Liverpool is a football club that has had more success than any other in English football. It’s also a club that has had more than its fair share of tragedy and sorrow. 2025 was a microcosm of that unique mix of triumph and disaster … Premier League winners but also suffering a terrible atrocity at the club’s celebrations and the tragic death of Diogo Jota. One thing that stands out through all of this is how resilient the club and its supporters are. Hopefully you’ll see this as you read the blog.
15. The white suits – FA Cup Final 1996
As you get older, you have an increasing tendency to think that everything was better in your day. Whilst much of the footballing past was definitively not better – think muddy pitches, dangerous tackling, single camera TV coverage, Scottish goalkeepers – one thing that definitively was is FA Cup final day. The full day event featured the ‘Road to Wembley’, It’s a Knockout, visits to the team hotel and even supporter Question of Sport. A particular highlight was the pre-match walkabout by the two teams. Players would stroll around the pitch, attempting to look as casual as possible, while sporting outfits specially commissioned for the big day.
The outfits would typically be pretty unremarkable, suits in dark blue or grey, sponsored by Hugo Boss if the team was in the upper reaches of the top division, or supplied by Burtons if they were of more modest status. In 1996, though, Liverpool went out on a limb and created the biggest stir in Cup Final history with their pre-match garb.
All the players had been individually fitted for their suits, and would have been excited to know that they would be dressed in Armani. What they did not know, however, was that the suits would be cream coloured and accessorised with a red and white striped tie and blue buttonhole. As they took to the pitch, the reaction from almost everyone, including their opponents Man United, dressed in sober black suits, was one of shock and ridicule. If you’re going to wear a suit like that, you had better be bloody good. Sadly, Liverpool on the day were not, going down to an Eric Cantona goal in a dreary 1-0 defeat.
Winning manager, Alex Ferguson, never one to mince his words, summed it up thus “Arrogance or overconfidence. I think it was absolutely ridiculous … that did’na represent Liverpool”. In the event, the suits were a lot more memorable than the match, but really not in a good way.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJqrHw3sWvx/?hl=en
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/videos/c20x4yprr9qo
14. The reign of Roy – July 2010 to Jan 2011
Over almost half a century, Roy Hodgson has managed 22 different clubs in eight different countries. Whilst not boasting a lot of silverware he has won league titles in Sweden and Denmark and taken two club sides to European finals. He was also, most notably, manager of his national side, England, albeit without any great success.
Whilst he may be remembered at some of his clubs with some affection, it’s fair to say that most Liverpool fans regard his short spell at the club as little short of disastrous. He arrived at the club in July 2010 following a stint at Fulham that had just seen him voted 2010 LMA Manager of the Year. Hodgson had led his team to a wholly unexpected Europa League final (which they lost to Atletico Madrid) and to a safe position in the Premier League.
Despite this, he was not greeted at Liverpool with any great enthusiasm by the fans. His lack of big club experience was cited by many, and it was widely known that he had edged out all-time great Kenny Dalglish, who had put himself forward after Rafa Benitez had been sacked. Hodgson made little effort to endear himself to the fans, and his rather downbeat persona just did not fit with what most supporters wanted.
Hodgson, a diffident and stubborn man, doubtless felt that he did not have to justify or prove himself to the fans. This might have been an acceptable strategy had his team produced on the pitch. But they didn’t. In the league, a record of W1-D3-L4 in the first eight games (including defeats to United, Everton and, worst of all, Blackpool) saw Liverpool drop to 19th in the table. Things did pick up a little, but by the end of the calendar year they sat in a miserable 12th position. They had also suffered the humiliation of being knocked out of the League Cup by League Two strugglers Northampton Town. Hodgson’s description of the Cobblers as ‘formidable’ opposition is seen as almost more embarrassing than the performance itself.
It was all too much for the club, now under new owner, John W Henry, and on 8th January they announced that Hodgson was leaving ‘by mutual consent’. The very next day his (now ex-)team were knocked out of the FA Cup by Man United. Hodgson had lasted just over five months and alienated most of the fans. The relief at his departure was palpable.
13. The reality check – Liverpool 2-5 Real Madrid, 21 Feb 2023
In 2022 Liverpool had, by any reasonable standards, an incredible season. For most of the season they were in the running to complete a rare domestic treble. Although denied in the league (by a single solitary point) they did carry off both the FA Cup and the League Cup. They also came extremely close in the Champions League, losing to Real Madrid in a final where they were arguably the better team and had the better of the chances.
