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June 21, 2005 Most Americans know Liverpool as the home of the Beatles and maybe--if they have any literary interst--the home town of Heathcliffe from Wuthering Heights. For myself, as a Liverpool expatriate, Liverpool has a deeper meaning: and much of this profundity is expressed in the successes and failures of the city's great football club--Liverpool FC. The Beatles years coincided with the reign of probably the most successful Liverpool manager ever, the Scot, Bill Shankly. Shankly was a dour but funny man and he established the basic Liverpool philosophy of "if you believe enough, you can do it." He took the club from being a backwater second division team to masters of England. He created a team that was battle hardened and ready to conquer Europe. However, when Shankly resigned after 15 years in the job, it was left to his faithful second in command to step up and complete the job. Bob Paisley had been at the club for all his career when he took over from Shankly, at the age of 59, in 1974. Over the next nine years. Paisley won the English Championship six times and--unprecedented phenomenon--the European Cup three times. When he finally retired, he had become the most successful manager in the history of English football. Liverpool also won the European Cup the following year under Liverpudlian, Joe Fagan. However, just a year after that, Liverpool was disgraced in the final of the European Cup at the Heysel Stadium in Belgium. Some of their fans went on the rampage and a protective wall collapsed, killing dozens of Juventus supporters. Amazingly, the game went ahead and for anyone who was interested, the Italian team won the game 1--0. Since that time, Liverpool FC have tried to resurrect its glory days--and in the early years after the European ban, they continued to be the most powerful team in England. However, by the time the European ban was lifted five years later, Liverpool was struggling to maintain its preeminence. There were flickers of the old greatness, as in 2001 when they won a unique treble of UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup. However, all attempts to capture the English Championship failed and in European terms, Liverpool had become an also ran. Then, at the beginning of this year came the dramatic sacking of the French coach, Gerald Houllier and the appointment of Rafael Benitez, the 45 year old Spanish lion who had won the Spanish Championship twice with Valencia. Despite problems of acclimatization in the English Premier League, Benitez soon proved himself a master at European tactics. After scraping through the group stages thanks to a stunning goal from local boy Steven Gerrard, Liverpool embarked on an incredible odyssey which saw them lift the European Cup for the fifth time, against all the odds, in Istanbul last month. Along their way they beat Juventus, Chelsea and AC Milan. Incredibly, in the final, AC Milan was leading 3--0 at half time, but Liverpool came back in the second half to level the match at 3--3. Finally, after extra time, the match went to penalties and Liverpool finally won out 3--2. When Steven Gerrard lifted the cup, a beaming Benitez standing next to him, everyone connected with the club was well aware that this had been the unlikeliest triumph of them all! ------------ About the author Jon Aristides: Read, 'The Black Scarab of Amun-Ra'. Visit www.jon-aristides.com Email: aristidesjon2001@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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