So with the 09/10 campaign over and done with... thankfully so. Let's look back at Liverpool's season and some of the news articles that accompanied the times.
July/Early August 2009
After Rafa completed the signings of England international Glen Johnson, Italian Alberto Aquilani and the big Greek Sotirios Kyrgiakos at the end of the summer transfer window and we waved goodbye to the likes of Sami Hyypia, Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso to name a few, we started off the footballing season with some good old friendlies.
Little did Liverpool know that the coming results would pretty much spell out the season at the time. First came a 0-0 draw with St.Gallen then a loss to Rapid Vienna (1-0), followed by a draw with Thailand (1-1).
To finish their Far East tour in style Liverpool did manage to beat Singapore 5-0.
To end our pre-season friendlies we lost to Espanyol, beat SFK Lyn and unfortunately lost at home to Atletico Madrid (2-1) - a result that would later come back to haunt us in April although the goals were switched.
In the news...
The world had gone mad, swine flu fever had swept the country, tamiflu was being ordered by the crate load, doctor's surgery's were full to the rafters and hand gel saw it's sales figures go up by the millions.
Late August/Start Of Season 2009
Liverpool began the season with a trip to White Hart Lane and came away with a goal but were defeated 2-1. Steven Gerrard was the goalscorer.
The next match saw Liverpool put 4 past Tony Pulis's Stoke side with Glen Johnson getting his first goal for the Reds. Liverpool were back to first day form though for the next tie in August when they fell to Aston Villa and lost 3-1.
A well fought victory ended August for the Reds after they battled to take all 3 points beating Bolton 3-2 away from home.
In the news...
Wildfires swept through Spain and other parts of Europe whilst evidence that haggis was invented by the English was unearthed.
The end to the season saw Liverpool lose to Chelsea (2-0) and effectively hand the title to the Londoners. One thing Liverpool can look back and laugh at is the misfortune of Manchester United who cannot boast 19 league titles and Liverpool keep hold of their joint record breaking 18 for another season. The last game of the season was a bore 0-0 draw with Hull, somewhat encapsulating the style and fortunes of the whole season for Liverpool.
July/Early August 2009
After Rafa completed the signings of England international Glen Johnson, Italian Alberto Aquilani and the big Greek Sotirios Kyrgiakos at the end of the summer transfer window and we waved goodbye to the likes of Sami Hyypia, Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso to name a few, we started off the footballing season with some good old friendlies.
Little did Liverpool know that the coming results would pretty much spell out the season at the time. First came a 0-0 draw with St.Gallen then a loss to Rapid Vienna (1-0), followed by a draw with Thailand (1-1).
To finish their Far East tour in style Liverpool did manage to beat Singapore 5-0.
To end our pre-season friendlies we lost to Espanyol, beat SFK Lyn and unfortunately lost at home to Atletico Madrid (2-1) - a result that would later come back to haunt us in April although the goals were switched.
In the news...
The world had gone mad, swine flu fever had swept the country, tamiflu was being ordered by the crate load, doctor's surgery's were full to the rafters and hand gel saw it's sales figures go up by the millions.
Late August/Start Of Season 2009
Liverpool began the season with a trip to White Hart Lane and came away with a goal but were defeated 2-1. Steven Gerrard was the goalscorer.
The next match saw Liverpool put 4 past Tony Pulis's Stoke side with Glen Johnson getting his first goal for the Reds. Liverpool were back to first day form though for the next tie in August when they fell to Aston Villa and lost 3-1.
A well fought victory ended August for the Reds after they battled to take all 3 points beating Bolton 3-2 away from home.
In the news...
Wildfires swept through Spain and other parts of Europe whilst evidence that haggis was invented by the English was unearthed.
September 2009
The Liver Bird was created and i made my first blog post - here.
Liverpool had a great month in September, winning 5 out of 6 games.
September contained the start of the Champions League group stages and also saw our first match in the Carling Cup. Our Premier League fixtures saw us beat Burnley 4-0, West Ham 3-2 and Hull 6-1 .
