Is it time for a history thread?

[quentinc]

Something like this (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181703), or this (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=243557)

It would be helpful, since, for no other reason, it would cut down on all the threads asking about various LFC traditions or moments, such as YNWA (obviously it would be stickied).

The only real concern is that it would be alot of writing (because we have alot of history), so we could commision different aspects of the club's history to different people, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

For now...yes or no?

[Teso Dos Bichos]

Very good idea and definitely a worthwhile project.

[stanaccrington]

sounds good below is one for the history of Chavski























































?

[quentinc]

sounds good below is one for the history of Chavski























































?
I didn't realize they had been around that long.

[quentinc]

Moving this along, these are the components that I think would be required:

-Domestic Play: 1892-1960
-Domestic Play: 1960-Present
-European Play
-Famous Players/Managers (possibly divided up by era as well, or combined with the general history section)
-Fans (would include YNWA)
-Anfield
-Hillsborough/Heysel
-Creation
-Rivalries: Origin, Evolution, Memorable Moments

Anymore you guys can think of?

[royalstilton]

Anymore you guys can think of?
-=-
Banal, but best/worst kits...or is that included in some other topic?

[Teso Dos Bichos]

...there are some great profiles already created for other players. Might it be an idea to look at the format and add to them? That way you have profiles for the best Liverpool players ever and it also helps to continue the profile project for the history/Beautiful Game board?
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=232370

Alternatively you could look at what Cassano has been doing for Italy:
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=167667

[quentinc]

-=-
Banal, but best/worst kits...or is that included in some other topic?
We could do something trailing the history of the kits: Why red? Different sponsors, best/worst, etc.

[Twenty26Six]

-Famous Players/Managers (possibly divided up by era as well, or combined with the general history section)


I could try to combine some sort of list of players... best organization tool might be by decade [.tv lists by decade] OR perhaps the use of 5 or 6 "landmark" team sheets to construct a cross reference of who played when and how well.

I'll try to start on that if you don't mind.

Added: I also think some first hand account stories would be nice. We could dig up the old archived threads perhaps, if they are still around.

[quentinc]

I could try to combine some sort of list of players... best organization tool might be by decade [.tv lists by decade] OR perhaps the use of 5 or 6 "landmark" team sheets to construct a cross reference of who played when and how well.

I'll try to start on that if you don't mind.
Go for it.

Added: I also think some first hand account stories would be nice. We could dig up the old archived threads perhaps, if they are still around.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I know people like Matt Clark, usscouse, and kopiteinkc (among others), all have first hand experience of Liverpool, and maybe us could spare us a story on what it was like playing against dinosaurs! :p :D

[kopiteinkc]

kopiteinkc (among others), all have first hand experience of Liverpool, and maybe us could spare us a story on what it was like playing against dinosaurs! :p :D

I may use this as a new sig :D

[quentinc]

Personally, I would enjoy doing the one on Anfield, and I could probably write it pretty fast, as I don't have anything else to do.

[Twenty26Six]

I may use this as a new sig :D

I'm compiling a list of the 5 European Champion's Cup Teams. I was hoping anyone with a good memory of the finals from 76/77, 77/78, 80/81 and 83/84 could help me with positioning the starting line-ups. I've got the team sheets, but it is a matter of putting all the players in their respective positions .

I can probably use some of the other posters from the history board to comprise a formation for the Final opponents.

[I]Example of what I am looking for...

Liverpool 04/05
Dudek; Finnan (Hamann 46), Hyypia, Carragher, Traoré; Kewell (Smicer 23), Alonso, Gerrard, Riise; García, Baros (Cissé 85)

Dudek
Finnan .... Carragher ... Hyypia .... Traore
Garcia .... Gerrard ... Alonso .... Riise
Baros ... Kewell

You don't have to do all that. But if you have a good knowledge of how and where the players played in the finals. Please PM me and I can tell you which ones I do not know and need.

Thanks. ;)

[liverbird]

A nice project -- I'll prolly read it but really most of this is already done elsewhere. Try google and you'll see.

[royalstilton]

Why red?
-=-
because, if not red, the team would have a different name, silly! ;)

[quentinc]

A nice project -- I'll prolly read it but really most of this is already done elsewhere. Try google and you'll see.
True, but we still need people to take the various information available and compile it into a readable format, without making the thread a link dump (although we still want to cite our sources).