The management and team would have hoped to build on all of this in 2022/23, perhaps going one better in the Premier League and/or the Champions League. They were to be disappointed. Their challenge for the league faltered from the start, two draws and a defeat in the first three games leaving them with only two points. A record 9-0 destruction of Bournemouth might have signalled the start of something big, but after 12 games, Liverpool had already lost four games – twice as many as in the whole of the previous season. The FA Cup and League Cup were to be no better, with fourth round defeats in both.
All of this left the most difficult one of the lot, the Champions League, as their only realistic chance of silverware. The already tough task was made harder when they finished second in their group to Napoli – on head-to-head goal difference. This meant they would face a group winner in the round of 16, and the team that was pulled out of the hat was Real Madrid. Liverpool, though, had come close in 2022, and would play the first leg at Anfield in front of the Kop and 60,000 home fans. A solid win would put the pressure on Real at the Bernabeu.
Liverpool certainly set off as though they meant it. Only four minutes had elapsed before Darwin Nunez ran onto a pass from Salah and scored with a flick of genius. Ten more minutes and Salah himself capitalised on a terrible error by Courtois to double the lead. A stunner from Vinicius Jr got Real back into the game, but Liverpool should have restored their two-goal advantage in a goalmouth scramble. They didn’t and bitterly regretted it when Alisson made an error as bad as that of Courtois, gifting a second goal to Vinicius Jr. Still, it was all square at half time and all to play for.
Sadly, the second half belonged to Real. First, Militao was allowed to run in unhindered and bullet a header past Alisson. Then a shot from Benzema was deflected horribly off Gomez to beat the keeper. And finally, a breakaway was finished smartly by Benzema. 2-0 had become 2-5 and Liverpool were effectively out of the tournament.
While Real were eventually beaten in the semi-final, Liverpool will have taken no comfort from this. Real’s victors were Liverpool’s main domestic rivals, Man City, who even more annoyingly went on to win the trophy.
Five other demoralising results in Europe:
- Ajax 5-1 Liverpool, European Cup 1966 – inspired by 19-year-old Johan Cruyff, Ajax had the game won by half time at 4-0 up
- Napoli 4-1 Liverpool, Champions League Group Stage Sept 2022 – the defeat that meant Liverpool finished below Napoli in the group and ended up facing Real in the knock-out phase
- Barcelona 3-0 Liverpool, Champions League Semi-Final 1st leg 2019 – they thought it was all over, but (gloriously) it wasn’t. 4-0 in the return sent Liverpool through to the final!
- Liverpool 0-3 Real Madrid, Champions League Group Stage Oct 2014 – a gulf in class although it was two poor results vs Basel (a draw and a defeat) that saw them fail to qualify from the group
- Nottingham Forest 2-0 Liverpool, European Cup, Sept 1978 – the defending champions exited in the first round to their English rivals. At least Forest had the decency to go on and win the cup
12. The signing of Andy Carroll – deadline day 2011
The departure of Fernando Torres to Chelsea in January 2011 dealt a big blow to Liverpool. The Spaniard had been a prolific scorer for the Reds since his arrival from Atletico Madrid, but his head had been turned by a huge offer from Chelsea that promised to make him the most expensive transfer ever in English football.
As deadline day approached, with the departure of Torres looking more and more certain, Liverpool cast around to find a striker who might fill the gap. They alighted on a rather unexpected candidate, 22-year-old Andy Carroll of Newcastle United. Carroll was big, physically strong and very good in the air. He had made a big contribution to Newcastle’s promotion from the Championship (17 goals in 39 appearances), then a good start to their Premier League campaign with 11 goals in 19 games, but he was no goal machine. And, while he did look a decent prospect, he played in a very different way to the skilful, speedy Torres.
Accompanying the questions around his footballing abilities, there were also doubts as to whether he was the right sort of character for Liverpool. His ‘charge sheet’ was not insignificant – fights in nightclubs, breaking curfew with England U19s, a reported altercation with a teammate that led to a broken jaw and charges (later dropped due to lack of evidence) of assaulting an ex-girlfriend.
Carroll certainly had ability and value, but he was worth nowhere near the staggering amount of money that Liverpool paid for him, £35m, the most ever paid at that time for a British player. Predictably, he failed to live up to his fee. He arrived at the club carrying an injury – for a big, strong bloke he seemed pretty fragile throughout his career – and played in only seven league games before the season ended, scoring in only one of them. He appeared more regularly in 2011/12, his first full season, but struggled for goals. Four in 35 matches was a very thin return for England’s most expensive player. By the start of the next season Liverpool had effectively given up on him, loaning him to West Ham who eventually bought him for around £15m. He did manage to play in the Premier League for almost another decade, but was never a prolific scorer or match winner.
