On The March With Kenny's Army

Product Description

How Liverpool FC overcame tragedy & despair to win the League & FA Cup Double
- 1985/86. Summer 1985 & the very future of English Football is in question. With hooliganism rampant & depressing devastating tragedies at Birmingham, Bradford & Heysel, the sport had reached a pitiful & deplorable nadir; English sides banned from Europe; grounds old & decaying; racism on the terraces; attendances in freefall; & a petty & fractious TV dispute meaning no televised games until January. The beautiful game appeared to be destroying itself from within. Ouside of football, the country was doing the same; unprecedented levels of unemployment, rising crime, & serious disturbances in Tottenham, Brixton & Toxteth, were signed of Thatcher's new non-society. Briain seemed increasingly polarized around class, money & geography. In Liverpool the far-left Militant Tendency was in the process of setting an illegal budget
- for the second year in a row. Amidst this social & sporting chaos Liverool FC
- trophyless for the first time in 10 years & with a new, inexperienced manager in charge of what many saw as an ageing & failing side
- had ended the 1984/85 season with its reputation at home & abroad in tatters. City rivals Everton had won the previous season's Championship at a canter & they, rather than Liverpool were viewed as the side of the future. When the new season ended however, it was Kenny Dalglish's men who were crowned champions, beating Everton to the league on the last day, & defeating them again in the first all-Merseyside FA Cup final just a week later. How was this possible? How did Dalglish sculpt a supposedly waning side into one that won not only the League, but also the FA Cup, becoming only the fifth side at the time to do so. Placing Liverpool's season in its wider social context, with match-by-match analysis, fan & player recollections & profiles, On the March with Kenny's Army tells the in-depth story of this incredible feat for the very first time; the key signings, the new tactics, the TV dispute, Manchester United's 10 game winning start to the season, surprise package West Ham & the sensational & enthralling finish. Few seasons were are riveting as this, & didn't football need it? " Any season that concludes with Liverpool relegating Everton to the runners-up spot in the League has to be special, so for that to also happen in the FA Cup makes it truly remarkable, & that makes this book a more than welcome & long overdue addition to the Liverpool library." Tony Barrett, The Times.