Talk about Liverpool in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s and what you can say is total dominance in both domestic and continental club competitions.
Liverpool were the most successful club when it comes to domestic league in the 90s, winning 18 league titles, the last time been 1989/90 season, but unfortunately, they lost this prestigious honour to their bitterest rival Manchester United in 2010/11 when they won their 19th league title and the 20th one in 2012/13 leaving Liverpool at 18 titles.
Liverpool have gone 29years, almost 30years without a domestic league title, which has been a major cane used to whip them by their rivals and derby rivals and supporters from other teams. Within these years of domestic drought, Liverpool have put up a major challenge in continental club competitions, winning 12 major titles in Europe making them the most successful club in England when it comes to continental club football and becoming the third most successful club to win the UEFA Champions League, 6 titles behind Real Madrid 13 titles and AC Millan 7 titles.
Liverpool 6th Champions League Trophy
Aside the Champions League, they recently added to their trophy cabinet another UEFA Super Cup trophy when they beat Chelsea 5 – 4 on penalties when the game ended 2 – 2 after 120mins of football at Istanbul Stadium, where they did their most historic UEFA Champions League comeback in 2005 final against AC Millan. They now hold four (4) UEFA Super Cup titles, making them the third most successful club after Spanish giant Barcelona 5titles and AC Milan 5titles each.
Liverpool 4th UEFA Super Cup Title
With all these major successes in Europe to boast themselves, Liverpool still cry out on when they are going to win their first Premier League trophy after years of league drought. In fighting for this dream to be a reality, Liverpool have passed through major phases of football under different managers and great players. Players who are not just common, but legends of the game. The likes of Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Fernanndo Torres, Marcus Babbel, Jamie Carragher, Robbie Fowler etc. just to mention few.
The Era of Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers at the centre
Brendan Rodgers was appointed on 31 May 2012 as Liverpool manager, following the sack of Kenny Dalglish when he failed to qualify Liverpool for Champions league for three conservative seasons. To share the same dream with the Reds, Rodgers said “it has been over 20 years since Liverpool won the league title. We might not be ready for the title but the process begins today, it is a new cycle, and that is something that we will work towards in the years to come.”
This dream Rodgers had with the Reds was almost a reality when they nearly won the Premier League title in 2013/14. However, this dream remained in the heads of Liverpool fans due to the sad slip of Steven Gerrard as they lost 2 – 0 to Chelsea at Anfield, allowing Manchester City to win the league title at the end of that season. The slip incident is one of the saddest account in Liverpool’s history when they talk about the era of the Premier League.
Aside the circumstances surrounding the death of this dream, Rodgers had his own issues with how the team managed his transfers. Ian Ayre, who was the Chief Executive Office at that time never allowed Rodgers to have a say in the buying and selling of players for Liverpool. The selling of Raheem Sterling and Luis Suarez to Manchester City and Barcelona respectively started the fall of Rodgers era as Liverpool manager.
With the beginning of the 2015 season, Rodgers was given a full control of the transfer as he used the money gained from the selling of Suarez and Sterling to buy eight different players – Joe Gomes, James Milner, Danny Ings, Adam Bogdan, Nathaniel Clyne, Christian Benteke, Mario Balotelli and Roberto Firmino. Rodgers was fired when he drew 1 – 1 in the Merseyside derby against Everton on October 2015, as Liverpool struggled when his side won 3 out of 17 games played in the early stage of the league, opening a new chapter for their new manager Jurgen Klopp.
The Era of Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp at left hand side
Klopp was appointed on October 2015 as the seventeenth full time manager of Liverpool of the premier league era after he parted ways with Borussia Dortmund in 2015. In his first press conference, Klopp described his new side saying “it is not a normal club, it is a special club. I had two very special clubs with Mainz and Dortmund. It is the perfect next step for me to be here and try and help” and stating his intention to deliver trophies within four years. As the fight for their first premier league title continues, Klopp guided his side to two finals, league cup and Europa league when they lost to Manchester City and Sevilla respectively in 2016. Within the same year, Liverpool placed 8th on the league table still leaving their dreams on hold.
At the end of the 2016/17 season, Liverpool finished 4th as they qualified for Champions league. In the 2017/18 premier league, Klopp was able to secure a Champions league spot for the Reds since 2007 as their hopes build for titles under their new manager. The Reds reached their third major final under Klopp when they lost the Champions league final to Real Madrid 3 – 1. The errors of their goalkeeper Loris Karius cost them a lot in the defeat to Real Madrid.
The spirit of “you’ll never walk alone” started to back the Reds as they started believing in Klopp’s project. For the Reds to put up a good challenge, Klopp appointed Michael Edwards as his new sporting director when he was appointed as manager of Liverpool. This major decision led to the change of transfer policies of Liverpool as they started spending big on good and quality players as they took firm decisions to keep their key players. The inclusions of Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Joel Matip, Gini Wijnaldum, Andy Robertson and promoting Trent Alexander-Arnold from the academy were not enough to secure a title and compete strongly for the premier league.
Despite their attacking prowess, Klopp’s side was criticized for their relatively high number of goals conceded, something which Klopp sought to improve by signing defender Virgil van Dijk in the January transfer window, for a reported fee of £75 million, which was a world record transfer fee for a defender. In the summer transfer window, Klopp made a number of high profile signings including midfielders Naby Keita and Fabinho, forward Xherdan Shaqiri and goalkeeper Alisson Becker. Liverpool started the 2018–19 season with their best league start in the club’s history, winning their first six matches. Now they started believing that their dream will be reality in the 2018/19 season with these key signings.
In other to achieve this, they gave out two competitions (league cup and FA cup) to focus on the premier league and the Champions league. Liverpool finished the 2018/19 season with their best performance with 97points, the highest in the club’s history, but it was not enough to let their dream come true as they finish second to Manchester City – 98. Liverpool’s dream falling away by a single point at the end of the season.
2018/19 premier league table
However, their fight in Europe was successful as they won their 6th UEFA Champions league trophy with a historic 4 – 0 comeback against Barcelona at Anfield, after losing 3 – 0 at Camp Nou in Spain. Thanks to the spirit of Anfield and united and strength behind slogan, which made them believed.
Jurgen Klopp lifting the UEFA Champion league trophy with his players
The Hopes for What Tomorrow Holds
A team with a very good success story in Europe is always walking alone for the past 30years without a domestic league trophy, no matter how high they compete for their dream trophy they have been fighting for, for the past 30years. They say “You’ll never walk alone” but the question is when are they going to make the dream come through as they walk with the prestigious premier league trophy they have been fighting for since 1989. Your guess is as good as mine.
An article inspired by ‘Ayala’, a member of Nhyira Sports Crew.
By Vincent Owusu
Email: bonty1015@gmail.com
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