[quentinc]

Dudek
Finnan .... Carragher ... Hyypia .... Traore
Garcia .... Gerrard ... Alonso .... Riise
Baros ... Kewell

Actually, Kewell was playing in a support striker position, just behind and to the left of Baros...

;)

[quentinc]

Here's a prototype, there's a few edits I need to make, but generally speaking, this would be the one for Anfield...

Anfield Facts and Figures
Anfield has been the home ground of Liverpool Football Club since its inception in 1892. The ground is located on the edge of Stanley Park, only being separated by a few houses, and the ground’s namesake, Anfield Road. The ground itself is composed of the Centenary and Main stands along the touchline, and the Anfield Road and Kop stands behind the goals. Currently, the ground is designed to hold 45,362 patrons, with the Anfield Road end being used to hold the fraction of away supporters.

Also of note are the Shankly Gates, named after legendary manager Bill Shankly. The gates are placed along Anfield Road, along with the Hillsborough Memorial.

Creation of Anfield
In 1878, a club named St. Domingo FC was playing matches on a pitch located in Stanley Park, and observers were able to watch matches without being charged, but without a place to sit. By 1882, the club, now named Everton, had begun to draw nearly 2,000 fans a game (surprisingly, more than 120 years later, their fanbase remains about the same size), and suggestions were made to construct a closed ground in which supporters could be charged for entry.

In March of 1882, a man named J. Cruitt offered the club a ground just outside the park along Priory Road, and a small stand was built along the pitch. The first match was a friendly featuring Everton and Walsall.

However, Everton’s stay at this ground was short-lived, as neighbors complained of disturbance from the supporters, and it was inconvenient to access. So Everton were forced to find a new location to play.

In stepped John Houlding, a local alderman and MP, whose house was located across from the Priory Road pitch. He had a joint stake in a patch of grass just off Anfield Road, and offered the ground to Everton for use. So in 1884, Anfield was born.

By the time Everton entered the newly formed football league in 1888, Houlding was collecting a rent of ₤100, and he had the sole claim to all revenues accrued from refreshments. All club affairs were also based out of the Sandon Hotel, which was owned Houlding himself.

Because of this, the Everton committee met in May of 1889 to discuss the monopolistic practices of Mr. Houlding, and agreed to offer Houlding a compromise rent of ₤180 (the rate had increased to ₤250 after Everton finished runners-up in the league). Houlding was apparently insulted by the request, and offered to sell the ground for ₤6,000, which was subsequently refused by Everton, and Houlding evicted the club, creating a new (and better) club: Liverpool FC.

Anfield: The Early Years
Liverpool Football Club played its first match in Anfield on September 23, 1892, and beat local side Higher Walton with a resounding 8-0 scoreline. Originally, there were no dressing rooms at Anfield, so players were forced to change in the pub of the Sandon Hotel, and walk down the street to the pitch.

In 1894, after some success, a stand which could house dressing rooms was built at the price of ₤1,000, and is what is currently known as the Main Stand, although the original was demolished and replaced in 1973. The Anfield Road Stand was built two years after the Main Stand was developed.

The Kop
The Kop, or Spionkop (which means “Spy Hill” or “Spy Head” in Dutch), is easily the most venerable and legendary stand in English football, and possibly the World. The current incarnation is smaller and less imposing than the original terrace (built in 1906), which was standing room only, meaning that it had to be replaced under the policies put in place after the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. However, the inspiration it provides to all Liverpool players, and the subsequent fear it instills in opponents, remains strong as ever.

The name for the stand was coined by Ernest Edwards, a local newspaper writer who wanted to memorialize the contribution of British soldiers at a battle on the Spionkop during the Second Boer War (1899-1902). The battle held special significance to Liverpuldians, as two of the three regiments involved came from Lancashire. It was fought on January 23 and 24 of 1900, and the hill was one of four that separated the soldiers from a Boer-controlled town called Ladysmith.

