Usually, the Premier League season begins on the 2nd Saturday and August, and lasts through late Summer, all through Autumn and Winter, and halfway through Spring, ending on the 2nd Sunday in May.
Liverpool Football Club even had a song about it. To the tune of Barry Sadler's "The Ballad of the Green Berets," invoking the bird on their crest, a cormorant that has been a symbol of the city since the 14th Century, and the man who kickstarted their glory days, 1959-74 manager Bill Shankly:
A Liverbird... upon their chest.
These are men... of Shankly's best.
A team that plays... the Liverpool way
and wins the cham...pionship in May.
Founded in 1892, LFC, a.k.a. the Mersey Reds, the Scousers and the Kopites, had won the top division of English soccer in 1901, 1906, 1922, 1923, 1947, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1990. A record 18 titles.
They had also won the FA Cup (Football Association Cup) 7 times: 1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001 and 2006 -- but only in 1986 did they win both, or "do The Double." They've won the Football League Cup a record 8 times: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003 and 2012.
They've won the UEFA Champions League 6 times, more than any other English team: 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005 and 2019. And they've won the UEFA Cup, the secondary European tournament, now known as the Europa League, 3 times: 1973, 1976 and 2001. In 2001, they won what remains a unique achievement, a "cup treble" of the FA Cup, the League Cup and the UEFA Cup.
But 1989 saw the beginning of the end. The Hillsborough Stadium Disaster killed 96 people and injured hundreds of others at the start of an FA Cup Semifinal. They went on to win the Cup, but North London team Arsenal stopped them from winning The Double by beating them at their own stadium, Anfield, in the season's League finale, to win the title.
Liverpool won the title again in 1990, but that was it. From 1991 to 2013, 23 seasons, during which the Football League Division One was replaced by the Premier League for the 1992-93 season, the title would be won by either Manchester United or Arsenal 17 times. In 2009, Man U tied Liverpool with their 18th title. In 2011, they surpassed them with a 19th. In 2013, a 20th.
Liverpool fans insisted that their 5 European Cups, to United's 3, mattered more. Since the rest of England can't stand either team, most people didn't care which meant more.
When he took the manager's job at United, Alex Ferguson said, he wanted to "knock Liverpool off their fucking perch." He did. Although some say the man who really knocked them off their perch was Graeme Souness, a former star player at Liverpool who managed them badly in the 1990s.
Between 1990 and 2020, Liverpool managed to win 3 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 2 Champions Leagues (including last year's, making 6 overall), and a UEFA Cup. But not the Premier League. Not since it was still the old Division One had they won it.
They finished 2nd to Arsenal in 1991, a strong 3rd behind Man U and Newcastle United in 1996, a strong 3rd behind Arsenal and Man U in 1998, 2nd behind Arsenal in 2002, and 2nd behind Man U in 2009.
Then came 2 painful close calls. In 2014, they need just 10 points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw) in their last 4 games to win the title. But a slip by Steven Gerrard in a 2-0 loss against West London team Chelsea symbolized a collapse that gave Manchester City the title by 2 points.
In 2019, they only lost 1 game all season, but it was to Man City, and a goal that would have tied the game was ruled out by Video-Assisted Replay (VAR) -- by the slimmest of margins, but correctly. Between that loss, and too many draws, the lost the title by 3 points.
These were the kinds of losses that used to befall the Boston Red Sox (whose owners, Fenway Sports Group, now own Liverpool Football Club), the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the New York Rangers before they finally ended their droughts -- and still befall the New York Mets, the Cleveland Indians, the Buffalo Bills and Sabres, and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
A common joke about this legendary team in this legendary port city goes as follows:
Q: What ship has never docked in Liverpool?
A: The Premiership.
Throughout the 2019-20 season, it looked like Liverpool would not only win the title, but match the 2003-04 Arsenal team by going unbeaten in League play, or "Invincible" -- and with a higher point total that would thus surpass the Arsenal Invincibles. But they did lose a League game -- to Hertfordshire team Watford, who still might end up getting relegated this season.
And then came the shutdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic. So the clincher that was expected to come in April, in May at the latest, had to wait.
Yesterday, Chelsea beat Manchester City 2-1. That meant that Man City could no longer catch Liverpool in the standings. After 31 games in the 38-game league season, Liverpool had clinched on June 25, 2020. In terms of number of games, it was the earliest clinching ever. But in terms of calendar date, it was the latest clinching ever.
