The Little Red Book of Liverpool FC E-Book

Darren Phillips

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 187

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

The Little Book of Liverpool FC – a book on the Reds like no other, packed with facts, stats, trivia, stories and legends. Liverpool, the most prolific trophy-winning club in the history of domestic and European football, has a rich and varied history. Players such as Elisha Scott, Billy Liddell, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush and Steven Gerrard are synonymous with the club's success and their achievements, along with all those who have worn the red shirt, are envied throughout the world. This book charts the club's history in an intriguing format which will appeal to all fans, young or old, so why not take a look back at what has made this club what it is today – the players and characters that have represented Liverpool over the years and the events that have shaped the club. If you want to know the record crowd for a home game, the record appearance holder or longest-serving manager, look no further – this is the book you've been waiting for. All the well known events are covered, as are many priceless trivia gems – who can claim to know that a former world heavyweight champion boxer was once on the club's books and that one trophy win may be down to a Romany curse on the opposition? Can you really afford not to own a copy?

Leseprobe

THE LITTLE RED BOOK OF

LIVERPOOL

FC

THE LITTLE RED BOOK OF

LIVERPOOL

FC

DARREN PHILLIPS

First published 2010

Reprinted 2011, 2012

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved

© Darren Phillips. 2010, 2013

The right of Darren Phillips to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUBISBN 978 0 7509 5398 6

Original typesetting by The History Press

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Writing any book, no matter what the subject or length, can be an onerous task. It takes a huge number of hours to research and then, shoulders hunched over a keyboard, commit some words to screen. However, any Liverpool fan would jump at the chance to do nothing more than write about their club – especially as delving through almost 120 years of history plus scrapbooks, programmes and other ephemera does at least create a diversion from the more meagre fare of recent years.

There is real satisfaction gained from learning more about the people and events which have made Liverpool Football Club the institution that it is and always will be. No matter what lies ahead, it is hoped that leafing through the pages of this book will make the reader feel the same emotions.

Though the thanks to follow will be brief they are no less heartfelt because of that. A debt of gratitude is due to all at The History Press for their professionalism but especially Michelle Tilling for approaching me about the project and help throughout the writing and editorial process. Then there are the invaluable people at lfchistory.net. No matter how well any Red may know their club as a subject, or the depth of records journalists tend to hoard, their tireless work ensures a vital resource to check against.

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS . . . EVERTON

Although Liverpool Football Club and Anfield are names inextricably linked with each other, Everton were the first team to call the stadium home. Only when a row over the rental costs and unease about some of the business interests of landowner (and their president) John Houlding came to a head in 1892 did the club move away. As a consequence, Anfield no longer had a team to occupy it, so Houlding formed his own club.

It cost £6,000 to buy the land. The rental charge at the beginning of the tenancy in 1884 had more than doubled within five years to reach £250 per annum. The majority of the Everton board wanted to offer no more than £180 each year. Though this issue was key in the exit, so too was Houlding’s desire to sell his own ales at the ground. Some of his boardroom colleagues were Methodists who saw temperance as a virtue. Other factors included an insistence that the players change at his Sandon Hotel public house on Oakfield Road despite it being the best part of 100 metres away from the pitch and meaning players would have to make their way through crowds before each home game.

Brewing was a huge part of Houlding’s business empire and the Sandon, which still stands, for many years acted as an administrative headquarters for the club as well as a trophy room. Meetings were held in the bowls pavilion at the back of the establishment and many team photographs were posed for in front of the same building.

The stadium’s first competitive game saw Everton beat Earlestown 5–0 on 28 September 1884. Liverpool’s debut came in a friendly with Rotherham United on 1 September 1892, the Yorkshiremen finding themselves on the wrong end of a 7–1 scoreline. Two days later Higher Walton were thrashed 8–0 in the Lancashire League. Liverpool’s first Football League game at Anfield came on 9 September 1893 when Lincoln City were soundly beaten 4–0.

LIVERPOOL FC – 19 TIMES CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND

At present Liverpool are tied with Manchester United on 18 league titles; a mark they set in 1990 and the Red Devils equalled in 2009. However, Liverpool Football Club have won one more championship than is officially accepted. When Everton left Anfield they could only do so by setting up a fresh company with a new board, directors and officials, plus the issue of 5,000 shares. The Football League allowed this entity to take the name and retain League membership. John Houlding, who after all was known as ‘King John of Everton’, wanted his new club to inherit all those privileges, but once this was denied he changed the club’s name.

He registered ‘Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds Ltd’ on 15 March 1892 while the soon-to-be old tenants remained in residence. Once that plan was thwarted the new name – intended to be Liverpool F.C. until the city’s rugby team objected – Liverpool Football Club and Athletic Grounds Ltd was adopted. Towards the end of March, just two weeks after the board split, Houlding’s committee passed a resolution giving effect to the suggestion. During the summer the Board of Trade, a government department, accepted the change of name from Everton Football Club and Athletic Grounds Company Ltd – who finished top of the league in 1891 – to Liverpool Football Club and Athletic Grounds Company Ltd.