Whilst Carroll’s spell at Liverpool was short on highlights, there was at least one that is fondly remembered by fans. The 2013 FA Cup semi-final saw Liverpool come face-to-face with Everton. With the match heading for a replay, Carroll glanced in a late header to take his team to Wembley. Teammate Jamie Carragher said the goal was “worth £35m in itself”. Probably not, but at least Carroll had something positive for the memory box.
Six other signings that failed to spark:
- Mario Balotelli – a massive punt by Brendan Rodgers that did not work out – four goals in 28 matches
- El Hadji Diouf – a striker who made himself unpopular due not only to a lack of goals but also because of his attitude and behaviour
- Naby Keita – a £59m signing, the Guinea international never quite hit his straps and was often out injured
- Christian Benteke – a prolific scorer at Villa, the £32.5m signing just did not fit in with Klopp’s style of play and was sold after only one season
- Lazar Markovic – hailed as one of Europe’s brightest young stars, the £20m Serbian spent most of his five years at the club out on loan
- Torben Piechnik – a cruel wag once quoted “like the chocolate bar of the same name, Piechnik looked and played like shit”. Only 17 games for the Dane at the club.
11. The giants killed – Worcester City 2-1 Liverpool, January 1959
In 1959 Liverpool were not exactly giants, but they were riding high in the Second Division and looked a decent bet for promotion back to the top league. When they were drawn to play part-timers Worcester City of the Southern League in the third round of the FA Cup they would have expected a relatively routine victory and passage to the fourth round. They were to be mistaken.
The game was due to be played on Saturday 10th January, but the freezing cold conditions meant the pitch was unplayable so the game was postponed to the Thursday. Conditions did not improve much in the intervening days, but with the game generating huge local and media interest, a decision was taken to play. The pitch had been coated with sand and salt and there was barely a blade of grass on it, but it was playable, and in truth it probably didn’t make much difference to the result.
The idea that a shock may be on was given sustenance when, with only 10 minutes on the clock, City scored. A back pass from Liverpool’s Molyneux went astray and 18-year-old City winger Tommy Skuse nipped in to put the ball in the net. The rest of the half went scoreless so the part-timers, eight of whom had gone to work earlier in the same day, went into the break one goal up.
Liverpool could not break through in the second half, and with nine minutes remaining their task became harder. Reds’ defender Dick White tried to cut out a cross, but succeeded only in comically lobbing the ball over his own keeper. Although Liverpool converted a penalty soon after, they were unable to find a second so the final whistle blew with City 2-1 winners. The record crowd of 15,000 were understandably delirious, and pretty well every one of them invaded the pitch to celebrate their win.
Liverpool manager, Phil Taylor, survived the humiliation and Liverpool’s failed attempt to finish in the promotion places, but it was not long into the following season that the club parted company with him. His replacement, a certain Bill Shankly. Perhaps Worcester City on a dismal, freezing cold evening in January had actually been the start of something great.
Five other Cup shockers:
- Oldham 3-2 Liverpool, FA Cup 3rd Round 2013 – third tier Oldham prevailed against a Liverpool side including Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling and Gerrard
- Liverpool 1-2 Barnsley, FA Cup 5th Round 2008 – emergency loanee Luke Steele made several great saves to keep Barnsley in it, before Brian Howard hit a dramatic injury-time winner
- Liverpool 2-2 Northampton (2-4 on pens, Carling Cup 3rd round 2010 – this came after Roy Hodgson had laughingly described the League Two side as ‘formidable’
- Plymouth 1-0 Liverpool, FA Cup 4th Round 2025 – any thoughts of a double were extinguished with this defeat to the Championship’s bottom side
- Peterborough 1-0 Liverpool, League Cup 4th Round 1991 – lower league journeyman Garry Kimble capitalised on a 19th minute mistake from Grobbelaar and third division Posh held on to beat Graeme Souness’s side
10. The bite – Luis Suarez, Liverpool 2-2 Chelsea, April 2013
Liverpool have had some great strikers in the 21st century, but Uruguayan Luis Suarez can lay a decent claim to be the best of the lot. In his three and half seasons at the club he scored at a rate of one goal every 1.6 games, before going on to repeat the act over six seasons with Barcelona then helping Atletico Madrid to the La Liga title.
Suarez’s goals (82 in 133 matches), however, came with a condition. Accept the goals, accept the man. Suarez the footballer was a genius, Suarez the man was a one-man controversy machine. His chargesheet up to 2013 was extensive.
