Current Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp.

Liverpool Football Club is an English association football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool won the First Division title for the first time in 1901; since then, the club has won a further 18 league titles, along with eight FA Cups and nine Football League Cups. They have also been crowned champions of European football on six occasions by winning the European Cup/UEFA Champions League in 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005 and 2019.[1] The club was one of 22 members of the Premier League when it was formed in 1992.

Liverpool have had 21 full-time managers. The most successful person to manage Liverpool is Bob Paisley, who won six Football League titles, six Charity Shields, three Football League Cups, three European Cups, one UEFA Super Cup and one UEFA Cup in his nine-year reign as manager. The club's longest-serving manager was Tom Watson, who managed the club from 1896 to 1915, totalling 19 years. Kenny Dalglish is the only person to have managed the club on two occasions. He first managed Liverpool from 1985 to February 1991, and then from January 2011 to July 2012.

This chronological list comprises all those who have held the position of manager of the first team of Liverpool since their foundation in 1892. Each manager's entry includes his dates of tenure and the club's overall competitive record (in terms of matches won, drawn and lost), honours won and significant achievements while under his care. Caretaker managers are included, where known, as well as those who have been in permanent charge.

Managerial history

1892–1959

Black and white photograph of a man wearing a bowler hat. He also has a thick black moustache
Tom Watson (1859–1915), Liverpool's longest-serving manager who managed the club from 1896 to 1915, totalling 19 years.

The first Liverpool managers, William Edward Barclay and John McKenna, were appointed in 1892. Barclay acted as secretary-manager, overseeing the administrative side of the club, while McKenna took charge of matters on the field. The two worked in tandem as Liverpool won promotion from the Lancashire League in the club's first season.[2] However, in 1896, McKenna appointed Tom Watson as manager.[3] He went on to win two Football League championships. As the First World War broke out, Watson was embarking on his nineteenth season in charge at Anfield. It was to be his last, because he died in May 1915, aged 56. David Ashworth was appointed manager when football resumed after the War.[4] Ashworth won one league title, but left for Oldham Athletic soon after this. He was replaced in February 1923 by a Liverpool director, Matt McQueen, who won one league title for the club. However, this marked the beginning of a barren spell spanning more than 20 years before Liverpool finally regained the title in 1947 under the stewardship of George Kay. Kay also led Liverpool to the FA Cup Final in 1950, but lost the game 2–0 to Arsenal. He retired the following year, owing to ill-health.[5] The next manager, Don Welsh became the first Liverpool manager to be sacked after leading the club to relegation in 1954. His successor, Phil Taylor, also failed to win a trophy or gain promotion back to the top flight during his reign as boss.[6]

1959–1991

On 1 December 1959, Bill Shankly was appointed manager, beginning a fifteen-year spell as manager that brought three league titles, two FA Cups and a first European trophy, the UEFA Cup, to Anfield.[7] Shankly's reign as manager is famous for the establishment of the Anfield boot room as the location for his tactical discussions with his coaches.[8] When he was not managing the club, Shankly was usually at his typewriter, personally replying to the letters which arrived at Melwood. Shankly even called some supporters at home to discuss the previous day's game, while the accounts of him providing tickets for fans are endless.[9] When Shankly retired in 1974, he was replaced by his assistant, Bob Paisley. During the next nine seasons, Paisley proceeded to win six league titles and three European Cups to become the most successful manager in the history of the club.[10] When Paisley retired in 1983, his assistant Joe Fagan took over, and continued the Boot Room tradition, and winning a treble of League, European Cup and League Cup in his first season. He again guided Liverpool to a European Cup Final, but the match was overshadowed by the Heysel Stadium disaster, and he retired soon after.[11] Striker Kenny Dalglish was then made the club's first player-manager and in his first season in charge, Dalglish led the club to a League and FA Cup double.[12] After that great first season, Dalglish led Liverpool to a further two league titles and another FA Cup. However, the Hillsborough disaster overshadowed his reign; it was one of the reasons for Dalglish resigning on 22 February 1991.[13]

