and one caretaker manager of Liverpool since the club’s first appointed, W.E. Barclay and John McKenna as professional managers in 1892. The longest-serving manager in terms of time was Tom Watson, who managed Liverpool for 19 years from 1896 to 1915. Bill Shankly managed the club for more games than any other manager; he served for 783 matches. Kenny Dalglish was the first player-manager in the club’s history, and won the club’s first and only League and FA Cup “Double”.^[98] Bob Paisley, who won 20 trophies during his tenure, was the club’s most successful manager.^[99]

Current technical staff

As of 19 August 2010.^[95]

Name	Job title
Roy Hodgson	Manager
Sammy Lee	Assistant Manager
Mike Kelly	Goalkeeping Coach
John McMahon	Reserves Manager
John Achterberg	Reserves Goalkeeping Coach
Peter Brukner	Head of Sports Medicine and Sports Science
Darren Burgess	Head of Fitness and Conditioning
Phil Coles	Head of Physical Therapies
Jordan Milsom	Sports Scientist
Barry Drust	Sports Science Consultant
Zaf Iqbal	Club Doctor
Rob Price	Senior Physiotherapist
Chris Morgan	Physiotherapist
Matt Konopinski	Reserves Physiotherapist
Ivan Ortega	Sports Therapist
Paul Small	Masseur
Sylvan Richardson	Masseur
Eduardo Marcia	Chief Scout
Mike McGlynn	Assistant Chief Scout

Honours

Liverpool’s first trophy was the Lancashire League which the club won in its first season.^[100] In 1901, the club won its first league title, while their first success in the FA Cup was in 1965. In terms of the number of trophies won, Liverpool’s most successful decade was the 1980s; the club won six league titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, five Charity Shields (one shared) and two European Cups. Liverpool has won the English League Championship eighteen times (a record they share with Manchester United),^[101] the FA Cup seven times and the League Cup a record seven times. The club achieved a League and FA Cup “Double” in 1986, and has won the League and European Cup double twice, in 1977 and 1984. They also won the League Cup in 1984 to complete a unique treble, a feat they repeated (albeit with different trophies) in 2001 when they won the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup.^[102]

Liverpool have one of the best top-flight records in history, having finished below fourteenth only twelve times. Liverpool also have the second highest average league finishing position for the period 1900–1999, with an average league placing of 8.7.^[103] Liverpool has won the European Cup, Europe’s primary club competition, five times, which is an English record. Only Real Madrid and Milan have won the competition on more occasions. The club’s fifth triumph meant that they won the trophy outright and was awarded a multiple-winner badge.^[104] The club has won the UEFA Cup, Europe’s secondary club competition, three times, a record they share with Juventus and Internazionale.^[105]

Domestic

League

• Football League First Division (English football champions):^{[note 2]} 18
  • 1900–01, 1905–06, 1921–22, 1922–23, 1946–47, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1989–90

• Second Division:^{[note 2]} 4
  • 1893–94, 1895–96, 1904–05, 1961–62

• Lancashire League: 1
  • 1892–93

Cups

• FA Cup: 7
  • 1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001, 2006

• League Cup: 7
  • 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003

• FA Charity Shield/FA Community Shield: 15 (10 outright, 4 shared)
  • 1964 (shared), 1965 (shared), 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977 (shared), 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986 (shared), 1988, 1989, 1990 (shared), 2001, 2006

European

• European Cup/UEFA Champions League: 5
  • 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005

• UEFA Cup: 3
  • 1973, 1976, 2001

• UEFA Super Cup: 3
  • 1977, 2001, 2005

Doubles and Trebles

• Doubles:
  • League and FA Cup: 1
    • 1985–86
  • League and League Cup: 3
    • 1981–82, 1982–83
  • European Double (League and European Cup): 2
    • 1976–77
  • League and UEFA Cup: 2
    • 1972–73, 1975–76
  • League Cup and European Cup: 2
    • 1980–81
• Trebles^{[note 3]}
  • League, League Cup and European Cup: 1
    • 1983–84
  • FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup: 1
    • 2000–01

Last edited August, 25 2010