- 2003 – Aged 16, headbutted a referee after being shown a red card
- 2007 – Sent off on debut for his country after a second yellow card for dissent
- 2010 – Deliberate handball in the World Cup quarter final vs Ghana (This did end up saving his country from defeat)
- 2010 – Playing for Ajax, bit PSV’s Otman Bakkal on the shoulder – seven-match suspension
- 2011 – Accused of racially abusing Patrice Evra of Man United – eight-match suspension
- 2012 – Made obscene gesture to Fulham fans – one-match ban
- 2013 – Admitted to diving against Stoke City in 2012 match
In April 2013 he hit the headlines again, after the two-all draw with Chelsea. The talk could have been about Suarez’s dramatic equaliser in the 97th minute, but instead it was all about another biting incident, this time on Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic. The bite had gone unpunished during the game, but replays showed clearly that it had taken place. It’s perhaps one of the vagaries of football that biting and spitting are considered much less acceptable than, say, tackles intended to injure or even punches or elbows to the face, but unacceptable they are. The typical ban for violent conduct is three matches, but such was the outcry over this incident (there was even a comment condemning Suarez from Prime Minister, David Cameron) that the FA decided to ban the Uruguayan for ten games.
Suarez was a little bit penitent but nowhere near as much as the authorities and the public demanded. In his 2014 book, Crossing The Line: My Story Suarez did not dispute the crime but certainly queried the punishment. “I had questioned the double standards and how the fact that no one actually gets hurt is never taken into consideration. The damage to the player is incomparable with that suffered by a horrendous challenge” and “I know biting appals a lot of people, but it’s relatively harmless. Or at least it was in the incidents I was involved in.”
In the heat of the battle, Suarez clearly struggled to control his demons. He was caught biting again at the 2014 World Cup, on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, and this time was banned from all football-related activities for four months. And there would be more controversies, even as recently as 2025 playing in the MLS Leagues Cup. But he remained a prolific scorer and fan favourite. No-one could ever doubt his will to win, even if did occasionally ‘cross the line’.
9. The not-so-fond farewell – Stoke 6-1 Liverpool, 24 May 2015
The 2014/15 season will not linger long in the memories of many Liverpool fans. Losing in the semi-finals of both domestic cups, being unceremoniously dumped out of the group stage of the Champions League before losing at the first hurdle in the consolation Europa League, and finishing only sixth in the Premier League, it was a massive comedown after the promise of the previous year. It was the beginning of the end for manager Brendan Rodgers (he would be sacked early the following season) but it was the end of the end for club legend, Steven Gerrard.
34-year-old Gerrard, after 504 league games and over 700 games in total and with almost 200 goals to his name, had announced his retirement in January. If he had hoped for a triumphant finale with his home town team he was to be sadly let down. After a decent run around the turn of the year, things went south after a March defeat at home to Man United. Including this game, the team earned a measly eight points in their final nine matches. The penultimate game – a 1-3 defeat at home to mid-table Crystal Palace – looked about as bad as it could get. It wasn’t.
On 24th May Liverpool travelled to Stoke, like Palace safe in mid-table. Liverpool fielded pretty much a full-strength side missing only Raheem Sterling, dropped to the bench after turning down a new contract. The side were clearly not up for it. After 22 minutes Stoke’s Mame Biram Diouf netted after Mignolet spilled a straightforward shot from Charlie Adam into his path. Four minutes later and Diouf added a second that Mignolet might have done better with. Another four minutes and a woeful defensive header from Emre Can gifted a goal to Jonathan Walters. Then another defensive slip, this time from Lucas, gave ex-Liverpool player Charlie Adam a chance to fire in from the edge of the box. The coup de gras was delivered on the stroke of half-time when Stephen Nzonzi scored with a superb shot from outside the area. 5-0 and still 45 minutes to play.
The second half did at least see a goal for Gerrard, warmly received by both sets of fans. But there was still time for another from the home side, another former Liverpool player, substitute Peter Crouch heading in unchallenged from a Diouf cross. Gerrard’s final game was the first time in 52 years that Liverpool had let in six in the league, an utter embarrassment.
Five other dismal league defeats:
- Coventry 5-1 Liverpool, Dec 1992 – The Sky Blues hadn’t won for 11 games when they surprised everyone by battering Liverpool. Mick Quinn scored two against the team he supported.
- Villa 7-2 Liverpool, Oct 2020 – Villa had narrowly escaped relegation and Liverpool were reigning champions. This thumping, including a hat-trick from Ollie Watkins, was, oddly enough, Liverpool’s only defeat before the new year.
- Liverpool 1-2 Blackpool, Oct 2010 – Roy Hodgson’s dismal spell in charge of the club was epitomised by this defeat at home to promoted Blackpool. Future signing Charlie Adam scored for the Seasiders,
- Liverpool 0-6 Sunderland, April 1930 – still the record home defeat and Sunderland weren’t even that good.
- Liverpool 0-3 Nottingham Forest, Nov 2025 – still early but Liverpool’s title defence already looks doomed. Murillo, Savona and Gibbs-White all capitalised on a shaky Liverpool defence.