The British troops planned to take Spionkop, which would give them a strong position to attack Ladysmith and capture the town. But the officers underestimated the prowess of the Boers, and the soldiers were sitting ducks as they tried to advance up the hill. All accounts indicate the battle as a massacre; some figures state the number of dead to be 400, with as many as 1,000 wounded (out of 1,700 soldiers).

So in 1906, after the club’s second league title, Houlding and Club Secretary John McKenna planned to create improved viewing accommodations along Walton Breck Road to reward the fans, and commissioned Architect Archibald Leitch to design the structure.

The structure, along with some minor changes to the ground, increased the capacity of Anfield to 60,000, and made it one of the premier football pitches in all of England, and hosted the visit of King George V and Queen Mary for the 1921 FA Cup semifinal between Wolverhampton and Cardiff.

In 1928, a roof was added to the Kop, and it subsequently became the largest covered terrace in all of England. The two touchline stands were also expanded to become even with the famous terrace.

It should be noted that both the St. Andrews (Birmingham) and Hillsborough (Sheffield Wednesday) grounds also have stands called the Kop.

Shankly Arrives
Between the addition of a roof to the Kop and the arrival of Bill Shankly, the only significant change made to the ground was the addition of floodlights in 1957. However, when Shankly arrived, he was abhorred by the decrepit condition of the ground, and vowed to improve its condition. His claim was bolstered after Liverpool’s promotion to the first division in 1961-62, and he subsequently demolished the Kemlyn Road Stand, replacing it with a more modern cantilevered stand, paying ₤350,000 in the process.

Three years later, the Anfield Road Stand was razed as well, and a new brick terrace was set in its place. But the major change came when the original Main Stand was nixed for a new and improved edition that would allow larger dressing rooms and space for television crews to more easily broadcast matches.

Between 1980 and 1982 seats were added in various locations, and an undersoil heating system was built into the pitch. These improvements were finalized by the building of the Shankly Gates, located between the Anfield Road and Main Stands, and still stand as a commemoration to the man who contributed so much to Liverpool FC. His wife Nessie was there on August 26, 1982 to ceremoniously unlock the gates. The Hillsborough Memorial was added placed at the gates to memorialize the tragic events that took place that April day, and to make sure the 96 people who passed away are not forgotten.

The Ground Today
Anfield has undergone numerous changes in the 90’s to accommodate the increasingly lucrative nature of the game while working to prevent tragedies on the scale of Heysel and Hillsborough, which scar Liverpool and the game of football to this day.

The Kemlyn Road Stand was renamed the Centenary Stand after its demolition in 1992. The new version now contains two tiers. The Anfield Road end was also improved in 1998, although complaints of the second tier not being stable forced retroactive changes in 2000.

The most significant change, however, was the rebuilding of the aforementioned Kop in 1994, and the final match played in front of the world-famous terrace was voted by fans as the #10 moment in the “100 Days that shook the Kop” voting in 2004.

The addition of seats throughout Anfield caused a significant reduction in the capacity of the ground to its present-day level.

Throughout the history of Liverpool Football Club, Anfield has become increasingly inseparable from any mention of the club, and the passion of its supporters is displayed in the European nights the ground has become famous for.

But despite all this history, Anfield is incapable of expanding anymore, and plans are in the works to build a new ground in adjacent Stanley Park, and a ground share with Everton has been discussed, although the move is largely disliked among the respective fan bases.

However, even if a new ground is built, the legend of Anfield will always be kept alive and its magic never forgotten.

[usscouse]

Here's a prototype, there's a few edits I need to make, but generally speaking, this would be the one for Anfield...

Well done! Curious about the present day seating capacity for the Kop (Funny not knowing) They estimated 28,000 standing in there when we beat Inter Milan in the Euro Cup leg.
There were times my feet weren't on the concrete for seconds at a time and I'm 6-2 and go 220lb.

The big fiasco on the Spion Kop was the officers who lead the troops up the hill stopped when they "Thought" they had reached the summit. That way they could shoot down on the Boers. In fact, in the mist, they stopped short on a false summit with the Boers above them.......Ooooops!

I did a pilgrimage there many years ago and walked up the hill. Eerie!

[kopiteinkc]

You don't have to do all that. But if you have a good knowledge of how and where the players played in the finals. Please PM me and I can tell you which ones I do not know and need.

Thanks. ;)

Will do.