Their last title... also was not clinched in May. It was clinched on April 28, 1990, when they beat West London team Queens Park Rangers 2-1, at home at the stadium named Anfield. Ian Rush (the man with the mustache in the above photo) scored in the 40th minute, and John Barnes (the black man at the right) added a penalty-kick goal in the 63rd.
April 28, 1990. That's 30 years and just under 2 months. How long has that been?
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At the time, "English football" was a game where a "foreigner" was considered to be from somewhere else in the British Isles. Hardly anybody was from elsewhere in the world. Of those, most were from elsewhere in the British Commonwealth.
One such player was Bruce Grobbelaar, Liverpool's starting goalkeeper. He was from Rhodesia, and had served in their army during their civil war, whose result turned a white-ruled apartheid nation into the black-majority-ruled nation of Zimbabwe.
There is no evidence that Grobbelaar ever participated in war crimes. Indeed, during the Hillsborough Disaster of April 15, 1989, his military training kicked in, and he tried to help the victims, and the police stopped him from doing so. One of several reasons the police were villains that day.
Nor is there any evidence that Grobbelaar was as racist as the government he fought for: Liverpool were one of the earliest English soccer teams to encourage black players, including Barnes, born in Jamaica but playing for the English national team.
Liverpool had long relied on Scotsmen, including former manager Bill Shankly. (Despite having a Scottish surname, his longtime assistant and successor, Bob Paisley, was born and raised in England.) This also included their current manager, who was perhaps their greatest player ever, Kenny Dalglish. As a player, "King Kenny" had helped them win 7 League titles, an FA Cup (in 1986, as a player-manager, enabling the Mersey Reds to win what is still their only "Double"), and 3 Champions League titles. This was his 3rd title as their manager.
Other Scotsmen on the 1990 Liverpool team included defenders Alan Hansen and Gary Gillespie, and midfielder Steve Nicol. Liverpool also had a tradition of fine Irish players, including, at this time, defender Steve Staunton, midfielders Ray Houghton and Ronnie Whelan (then their Captain), and forward John Aldridge. From Northern Ireland, they had midfielder Jim Magilton. From Wales, they had forward Rush. Their English stars included the aforementioned left wing John Barnes, centreback Gary Ablett, right back Barry Venison, left back David Burrows, midfielder Steve McMahon, and forward Peter Beardsley.
But they were also among the earliest English teams to go onto the European Continent, particularly into Scandinavia. They signed defender Glenn Hysén from Sweden, and midfielder Jan Mølby from Denmark. They even had a player from Israel, forward Ronny Rosenthal.
The aforementioned Hillsborough Disaster led to the Taylor Report, which mandated, among other things, that all English stadiums be made all-seater. No more all-standing ends. Nearly every stadium was either replaced with a new one, or rebuilt section-by-section. Anfield had a record attendance of 61,905 in 1952, but after redevelopment, capacity was cut to about 35,000. Recent renovations and expansions have brought it back up to 53,394, and 61,000 is now the goal.
The top flight had 22 teams, and this was brought down to 20 early in the Premier League era. Liverpool's main rivals were Everton, who play at Goodison Park, just a mile away, on the other side of Stanley Park. Think of it this way: In New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is at 81st Street and 5th Avenue, inside the eastern edge of Central Park. The American Museum of Natural History is at 81st Street and Central Park West. Now imagine that, instead of being the homes of museums, one of those locations is the home of the Yankees and the other is that of the Mets.
But Liverpool's biggest rival is Manchester United, 31 miles to the east. In 1992, having blown the last title in the old Division One, and not having won it since 1967 fans of Liverpool and other clubs taunted them by singing, "You'll never win the title!" The next season, the 1st under the Premier League banner, they won, beginning a string of 4 titles in 5 seasons, 8 in 11, and 13 in 21.
Liverpool had recently dropped Lancashire company Crown Paints as their shirt sponsor, for Milan, Italy-based appliance company Candy, famous for its washing machines. This would be replaced with Danish beer Carlsberg in 1992 and London-based bank Standard Chartered in 2011.
Current Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp was about to turn 23 years old, and a defender for Rot-Weiss Frankfurt in his native Germany -- or, should I say, West Germany, as reunification with East Germany would not be completed until the following September.
Ronaldo da Lima was 13 years old; Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher, Gianluigi Buffon, Didier Drogba and Carles Puyol were 12; Tim Howard was 11; Andrea Pirlo and Ronaldinho were 10; Steven Gerrard and John Terry were 9; Iker Casillas, Hope Solo, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Landon Donovan were 8; and Carli Lloyd, Clint Dempsey and Franck Ribéry were 7.
