Liverpool FC: 10 Things That Make the Club Great

With the Premier League on hiatus due to the international break, now may also be a good time to take a break from the incessant drumbeat of transfer rumors and articles trumpeting why Steven Gerrard is going to lead Liverpool to the title, or why Andy Carroll is a flop.

With Kenny Dalglish and Fenway Sports Group attempting to return the club to its exalted place in English football, there is a lot of hope mixed in with a healthy dose of nostalgia for the way things were.

There are many wonderful things about Liverpool FC, and many wonderful things about being a fan.  No list will ever be fully comprehensive, but in a toast to the unparalleled legacy of the club, here are 10 things, in no particular order, that make Liverpool Football Club great.

10. Ownership by Fenway Sports Group

On Friday, Oct. 15 2010, it was announced that New England Sports Ventures (NESV) had completed the purchase of Liverpool Football Club. 

The group formally changed its name to the Fenway Sports Group (FSG) in March of this year, and represents a partnership among Tom Werner, Les Otten, John Henry and the New York Times Company. 

Most English fans would have known little about the group prior to the purchase of LFC, but many American fans would have recognized them as owners of the Boston Red Sox, and for a few individuals like myself, there was ample reason to be concerned.

Little was known about Otten, and not much bad can be said about the New York Times Company.  Major concerns existed concerning Werner and Henry however, for their prior ownership of failed baseball teams, in San Diego (Werner) and south Florida (Henry).

If there was a saving grace it was the stewardship of the Boston Red Sox under FSG.  As a New Yorker, I have a natural dislike for all things Boston, but even so, I had to begrudgingly give them credit for turning around what many had believed to be a “cursed” franchise.

After being purchased by the then NESV, the Red Sox ended an 86-year title drought by winning the World Series in 2004, then repeated the feat in 2007.  While age, injury and stiff competition from other teams have prevented another title, the team is now a perennial contender.

This was a good omen for Liverpool, and indeed, the new ownership has demonstrated a hands-off approach to the football aspect of the club, maintaining oversight, while at the same time allowing the football people to handle the football side of things.

More importantly, Henry has been shrewd in hiring Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comolli, and has been generous in his support of their personnel and management decisions.  Moreover, ownership has been proactive in securing sponsorships and promoting Liverpool FC as a brand, and after the first year under FSG, signs augur well for the future of the club.

9. The Kop

The Kop owes its name to the January 1900 Battle of Spioenkop, wherein the British were defeated by Boer forces during the Siege of Ladysmith, in South Africa.  The battle took place upon Spion Kop, which literally means "lookout hill” in Afrikaans.  The slope of the hill would later be recalled in the football terraces back in England.

In 1906 Ernest Edwards, then the sports editor of the  Liverpool Echo  said of the new open-air embankment at Anfield: "This huge wall of earth has been termed 'Spion Kop', and no doubt this apt name will always be used in future in referring to this spot."

While several clubs across a number of sports have appropriated the name in reference to their stands, the name is thought to have been first formally given to the southwestern stand at Anfield, and in reality there is only one true Spion Kop. 

Today any mention of “the Kop” conjures an immediate association with Anfield and Liverpool Football Club.  With all due respect to the fans in the Main Stand, Centenary Stand, and the Anfield Road stand, the heart of Anfield and the pulse of the team beats in the Kop.

8. Adversity Makes Us Stronger

Martin Luther King said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and conveniences, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” There is nothing great about the loss of innocent lives, but forged from these two tragedies is a bond among supporters, and between supporters and club. 

Heysel

On May 29, 1985 Liverpool met Juventus in the finals of the European Cup in Heysel, Belgium.  Due to a perfect storm of hooliganism on both sides, ineptitude by local police, and poor planning by the authorities, 39 fans lost their lives.

There isn’t enough space here to give the event the full treatment it deserves, but in the end Liverpool FC and its supporters were made to pay a steep price.  The team was banned from European competition for six years, all other English clubs, five.

This pales in comparison to the price paid by the deceased Juventus fans, and we all recognize what a tragic event occurred that day. Having been forced to bear the brunt of the blame by UEFA and in the press, LFC supporters turned inward to protect and support each other. 

A Belgian court would later assign blame to UEFA, the crumbling state of the facilities, and inadequate security, among other reasons.  On May 26, 2010, a permanent plaque was unveiled at the Centenary Stand at Anfield to honour the Juventus fans who died 25 years earlier.

Hillsborough

Four years later, on April 15, 1989, Liverpool met Nottingham Forest in the semi-final of the F.A. Cup, at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C.  Due to poor planning, Liverpool fans were assigned to the Leppings End of the stadium, which lacked capacity.

Late arriving fans, desperate to get in before the match kicked off caused a bottle neck at the entrance to the section, then spilled over into the section, crushing fellow supporters up against the fencing, then used to prevent fans from invading the fields.

