Liverpool FC: Team of the Millennium

Check this out dudes! Its official...were the greatest and best english team of all time........and the millenium

Liverpool Football Club: The most successful football team in English history – FACT! So says the tagline of various supporters’ club websites and members’ e-mail signatures. Surely there’s no disputing Liverpool’s domination of the 1980’s, or even the 1970’s for that matter. Overall, from the club’s founding in 1892 to the end of the 20th century, no English club could equal the list of honours achieved by Liverpool FC. The list of trophies achieved in that time is impressive and unmatched by any other club: Eighteen League Championships, five FA Cups, five League Cups, four European Cups, and two UEFA Cups. Not to mention a long list of Charity Shields, and a UEFA Super Cup.  

But, we can hear the critics cry: that was then, what about now? It’s been quite a long time since we were on top of the league at the end of a season. In fact we all know exactly how long; it’s simple arithmetic to count back to 1990. Our domination came to an abrupt end after that season, with a certain club in Manchester and another one from North London competing for the glory each year. A few years without silverware is normal for any successful club; it’s part of the natural cycle of decline and rejuvenation. For us, the difference between the 80’s and 90’s seemed like more than just a decline - more like a gradual decay into nothingness. Not that we were left completely empty handed; after all we did win one FA Cup and one League Cup during the first half of the decade - but then nothing at all for the latter half of the 90’s. Meanwhile, a few miles down the M62, the Premier League trophy was being presented with agonizing regularity to another club, with the occasional presentation ceremony in North London to break the monotony.

The once mighty Liverpool FC were reduced to the role of bystanders as the trophies were being presented to our rivals. It wasn’t so long ago that we were one of the “big five” clubs that included Everton, Tottenham, Manchester United and Arsenal. As the 80’s passed into the 90’s, it started to become clear that most if not all of the big prizes would be shared amongst this elite group. Then, as the 90’s wound down toward the end of the second millennium, the major prizes seemed to be more likely to be shared between the “big two” of Arsenal and Manchester United. These pretenders made no secret of their desire to knock us out of our top position, with the abrasive Fergie even saying at a press conference that he was going to “knock us off our f***ing perch.” Slowly but surely, the gap in the number of trophies between ours and theirs was shrinking. This trend had to stop.

At some stage the long awaited rejuvenation must begin, and so it was that the new millennium brought newfound success for the Reds. The later stages of the 2000-01 season saw us competing on four fronts. The League Cup came first in March of 2001, followed a couple of months later with a stunning win in the FA Cup final over Arsenal. Within a week we had also picked up the UEFA cup, and then won our last league match of the season to clinch third place in the Premiership. That third place finish meant qualification for the Champions League (where we belong) the following season. Surely this is the return to the top that we’ve all been impatiently waiting for.

Everything looked good as the 2001-02 season progressed. In spite of several setbacks we reached the quarter finals of the Champions League and finished in second place in the Premier League. It was encouraging to realize that we were climbing up the table, one place at a time, each successive season.

Then came the 2002-03 season where we started off at a great pace with a 12 game unbeaten run, but a loss at Middlesbrough in unlucky game number 13 was when it all started to go wrong. The only consolation for that season was a League Cup victory over Manchester United, giving us automatic qualification for the UEFA Cup should we fail to make it into the top four by the end of the season (we finished fifth). We had been hoping for so much more by the end of that campaign, but it was not to be and we would have to wait at least until the following year.

The 2003-04 season was not a great success by any stretch of the imagination but we did manage to reach the “minimum acceptable” target of fourth place and qualification for the Champions League. It was now time for the critics to come out in numbers and declare the official end to the once mighty Liverpool F.C. It was widely believed that we were lucky to have reached the lofty height of second place, and would not be capable of achievements on that scale again. The Liverpool Board had run out of patience by now and the search was already on for a new manager well before the season ended. It had only taken three years for Gerard Houllier to go from hero to zero in the eyes of the supporters and the board of directors. First we said merci and au revoir to Monsieur Houllier, and then we said hola and bienvenida to Rafa Benitez. The enthusiastic appointment of senor Benitez hopefully meant that this would now really mean a new era of success for Liverpool.

Who would have thought that we would reach two cup finals in that first season under Benitez, losing the League Cup but winning the more important Champions League? As if that wasn’t enough, we started last season with the UEFA Super Cup and finished in style with an FA Cup win (our seventh) while finishing third in the league. For the 2006-07 season, we have already picked up a trophy by winning the Community Shield and we can be excused for feeling confident for the season ahead.

