Joe Fagan led the club to the league title, European Cup and League Cup in 1984 – a feat Jürgen Klopp may eclipse this year
By Steven Pye for That 1980s Sports Blog
Jürgen Klopp’s team are chasing a quadruple and may yet surpass the efforts of the Liverpool side of the 1983-84 season, but they are unlikely to have as much fun along the way. It was a season of 67 matches, shocks, thrashings, broken bones, beer, brawls, spaghetti legs, Scully and Chris Rea.
Unusually for Liverpool at the time, it was also a season with a few doubts along the way, starting with the retirement of Bob Paisley in the summer of 1983. Joe Fagan, a member of the famous Boot Room who had been at the club since 1958, was hesitant about stepping up to replace Paisley but decided he was the right man for the job. “It would have been impossible for anyone else to follow Bob,” said Fagan. “I’m not being big headed. It’s just that I know the drill.” Arrogance was not an accusation you could throw at Fagan. The title of his biography – The Reluctant Champion – says it all.
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