A majority of the casualties occurred among those trapped against the fence, with many dying where they stood, crushed by the bodies about them. At first no one was aware of the disaster taking place at the front of the Leppings.

Desperate fans climbed the fence, some climbing to the upper sections above, others escaping onto the field.  Liverpool great, Bruce Grobbelaar recalls, "One shot went over the bar. I went to pick up the ball. All they said was, 'They're killing us, Bruce, they're killing us'. And I thought, 'Who'? I took the kick and kicked it away. Voices through the fence. I looked round, and I could see the fright on the people's faces through the fence.”

In the end 94 fans lost their lives that day, four days later 14-year-old Lee Nicol was removed from life support. Four years later 22-year-old Tony Bland would be as well, bringing the total to 96.  The youngest of them was 10-year-old Jon-Paul Gilhooley, cousin of current Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard.

In the aftermath, Liverpool supporters were again unjustly blamed for causing the tragedy.  The Taylor Report exonerated fans and among other things resulted in seating-only stadia across England.  To this day however, we still await Justice for the 96.

7. Don't Buy the Sun

Not too many outside of Liverpool football understand the intensity of the dislike that many Scousers have for Manchester United, and particularly for its present owner, Rupert Murdoch.  A great deal of that animosity stems from Murdoch’s ownership of The Sun newspaper.

In the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster, Kelvin MacKenzie, editor of The Sun decided that blame for the disaster lay with Liverpool supporters, accusing them of picking the pockets of the dead, urinating on the deceased and on police officers, and of hampering the efforts of paramedics.

None of it was true.  The deliberate lies by MacKenzie only added insult to the injury already suffered by friends and families of the deceased.  Eddie Spearitt was injured in the chaos, and his account of the hurt he felt in the aftermath of The Sun controversy, was remembered several years ago on the Red and White Kop forum.

Another moving remembrance of 14-year-old Adam Spearitt, Eddie’s son, was told by another member of Red and White Kop, a personal story from a childhood playmate, honoring his friend 12 years after his death. 

20 years after the slur by Mackenzie The Guardian reported that the resentment still lingered. To this day the embers of contempt for The Sun continue to burn as brightly as the flames in the LFC crest honoring the victims.

6. Global Appeal

A central focus of FSG has been to try and increase the global exposure of the Liverpool Football Club brand.  While this direction promises to reap incredible financial rewards for the club, not all fans are happy with the move.

Some fans are concerned that fans who don’t share the same personal history with the club will have a difficult time appreciating the sacrifices made by many to elevate LFC to the status it currently holds.  This is a very valid concern, and more should be done to share that legacy.

Nonetheless, in a technological age where global borders are increasingly shrinking, and top clubs competing to see who can sell more shirts it would be folly for LFC to cede the race to its competitors, particularly if the club is to remain competitive in the transfer market.

But it’s not all about money.  My personal story is that of a childhood spent glued to my TV set on Sunday mornings in Trinidad & Tobago, watching tape delayed broadcasts of “Road to Wembley.”  One player in particular caught my eye, Kenny Dalglish,with his darting runs and flair for the dramatic goal.

Later on, stars like Ian Rush and John Barnes would cement my love for Liverpool FC.  After my family migrated to New York City a couple years later I no longer had access to the broadcasts, so instead every week I’d trek to the NY Public Library to read the sports pages of the English newspapers so that I could follow the team's latest exploits.

Today we can stream games over the internet or follow live blogging of games as they happen.  Fans from as far away as Africa to Asia are learning about the history of the club, and its legacy and place among the very best clubs in the world.

5. Legacy of Winning

Liverpool Football Club is the most successful top-flight club in English Football. The club has won 18 League titles, more than any other club besides Manchester United, who eclipsed the record just this past season. 

Liverpool has also won seven FA Cups and seven League Cups, most of any other club. Liverpool has also won more European titles than any other English club. This includes five European Cups, three UEFA Cups and three UEFA Super Cups.

The club’s five UEFA Cup titles is an English record and is bested only by Real Madrid and A.C. Milan. The fifth European Cup win, in 2005, saw the club awarded the trophy permanently. The club’s three UEFA Cup titles is a record shared by LFC with Juventus and Internazionale.

4. Legendary Players

Liverpool is without par when it comes to success in English football, and a natural extension of that success is a legacy of successful players.  Neither time nor space permits mention of a comprehensive list of Liverpool greats.