8. The cynical Spaniard – Sergio Ramos, Champions League Final, 26 May 2018
Sergio Ramos is one of the most decorated footballers of all time. In over 180 appearances for Spain, a record for his country, he won the World Cup and two European Championships. In nearly 700 appearances for his club Real Madrid, he won four Champions League titles and five league titles amongst countless other trophies. He was selected eleven times for the FIFA FIFPRO World 11, a total surpassed only by Messi and Ronaldo.
There is a significant cloud, however, that hangs over Ramos. The Spaniard’s disciplinary record is atrocious. He has the most red cards (20) in La Liga history and the most yellow (171), and he holds the same ‘distinction’ in the Champions League with 40 yellow and four red (three of which were straight red). Interestingly, although he has the most yellow cards for his country (a surprisingly low 24 in his 180 appearances), he was never sent off for Spain.
It’s this last fact that may tell you something about Ramos. His misdemeanours were more calculating than reckless (although there were many incidents of the latter). He fouled, niggled and intimidated tactically to gain advantage over his opponents or at moments when his team most needed it. One of those moments came in the Champions League Final of 2018.
Liverpool had finished fourth in the Premier League, a distant 25 points behind runaway winners Manchester City. They had, however, unearthed a new star, Mohammed Salah, signed at the beginning of the season from Roma to bring goals to the club. He had done this in spades – a stunning haul of 32 in the Premier League plus a further 11 in Europe. The Egyptian had formed a lethal attacking trio with Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino and it was their goals that had propelled Liverpool to the Champions League final.
Liverpool knew that Real Madrid would be out to muzzle Salah somehow, but they perhaps underestimated how cynical they, and specifically Ramos, would be in doing so. In the 25th minute, with the match tied 0-0 and Liverpool on top, Salah tussled with the Spaniard competing for a ball. Salah reached the ball first, so Ramos did what he does – he took Salah down. The two players’ arms became entwined and as they fell, Ramos kept Salah’s arm trapped beneath his body and twisted the Egyptian into an unnatural position. It bore a startling resemblance to a judo throw and looked highly deliberate. After they hit the deck, it was clear that Salah was in pain, and a couple of minutes later he had to leave the match, the ligaments in his shoulder badly sprained.
The departure of Liverpool’s most potent goal threat changed the course of the match, Real running out 3-1 winners after two goals from substitute Gareth Bale. Would it have been different with Salah still on the pitch? Ramos ensured that we will never know. His underhand (or should we say, underarm) tactics had once again been effective.
7. The slip – Steven Gerrard, Liverpool 0-2 Chelsea, April 2014
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, there is no debate as to who was the best team in English football. In a twenty-year period starting in 71/72 Liverpool won 11 titles, were runners-up seven times and had only one season out of the top 3, in 1980/81 when they made up for it by winning the European Cup. The Premier League era, however, was to prove significantly less fruitful. After the two decades of supremacy came more than twenty years of ‘not quite good enough’. Although they never ended lower than eighth, their best was two runners-up finishes (in 2001/2 and 2008/9) so there were no titles. In 2013/14 the barren run looked set to come to an end.
Manager Brendan Rodgers had built a well-balanced team, but the real strength was in the forward line. Uruguayan Luis Suarez was in his third season, and despite causing enough controversy for a whole team, was scoring goals for fun. Alongside him, Daniel Sturridge, was enjoying a career purple patch, and there were more goals coming from midfield from Steven Gerrard and a young Raheem Sterling. With three games left in the season, Liverpool looked set not only to break the Premier League goal-scoring record (they would in fact break the old record but so would Man City with one goal more) but, more importantly, they were odds on to win the title. Unbeaten since the new year and on an 11-game winning streak, they held a five-point advantage over second-placed Chelsea and were six points in front of City.
The game that would surely seal the deal came on 27th April when Chelsea visited Anfield. Liverpool dominated possession in the first half, but opposition manager Jose Mourinho had set his team up to defend doggedly and repel all invaders. As the break loomed the game was deadlocked at 0-0. Then disaster struck. A harmless ball was played across along the halfway line by Mamadou Sakho to Steven Gerrard. Gerrard inexplicably failed to control the ball and saw Demba Ba of Chelsea sprint to collect it. To compound the error Gerrard then slipped and saw Ba sprint away unchallenged towards the Liverpool box. As Gerrard chased back fruitlessly, Ba showed admirable coolness to slip the ball past keeper Simone Mignolet into the unguarded net. 1-0 against the run of play and at that crucial moment just before half time.
Try as they might, in the second half Liverpool just could not break through the Chelsea defensive wall, and the coup de gras was applied when William scored a second in added time. The title was now outside of Liverpool’s control, and Man City took full advantage, putting together a run of five consecutive victories to pip them to the trophy.