The constantly nagging problem is that we haven’t won the League Championship since 1990. Or, even worse, we are frequently reminded that we have never won the Premier League since its inception in 1992. That’s the one we want to win more than any other, and it’s the sole reason why we never quite feel satisfied with most of the others. Are we now just a fringe club, lucky to pick up the odd piece of minor silverware while watching others pick up the major ones, or are we still considered one of the elite group of big clubs? Just as the early years of the new millennium saw the “big two” become the “big three” with the addition of Chelsea and their new billionaire owner, can we now consider ourselves part of a “big four”? It would certainly seem that way with the majority of the domestic trophies being shared between those top four clubs. But, the big question then is: are we still an also-ran because of our failure to take the League or, are we possibly not just the most successful football club in English history, but possibly the most successful football club in England so far this millennium? Let’s take a look at the facts and see how we measure up.

The first item to be considered is: when does the new millennium actually begin? Well, the correct answer is January 1st, 2001. So we will only consider trophies won since that date. We’re obviously off to a good start with the treble at the end of the 200-01 season, plus the addition of a charity shield and a UEFA Super Cup. But now that we have gone through the end of six seasons, how do we stand in comparison to the rest of the “big four?” The list is given below with the number of times each club has won each trophy.

                             LIVERPOOL       ARSENAL         MAN UTD        CHELSEA
Premier League              0                      2                     2                    2
FA Cup                         2                      3                     1                    0
League Cup                   2                      0                     1                    1
Charity Shield                2                      2                     1                    1

Champions League          1                      0                     0                    0
UEFA Cup                      1                      0                     0                    0
UEFA Super Cup             2                      0                     0                    0

Totals                          10                         7                          5                         4


The first interesting point to note is that the only domestic trophy to be picked up by a club outside of the big four is the League Cup (Blackburn in 2002 and Middlesbrough in 2004). The next interesting point is that the only European success is in the first column under Liverpool. No other English club has had success in Europe, in spite of Arsenal and Middlesbrough, respectively, reaching the Champions League and UEFA Cup finals in 2006.

So how does this prove anything? Well the most obvious is to add up how many trophies have been won by each club and see who comes out ahead. The result of that is given in the last row of the table. It’s not surprising that Liverpool come out ahead of the rest, what is surprising perhaps is that Arsenal are second, with Manchester United third and Chelsea a distant fourth.

But, the critics will say, that big zero in the first column is the one that everyone wants and so it should be worth a lot more than a Charity Shield, or even a League Cup. I’ll grant you that and in fact I’m reminded that it was Bill Shankly himself who put it into perspective in 1973, after Liverpool won their first UEFA Cup. With the League Championship trophy in front of him he stated: “This is our bread and butter, and this is what we want to win. All the time!” The next most valuable has to be the European Cup (which is now the Champions League). After that the order of importance is something like FA Cup in third place, followed by UEFA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and finally Charity Shield in seventh place. So how does that change the standings in our “team of the millennium” contest? Well, let’s do the obvious thing and give a points value to each trophy. We’ll agree that the Premier League is most valuable and give it ten points, followed by the Champions League with nine points, and so on, all the way down to the Charity Shield with a value of four points. The standings then look like this:

Liverpool: 62 points, Arsenal: 52 points, Manchester United: 38 points, Chelsea: 30 points.

Now, again, I can hear the critics pointing out that the Charity Shield and the UEFA Super Cup are really no more that “Exhibition” or “Friendly” contests that don’t really count for much. But I would beg to differ and say that these competitions and their respective trophies are there for bragging rights if nothing else, between the top two domestic winners and the top two European winners. Besides, when we play the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea (which we did in the three Charity Shields that we’ve played in since 2001) then would anyone say that neither side really cared who won? Of course we do; we were thrilled to beat Manchester United and Chelsea, and disappointed to lose to Arsenal. But, if we take those so-called minor trophies out, for the sake of avoiding such arguments, then what do we have? Well, the ranking in number of trophies doesn’t change with Liverpool still in first place with six, followed by Arsenal, Manchester United, and Chelsea with five, four, and three, respectively. The points totals change slightly with Liverpool and Arsenal tied at 44 points, Manchester United way behind with 34 points, and finally Chelsea with 26 points. That tie for first place is a little bit worrying at first glance but let’s take a closer look. First, I would argue that Liverpool take first place using the total number of trophies as a tie-breaker (six versus five). If that doesn’t sound reasonable then look at it this way: Arsenal have won all five of their major trophies in England, while Liverpool have been busy picking up silverware in Europe as well as domestically. Surely that’s sufficient to take first place with the quantity, variety, and breadth of trophies being enough to break the tie in our favour.

So the only conclusion that we can come to out of all this analysis is that Liverpool not only remain the most successful football club in English history, but should be recognized and acknowledged as:

Liverpool FC: Team of the Millennium!

Keith Perkins, August – 17 – 2006

Well were getting no.19 this year so the critics won't be able to crtizize us.