Liverpool's Dominance in the 1970s and 1980s &
Subsequent Decline in the 1990s.
Fellow Liverpool Fans,
the 1970s and 1980s were indeed glorious years for our beloved
team
and they really establish themselves as a force in England and in
Europe.
Firstly, even as school boy in primary school (when I started
following football), I already asked myself what the reason was for
Liverpool's glory in the 70s and 80s. Fans and followers of English
football were astounded by Liverpool's long stretching dominance
which seemed to last forever and many wondered what was their
secret success formula and the reason for their success. Many
reasons abound and after doing extensive research on the topic and
judging by the evidence available here are some reasons and factors
I came up with.
First and foremost, a good/great football team must have players
who are
class and have quality. A football team and club are after all
represented
by those 11 humans on the field and it is those 11 people on the
field who
win the games and matches and bring glory to the club. Of course
they are led by their manager also who has to be a good leader of
his players. No way one will be a great team and have outstanding
results if the players are sub standard and 3rd rate no matter how
good the coach is. Even if the coach is great but players not good
the team can still perform to a certain level but never become a
powerhouse or the dominant team in their playing spectrum.
In the 1970s and 80s Liverpool were the dominant team.
It all started when Bill Shankly took over as manager of the club
in December 1959 and steered them to some trophies and victories in
the 1960s. He built another very good team in the 1970s with the
like of superb players like Kevin Keegan, Ray Clemence and Steve
Heighway. When he left and handed the reins over to Bob Paisley,
the core of the team was still there and he had left Paisley with a
very good team.
As you all might know, Paisley went on to achieve much
success with Liverpool and though he did inherit a good team from
Shanks,
he himself did bring in many players himself to replace the
retired/transferred out players and at the turn of the 70s to 80s
decade he
brought in many young players who were to form the core of the
1980s Super
Liverpool team.
Among them are Alan Hansen, Grobbelar, Ronnie Whelan, Ian
Rush among others. This was to replace the ageing players who were
going to
retire from the team and also those who were leaving the club at
the end of
the 70s and beginning of the 80s.
Needless to say he was very successful in this aspect and therefore
laid the foundations of the 80s team. The next manager was Joe
Fagan and he only coached for 2 seasons before Dalglish took over.
Dalglish was also quite successful and though I do credit him for
bringing in John Barnes, Peter Beardsley and John Aldridge, I also
feel that he was in a way responsible for Liverpool's decline.
Firstly, he did not really bring in the younger players to replace
those who were retiring and ageing at the turn of the decade into
the
1990s.
And when he resigned, some people think and I also had the
opinion
that in a way, he was deserting a sinking ship. If you notice
something
about Dalglish, he seems to be good at managing a team and winning
things
when he inherits a good team (as he did with Liverpool) or when he
has lots
of money to spend (as at Blackburn Anyway Blackburn very luckily
won the
title in the 94/95 season and later went on downhill). As proven at
his
time with Newcastle, he does not seem to be able to do the job well
when
the chips are down and transform a team that is undergoing a
downturn and
steer them to success.
Liverpool's decline in the 1990s
Around the early 1990s, Liverpool went into a serious decline and
certain events had a negative impact on the club, not least Kenny
Dalglish's resignation.
It is still asked what the reason was behind Liverpool's demise in
the
1990s. The thing is, I feel that this is not really too difficult
a
question to answer and with just some common sense and knowledge of
the
English game, most of the answers can be come up with.
Firstly the seeds of Liverpool's demise were already sown when as
previously said above, Dalglish did not really bring in the younger
players to replace those who were retiring and ageing at the turn
of the decade into the
1990s.
What made things worse was that Souness took over after that and
virtually
destroyed the team, bringing in players like Julian Dicks!
Roy Evans, try as he might did not manage to restore Liverpool to
the pinnacle of the the game and as I expected and expertly
predicted, he did not manage to turn the team around suffficiently
and left also. Under Evans, Liverpool improved, played some great
football at times and had some good players in their ranks, mainly
Fowler and Stevie Macca. (I seriously did not think too highly of
Jamie Redknapp, who I felt was overrated.) However, they just
seemed to lack the 'solid' kind of look that would be champions
have.
Here are some very important lessons that must be learnt from the
Rise and Fall of Liverpool from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Lesson 1 : No matter how invulnerable and great someone's success
might seem over a period of time, if one does not keep up the
momentum and make the effort to stay ahead and pursue continous
improvement and self renewal, one will eventually be overtaken by
others.
Lesson 2: Sometimes success cannot be expected too quickly and it
takes time to build success. As the saying goes Rome was not built
in a day.
Lesson 3: Those who are complacent and take their success for
granted will have a downfall one day, sooner or later.
Lesson 4: Do not underestimate other people or your opponents,
especially those you do not know much about.
Lesson 5: Especially in sports and physically demanding sports,
players are human beings after all, they will grow old, wane and
retire one day. There has to be a constant lookout for younger ones
and bringing in of replacements to
take over those who are ageing.
If you think about it and look back in history, there are so many
instances
of seemingly invincible and invulnerable great empires and sport
teams
falling over in the end. Think about hockey, previously India was
the
greatest team in the world, they were the undisputed champions and
won so
many Olympics and World tournaments. In the 1990s and present, the
European teams have already taken over in the world hockey
hierarchy and India is in fact now second tier. The once mighty
Egyptian and Roman empires.
Though as a Liverpool supporter I do not fancy Man U too much I
must admit that they were the team of the 1990s and Ferguson sure
knew how to plan well for his team's future. He knows when to keep
and release a player and with a combination of home grown players,
astute and shrewd cheap signings and some big buys, he managed to
keep Man U on top for more than 10 years. The emergence of Chelski
with Roman's millions has of course challenged and threatened the
Man U empire.
After the trio of Ince, Kanchelskis and Mark Hughes left Man U in
1995, he brought in his fledgings of Neville, Beckham, Scholes Butt
among others and his successful youth policy is still being
reinforced today with the likes of O'Shea, Wes Brown, Darren
Fletcher etc.
Unlike Chelsea who make mostly big money purchases, Fergie can also
spot
the unknown with huge potential like Solksjaer. Because he has been
in
charge for all this time Man U has been doing so well. I really
wonder if
they can find a good successor to Fergie when he retires.
Just my 2 cents worth.