The record books reflect that Everton FC hold that title and no Liverpool fan will want to claim the accolade but strictly speaking the Reds have won 19 English titles and are looking to reach 20 before their rivals.

NATIONAL SERVICE

Anfield was used for an England v Republic of Ireland ‘B’ International and then a Euro ’96 qualifier involving the Republic and Holland in 1995. With England as hosts, Anfield also staged finals matches. Three group games involving Italy, the Czech Republic and Russia were played plus a quarter-final tie between France and Holland. Italy returned in September 1998 to take on Wales in a European Championships qualifier. Nine months later the Welsh were using it as a temporary home to play Denmark. Both games were staged in Liverpool under directives from UEFA as, with the old Cardiff Arms Park being transformed into the Millennium Stadium, each visiting federation suggested all stadiums in the principality were unable to cater for the large number of visiting fans. Wales lost 2–0 on each occasion and went down by the same scoreline when the ground was used as a neutral venue for a controversial World Cup finals eliminator in October 1977 between Scotland and Wales. Kenny Dalglish opened the scoring with a flicked header but the tie was made safe for the Tartan Army with a penalty awarded for hand ball. However, TV replays afterwards seemed to suggest that the hand making contact was that of Scottish striker Joe Jordan.

Anfield held the first of eight England International matches as far back as 1889 when the national team beat Ireland 6–1. The same opponents returned in 1926. Further games took place against Wales in 1905, 1922 and 1931. Finland, who had a World Cup qualifier in L4, are the only visitors to play a competitive fixture at Anfield outside the Home Championships. South American opponents came for friendlies while Wembley was being rebuilt with Paraguay welcomed in 2002, then Uruguay four years later.

THE HOME TEAM WAS MANCHESTER UNITED

It isn’t often that a Manchester United side walks out at Anfield and receives a roaring ovation from the Kop. However, at the beginning of the 1971/72 season that’s exactly what happened. Fans on the terrace clad in red and white were not Liverpudlians, though. United were banned from playing their first two home games either at their own ground or their next preference Maine Road as the previous term hooligans had hurled knives into the Old Trafford away section.

At the FA’s direction those matches were played at Stoke City’s Victoria Ground and Anfield – which would host the first of those fixtures against Arsenal. On Friday 20 August, 27,649 fans were in attendance with Liverpool taking 15 per cent of the gate. As the numbers were less than would be expected for a true home game, Arsenal received compensation for the expected shortfall in their share of receipts. Everton gained too, as attendance at their match a day later dropped below 46,000.

PERRY KOPS IT

Anfield has hosted its fair share of other sporting events; indeed the Liverpool Marathon had its finishing line in front of the Kop during the mid-1920s. Both rugby codes have been staged at the venue and boxing bouts were regular sights for many years. Perhaps the most talked about was Nel Tarleton’s fight with Freddie Miller for the World Featherweight crown in 1934. Tarleton had already won and lost British titles at Anfield but failed to beat Miller, who was the holder.

A sport involving nets rather than knockouts – tennis – was played prior to the war years at which time the legendary Fred Perry, three-times winner of the All England Championship, graced the field. Boards were laid out on the pitch to create the playing area – the hallowed turf was not used. Stockport-born Perry decided that too little of his game was seen outside the plush environs of places like Wimbledon and set up exhibitions at various points around the country. Liverpool played host to the 1937 International Lawn Tennis Contest where Perry played American Ellsworth Vines who was ranked as the world’s number one for a lengthy spell. Another US player to take on Britain’s finest racquet man was Bill Tilden.

A NEW ANFIELD

In 2002, after 110 years of calling Anfield home, the Liverpool board mooted the possibility of moving from their famous stadium and building a new ground just 400 yards away on a site used by Everton over the first three years of their existence. Almost a decade on that has failed to transpire. Though the club remain committed to the development, they have only been able to carry out basic enabling works.

However, a move to another part of the city could have taken place in the late 1960s if one of Bill Shankly’s ideas had been adopted. It may also have seen the Reds share with Everton. Both thoughts were certainly something Shanks was open to when suggesting that a purpose-built facility could be built in the Aintree district. Despite the renovations he had managed to push through, he felt neither Anfield nor Goodison were worthy of the fans who congregated there.

THE TEAM OF MACS

When Liverpool kicked off their debut season, they did so with no less than 13 Scots in a 19-man squad. The first 11 men to take the field only had 3 players from south of the border. Many stayed beyond that season and played League football. Among their number were Bill and Joe McQue from Celtic, Malcolm McVean who joined from Third Lanark, Matt and Hugh McQueen once of Leith Athletic, John McCartney who came via St Mirren, plus Duncan McLean and John McBride of Renton. The distinctive prefix from their surnames plus that Scottish bent meant Liverpool became known as ‘The Team of Macs’.