Luis Robles, Wayne Rooney, Heather O'Reilly, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bradley Wright-Phillips were 5; Megan Rapinoe, Mario Gómez, Marta Vieira da Silva and Manuel Neuer were 4; Vincent Kompany, Olivier Giroud, Jamie Vardy and Luis Suárez were 3; Dax McCarty, Leonard Bonucci and Lionel Messi were 2; Sergio Agüero, Robert Lewandowski and Mesut Özil were a year and a half; Alexis Sánchez was 1; Alex Morgan was 10 months old, Garth Bale 9 months, Toni Kroos 4 months.
Liverpool's current Captain Jordan Henderson, defensive star Virgil van Dijk, forward Mohamed Salah and starting goalkeeper Alisson Ramses Becker hadn't been born yet. Nor had Aaron Ramsey, Eden Hazard, Antonie Griezmann, Jack Wilshere, Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, Mario Götze, Paul Pogba, Harry Kane, Ada Hegerberg, Dele Alli, Christian Pulisic, Kylian Mbappé, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe.
Current New York Red Bulls manager Chris Armas had just graduated high school. Current New York City FC manager Ronny Deila was still in it. So were Aaron Boone of the Yankees, Jacque Vaughn of the Nets and Alain Nasreddine of the Devils.
Mike Miller of the Knicks was an assistant coach at Western Illinois University. Barry Trotz of the Islanders was a scout for the Washington Capitals. Adam Gase of the Jets was 12 years old. Luis Rojas of the Mets and Joe Judge of the Giants were 8. Walt Hopkins of the Liberty was 5. And David Quinn of the Rangers had put his hockey career on hold due to illness. (Quinn was born on July 30, 1966, the day England won the World Cup.)
Liverpool had dethroned Arsenal as League Champions, following Arsenal's 1988-89 season-finale shocker at Anfield. Liverpool were the current holders of the FA Cup, but were about to cede it to Manchester United. It would be United's 1st trophy under manager Alex Ferguson. A.C. Milan were about to win their 2nd straight European Cup, the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League.
In North American major league sports, the defending World Champions were the Oakland Athletics in baseball, the San Francisco 49ers in football, the Detroit Pistons in basketball, and the Calgary Flames in hockey. The Heavyweight Champion of the World was James "Buster" Douglas, who had just knocked out the previously unbeaten Mike Tyson 6 months earlier, but was about to lose it to Evander Holyfield.
The Olympic Games have since been held in America twice, France, Spain, Norway, Japan, Australia, Greece, Italy, China, Canada, Britain and Russia. The World Cup has since been held in America, Italy, France, Japan, Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Russia.
The head of state for Canada, and Britain, was Queen Elizabeth II -- that hasn't changed -- but Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was about to lose her job as Leader of the Conservative Party, or the "Tories," to John Major, due to her support of an onerous poll tax. The Prime Minister of Canada was Brian Mulroney.
Britain's current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was then reporting on, of all things, the European Commission, for the national newspaper The Daily Telegraph, a paper so conservative it is known as the Torygraph. Canada's current PM, Justin Trudeau, had just graduated from high school.
The President of the United States was George H.W. Bush. His son George W., having failed spectacularly in business, had recently (with more than a little help from his "friends") bought the Texas Rangers. Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, their wives, and the widows of Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy were still alive.
Bill Clinton was about to be elected to a 5th term as Governor of Arkansas. Barack Obama was President... of the Harvard Law Review. Joe Biden was running for his 4th term as a U.S. Senator from Delaware. Donald Trump was in the process of divorcing 1st wife Ivana Zelníčková, so he could marry his mistress, Marla Maples. He was also going through one of his periodic bankruptcies, which the divorce certainly didn't help.
There were 26 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The idea that corporations were "people" and had the rights thereof was considered ridiculous -- but so was the idea that a person could legally marry a person of the same gender. Only 2 Justices then on the Supreme Court are still on it: Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy.
The Governor of New York was Mario Cuomo, whose son, current Governor Andrew Cuomo, was Chairman of the New York City Homeless Commission, reporting to Mayor David Dinkins. Current Mayor Bill de Blasio was an aide to Dinkins. The Governor of New Jersey was Jim Florio. Current Governor Phil Murphy was working at Goldman Sachs.
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, was the holder of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Pope was John Paul II. The current Pope, Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was a bishop in Buenos Aires in his native Argentina. There have since been 5 Presidents of the United States, 7 Prime Ministers of Britain, and 3 Popes.
