Passing Rhythms Liverpool FC and the Transformation of Football

by Williams, John; Long, Cathy; Hopkins, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9781859733974
• ISBN10: 1859733972
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: Berg Pub Ltd

Summary

Liverpool Football Club, in stark contrast to its competitors, remains locally owned, not a conglomerate or media business. Unlike its main rivals, the Liverpool club has been loathe to pursue global markets for merchandizing - though it attracts a huge fandom around the world - and its ambitions remain resolutely fixed on footballing success. No football club has ever had such an extended period of dominance inthe English game, nor extended that dominance to Europe so effectively.Many of the current crop of top young players are locally born and are a central feature of the city's nightlife, as well as national icons in pop/football/youth culture. But there are fears that the Club's great days have now passed. At the height of its powers in the 1980s, Liverpool FC was the site of two catastrophic crowd disasters, which effectively transformed the sport and added to wounding perceptions about the city's alleged sentimentality, fatalism and irreversible decline. The legacy of the Heysel and Hillsborough tragedies continues to shape the self-image of the Club and those who support it. A seething rivalry with nearby corporate giant Manchester United is a constant reminder of football's new order.Addressing all of these concerns, as well as Liverpool's global reputation as the home of the Beatles and the 'Mersey sound', this book takes an original approach to the study of football by examining its links with other important popular culture forms, especially pop music, but also television and youth styles. In particular, however, it looks at the very special meaning of football in Liverpool.

Author Biography

Mr. John Williams is the Director of the Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research, at the University of Leicester.

Cathy Long is a Research and Information Executive, for the FA Premier League.

Stephen Hopkins is an Associate Member at the Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research and Lecturer in Politics,at the University of Leicester.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	ix
Introduction	1	(14)
John Williams
Stephen Hopkins
Cathy Long
Out of the Blue and into the Red: The Early Liverpool Years	15	(24)
John Williams
Football and Religion: Merseyside and Glasgow	39	(14)
Raymond Boyle
Bill Shankly and Liverpool	53	(24)
Andrew Ward
John Williams
Passing Rhythms: The Modern Origins and Development of the `Liverpool Way'	77	(22)
Stephen Hopkins
Kopites, `Scallies' and Liverpool Fan Cultures: Tales of Triumph and Disasters	99	(30)
John Williams
From Barnes to Camera: Football, Identity and Racism in Liverpool	129	(18)
Dave Hill
The Fall of Liverpool FC and the English Football `Revolution'	147	(26)
John Williams
Gerard Houllier and the New Liverpool `Imaginary'	173	(22)
Stephen Hopkins
John Williams
Sitting Pretty? Women and Football in Liverpool	195	(20)
Liz Crolley
Cathy Long
Liverpool FC in the Global Football Age	215	(14)
Rick Parry
Afterword: Hillsborough - Flowers and Wasted Words	229	(6)
Colin Moneypenny
Index	235