History of Liverpool Football Club
THE HISTORY OF LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB
Houllier brings back the good times
Season 2000-2001 is a season that will be remembered as the historic treble season and qualifying for the Champions League.
The Worthington Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup on a never to be forgotten night in Dortmund signalled Liverpool are back and a force to be reckoned with once again.
Sunday, February 5th 2001 started it all off with the Worthington Cup Final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, and the important first trophy for Gerard Houllier as Liverpool manager as Liverpool beat Birmingham City on penalties.
Satuday, May 12th 2001 will forever be known as the Michael Owen FA Cup Final, as the Reds number 10 two late goals won the FA Cup Final, 2-1 against Arsenal.
Four days later and Dortmund on Wednesday, May 16th. An evening where the Reds fans went through every emotion, eventually saw Liverpool beat Spanish side Alaves 5-4 to clinch the UEFA Cup.
Three days later Liverpool won 4-0 at Charlton to clinch qualification for the Champions League.
Season 2000-2001 is also a campaign that saw Liverpool win at Old Trafford for the first time in 10 years and back to back victories over Manchester United and Everton.
Gary McAllister's stunning 94th minute winner against Everton at Goodison Park is often recalled as the turning point in Liverpool's end to the campaign on April 16th. Then three days later McAllister scored the winning goal from the penalty spot against Barcelona, in the UEFA Cup semi-final at Anfield.
Gerard Houllier made the people happy again and the message to the footballing world was a firm 'Liverpool are back!'
Season 2001-2002 started with Liverpool embarking on a tour of the Far East visiting Singapore and Thailand before returning to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff for the Charity Shield.
The season got off to a flyer with a 2-1 win over Manchester United to win the Charity Shield before more silverware arrived when Liverpool beat Bayern Munich 3-2 in Monaco to win the Super Cup.
Gerard Houllier than changed his goalkeeper bringing in Poland international Jerzy Dudek to replace Sander Westerveld, and the Pole was to become a firm favourite at Anfield.
Saturday, 13th October 2001 is a day that turned Gerard Houllier's world upside down, literally! The manager suffered a heart scare and was rushed to hospital for an emergency life saving operation.
Phil Thompson took charge of team affairs and did a marvellous job keeping the club in contention for honours in the Premiership and Champions League. Again Liverpool did the double over Manchester United in the Premiership, winning 3-1 at Anfield and 1-0 at Old Trafford with Danny Murphy, for the second successive season, the match winner.
Gerard Houllier returned to managerial duties on an emotionally charged night at Anfield on March 19th, 2002 to guide Liverpool to a 2-0 victory over Roma to clinch a Champions League quarter-final spot.
Unfortunately German side Bayer 04 Leverkusen were to win 4-3 on aggregate and Liverpool couldn't quite overtake Arsenal to win the title, but progress was still being made.
Houllier and Thompson picked the Reds up from that defeat and Liverpool ended the season second behind champions Arsenal, meaning automatic qualification for the Champions League.
Article courtesy of Stephen Done Liverpool Football Club & Athletics Grounds plc 2001. The Club History has been produced with the help of Stephen Done, Curator of the Liverpool Football Club Museum.