Liverpool broke new ground in December 2019 by lifting the Club World Cup for the first time in Reds history. Jürgen Klopp's European Cup winners defeated Monterrey and Flamengo to become world champions.
Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has played its home games at Anfield since its formation.
Liverpool Club History
Liverpool is one of the most valuable and widely supported clubs in the world. The club has long-standing rivalries with Manchester United and Everton. Under management by Shankly, in 1964 the team changed from red shirts and white shorts to an all-red home strip which has been used ever since. The club's anthem is "You'll Never Walk Alone".
The club's supporters have been involved in two major tragedies. The Heysel Stadium disaster, where escaping fans were pressed against a collapsing wall at the 1985 European Cup Final in Brussels, resulted in 39 deaths. Most of these were Italians and Juventus fans. Liverpool were given a six-year ban from European competition, with all other English clubs received a five-year ban. The Hillsborough disaster in 1989, where 97 Liverpool supporters died in a crush against perimeter fencing, led to the elimination of fenced standing terraces in favour of all-seater stadiums in the top two tiers of English football. Prolonged campaigning for justice saw further coroners inquests, commissions and independent panels that ultimately exonerated the fans.
Liverpool F.C. was founded following a dispute between the Everton committee and John Houlding, club president and owner of the land at Anfield. After eight years at the stadium, Everton relocated to Goodison Park in 1892 and Houlding founded Liverpool F.C. to play at Anfield.[3] Originally named "Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds Ltd" (Everton Athletic for short), the club became Liverpool F.C. in March 1892 and gained official recognition three months later, after The Football Association refused to recognise the club as Everton.[4]
For much of Liverpool's history, its home colours have been all red. When the club was founded in 1892, blue and white quartered shirts were used until the club adopted the city's colour of red in 1896.[3] The city's symbol of the liver bird was adopted as the club's badge (or crest, as it is sometimes known) in 1901, although it was not incorporated into the kit until 1955. Liverpool continued to wear red shirts and white shorts until 1964 when manager Bill Shankly decided to change to an all-red strip.[55] Liverpool played in all red for the first time against Anderlecht, as Ian St John recalled in his autobiography:
The Liverpool badge is based on the city's liver bird symbol, which in the past had been placed inside a shield. In 1977, a red liver bird standing on a football (blazoned as "Statant upon a football a Liver Bird wings elevated and addorsed holding in the beak a piece of seaweed gules") was granted as a heraldic badge by the College of Arms to the English Football League intended for use by Liverpool. However, Liverpool never made use of this badge.[64] In 1992, to commemorate the centennial of the club, a new badge was commissioned, including a representation of the Shankly Gates. The next year twin flames were added at either side, symbolic of the Hillsborough memorial outside Anfield, where an eternal flame burns in memory of those who died in the Hillsborough disaster.[65] In 2012, Warrior Sports' first Liverpool kit removed the shield and gates, returning the badge to what had adorned Liverpool shirts in the 1970s; the flames were moved to the back collar of the shirt, surrounding the number 96 for the number who died at Hillsborough.[66]
Anfield was built in 1884 on land adjacent to Stanley Park.Situated 2 miles (3 km) from Liverpool city centre, it was originally used by Everton before the club moved to Goodison Park after a dispute over rent with Anfield owner John Houlding.[68] Left with an empty ground, Houlding founded Liverpool in 1892 and the club has played at Anfield ever since. The capacity of the stadium at the time was 20,000, although only 100 spectators attended Liverpool's first match at Anfield.[69]
Because of restrictions on expanding the capacity at Anfield, Liverpool announced plans to move to the proposed Stanley Park Stadium in May 2002.[76] Planning permission was granted in July 2004,[77] and in September 2006, Liverpool City Council agreed to grant Liverpool a 999-year lease on the proposed site.[78] Following the takeover of the club by George Gillett and Tom Hicks in February 2007, the proposed stadium was redesigned. The new design was approved by the Council in November 2007. The stadium was scheduled to open in August 2011 and would hold 60,000 spectators, with HKS, Inc. contracted to build the stadium.[79] Construction was halted in August 2008, as Gillett and Hicks had difficulty in financing the 300 million needed for the development.[80] In October 2012, BBC Sport reported that Fenway Sports Group, the new owners of Liverpool FC, had decided to redevelop their current home at Anfield stadium, rather than building a new stadium in Stanley Park. As part of the redevelopment the capacity of Anfield was to increase from 45,276 to approximately 60,000 and would cost approximately 150m.[81] When construction was completed on the new Main stand the capacity of Anfield was increased to 54,074. This 100 million expansion added a third tier to the stand. This was all part of a 260 million project to improve the Anfield area. Jürgen Klopp the manager at the time described the stand as "impressive."[82]