Gerrard, one of the club’s all-time greats, would be denied the title that he so richly deserved. In his autobiography he expressed how much it meant to him. “I felt numb, like I had lost someone in my family. It was as if my whole quarter of a century at this football club poured out of me. I did not even try to stem the silent tears as the events of the afternoon played over and over again in my head.”
6. A final ruined – Champions League Final, 28 May 2022
With the biggest sporting event of them all, the Olympics, a mere two years away, one would have thought that Paris would have pulled out all the stops for the 2022 Champions League Final at the Stade de France. It was a great opportunity for the French authorities to show how they could get things right at a major sports occasion. Sadly, they didn’t and for many the much-awaited event was little short of a disaster.
The day had started well with tens of thousands of Liverpool supporters gathered together in a fan zone in the south-west of Paris. The atmosphere was reported to be “top class” before fans made their way to the Stade de France. They had been advised to get there early, so most set off several hours before the kick-off time of 9pm. Things started to go wrong when one of the train lines serving the station was cancelled, meaning most Liverpool fans arrived at a single checkpoint. Thousands were crammed into narrow underpasses, and with movement almost impossible many started to fear not only missing the game, but also far worse, such as being crushed. Police blockages made the situation worse with some fans being searched multiple times while others proceeded without having their tickets checked. Progress was incredibly slow and at one point pepper spray was fired into the crush. All the while, groups of local youths were causing trouble, trying to snatch fans’ bags, pick-pocketing and starting fights with some of those on the periphery.
There was more chaos when fans eventually reached the stadium’s entrance gates. Some were manhandled through the turnstiles without their tickets being scanned, others tried to hurdle the gates, at one point the entrances were closed altogether. Even though kick-off was delayed (twice) eventually starting over half an hour late, there were still thousands of Liverpool fans outside when the game kicked-off. Some gave up completely, disgusted with the way they were being treated by French police. And the mayhem was not yet over. When the match ended and the exit gates were opened, local youths rushed the gates, and tear gas was fired into the crowd.
All in all, it was a shambles, disappointing for most, frightening for many and even more costly for others – there were dozens of arrests and hundreds of injuries.
At first, in a disturbing echo of Hillsborough, the French police and authorities blamed the Liverpool fans. It did not take long, though, for the spotlight to be turned back onto them. A UEFA-commissioned review stated that UEFA themselves bore the “primary responsibility” for chaotic security failures at the final that put the lives of fans at risk. The police and stadium authorities were also held culpable. The report stated that “It is remarkable that no-one lost their life” in a near “mass fatality catastrophe”.
It is almost an afterthought to note that the final was lost 1-0. Liverpool were the better side and attacked relentlessly, but were unable to break through. It says a lot that the UEFA Man of the Match was Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who made nine saves compared to none by Alisson. Unfortunately, the only shot Real got on target (compared to nine from Liverpool) went in the goal. Insult had truly been added to injury.
5. The last minute agony – Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal, 26 May 1989
The 1988/9 football season for Liverpool will forever be associated with the catastrophe of Hillsborough. The real life tragedy makes talk of football ‘tragedy’ seem trivial, but Liverpool did suffer one of the most extraordinary and heartbreaking finales to any season ever.
The venue was Anfield, the occasion the final game of the season at home to Arsenal. It had been an incredibly hard-fought campaign, but Liverpool were clear favourites going into the match. Three points ahead of Arsenal and with superior goal difference, they needed only not to lose by more than one goal to capture the title.
Both sides were pretty much at full strength and the start was notable principally for Arsenal’s new formation, 5-4-1 which gave full-backs Dixon and Winterburn a little more licence to push forward and stifle Liverpool’s passing game. The visitors though made little progress in the Liverpool half and created few clear-cut chances. 0-0 at half time definitely favoured the home side.
Alarm bells, though, may have started to ring, when eight minutes into the second half, Arsenal scored. Centre forward Alan Smith rose nicely to glance in a header from a Winterburn free-kick. One more goal for Arsenal would do it, so they made a couple of substitutions and switched formation to 4-4-2 for more threat. There were good chances at either end, but as full-time approached the title still remained in Liverpool’s hands. The 90 minute mark came and went and the game entered injury time.
In the second minute Arsenal launched their final attack. John Barnes lost the ball to Kevin Richardson in the Arsenal box. He passed to keeper John Lukic who picked it up and bowled it out to Lee Dixon on the right. His long speculative ball downfield was met by Alan Smith who flicked it on to midfielder Michael Thomas making a direct run through the centre. Thomas got a little lucky, the ball rebounding from Steve Nicol and leaving him a clear run on goal. Time seemed to stop still as Thomas strode forward. Just as it looked as though he would be robbed by Nicol or Houghton, he prodded the ball past the advancing Bruce Grobbelaar and into the net. There was enough time for Liverpool to kick off and attempt an attack, but it was to no avail. Arsenal had denied Liverpool not only the title but also the double with almost the last kick of the season.