1991–2015

First-team coach Ronnie Moran took charge of team affairs for several weeks before Graeme Souness was named as Dalglish's successor. Under Souness, Liverpool won the FA Cup in 1992, but nothing else. He made way for Roy Evans, who also won just one trophy, the League Cup, before Gérard Houllier was appointed joint manager with Evans in 1998. This arrangement lasted only 18 games before Evans resigned, leaving Houllier—Liverpool's first non-British manager—in sole charge. Houllier won nothing until a treble in 2001, consisting of the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup. Houllier underwent major heart surgery during the 2001–02 season, but the squad was unaffected and managed to hold on to a second-place finish. Although Phil Thompson stepped in as temporary manager while Houllier was recovering from heart surgery, the matches played under Thompson are included in Houllier's record.[14] Another League Cup was won in 2003, but this was to be Houllier's last trophy as Liverpool manager as he and the club parted by mutual consent at the end of the 2003–04 season,[15] to be replaced by Valencia manager, Rafael Benítez.[16]

In Benítez's first season in charge, Liverpool reached the UEFA Champions League Final, where they beat A.C. Milan on penalties, after the match finished 3–3 after extra time. The following season, Liverpool reached the FA Cup Final, where they beat West Ham United, again on penalties after a 3–3 draw. Benítez again guided Liverpool to a Champions League Final in 2007, but this time A.C. Milan beat them 2–1. On 3 June 2010, Benitez paid the price for a disappointing 2009–10 season when Liverpool announced he had left the club by mutual consent after six years in charge. Benitez, who was one year into a five-year contract, finalised his departure after agreeing a severance payment. Benitez's assistant Sammy Lee took over the reins at Liverpool until Managing director Christian Purslow and former manager Kenny Dalglish found a replacement. On 1 July 2010, former Fulham boss Roy Hodgson was confirmed as the new manager.[17] After a poor tenure, which included Liverpool being 18th after 6 games, and only one away win during Hodgson's time in charge, Hodgson was sacked on 8 January 2011 and was replaced by former manager Kenny Dalglish the day before a 3rd Round FA Cup game against Manchester United.[18] Dalglish signed a three-year contract as permanent manager in May, but was sacked a year later.[19] Although the 2011–12 season ended with a poor 8th-place finish in the Premier League, Dalglish guided Liverpool to two Cup finals at Wembley, ending a six-year trophy drought by winning the League Cup. The second Cup final appearance was the FA Cup, which Liverpool lost to Chelsea. He was replaced by Brendan Rodgers on 1 June 2012.[20]

Rodgers led them in the 2013–14 season to a surprise title challenge, however Liverpool ended the league season in second place, despite scoring 101 goals, the club's most since the 1895–96 season and the third-highest in Premier League history.[21] Rodgers was the first Liverpool manager to win the LMA Manager of The Year Award.[22] However, he was the first manager of the club not to win a major trophy in his first three years at the helm, and on 4 October 2015, he was sacked.[23]

2015-present: The Klopp-era

On 8 October 2015, Brendan Rodgers was replaced by former Borussia Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp.[24] Klopp made an instant impact on the club and guided them to a League Cup Final and a surprise Europa League Final in his first season at the club.[25][26] During their Europa League campaign, he beat both English rivals Manchester United and his former club Borussia Dortmund en route to the final.[27][28] However, they lost the League Cup Final to Manchester City via penalty shoot-out and they lost 1–3 to Spanish side Sevilla in the Europa League Final.[29] They also finished 8th in the league, meaning they wouldn't qualify for European competition for the 2016–17 season. On 8 June 2016, Klopp and his coaching staff signed six-year contract extensions that ran until 2022.[30] Klopp guided the club to a fourth-place finish in the 2016–17 season, qualifying them for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League qualifying play-offs, where they beat German club, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 6–3 on aggregate in a two-legged play-off to reach the group stage.[31] Klopp led to the team to finish top of their group and beat eventual English champions, Manchester City, and Italian club Roma in the knockout phase en route to the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final.[32] Unfortunately for Liverpool, they lost 1–3 to Spanish giants Real Madrid.[33] During the 2018–19 season, Klopp guided Liverpool to their sixth Champions League triumph with a 2–0 win over fellow English club, Tottenham Hotspur,[34] and also guided the club to a second-place finish in the league.[35] At the start of the 2019–20 season, Klopp's Liverpool side played against Manchester City in the FA Community Shield and against Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup.[36] Both matches went into penalty shoot-outs, with Liverpool losing the former and winning the latter.[37][38] Later in December, Klopp also guided Liverpool to their first ever FIFA club World Cup trophy, making it 3 trophies in 2019. In the 2019–20 season, Klopp secured Liverpool's first Premier League title and first top flight title since 1990 by finishing on the most points in their history (99 points). The season was notable both for Liverpool's huge points lead over the rest of the league and for its interruption by the Coronavirus shutdown, meaning Liverpool won the Premier league at both the earliest (7 games to go) and the latest time (June) ever. On 26 January 2024, the club released a statement, sharing Klopp's announcement that he would step down as Liverpool manager at the end of the current season (2023–24).[39]

Key

Managers

Information correct as of 17 February 2024. Only competitive matches are counted.