There were still living veterans of the Spanish-American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Philippine Campaign, the Mexican Revolution, the Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War. There were still living survivors of the Johnstown Flood of 1889, the sinking of the General Slocum in 1904, and the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
Major novels of 1990 included Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy, Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy, Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard, The Bourne Ultimatum
by Robert Ludlum, and The Burden of Proof by Scott Turow. The last of these became a TV miniseries the next year, while the rest all became major feature films.
Stephen King was working on Needful Things. George R.R. Martin, frustrated that his screenplays and teleplays were getting cut, or dropped completely, decided to return to fantasy novels, and began the process that led to Game of Thrones. J.K. Rowling was on a long train trip from Manchester to London, when she got the idea that would become the Harry Potter series.
Major films of the Spring of 1990 included Pretty Woman, the 1st film version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cry-Baby, Ernest Goes to Jail, I Love You to Death, Miami Blues, and Q&A. Steven Spielberg was directing Hook, a story of a grownup Peter Pan (played by Robin Williams) returning to Neverland, and George Lucas helped him out on it.
TV series that had debuted late in the 1989-90 season included Twin Peaks, In Living Color and
Wings. Miami Vice, the revivals of Mission: Impossible and The Bradys, Mama's Family, ALF and Baywatch had recently aired their series finales.
The night that Liverpool last won the title, CBS would air the last episode of the Vietnam War-themed drama Tour of Duty. Soon, we would be able to watch the finales of My Two Dads, 227, Falcon Crest, and, most honored of all for the way it went out, Newhart.
Soon to debut was The Flash, starring John Wesley Shipp as DC Comics' Scarlet Speedster. Michael Keaton was reaping the benefits of the previous year's Batman film, Christopher Reeve was still thought of as Superman, Lynda Carter was still thought of as Wonder Woman, and Nicholas Hammond was still the most recent live-action Spider-Man.
Timothy Dalton had played James Bond in the previous year's Licence to Kill, but quit, and legal wrangling kept the 007 franchise in limbo for a while. So was Doctor Who, recently canceled with the last and Seventh Doctor having been Sylvester McCoy.
No one had yet heard of Deadpool, Buffy Summers, Fox Mulder, Ross Geller & Rachel Greene, Bridget Jones, Xena, Carrie Bradshaw, Jed Bartlet, Tony Soprano, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Rick Grimes, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan, Don Draper, Katniss Everdeen, Walter White or Richard Castle.
Sinéad O'Connor had the Number 1 song in America, with a cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2U." Paul McCartney was touring for his album Flowers In the Dirt. A tribute concert for the recently freed Nelson Mandela was held at the original Wembley Stadium in London. Gloria Estefan was recovering from injuries sustained in the crash of the Miami Sound Machine's tour bus. Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses married Erin Everly, daughter of Don Everly of the Everly Brothers, but they would divorce later in the year.
Digital Underground released their album Sex Packets, including their most familiar song, "The Humpty Dance." En Vogue released Born to Sing, Public Enemy Fear of a Black Planet, Johnny Gill and Wilson Phillips their self-titled debut albums, the Dead Milkmen Metaphysical Graffiti, and Paula Abdul Shut Up and Dance.
Kris Jenner was in the process of divorcing Robert Kardashian, so she could marry 1976 Olympic hero Bruce Jenner. None of the children of any of the 3 of them was famous yet. Shakira, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ryan Reynolds, Kerry Washington, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Tom Welling were 13 years old; Kanye West, Sean Murray and Stana Katic 12; Usher, Nelly Furtado, Katie Holmes, John Legend, Aaliyah, Heath Ledger and Kourtney Kardashian 11; Brandon Routh, Pink, and Cote de Pablo 10.
Kim Kardashian, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys 9, Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba were 9; Natalie Portman, Chris Evans, Beyoncé, Jennifer Hudson and Britney Spears, Sienna Miller, Cobie Smulders and Hayley Atwell were 8; Kirsten Dunst, Cory Monteith, Jodie Whittaker, Elisabeth Moss, Matt Smith, Anne Hathaway and Lupita Nyong'o were 7; Henry Cavill, Andrew Garfield, Lil Wayne, Amy Winehouse, Adam Driver and Emily Wickersham were 6; Khloé Kardashian, Katy Perry, Leona Lewis and Scarlett Johansson were 5.
