History

Liverpool FC’s story starts in 1892 when John Houlding, then Everton’s president, decided to create a new football club to play at Anfield, where he owned the land. This is why Liverpool was originally named Everton Athletic. The club got its new name only three months later.

Liverpool stormed its first season by winning the Lancashire League and joining the Second Division. Liverpool’s fans didn’t have to wait long until their club had been promoted to the First division, which it won in 1901 and again, 5 years later.

Liverpool won two League championships in a row in early 1920th followed by disappointing 23 years. The club won the First Division for a fifth time in 1947. Six years later the club was relegated to the Second Division.

Bill Shankly came to the club in 1959 and started rethinking the club’s strategy and reshaping the team. Liverpool joined the First Division again in 1962 and won it in 1964. One year later they won the first FA Cup. Liverpool won both the League and the UEFA Cup during the 1972–73 season, and the FA Cup again a year later. The club repeated the double win in 1976 under their new manager, Bob Paisley.

The 2011–12 season was the worst league finish for Liverpool in 18 years and led to the sacking of Kenny Dalglish. He was replaced by Brendan Rodgers and in 2-seasons-time the club finished second behind Man City and returned to the Champions League.

Everton has been always Liverpool’s longest-established rivalry due to its historical background. The second most recognised rivalry is Manchester United. Some explain this as mirroring the cities’ competition as industrial centres in the 19th century.

The club suffered two stadium disasters. 39 Juventus supporters were killed in 1985 at Heysel Stadium where a wall collapsed. UEFA blamed Liverpool supporters for the incident and all English clubs were banned from European competition for five years (Liverpool was banned for an additional year).

The second disaster, known as the Hillsborough disaster, took place during Liverpool-Nottingham’s FA Cup semi-final between Forest at Hillsborough Stadium on 15 April 1989. The 1989 Hillsborough tragedy claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool FC fans. Since that day families and survivors have fought to discover the truth about what happened that day. September 12, 2012, was a momentous day as the findings of the Hillsborough Independent Panel were published. Three months later the accidental death verdicts were quashed at the High Court paving the way for fresh inquests, being held in Warrington. If you would like to read through the inquests, which are still going on, click here.