Besides, no need to re-invent the wheel.  In 2006 LFC TV conducted a survey of over 100,000 fans, in compiling a list of 100 Players Who Shook The Kop. Below is just a sampling of the names on that list:

	Kenny Dalglish	Steven Gerrard
	Ian Rush	Alan Kennedy
	Robbie Fowler	Xabi Alonso
	John Barnes	Jerzy Dudek
	Billy Liddell	Sami Hyypiä
	Jamie Carragher	Dietmar Hamann
	Kevin Keegan	Gerry Byrne
	Graeme Souness	Sammy Lee
	Emlyn Hughes	Ray Houghton
	Ray Clemence	Stan Collymore
	Michael Owen	Pepe Reina
	Jan Mølby	Steve McManaman
	Bruce Grobbelaar	John Arne Riise
	Peter Beardsley	Tommy Smith

Today, players like Luis Suárez, Dirk Kuyt and José Enrique ply their trade at Liverpool much as the greats before them.  Along with the young startlets under the tutelage of José Segura at Liverpool's academy, there is much promise that the rich tradition of top players at the club will continue well into the future.

3. Kenny Dalglish

Kenny Dalglish was my boyhood hero. He played with such verve... the little guy in the No. 7 shirt who left the bigger players flatfooted as though mired in mud.  Later I would come to appreciate the full measure of the man, and his devotion to LFC, and to its supporters.

The quick succession of the twin tragedies of Heysel and Hillsborough took a heavy toll on Dalglish and it forced him to step away from the game, to better come to grip with the burden of knowing that fans gave their lives to support him and the club... essentially, for a football game.

He made it a point to attend every one of the Hillsborough funerals, and to this day finds it difficult to speak of the tragedy.  Perhaps the personal toll will never fully be understood by those of us outside his inner circle, but Ian Rush provides us a brief glimpse:

"

"If such horror can ever produce a hero, that man has to be Kenny Dalglish. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that he took the grief of 50,000 people on his shoulders. He took responsibility for organising everything the club could do to help people through the ordeal. He accepted all the pressures of the world's media, to keep it from the players. He attended virtually every sad event, after spending countless hours every day at the ground, meeting bereaved families and even having to comfort some of the players, who had become close to breaking point amid all the despair around them."

"

2. Champions League Final Istanbul 2005: Liverpool FC vs. AC Milan

Liverpool met AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League Final of 2005, played in Istanbul Turkey.  In what is beyond doubt the greatest game in club history, Liverpool overcame a 3-0 halftime deficit to tie the game and take it into extra time and then penalty kicks where the club prevailed.

Milan went ahead on a shock goal after 53 seconds thanks to Paolo Maldini, before Hernan Crespo added a brace to put the Italians up 3-0 at the half.  Rafa Benitez’ task in the locker room was to keep the spirits and confidences of his players high.

His strategy was to try to get an early goal to get back in the game, and most important was to put on a brave showing for the 40,000 or so supporters who had made the trip from Liverpool.  From inside the dressing room the players could hear their supporters singing in the stands.

The team came out to a serenade by the fans and proceeded to do as Benitez instructed.  Within ten minutes Gerrard had pulled back a goal, and with Dieter Hamann coming on for Steve Finnan and putting the handcuffs on Milan’s midfield maestro, Kaka, Liverpool felt that they still had a chance.

Substitute Vladimir Smicer scored another goal and Milan were reeling.  Three minutes later Steven Gerrard was brought down by Gennaro Gattuso in the box, and Xabi Alonso’s stepped up to take the penalty kick.

Alonso’s penalty was saved by Dida, but the rebound came straight back to the Spaniard who slotted home to complete a stunning comeback with three goals in six minutes. 

The rest of the heroics would belong to Jerzy Dudek who made two point blank reflex saves to deny Andrei Shevchenko, and the game would go into extra time, and then penalty kicks.

The earlier saves by Dudek against Shevchenko would portend things to come, as in the penalty kicks it would once more come down to the Ukrainian striker versus Liverpool’s Polish custodian. Dudek would once again foil Shevchenko and seal the victory for Liverpool, the indisputably greatest win in club history.

1. You'll Never Walk Alone

No other song, throughout all of the football world is perhaps as iconic as “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”  Originally part of the score for the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical  "Carousel", the song has been covered numerous times by different artists, but most famously perhaps by Liverpool's own Gerry and the Pacemakers. Dutch and Barcelona legend Johan Cruyff observes:

"

"There's not one club in Europe with an anthem like You'll Never Walk Alone. There's not one club in the world so united with the fans. I sat there watching the Liverpool fans and they sent shivers down my spine. A mass of 40,000 people became one force behind their team. That's something not many teams have. For that I admire Liverpool more than anything."

"

Days following the Hillsborough disaster, a European Cup semi final was played between AC Milan and Real Madrid. At 3:06 minutes into the game the referee blew his whistle to stop play and observe a minute's silence for those who lost their lives at Hillsborough.

Half way through the minute's silence, the A.C. Milan fans sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" (watch on YouTube) in tribute to their fallen English counterparts.  

Today whenever strains of the Gerry and the Pacemakers' version ring out at Anfield, fans across the stadium sing along, united in song and purpose, offering encouragement to the team and to each other, that we're all part of the journey, part of the collective effort.

YNWA