Liverpool

Such is the burden of expectation at Anfield, where a record 18 championships have ended 
up, that only two finishes outside the top six, in the first dozen years of the Premiership, is 
considered a failure, despite the club being third in the all-time ranking, with only 
Manchester United and Arsenal ahead of them. It is failure because of the team’s inability 
to claim even a single Premier League crown, while United have been collecting titles as 
regularly as Liverpool did in the 1970s and 80s.

Like Chelsea, Liverpool have done very well on the cup front, especially in 2001, when 
Gerard Houllier’s team collected five trophies in the calendar year. It would be bad enough 
for Liverpool fans if it were just comparison with Chelsea’s record but always lurking on the 
shoulder of any Liverpool manager has been the shadow of previous League championships 
under Shankly, Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish.

Liverpool’s best Premier League finish was second, in 2002. Early in the campaign Gerard 
Houllier had been rushed to hospital for life-saving heart surgery but, after Phil Thompson 
took the reins, and after the lethal scoring potential of Michael Owen had been 
supplemented by Nicholas Anelka, the team looked like it could take the title. Indeed they 
went top for a month, having lost just two games from their first 15 games. But consecutive 
defeats by Chelsea and Arsenal dropped Liverpool to third. Anelka came in January but ‘The 
Incredible Sulk’, as he was nicknamed in certain quarters, did little to improve the side. 
Indeed some felt his inclusion was detrimental, as just four goals in 20 appearances, 13 
starts, would tend to emphasise, as did Houllier’s eventual decision not to make his move, 
from PSG, permanent.

Early 2002 wasn’t good for Liverpool. Despite a fairly consistent line-up results were 
anything but. Five games went without a win, until Danny Murphy’s clincher at Old Trafford. 
Three more wins followed and the team were second. After a draw with Everton Liverpool 
reeled of seven consecutive victories. The fifth took them top with just five games to go. 
But a critical 1–0 defeat at Spurs proved too damaging. Even back-to-back wins over 
Blackburn and Ipswich couldn’t rescue the situation and Liverpool fell agonisingly seven 
points short of champions Arsenal.

The first two Premiership seasons had ended disappointingly, 6th and 8th but there was 
improvement in 1994–95. Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler proved formidable, netting 26 goals 
between them, in 1993–94, and building on that The Sorcerer and his apprentice swapped 
positions at the top of the scoring charts. Fowler’s 25 goals, supplemented by Rush’s dozen 
kept Liverpool in the top five all season. An eight-game unbeaten run saw them third at the 
turn of the year but three consecutive draws affected any title hopes, as did losing three 
of their last 15 games.

Roy Evans took over after Graeme Souness left, and it took two attempts by the Scot 
before the board accepted his resignation. In that first season Roy guided the team to 
third, they even made it to second in January, but Liverpool couldn’t keep pace with 
Manchester United and Newcastle, despite Robbie Fowler’s 28 League goals and 14 from 
record £8.5 million signing Stan Collymore, and finished behind those teams, where they 
had been for the last four months of the campaign.

Then the Anfield board brought Gerard Houllier in and the most bizarre dual management 
arrangement in Premier League history, thus far, set about the job. But despite another 
third place, in 1997, it was obvious that such an arrangement wasn’t going to work and so, 
after more than three decades at Anfield, Evans was out and Houllier assumed sole charge 
in July 1998.

Seventh place for 1998–99 was explained away as transitional and when that was improved 
to 4th and then third in 2001, a new era had arrived, or so the fans thought. That feeling 
became conviction when Houllier delivered runners-up a year later, not to mention an armful 
of trophies.

‘Build from a position of strength’ was the edict issued by Shankly but Houllier’s signings, 
mostly from France and Africa, never gelled with the commitment and work ethic built upon 
the steel of Owen, Gerrard, Carragher, Murphy and McAllister. Many observers felt the 
manager was trying to replicate the methods of Arsene Wenger but, whereas his 
countryman built upon an Anglo-Saxon spine then gradually replaced it with continental 
flair, Houllier’s imports didn’t work and flattered to deceive.

Liverpool failed to progress from second place and the following season finished fifth after 
starting so well. Unbeaten in the opening 12 games, they were top by the 19 October, 
after a 1–0 win over Leeds that was a fifth consecutive victory in a run of seven, ’Boro 
inflicted a first defeat than not only ended the run but started the opposite kind and a run 
of 11 games without a win damaging not only title hopes, beyond repair, but dashing hopes 
of qualifying for a Champions’ League slot and Liverpool had to settle for fifth place.

Season 2003–04 may prove pivotal in Liverpool’s tortuous journey towards a Premiership 
title. Unbeatable Arsenal was hard enough to swallow but throw in ‘Chelski’ and a hurting 
Manchester United, who had their worst season in the Premiership, for 10 years, added 
more pressure on the Anfield club. Throw in media negativity concerning Houllier’s forays 
into the transfer market and the season-long struggle for fourth place, which seemed a 
valid indicator of how low Anfield standards had fallen and Monsieur Houllier’s ‘oliday 
seemed set to end, sooner than later. As the season came to a conclusion news of a 
possible £60 million investment by the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra emerged 
and, despite a rival bid by Liverpool fan, businessman Steve Morgan, looked to be 
favoured by the club’s board. Morgan, eventually, withdrew his offer, with the Thai deal 
still to be ratified. The board did, however, choose to go act on Gerard Houllier’s position 
which still looked decidedly unsure, despite delivery of the fourth place that club chairman 
David Moores designated as ‘a minimum requirement’. And so it proved as on 24 May 2004 
Liverpool and their French manager parted company after six years of entente that proved 
less cordial than anyone connected with the club would have wanted. He was the first 
Liverpool manager to be sacked in almost 50 years, the last being Don Welsh, in 1956.

Managers

Graeme Souness                        1991–1994

Roy Evans                                January 1994–1998

Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier      Joint managers          1998

Gerard Houllier                          July 1998–May 2004