Liverpool FC
Liverpool Football Club was formed in 1892 when a dispute arose between Everton FC, who were then based at the Anfield ground, and their landlord. As a result of this disagreement Everton removed across Stanley Park to set up house at Goodison and the landlord, Mr. John Houlding, founded Liverpool Association FC.
Within a year the newly formed club had been elected into Division Two of the Football League and they immediately announced their intentions by winning promotion to Division One as champions and reaching the quarter finals of the FA Cup.
The following year they suffered relegation back to Division Two only to instantly win that division again in 1896.
After reaching two FA Cup semi finals Liverpool won their first major honour, the league championship in 1901.
In 1904, however, Liverpool again slipped into the second division. Once more they responded by winning promotion as champions at the first attempt. Played three won three as far as that division was concerned.
The club now enjoyed a 38 season stay in the first division, spanning both world wars. Liverpool enjoyed only sporadic success during this time, however. The dominance for which they became famous would come later on.
Liverpool’s best season in their early history came immediately after this third promotion in 1905-06. As well as being crowned league champions for the second time they also reached the FA Cup semi finals only to lose 2-0 to Everton at Villa Park.
The Reds reached their first FA Cup final in 1914 but were beaten 1-0 by Burnley in the last final to be held at the Crystal Palace.
Liverpool went on to claim back to back league championships in 1922 and 23 but then had a barren spell up to World War II. When football resumed after the war Liverpool were somewhat surprising league champions as well as making it to the FA Cup semi finals.
In 1950 they reached their second final but were again defeated, this time by Arsenal, 2-0.
A slump from that point saw Liverpool relegated to Division Two in 1954 and this time they would have to wait to return.
After one season of consolidation the Reds were knocking on the door for six seasons before finally cruising to the second division title in 1962. By this time the legendary Bill Shankly had taken up office as manager at Anfield and the charismatic Scot would lead the club towards an era of unbelievable success.
Shankly led Liverpool to the league title in both 1964 and 1966 and sandwiched the clubs first FA Cup success in between. Roger Hunt and Ian St John scored the goals that brought a 2-1 victory over Leeds United in 1965.
There was disappointment as well as joy in 1966 when the club reached their first European final only to lose 2-1 at Hampden Park to Borussia Dortmund in the Cup Winners Cup.
After also losing an FA Cup final 2-1 to Arsenal in 1971 Shankly signed off in style by claiming the league championship and the UEFA Cup in 1973 followed by the FA Cup in 1974.
Liverpool survived a second leg pounding by Borussia Moenchengladbach to claim their first European silverware on a 3-2 aggregate and demolished Newcastle 3-0 at Wembley after giving perhaps the finest cup final performance of all.
Any fears that Shankly’s departure would disrupt Liverpool’s progress were spectacularly misguided as the club became ever more dominant under Bob Paisley, Shankly’s former assistant.
In fact under Paisley it was more a case of what the Reds did not win. In eight years under his charge Paisley saw his side capture six league titles, three League Cups, three European Cups and one UEFA Cup.
Paisley inherited Shankly’s knack of moving players on at exactly the right time and finding quality replacements when a star player did leave.
So when Bruce Grobbelaar replaced Ray Clemence, or Mark Lawrenson replaced Phil Thompson, or Graeme Souness replaced Ian Callaghan the change was seamless.
The point was never better made than when Kevin Keegan, England’s best player, left to ply his trade on the continent. Keegan had just helped his side to their first European Cup success with an inspired display in the 3-1 win over Moenchengladbach and seemed almost irreplaceable. In came Kenny Dalglish from Celtic and the following year he was scoring the only goal as the Reds retained the trophy against FC Brugge.
Typically of the Liverpool side of that time, when Keegan made an early return to Anfield for the second leg of the European Super Cup with his new team SV Hamburg they put on a mighty display of strength to win 6-0.
Paisley could also spot a bargain, spending next to nothing in snapping up players like Phil Neal from Northampton, Alan Hansen from Partick Thistle, Ronnie Whelan from Home Farm in Ireland and Ian Rush from Chester.
Although this continuity began to stutter as Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish in turn succeeded Paisley the trophies kept coming. By the time Dalglish would leave Anfield in 1991 Liverpool had collected another four league titles, making a record 18 in total, two FA Cups, both after victories over Everton, one League Cup and another European Cup after defeating Roma on penalties in their own stadium.
Indeed it was a surprise that amid all these trophies the club had to wait until 1986 to claim their first league and FA Cup double under the then player manager Dalglish.
Of course there were bad times during this period also. Liverpool fans were involved in the violence at the Heysel Stadium which left many people dead before the 1985 European Cup final with Juventus and led to all English clubs being banned from European competition for five years. The club then suffered terrible losses of their own after the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 during their FA Cup semi final with Nottingham Forest.
Since Dalglish’s departure Liverpool have been overtaken as the countries leading club by Manchester United, Arsenal and now Chelsea in turn although they have still collected trophies at a more than respectable rate.
They won the FA Cup in 1992 with a 2-0 win over Sunderland and took the League Cup in 2003 with a fine 2-0 win over Manchester United.
In between those successes Liverpool had a memorable year in 2001, collecting three trophies after beating Birmingham City on penalties to win the League Cup, coming from behind with two late Michael Owen goals to beat Arsenal 2-1 in the FA Cup and edging out Alaves of Spain to take the UEFA Cup 5-4 with the help of a golden goal own goal.
For good measure the club then added the Charity Shield and the European Super Cup to their collection.
In 2005 Liverpool became European champions again after the incredible triumph against the odds in lifting the Champions League. Liverpool were not fancied to beat either Juventus or Chelsea to reach the final but did so before coming back from 3-0 down at half time against AC Milan in Istanbul to finally capture the trophy for the fifth time on penalties.