BEFORE FOOTBALL

Not everyone has taken a route into football which involves playing their way through the grades. Years ago many young professionals, not to mention experienced ones, had to take jobs outside the game to make ends meet. Liverpool’s roster includes a number of intriguing professions.

Ray Clemence

deck chair attendant

Billy Liddell

accountant

Ron Yeats

slaughterman

Jimmy Case

electrician

Matt Busby

miner

Sam English

shipyard worker

Brian Hall

bus conductor

STOLEN SILVER

Liverpool have won 43 major trophies but the very first pieces of silverware lifted – the 1893 Lancashire League and Liverpool Senior Cup captured at the end of the club’s inaugural campaign – were stolen. They were displayed in a pawnshop owned by Charles Gibson in the Paddington area of the city. Presumably sold for scrap and melted down, they were never recovered leaving Liverpool with a £130 bill for replacements.

ANFIELD SOUTH

Wembley earned the nickname Anfield South among the Reds faithful due to the sheer number of visits paid there. Including both domestic cups, Charity Shields and the 1978 European Cup final, Liverpool had appeared at the national stadium 30 times before its closure in 2000. After Wembley threw open its doors again in 2007 it took the Reds five full seasons to make a debut appearance – though their debut in the 2012 Carling Cup final marked the first of three appearnces in a little over two months.

MILESTONE GOALS – EUROPE

1

Gordon Wallace

v

KR Reykjavík

17 August 1964

100

Steve Heighway

v

Dynamo Berlin

13 December 1972

200

Emlyn Hughes

v

Anderlecht

19 December 1978

300

Dean Saunders

v

Swarowski Tirol

11 December 1992

400

Emile Heskey

v

Spartak Moscow

2 October 2002

500

Yossi Benayoun

v

Besiktas

6 November 2007

BRIGHT OPENINGS

Liverpool have opened campaigns with wins more times than any other club. When the Reds beat Sunderland in the first game of the 2008/09 season it meant that from 108 League campaigns (including the 2011/12 season) Liverpool had tasted victory on 62 occasions.

ARMCHAIR SPECTATORS

Liverpool have achieved many feats in front of television cameras – in fact the two have gone hand-in-hand for decades. Anfield hosted the first ever Match of the Day programme when the BBC brought highlights of the topflight game against Arsenal on 22 August 1964. The Reds ran out 3–2 winners courtesy of a late Gordon Wallace goal. However, not everyone was able to see the game as it was screened on BBC2, a channel launched in April 1964 and not available throughout the UK for a number of years. When colour broadcasts were stepped up during the latter part of that decade, Liverpool led the way once more as Anfield hosted another first – a match with West Ham United not being shown in black and white! It allowed commentators to indicate that the team playing in red was Liverpool rather than just refer to directions of play.

In addition the Kop was the subject of a Panorama special which examined its history, effect on the Liverpool team and their opposition. Further documentaries charting the adventures of the club and its fans were made. These include The Kop Flies East – when a first trip was made behind the Iron Curtain to face Honved of Hungary.

At the time of the Premiership’s foundation in 1992, the opening round of games was played on 15 August – except one. Kept back for live broadcast 24 hours later by the rights holder Sky TV was Nottingham Forest against Liverpool. Teddy Sheringham got the only goal seen at the City Ground that afternoon and the first witnessed by a new breed of spectator.

Away from factual programming the club or its players have featured in a host of other broadcasts. Scully, penned by Alan Bleasdale and shown on Channel 4, was the story of a Kenny Dalglish-obsessed teenager desperate to earn a trial and hear the Kop chant his name. Dalglish made a number of guest appearances during the series. The Liverpool writer’s breakthrough work as far as TV audiences were concerned, Boys from the Black Stuff, also aired during the 1980s. In one of the programmes Sammy Lee and Graeme Souness were present at a charity night during which the infamous character Yosser Hughes decided to introduce himself to the then Liverpool captain.

A well loved and at the same time often loathed character, Alf Garnett from the sitcom In Sickness and in Health attended a game between his beloved West Ham United and Liverpool at Anfield. The actor portraying him, Warren Mitchell, accompanied by the son-in-law he referred to as ‘The Scouse Git’ – Liverpool-born actor Tony Booth – featured in scenes shot during the game with players in the background as the two exchange banter.

PLAYING FOR TIME

When Derby County played Liverpool in December 1979 they earned a penalty just 20 seconds in. The Rams were top-flight strugglers and knew they were unlikely to hold off Bob Paisley’s rampant side until the end, so with little more than a minute gone, they decided to wind the clock down. Roy McFarland took it on himself to make the first of many efforts to waste time and attempted to find ‘row Z’ with a boot into the stands. The referee issued a yellow card which the England man sat on for roughly 88 minutes.

