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Last update: 05/04/02

Liverpool FC

Origins and early years of the club

The story begins around 1878 with the formation of St. Domingos's Football Club, organised around the sporting activities of a local chapel. Football was becoming so popular that St. Domingo's decided to increase it's catchment area and, in 1879, adopted the more impressive name of Everton Football Club. Five years later Everton FC began playing their home games at Anfield (in 1888 the Football League kicked off and Everton played their first game at Anfield).

The owner of Anfield was a wealthy businessman (and future Mayor of Liverpool) John Houlding, whose power and influence lead him to be nicknamed "King John of Everton". March 1892 was a crucial month in the history of Liverpool Football Club as, following a dispute over rent Everton Football Club moved to a new home across Stanley Park. Houlding was now left with a ground but no team to play on it but not for long as fortunately his friend John McKenna, a member of the Everton coaching staff, stayed with him and set about building a new club. He looked north for talent and all the team that played their first competitive match (against Higher Walton on the 3rd September 1892) were from Scotland, apart from the goalkeeper Bill McOwen, who was English.

After finishing as FA Cup runners-up in 1899, Liverpool captured the League Championship in 1901 under the guidance of McKenna's canny successor Tom Watson. 1901 was no fluke, the title returned to Anfield again in 1906 but the now established side needed more room for its growing army of fans. Improvements to the ground included the towering hill of earth and cinders which quickly became known as the Kop after the Liverpool Echo compared it to the Spionkop; the hill where Boer guerrillas had inflicted a heavy defeat on the British army a few years earlier.

Why do I support them?

Everybody likes a winner and in the 70's and 80's Liverpool won everything around, from Championship titles to FA Cups. A measure of our dominance is reflected in the fact that we would win European titles as a way of relaxing. People may say that Manchester United (Scum) are the best team ever but you only have to look at the statistics to see what they have to do to match our achievements!

Domestic competitions: 18 League Championships, 6 FA Cups, 5 League Cups, 14 Charity Shields

European competitions: 4 European Cups, 3 UEFA Cups, 1 European Super Cup

This success, together with my Dad's lifelong support, makes it easy to see why I support them.

But they Haven't won anything in years!

Well until the 2000-01 season this was true. Under the reign of Gerard Houllier we have made huge strides. In the 1999-2000 season we weren't given any chance by the "experts". Star players were injured and a host of new players had been brought in. By the end of the season the critics had been proved wrong (for example we ended the campaign most the most miserly defence in the premiership). Many fans however were a bit disappointed as we'd had to settle for a place in the EUFA Cup after missing out on a Champions League place on the last day of the season.

These were my predictions for the 2000-01 season (as written on previous website).

Optimistic: Winners of the UEFA Cup, Winners of the FA Cup, Premiership Champions, stingiest defence in Europe, Sammi Hyypia named European Player of the Year, Scum United beaten 5-0 home and away.

Realistic: Do well in UEFA Cup, Winners of the FA Cup, top 3 finish, further development and integration of players like Stephen Gerrard, Sammi Hyypia named PFA Player of the Year, Scum United beaten 2-0 home and away

What actually happened?

We won a unique Treble: the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup and the Worthington Cup (see below for pictures of us with the cups). We also clinched a place in the Champions League playoffs at the last game of the season (again). Finally the team could step out from the shadows of their predecessors and, having beaten the likes of Barcelona and Roma, proved that we were back on the European stage in a big way. In particular, the UEFA Cup final in Dortmund is widely believed to be one of the most exciting games in recent history (the nerves have finally recovered!).

How are the team doing this season?

We aren't soing too badly this season. This term has been a bit of a strange one. We very nearly lost our inspirational Manager in October when, during a game with Leeds, Gerard Houllier suffered a ruptured Aorta and had to have emergency, life saving, surgery. Thankfully he is now on the mend! In the Frenchman's absence, Phil "The Nose" Thompson, together with the rest of the backroom staff, has been a more than able stand-in. The start of the season also saw us lose Marcus Babbel to a bizzare virus which led to Guillian-Barre syndrome, which nearly paralysed the bloke! Thankfully, he to is making a good recovery.

At the time of wrtiting (early April) we are in with a good chance of claiming the title and we have one foot in the semi-finals of the Champions League (having only lost one game in all that we have played). The latter is particularly good as it is our first go in the competition and we had to beat (or at least not lose to) some of the continents top clubs, such as Barcelona, Roma, Galatasaray, Boavista etc. We started with the pre-qualifying round in August 2001 and our first 'proper' game was in September. That game was, however, overshadowed by the terrible events in America. Not suprisingly neither ourselves or the Boavista team we played at Anfield that night were terribly interested in the game!

The best night of the competition was, undoubtedly, when we played Roma knowing that a win would see us through to the last 8 (at that stage any 2 of the 4 in the group could progress - tight eh?). It was one of those great European occasions that happens at Anfield once a generation. The suprise return to the bench of Gerard Houllier lifted both the team and the fans and, having startled and confused the Italians, we won 2 - 0.

Ian with 4 of the 5 trophies LFC won in 2001 (the other one was won the night before).	Ian, in the home dressing room, with the Captain Sammi Hyypia's shirt.	Lou attempts to spread herself around the Kop!	Brian (Ian's dad) by the Kop end goal.	Lou, Brian & Ian with the trophies (looks like ine each plus a spare!).
Lou & Brian on the Kop.	Son & Father caught goal-hanging!	Some of the players shirts in the dressing room.	Banners from recent European matches.	Show your loyalty - desktop wallpaper from assorted sources.
Desktop wallpaper of our 2001 FA Cup win.	Wallpaper showing scenes from our brilliant win in Rome in 2001's UEFA Cup.	Wallpaper with scenes from what has been described as the best/most exciting UEFA Cup final ever.