Liverpool is one of the best supported clubs in the world.[84][85] The club states that its worldwide fan base includes more than 200 officially recognised Supporters Clubs in at least 50 countries. Notable groups include Spirit of Shankly.[86] The club takes advantage of this support through its worldwide summer tours,[87] which has included playing in front of 101,000 in Michigan, U.S., and 95,000 in Melbourne, Australia.[88][89] Liverpool fans often refer to themselves as Kopites, a reference to the fans who once stood, and now sit, on the Kop at Anfield.[90] In 2008 a group of fans decided to form a splinter club, A.F.C. Liverpool, to play matches for fans who had been priced out of watching Premier League football.[91]
The song "You'll Never Walk Alone", originally from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel and later recorded by Liverpool musicians Gerry and the Pacemakers, is the club's anthem and has been sung by the Anfield crowd since the early 1960s.[92] It has since gained popularity among fans of other clubs around the world.[93] The song's title adorns the top of the Shankly Gates, which were unveiled on 2 August 1982 in memory of former manager Bill Shankly. The "You'll Never Walk Alone" portion of the Shankly Gates is also reproduced on the club's badge.[94]
As the owner of Anfield and founder of Liverpool, John Houlding was the club's first chairman, a position he held from its founding in 1892 until 1904. John McKenna took over as chairman after Houlding's departure.[118] McKenna subsequently became President of the Football League.[119] The chairmanship changed hands many times before John Smith, whose father was a shareholder of the club, took up the role in 1973. He oversaw the most successful period in Liverpool's history before stepping down in 1990.[120] His successor was Noel White who became chairman in 1990.[121] In August 1991 David Moores, whose family had owned the club for more than 50 years, became chairman. His uncle John Moores was also a shareholder at Liverpool and was chairman of Everton from 1961 to 1973. Moores owned 51 percent of the club, and in 2004 expressed his willingness to consider a bid for his shares in Liverpool.[122]
Moores eventually sold the club to American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks on 6 February 2007. The deal valued the club and its outstanding debts at 218.9 million. The pair paid 5,000 per share, or 174.1m for the total shareholding and 44.8m to cover the club's debts.[123] Disagreements between Gillett and Hicks, and the fans' lack of support for them, resulted in the pair looking to sell the club.[124] Martin Broughton was appointed chairman of the club on 16 April 2010 to oversee its sale.[125] In May 2010, accounts were released showing the holding company of the club to be 350m in debt (due to leveraged takeover) with losses of 55m, causing auditor KPMG to qualify its audit opinion.[126] The group's creditors, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, took Gillett and Hicks to court to force them to allow the board to proceed with the sale of the club, the major asset of the holding company. A High Court judge, Mr Justice Floyd, ruled in favour of the creditors and paved the way for the sale of the club to Fenway Sports Group (formerly New England Sports Ventures), although Gillett and Hicks still had the option to appeal.[127] Liverpool was sold to Fenway Sports Group on 15 October 2010 for 300m.[128]
In April 2020, the owners of the club came under fire from fans and the media for deciding to furlough all non-playing staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.[137] In response to this, the club made a U-turn on the decision and apologised for their initial decision.[138] In April 2021 Forbes valued the club at $4.1 billion, a two-year increase of 88%, making it the world's fifth-most-valuable football club.[139]
Liverpool featured in the first edition of BBC's Match of the Day, which screened highlights of their match against Arsenal at Anfield on 22 August 1964. The first football match to be televised in colour was between Liverpool and West Ham United, broadcast live in March 1967.[140] Liverpool fans featured in the Pink Floyd song "Fearless", in which they sang excerpts from "You'll Never Walk Alone".[141] To mark the club's appearance in the 1988 FA Cup Final, Liverpool released the "Anfield Rap", a song featuring John Barnes and other members of the squad.[142] 2ff7e9595c
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