BOGEY TEAMS – FOXES AND SEAGULLS HAUNT LIVERBIRD

Despite beating the best England and Europe had to offer for many years, there were always teams the Reds could not seem to conquer. In the 1960s it was Leicester City. The Foxes were firmly established in the top flight when Liverpool achieved promotion in 1962. Of the first six League meetings after that, the Reds won just once. Leicester claimed the 1963 FA Cup semi-final tie between the two clubs when Gordon Banks was in great form. The Midlanders’ fortunes slid soon after as they fell to the lower echelons of the League structure. However, they returned in 1981 and ended Liverpool’s unbeaten home run of 85 matches.

Brighton have proved to be a thorn in the Reds’ side especially in cup competitions. They met Liverpool in successive seasons: 1982/83 and 1983/84. Former player Jimmy Melia was managing the south-coast side who made it all the way to Wembley after the first meeting when another Liverpool old boy, Jimmy Case, sealed a 2–1 fifth-round win at Anfield. A year later and one round earlier only the venue changed as Brighton cruised to a 2–0 home win. Liverpool have met the Seagulls, who have experienced substantially straitened times, since and secured easy wins.

UNBEATEN RUNS

In the year of the club’s acceptance to the Football League, Liverpool claimed the Second Division crown, remaining unbeaten for the entire 28-game season. That record remained unparalleled by the club for almost 100 years. The 1987/88 term saw the club equal Leeds United’s achievement of remaining without a League defeat from the start of a season. 15 years earlier the Yorkshire outfit went on a 29-match streak. Alan Clarke, an integral member of Leeds’ squad then, saw his younger brother halt Liverpool’s attempts to claim the mark as their own. Wayne Clarke scored the only goal of that 30th game – away at Everton.

An 85-match unbeaten run at home included 65 league ties, 9 in the League Cup, 7 European matches and 6 FA Cup games. All were played between 21 January 1978 and 31 January 1981.

A DREAM SIGNING

Transfer rumours are often rife in the media. Amid the speculation it attracts in a 24-hour media culture was the story of Liverpool’s interest in a French defender, Didier Baptiste, back in November 1999. As the Reds were then managed by a native of that country there may have been nothing unusual about this reported interest – at least at face value. Except that the little known under-21 international speculated about didn’t play for AS Monaco as was thought, or indeed any other Ligue 1 club.

He was a character from the Sky TV football drama Dream Team played by a British actor credited as Tom Redhill but who was also known as Sacha Grunpeter. At the time Baptiste was being lined up for a move to fictional Premiership team Harchester United. Fees between £1 million and £3.5 million were quoted for the left-back who during an episode of the show revealed that he would ‘sign for an English club who have a French manager.’ Just how this found its way into media outlets is unknown, but before the truth was out, those who published the story did at least cover their backs by suggesting Houllier would face stiff competition from Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger.

THE BOOT ROOM DYNASTY

The boot room remained an inner sanctum of several Liverpool managerial teams throughout many years. Yet the infamous piece of Anfield was little more than a cubby hole and was exactly what it sounds like: a small room with football boots covering its walls that once stood in a corridor of the Main Stand. Bill Shankly’s reign is generally accepted to be the origin of what is now viewed as the Anfield tradition of the coaching staff getting together and chewing over team affairs. When a manager decided to leave there would be no conjecture as to which big name might replace him. It was generally accepted that one of the unassuming deputies would step into the breach and maintain the seamless running of a well-oiled red machine.

A select group of opposition managers may have been invited in to share a tot of whisky or two following a game, but a closed-door policy operated in respect of everyone bar the coaching staff themselves. Each and every would-be visitor, including the then manager, had to knock before gaining admittance which, in most cases, would be denied. It was pulled down during Graeme Souness’s reign to accommodate expanded press room facilities. It now only exists as a byword for managerial excellence and loyalty.

TWO SHANKLYS – TWO ANFIELDS

Two men with the surname Shankly have managed British clubs – brothers Bob and Bill – and each did so at Anfield. Or at least in the former’s case Annfield – home of Stirling Albion where he was in charge of team affairs for three years until joining the Beano’s board. Bob Shankly previously had spells with Stenhousemuir, Falkirk, Third Lanark, Dundee and Hibernian. He led Dundee to the League title in 1962 and semi-final of the European Cup a season later. They beat AC Milan at Dens Park but went out 5–2 on aggregate. A Scottish Cup final quickly followed. At that stage he had a more impressive CV than his younger sibling. As Hibernian boss he reached a League Cup final in 1969. At that stage Bill was well on the way to completing his Bastion of Invincibility.

FREE AND EASY