4. The death of Diogo – July 2025
They say that nice guys never win. Diogo Jota was evidence that they could. The Portuguese forward had helped take his first English club, Wolves, to the Championship title in 2017/18 before becoming an integral part of Liverpool’s Premier League winning season of 2024/25. He had FA Cup and EFL Cup winner’s medals plus two Nations League trophies from his nearly 50 appearances for his country. By all accounts he was a humble, hard-working, generous, family man– a nice guy. He was also, of course, a very good footballer.
Tragically, just after midnight on Thursday 3rd July 2025, he was killed in a car crash. His car, a Lamborghini, left the road after a tyre blew out while he was overtaking another car on the A-52 in Spain, then caught fire after crashing. Jota was killed alongside his younger brother, Andre, also a professional footballer.
The accident was especially poignant as Jota had married his long-term partner, Rute Cardoso, only 11 days previously. The two had been together since they were teenage sweethearts, and had three young children together. The photos of the wedding show a young family full of happiness and love. Agonisingly, it was Rute who had to identify the bodies of her husband and brother-in-law as police were unable to do so after the car fire.
The accident was also doubly tragic as Jota would not have been making the journey by car had he not recently had lung surgery. Specialists had advised him not to fly while he was in recovery, so he had to make his way back to England by ferry. He was driving to Santander for the crossing when his car left the road.
Jota clearly left a positive impression on all those he played with and for. The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) communicated this beautifully in their statement after the death. “THE FPF and all of Portuguese football are completely devastated. Much more than an amazing player, Diogo Jota was an extraordinary person, respected by all team-mates and opponents, someone with an infectious joy and a reference in the community itself.”
As a mark of respect, Liverpool immediately retired Jota’s number 20 shirt, and declared that he would be ‘Forever our number 20’. It was the first time in the club’s history they had done so, a fitting tribute to both the player and the man.
https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/diogo-jota-forever-our-number-20
3. A celebration destroyed – 26 May 2025
Monday 26th of May 2025 was a day that should have been a huge celebration for the red half of Liverpool. Crowds lined the streets to celebrate Liverpool’s Premier League victory, enjoying the company of fellow fans as the open-top bus carrying players, staff and trophy passed amongst them. Some estimates put the number present at a million. Sadly, for many, jubilation was replaced by fear, confusion and trauma due to the actions of a deranged former Royal Marine.
The man (it would dignify him by mentioning him by name) drove his car repeatedly into the crowds of people massed on Water Street. In his madness he created utter terror and destruction. More than 130 people were injured, with their ages ranging from six months to 78. Many were treated on site, but at least 50 had to be taken to hospital. Some of those hurt had to be removed from beneath the vehicle. Others had been thrown many feet into the air when the car collided with them. One can only imagine how terrifying it must have been to be caught up in the horror. Many have been left with life-changing injuries or with long-lasting psychological damage.
It’s not clear what drove the man, a father of three, to do what he did, but the city and its people showed their best side in the aftermath of the atrocity. Many opened their homes offering food and shelter to those who were stranded. Others shared their hotel rooms or handed out their own money. Many drove unselfishly into the city to offer lifts to those who could not get home.
There were statements of solidarity from King Charles, the Prime Minister and many, many more. All praised the community spirit of Liverpudlians. Tory party leader Kemi Badenoch (perhaps surprisingly) put it well, “Those who target joyful celebrations and our happiest moments, who care not for the welfare of little children are beneath contempt. A stark contrast to the people of Liverpool who responded with extraordinary compassion, offering lifts, shelter, food, and more. Liverpool stood firm, displaying kindness and decency in the face of horror.”
2. Heysel – 29 May 1985
The European Cup final of 1985 brought together the two best teams in Europe at the time, defending champions Liverpool and the Cup Winners’ Cup champions, Juventus. The final should have been a joyous festival of football. Instead, it became an occasion of death and destruction.
The final was played at the Belgium’s national stadium, the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. The venue was an awful choice. The 55-year-old stadium was in a poor state of repair with inadequate entrances and exits, and some parts of the building literally crumbling. The outer wall, for example, was made of cinder block and there were reports of Liverpool fans without tickets kicking holes in the wall to get in.
