I’ve been thinking a lot about Liverpool lately. I know, wild thought right? But working in retail gives you a lot of time to think, and I’m a deep thinker, or so I’ve been told. One question I’ve been pondering, is why aren’t more football fans, Liverpool fans? Why do clubs in the EPL have fans, when we all know the best club, and players have come from Liverpool? These are just the things that keep me busy during the day.
What does Aston Villia, Everton, West Ham, Stoke, Blackpool etc have on us? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Other teams may wear red, but LFC makes it look very good. Plus that iconic crest, and the players, why else would another club have fans? Oh and our trophy cabinet?
Domestic
League
* Football League First Division (English football champions):[note 2] 18
o 1900–01, 1905–06, 1921–22, 1922–23, 1946–47, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1989–90
* Second Division:[note 2] 4
o 1893–94, 1895–96, 1904–05, 1961–62
* Lancashire League: 1
o 1892–93
Cups
* FA Cup: 7
o 1965, 1974, 1986, 1989, 1992, 2001, 2006
* League Cup: 7
o 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003
* FA Charity Shield/FA Community Shield: 15 (10 outright, 5 shared)
o 1964 (shared), 1965 (shared), 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977 (shared), 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986 (shared), 1988, 1989, 1990 (shared), 2001, 2006
European
* European Cup/UEFA Champions League: 5
o 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005
* UEFA Cup: 3
o 1973, 1976, 2001
* UEFA Super Cup: 3
o 1977, 2001, 2005
Doubles and Trebles
* Doubles:[note 3]
o League and FA Cup: 1
+ 1985–86
o League and League Cup: 2
+ 1981–82, 1982–83
o European Double (League and European Cup): 1
+ 1976–77
o League and UEFA Cup: 2
+ 1972–73, 1975–76
o League Cup and European Cup: 1
+ 1980–81
* Trebles[note 3]
o League, League Cup and European Cup: 1
+ 1983–84
o FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup: 1
+ 2000–01
I’m a Liverpool supporter for 32 years now. And I’ve been thinking about this for a long long time, and I couldn’t find a single reasonable answer other than they are not really smart people.
When I became a fan, I wasn´t aware of the trophies and the heritage of this club. I loved the way they played football and the majesty of the Kop. I won´t love the club more when they win the next trophy and I won´t love it less if they win nothing this season or next (God forbid).
The only thing that keeps my heart trapped at this wonderful club is The Liverpool Way and all that comes with it. When H&G started to rip that to pieces, it felt like they were reaching into my ribcage and grabbed hold of my heart.
The Liverpool Way is all I need. No matter who´s owning the club, who´s managing or playing for the club.
YNWA
it’s a loooooooooooooooong loooooooooooong list of trophies. But it’s our :)
But Stephen, i think you forgot an important thing about calling someone a fan. We are not fan only because of palmares, or ranking, or trophies. We are fan because we love the Club, his history, happy and sad. Because of what it share. Because of values of fighting spirit, players united with supporters. But we are fan because we love the city, le liverpudlians, the scouse.
A fan love his club, and his city, before all. And he knows their histories :)
What a dumb question? Smart people are NOT Liverpool fans simply because they ARE smart. Forget the past, that’s as ancient as Anfield itself and it means nothing for the future of a club. Remember that once upon a time Huddersfield Town was the greatest club in England! The Premier League came into being all of 20 years ago and while even clubs like Blackburn Rovers have managed to win it, Liverpool has never seen the trophy. And you wonder why intelligent people are not LFC fans?
I’m a professor in sociology and i after painstakingly gathering all the evidence and statistics, we have come up with a definitive answer. All smart people are Liverpool fans, fans of other clubs suffer with acute onebraincellitis which is the reason they support these other clubs.
Rather than hate opposition fans we should pity them for this terrible affliction they suffer, many will never recover and will continue to support these dangerous cults such as Everton, Man United, Chelsea etc, but you can make a difference, just 1 pound a week can supply enough clean Liverpool shirts for 10,000 Tottenham fans. Don’t suffer in silence, call the LFC help line today. Lets kick the other clubs out of football.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a life long LFC fan. I’m an American and I didn’t really have much exposure to European football until my early 20s, but Now that I’ve found the Premiership, I have embraced it whole heartedly.
I cannot claim to speak for anyone other than myself, but I can say that becoming a Liverpool fan can be quite intimidating and there are two things that cause this.