Key
* Caretaker manager
Liverpool F.C. managers
Name Nat. From To Record Honours Ref.
Pld W D L GF GA Win% L1 L2 FA LC CS EC UC US WC Total
William Edward Barclay
John McKenna[a] 		 IRE
 IRE 		15 February 1892 16 August 1896 127 77 20 30 337 155 060.63 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 [40]
Tom Watson  ENG 17 August 1896 6 May 1915 742 329 141 272 1,226 1,056 044.34 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 [41]
David Ashworth  ENG 18 December 1919 12 February 1923 139 70 40 29 220 118 050.36 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 [42]
Matt McQueen  SCO 13 February 1923 15 February 1928 229 93 60 76 354 307 040.61 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 [43]
George Patterson  ENG 7 March 1928 6 August 1936 366 137 85 144 688 726 037.43 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [44]
George Kay  ENG 6 August 1936 January 1951 357 142 93 122 545 508 039.78 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 [45]
Don Welsh  ENG 23 March 1951 4 May 1956 232 81 58 93 387 423 034.91 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [46]
Phil Taylor  ENG May 1956 17 November 1959 150 76 32 42 294 211 050.67 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [47]
Bill Shankly  SCO 1 December 1959 12 July 1974 783 407 198 178 1,307 766 051.98 3 1 2 0 3 0 1 0 0 11 [48]
Bob Paisley  ENG 26 August 1974 1 July 1983 535 308 131 96 955 406 057.57 6 0 0 3 6 3 1 1 0 20 [49]
Joe Fagan  ENG 2 July 1983 29 May 1985 131 71 36 24 225 97 054.20 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 [50]
Kenny Dalglish[b]  SCO 30 May 1985 21 February 1991 307 187 78 42 732 332 060.91 3 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 9 [51]
Ronnie Moran*  ENG 22 February 1991 15 April 1991 10 4 1 5 20 16 040.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [52]
Graeme Souness[c]  SCO 16 April 1991 28 January 1994 157 66 45 46 248 186 042.04 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 [53]
Roy Evans  ENG 31 January 1994 12 November 1998 226 117 56 53 375 216 051.77 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 [54]
Roy Evans
Gérard Houllier 		 ENG
 FRA 		16 July 1998 12 November 1998 18 7 6 5 33 20 038.89 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [55]
Gérard Houllier[d]  FRA 16 July 1998 24 May 2004 307 160 73 74 516 298 052.12 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 1 0 6 [56]
Rafael Benítez  ESP 16 June 2004 3 June 2010 350 194 77 79 585 302 055.43 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 4 [57]
Roy Hodgson  ENG 1 July 2010 8 January 2011 31 13 9 9 41 33 041.94 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [58]
Kenny Dalglish[b]  SCO 8 January 2011 16 May 2012 74 35 17 22 115 74 047.30 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 [59]
Brendan Rodgers  NIR 1 June 2012 4 October 2015 166 83 41 42 293 201 050.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [60]
Jürgen Klopp  GER 8 October 2015 Present 471 287 105 79 989 476 060.93 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 7 [61]

Notes

  1. ^ The official Liverpool website lists Barclay and McKenna as joint managers. Barclay held the post of "secretary-manager" and McKenna held the post of "coach-manager".
  2. ^ a b Kenny Dalglish served two terms as manager. His cumulative managerial statistics read as – Record (P381 W222 D95 L64 F847 A406 W%58.27) – Honours (L13 L20 FA2 LC1 CS4 EC0 UC0 US0 WC0 Total10).
  3. ^ Souness underwent heart surgery in April 1992, and Ronnie Moran took charge of the team until the 1992 FA Cup Final.
  4. ^ Houllier was absent from October 2001 to February 2002, due to illness. During this time, Phil Thompson stepped in as temporary manager (P33 W16 D12 L5). These matches are included in Houllier's record.