The stadium was also not well set up for crowd control. The organisers had designated one end of the stadium for Liverpool fans and the other for Juventus fans, but they made what proved to be a fatal error. The end housing the Liverpool supporters also contained a block for ‘neutrals’, i.e. those who had bought their tickets in Brussels. In the event, almost all of these were Juventus fans, so there was a big group of Italians adjacent to the Liverpool fans, with only a narrow, inadequately policed ‘no man’s land’ to separate them. It was in this area that the trouble broke out.
It began with chanting but escalated quickly into an exchange of flying objects – bottles, stones and rocks picked up from the terraces, the occasional flare. Things became more and more heated, with groups of angry fans repeatedly charging the barriers separating the two areas, before the boundary was breached by a large number of Liverpool fans. Most of the Juventus fans tried to flee, but were unable to escape onto the pitch or leave by the exit gates which remained locked. As they crowded into a smaller and smaller area, a large concrete wall they were pressing against collapsed under the pressure, burying a large number of fans underneath it. While some clambered to safety or were pulled out by others, many died or were badly injured.
When the grim final reckoning had been made, 39 people had died – 32 Italians, four Belgians, two French and one from Northern Ireland. Unbelievably, when some measure of calm had descended on the stadium, the decision was made to play the game. It was thought that it would be more dangerous to abandon it than to allow it to take place. With news of the tragedy filtering through, neither set of players looked especially motivated and the result (a 1-0 victory for Juventus) is something of a forgotten footnote in the story.
The aftermath was significant. English clubs were banned indefinitely from all European competition, a ban that was subsequently commuted to five years, although Liverpool were made to wait a little longer. More serious were the trials for manslaughter that almost 30 Liverpool ‘fans’ faced, with 14 convicted and given six-year prison sentences (three years in practice). Some blame was also laid at the feet of the football authorities and the police, with senior officials also given sentences for dereliction of duty. In an odd twist, Liverpool had to sell Ian Rush to balance the books as club revenue declined. The team he went to… Juventus.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1j5836r0deo
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/27/heysel-stadium-disaster-30th-anniversary
1. Hillsborough – 15 April 1989 and thereafter
On 15th April 1989 tens of thousands of football fans arrived at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield expecting to enjoy a great day out at the FA Cup semi-final. Tragically, 95 of these would never make it home from the game, two more would eventually die of their injuries, hundreds would be injured and many thousands would be left with indelible emotional scarring. It was the worst disaster in the history of British sport. And, as if this were not enough, the scandalous behaviour of the police and the authorities would prolong the agony for survivors, family and friends for years to come.
In this blog I feel I can add nothing on the tragedy and the subsequent scandal. I have instead chosen simply to reproduce the poem ‘The Justice Bell’ by Dave Kirby, written on the 13th anniversary of the tragedy. The call for justice rings as true today as it did 36 years ago.
A schoolboy holds a leather ball
in a photograph on a bedroom wall
the bed is made, the curtains drawn
as silence greets the break of dawn.
The dusk gives way to morning light
revealing shades of red and white
which hang from posters locked in time
of the Liverpool team of ’89.
Upon a pale white quilted sheet
a football kit is folded neat
with a yellow scarf, trimmed with red
and some football boots beside the bed.
In hope, the room awakes each day
to see the boy who used to play
but once again it wakes alone
for this young boy’s not coming home.
Outside, the springtime fills the air
the smell of life is everywhere
violas bloom and tulips grow
while daffodils dance heel to toe.
These should have been such special times
for a boy who’d now be in his prime
but spring forever turned to grey
in the Yorkshire sun, one April day.
The clock was locked on 3.06
as sun shone down upon the pitch
lighting up faces etched in pain
as death descended on Leppings Lane.
Between the bars an arm is raised
amidst a human tidal wave
a young hand yearning to be saved
grows weak inside this deathly cage.
A boy not barely in his teens
is lost amongst the dying screams
a body too frail to fight for breath
is drowned below a sea of death
His outstretched arm then disappears
to signal thirteen years of tears
as 96 souls of those who fell
await the toll of the justice bell.
Ever since that disastrous day
a vision often comes my way
I reach and grab his outstretched arm
then pull him up away from harm.
We both embrace with tear-filled eyes
I then awake to realise
it’s the same old dream I have each week
as I quietly cry myself to sleep.
On April the 15th every year
when all is calm and skies are clear
beneath a glowing Yorkshire moon
a lone Scot’s piper plays a tune.
The tune rings out the justice cause
then blows due west across the moors
it passes by the eternal flame
then engulfs a young boy’s picture frame.
His room is as it was that day
for thirteen years it’s stayed that way
untouched and frozen forever in time
since that tragic day in ’89.
And as it plays its haunting sound
tears are heard from miles around
they’re tears from families of those who fell
awaiting the toll of the justice bell.
© Dave Kirby 2002