FIrst of all, when you become a fan you feel like you’re jumping on a bandwagon. No one likes a fair-weather fan, and when I started watching, Liverpool were in the midst of a period of success. Suddenly I found a team I liked, but I felt like when I told people I was a Liverpool fan it was just because they winning. Granted it would have been harder for me to get behind the team quite as enthusiastically if they had been losing, but a good team is a good team and I see no problem embracing a quality team with quality players.
The Second issue is the “hardcores.” When you start to become a fan its great to see that there is such fervent support for the team, but sometimes it does feel like if you don’t know every fact and weren’t born into being a fan, the “true” fans don’t accept you.
So perhaps sometimes it does seem more appealing for a new fan to get behind Spurs or Aston Villa because the requirements for fandom aren’t quite as stringent.
I could be very wrong about all this, I’m sure you lot will all let me know if thats the case, but I thought I’d my perspective into the mix for ya.
-Sam
Professor of sociology Jose? Did you study at the Anfield University of deluded fans?
I was in a pub the other day. The barman was wearing a Manc shirt with the motif 1968 above the badge. I asked him the significance of this & he replied Munich! No appreciation of the clubs history!
Ah! Fellow Liverpool! Fellow Retail Worker! Here in the States “soccer” isn’t very popular. Sadly, whenever I do see anyone wearing club attire, it’s usually Man U…and i want to puke. Right now Liverpool isn’t a “cool” team to support. But since Americans are typically huge bandwagon-ers and have no clue what it means to support a club, things will probably change in the next few years. NESV are a billion times better than Gillette and Hicks. They will bring in new young talent and restore The Reds to the top!
Here’s to the future! Shelvey, Kelly, Spearing, Pacheco, Ince, Suso!
Because all the reasons that you’ve just listed are either ridiculously shallow and/or fitting for a bandwagoner wannabe. If those are your reasons for following Liverpool, then I fear for Livepool’s future fanbase.
Jose, awesome reply!
Why do other people like other teams? BECAUSE THEY HAVE CONNECTIONS! It’s not all about trophies, it’s about location, family, special moments, and many many other factors.
If the world was run by pure statistics it would be a very, very boring place.
@Benny boy, i take it dat u r not a lLiverpool fan ;)
@Benny boy, i take it dat u r not a Liverpool fan ;)
Why not ponder this qn?
Maybe smart people are smart enough to support better teams than Liverpool. All Liverpool fans are under am illusion that their club is the best.
The fact that you waste your time thinking about such nonsensical stuff shows how smart you are.
Completely agree with you benny boy and ninja. Why don’t Liverpool fans spend their time thinking on how to win a title?
This makes us just like the Manure fans, feels other clubs’ fans are stupid.
Was this article supposed to be funny/sarcastic or something, ‘coz i don’t get it?
If not, then
This is such a load of crock it defies science.
e.g. Why should someone NOT born in Liverpool support it over his/her local club and show some loyalty to the local community.
e.g. Why should a parent in Manchester encourage his/her kid to follow Liverpool? (they are the most succsfull club in recent memory in England)
If taken to outside England,
Why should some one born in Basque region in Spain follow Liverpool when they have a team comprised solely of local guys.
As a team to support that is far more likely reason to support a team.
I am a Liverpool supported for more than a decade and have just come to this site few weeks ago, AND i just hope this article was not serious, ‘coz if it was,
Liverpool fans will be a laughing stock of the football world i am afraid to say.
David Shore – That’s genius! That is absolute fantastic!!
If you have no history you have no future.Football wasnt invented 20 years ago by Sky TV
What’s the point in arguing about why one supports a club?
One does not choose a club, the club chooses the person. And there is always a special bond when it happens this way. Nobody knows why they support the club.
Personally, I have always wondered about this. I mean I hate the colour red to the core and my first match was Everton vs Liverpool and, we lost the match. Yet I ended supporting the Reds instead of the blues. WHY? Heaven knows!
And if you are a Man U supporter, Hell knows!
smart fans don’t go to other team website and make bad impression about themself :) such as, manure fans that commented here, they aren’t smart, LOL But if you asked me, why INm becoming Liverpool fans, not because my nationality, or because the team has been succesful in the past or are the best team in the world, or has the gameplay that amazed me, no, the reason is: the fans, yes, and the song: YNWA, simple as that :p
Just by reading this article one can figure out how smart a Liverpool fan really is. It’s just pathetic
@Ninja
Just by trolling on a site full of Liverpool fans one can figure out how smart you are. It’s just pathetic.