Gal Gadot, Chrissy Teigen, Lily Allen, Lana Del Rey, T-Pain, Bruno Mars, Ciara, Janelle Monae and Lady Gaga were 4; Drake, Kesha, Robert Pattinson, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Lea Michele, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Naya Rivera, Rose Leslie, Rob Kardashian, Shay Mitchell and Caity Lotz were 3; Kate Nash, Wiz Khalifa, Tyler Hoechlin, Hilary Duff, Kevin Jonas, Rhianna, Jessie J and Robbie Amell were 2; Adele was a year and a half; Melissa Benoist and Emma Stone were 1; Daniel Radcliffe 9 months, Joe Jonas 8 months, Dakota Johnson 6 months, Taylor Swift 4 months, Grant Gustin 3 months, Kristin Stewart 19 days, Emma Watson 13 days.
And Iggy Azaelea, Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Arian Grande, Justin Bieber, all of the members of One Direction, and all of the Modern Family kids hadn't been born yet.
Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $1.96 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 25 cents, and a New York Subway ride $1.15. The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.22, a cup of coffee $1.49, a McDonald's meal (Big Mac, fries, shake) $5.23, a movie ticket $4.23, a new car $15,045, and a new house $151,200. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day before (a Friday) at 2,645.05.
The tallest building in the world was the Sears Tower in Chicago. The World Wide Web was about to debut, but hardly anybody would know about it for a while. Mobile phones were still the size of the original Star Trek series' communicators. The Hubble Space Telescope had been launched, but it wasn't working, and would need to be repaired by a later shuttle mission. The 1st digital camera was sold in the U.S. The leading home video game system was the Sega Genesis. There were birth control pills, but no Viagra.
In the Spring of 1990, few Americans had heard of Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden, or had reason to, because the government still considered both of them to be allies. The World Health Organization, an official unit of the United Nations, removed homosexuality from its list of diseases. Lithuania, then Estonia, and then Latvia declared their independence from the Soviet Union. Namibia declared its independence from South Africa.
The capitalist Yemen Arab Republic, a.k.a. Yemen, North Yemen, and Yemen (Sana'a) reunified with the socialist People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, a.k.a. South Yemen, Democratic Yemen, the South Arabian Federation, or Yemen (Aden).
Australia re-elected its Labour Party government, led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke. Fernando Collor de Mello took office as the 1st democratically elected President of Brazil in 29 years. Free elections were held in Hungary, Yugoslavia and Romania, and the Communist Party was defeated in each.
Conservative parties won the elections in Greece, Colombia and Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, new President Violeta Chamorro became the 1st female head of state in the Americas to be elected in her own right. The opposition won in Burma, but the military dictatorship nullified the result and held on to power.
There were riots in the Brixton section of South London, for the 3rd time in 9 years, and these would extend to downtown's Trafalgar Square, known as the Second Battle of Trafalgar. The ferry
Scandinavian Star caught fire on its Norway-to-Denmark route, killing 158 people. A riot between soccer fans took place in Zagreb, Croatia, between fans of host Dinamo Zagreb and visiting Red Star Belgrade of Serbia, one of the early signs of the breakup of Yugoslavia.
In America, a protest against environmental damage was held outside the New York Stock Exchange on Earth Day. Another was held at the National Institutes of Health outside Washington, complaining that the NIH's director of AIDS research was acting too slowly. The demonstrators were wrong: He was being careful, and he ended up getting it right. His name was Anthony Fauci. I was at both demonstrations, right about Wall Street greed, but wrong about Fauci.
An arson at the illegal Happy Land social club in The Bronx killed 87 people. An SR-71 blackbird set a transcontinental speed record, going from one coast to the other in 1 hour, 8 minutes and 17 seconds. Conservatives protested of an exhibit of the late Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center. Michael Milken was sentenced to prison for stock fraud. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, but was later found to not be working.
Greta Garbo, and Sammy Davis Jr., and Jim Henson died. So did soccer legend Lev Yashin, and boxing champion Rocky Graziano. Kristen Stewart, and Emma Watson, and supermodel and baseball wife Hannah Davis Jeter were born. So were baseball star Starlin Castro, basketball star Paul George, and soccer star Miralem Pjanić.
April 28, 1990. Liverpool Football Club clinched the championship of the Football League Division One. It was the 18th time they had done so.
They have finally won their 19th. Their 1st in the Premier League era. After years of their fans claiming, "This is our year," their year finally came.
And, as with the "We've only won it five times"... I mean, six times... they'll never let us hear the end of it.