References

General

Specific

  1. ^ "Honours". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  2. ^ "William E. Barclay: 'Joint Manager' (1892–00)". Liverpool F.C. Archived from the original on 24 May 2006. Retrieved 12 September 2006.
  3. ^ Liversedge 1991, p. 28
  4. ^ Liversedge 1991, p. 30
  5. ^ Liversedge 1991, p. 31
  6. ^ Pead 1986, p. 387
  7. ^ Pead 1986, p. 388
  8. ^ Shetty, Sanjav (21 December 2001). "The legacy of the boot room". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  9. ^ "Shankly – legend who forged the Liverpool way". icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
  10. ^ Pead 1986, p. 391
  11. ^ Pead 1986, p. 392
  12. ^ "Kenny Dalglish". Liverpool F.C. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  13. ^ "The Kenny Dalglish story – an end of an era". LFC History. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
  14. ^ "Gerard Houllier manager profile". LFC History. Archived from the original on 4 October 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  15. ^ McNulty, Phil (24 May 2004). "Houllier to leave Liverpool". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  16. ^ "Rafael Benítez manager profile". LFC History. Archived from the original on 4 October 2007. Retrieved 1 October 2007.
  17. ^ Hunter, Andy (1 July 2010). "Roy Hodgson confirmed as new manager of Liverpool". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
  18. ^ "Roy Hosgson exits and Kenny Dalglish takes over". BBC Sport. 8 January 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  19. ^ "Kenny Dalglish sacked as Liverpool manager". BBC Sport. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  20. ^ "Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers to 'fight for his life'". BBC Sport. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  21. ^ "Liverpool: Premier League near-miss offers hope for the future". BBC. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  22. ^ "Brendan Rodgers: Liverpool boss named LMA manager of the year". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  23. ^ "Liverpool FC part company with Brendan Rodgers". Liverpool F.C. 4 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  24. ^ "Liverpool FC confirm Jürgen Klopp appointment". Liverpool F.C. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  25. ^ "Liverpool 0–1 Stoke City (agg 1–1, pen 6–5)". BBC Sport. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  26. ^ Hunter, Andy (5 May 2016). "Liverpool push past 10-man Villarreal and into Europa League final". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  27. ^ Sinnott, John (15 April 2016). "Liverpool: Borussia Dortmund defeated 4–3 in Europa League thriller". CNN. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  28. ^ McNulty, Phil (17 March 2016). "Manchester United 1–1 Liverpool (agg 1–3)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  29. ^ Bascombe, Chris (18 May 2016). "Liverpool lose Europa League final: I don't think I'm unlucky, says Jurgen Klopp, after fifth final loss". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  30. ^ "Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool manager signs six-year contract extension". BBC Sport. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  31. ^ Hunter, Andy (23 August 2017). "Liverpool return to group stages after early flurry sinks Hoffenheim". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  32. ^ Jackson, Henry (22 May 2018). "The Road to Kyiv: How Liverpool reached the Champions League final". This is Anfield. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  33. ^ "Real Madrid 3–1 Liverpool". BBC Sport. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  34. ^ McNulty, Phil (1 June 2019). "Liverpool beat Spurs 2–0 to win Champions League final in Madrid". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  35. ^ Fifield, Dominic (12 May 2019). "Manchester City pip Liverpool to title with crushing win at Brighton". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  36. ^ "FIFA Club World Cup: Liverpool crowned first-time champions". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  37. ^ Begley, Emlyn (4 August 2019). "Community Shield: Liverpool 1–1 Man City (City won 5–4 on penalties)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  38. ^ Ogden, Mark (14 August 2019). "Super Cup win gives Liverpool a sense of how difficult it will be to eclipse last season's success". ESPN. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  39. ^ "Jürgen Klopp announces decision to step down as Liverpool manager at end of season - Liverpool FC". www.liverpoolfc.com. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  40. ^ "John McKenna". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  41. ^ "Tom Watson". LFC History. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  42. ^ "David Ashworth". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  43. ^ "Matt McQueen". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  44. ^ "George Patterson". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  45. ^ "George Kay". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  46. ^ "Don Welsh". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  47. ^ "Phil Taylor". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  48. ^ "Bill Shankly". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  49. ^ "Bob Paisley". LFC History. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  50. ^ "Joe Fagan". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  51. ^ "Kenny Dalglish". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  52. ^ "Ronnie Moran". Soccerbase. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2007.
  53. ^ "Graeme Souness". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  54. ^ "Roy Evans". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  55. ^ "Evans/Houllier". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  56. ^ "Gérard Houllier". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  57. ^ "Rafael Benitez". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  58. ^ "Roy Hodgson". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  59. ^ "Kenny Dalglish (2nd term)". LFC History. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  60. ^ "Brendan Rodgers". LFC History. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  61. ^ "Managers: Jürgen Klopp". LFC History. Retrieved 24 February 2020.

Bibliography

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