With 48 major honours in the trophy cabinet, there have been plenty of reasons to celebrate in the streets of Liverpool and parade some illustrious silverware.
The Reds know how to celebrate success and one need not look back too far to see just that, with around 750,000 fans having turned out in 2019 to welcome back our Champions League winners.
It was the latest in a long line of heroes welcome in the city, a practice that dates back to the 1900s and typically sees fans find the unlikeliest of vantage points.
Jurgen Klopp‘s current team were, of course, denied their trophy parade after ending the 30-year wait due to the pandemic, where epic scenes were bound to unfold once more.
It just means that Klopp and Co. will need to go out and do it again and deliver another reason to celebrate!
But before then, let’s take a look back at some of Liverpool’s parades of the past.
First up, we’re flashing back to 1965 – a year when Bill Shankly led Liverpool to their first FA Cup.
Half-a-million fans would welcome the team following their 2-1 victory over Leeds United, and formal attire dominated the view. Talk about history.
In 1977, the city would be littered with flags and banners as Bob Paisley‘s men returned from Rome after winning the first of their six European Cups against Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Fast forward another 11 years to 1986 and this time the Reds are celebrating a prestigious Division One and FA Cup double under player-manager Kenny Dalglish.
It was the Reds’ 16th league title and third FA Cup. ‘Merseyside’s winning team’, that was for sure!
The success continued and in 1989 the fourth FA Cup would be added to the trophy cabinet in an emotional cup tie that pitted the red side of Merseyside against the blue half.
Ian Rush proved the saviour with two late goals. The city and Anfield has changed significantly from when these pictures were taken!
We’re now in 2001 and a historic treble would arrive in 80 days of heaven, with the League Cup followed by the FA Cup and finally the UEFA Cup – starting the new millennium with a bang.
Gerard Houllier was at the helm and his squad would be greeted by a sea of red as they navigated through the city – just look at the fans inside the bridge and on top of it!
And then came Istanbul. 21 years after the last European Cup was won, the Reds returned to the city with their fifth after the most dramatic and historic scenes.
The celebrations that ensued would live up to the game that preceded it with up to a million Reds squeezing into every space available to see their Champions League-winning team.
Fans would climb atop of traffic lights, bus stops, car parks and even the train station just to catch a glimpse.
And would you look at this former academy graduate in Jay Spearing taking in the sights more than three years before his competitive senior debut!
Then came the one that will be fresh in the memory of Reds around the world, with the first trophy of the Jurgen Klopp era celebrated in style.
Scarves, flag and chants would welcome Liverpool at every turn in 2019 following on from their win in Madrid, with fans waiting hours upon hours to be part of the historic moment.
An estimated 750,000 would turn out and the finale on the Strand was simply mesmerising, a moment that will live long in the memory of everyone involved. In Madrid, we won it six times!
Trophy parades form part of the experience of success, a shared moment between players and fans to commemorate an achievement often years in the making.
One cannot guarantee when the next one will come around, but when it does it will be celebrated in a manner like those before and more.
But let’s hope we will be seeing an open-top bus with Klopp lads in it before long!
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