Liverpool fans paint town Reds
On Kop of the world: 30-year wait for title glory finally cemented
The 30-year wait is over. Liverpool are the champions of England again.
Liverpool clinched their first Premier League title since 1990 yesterday, ending an agonising title drought without the players even having to take the field. Instead, the crown was secured when Chelsea beat second-place Manchester City 2-1, a result that means City can no longer catch Liverpool with seven games remaining.
For the city of Liverpool, this has been a party three decades in the making, but the ongoing restrictions caused by the coronavirus meant fans were unable to celebrate in large crowds, though several fans were outside Anfield as the final whistle blew at Stamford Bridge, setting off fireworks and chanting.
After a dominant campaign that was interrupted by the pandemic, Liverpool became England’s earliest champions — and the latest. No team since the inception of the country’s league system in 1888 have clinched the title with seven games remaining. And no team have been crowned Premier League champions in June.
The title itself had hardly been in doubt since December, with manager Jrgen Klopp’s team quickly building a massive lead with a rampant attacking style of play that has earned 28 wins in 31 games so far.
For a while, though, it seemed the coronavirus could still prevent Liverpool from ending their drought.
They were 25 points clear when the league was abruptly halted in March as the country was forced into lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19.
“Null and void” became the dreaded term in the red half of Liverpool amid fears the season could be cancelled as the coronavirus death toll soared and clubs struggled to agree on a strategy to restart the league during the country’s gravest emergency since World War II.
After Liverpool finally returned to the field on Sunday, a 0-0 draw in the Merseyside derby against Everton delayed the crowning moment. But not for long. The team quickly rediscovered their scintillating attacking form as they swept aside Crystal Palace 4-0 inside an empty Anfield.
Chelsea then put Liverpool over a winning line that had proved so elusive for a team accustomed to dominating English football in the 1970s and 80s.
After waiting so long to win a 19th English title, the pandemic left an anti-climactic cloud over celebrations. Fans couldn’t even gather in pubs, which have been shut since March, to watch Chelsea clinch the title for them. Gatherings of multiple households are also still banned.
Klopp, who has restored a winning mentality to Liverpool with his brand of “heavy metal” football, was watching at home.
The German manager already led the club to the Champions League title last year, but this will widely be regarded as the moment he truly brought Liverpool back to the pinnacle of English football.
The last time Liverpool won the league, it was still called the first division and the club held the English record for most titles with 18.
But the inception of the Premier League in 1992 transformed the landscape of the English game. Liverpool faded as a force, to be eclipsed by Manchester United.
Liverpool were even in a fight for financial survival in 2010 when the American ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr plunged the club into heavy debt.
They were rescued — via High Court action — by new American investors from the Fenway Sports Group, led by John Henry.
The club have been on a steady rebuilding path since.
The experiment of bringing back
1990 title-winning manager Kenny Dalglish was short-lived. The eighthplace finish in the league in 2012 was the club’s lowest in 18 years.
Within two years, the team was on the ascent again under Brendan Rodgers, finishing within two points of champions Manchester City in
2014. The anguish of coming so close to the summit before slipping up — literally, as then-captain Steven Gerrard slipped on the field at a crucial moment — was hard to recover from.
A slump in form saw Rodgers fired in 2015, which ushered in the arrival of Klopp. After a slow start, and another eighth-place finish, Liverpool regained their swagger.
More frustration was to come, though. After leading the league for much of the campaign, Liverpool finished just one point behind winners Manchester City last season following one of the closest and most entertaining title races in history.
There was no stopping Klopp’s team this time. But any thoughts of a victory parade will have to wait until the pandemic regulations are eased further in England.