In the midst we also notched up a 1-0 victory over Debrecen but unfortunately failed to beat Fiorentina, it was an okay start to Liverpool's Champions League campaign, at the time it seemed acceptable.
In the news...
After a BBC expedition Scientists announced the discovery of 40 new species in Papua New Guinea, one of which was a giant rat. Actor Patrick Swayze died at the age of 57 after losing his battle with cancer.
October 2009
October was an eventful month to say the least, and by no means a happy one for Liverpool. Alberto Aquilani made his Liverpool debut but it was beach balls, red cards and another Champions League loss that made the headlines.
A 2-0 loss to Chelsea was followed by the goal that will never leave us when Darren Bent was assisted by a giant red Liverpool beach ball to help Sunderland take all 3 points. Following this we were defeated when Lyon won 2-1 at Anfield in our third group game of the CL.
The only positive from the month was the emphatic win over Manchester United, 2 goals scored with no returns from the Devils. The iconic images of Reina running 80 yards to dive on goalscorer David N'Gog are perhaps the best moments of the whole campaign.
Following the victory over United we were sent out of the Carling Cup courtesy of Arsenal, left back Emiliano Insua scored a wonderful goal though. October ended with a horror show, on the 31st we faced Fulham and saw both Jamie Carragher and Philip Degen given red cards in the 3-1 loss.
In the news...
Irish citizens went to vote on the second referendum of the Lisbon Treaty. The Treaty was approved days later. President Barack Obama almost ironically wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
November 2009
Liverpool kicked off this month playing a crucial game against Lyon on my birthday, as i went to the pub in high spirits, the Reds only managed a draw, it wasn't devastating for our CL campaign but it certainly didn't help. The next two fixtures saw Liverpool pick up a brace of 2-2 draws, one against Birmingham perhaps remembered for the controversial David N'Gog penalty and the other an eventful affair against Manchester City.
November ended on some sort of high with a win over Debrecen and success over the other half of Merseyside as Kuyt scored the winner for the Reds.
In the news...
The New York Yankees win the 2009 World Series. Somalia pirates were at large after receiving a $3.5million ransom upon returning hostages.
December 2009
The festive month for the Reds was one of mixed fortunes, disappointing results against Portsmouth (2-0) and Blackburn (0-0) were just the half of it after Benitez's boys lost to Fiorentina and were out of the Champions League.
Other results included a win over Wigan and a loss to Arsenal. To end the month Liverpool began their steady unbeaten run in the league against Wolves with Yossi Benayoun netting the winner. The last result of December was played in the winter snow, Fernando Torres scored in the dying minutes against Aston Villa to secure Liverpool the win and crown himself as the fastest ever Liverpool player to reach 50 goals for the club.
In the news...
USA was in the midst of a suspected terrorist attack after revelations on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. YouTube and Social Networks went crazy on the 21st of December with the now famous slogan "You don't bring a gun to a snowball fight." - a police officer from Washington D.C. was riled by crowds who had spontaneously organised a snow ball fight and were in good spirits throwing snowballs at people and cars, the officer eventually drew his gun to the shock of everyone present, nobody was harmed.
January 2010
January saw the Juventus rumours about targeting Rafa gain pace although he insisted it was just that - rumours. It also saw the signing of Argentinian Maxi Rodriguez along with our entry into the FA Cup, we were to face Reading.
After the first leg ended with a 1-1 draw, Reading came to Anfield, Liverpool were full of confidence and continuation in the FA Cup seemed more than feasible. Reading played well though and walked away with a 2-1 win over the Reds and that ended our FA Cup hopes.
A draw with Stoke, emphatic 2-0 victory over Tottenham and a dreary 0-0 draw with Wolves saw us with one game left of the month to go to hold on to our unbeaten run. A Kuyt goal and a Kevin Davies mishap saw us beat Bolton 2-0.
In the news...
The Africa Cup Of Nations witnessed a tragedy after gunmen opened fire on the Togo national football team's coach. A devastating earthquake struck the country of Haiti causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. Britain was in full moan after the UK learnt it was suffering one of it's worst cold snaps in 20 years... Miraculously the snow melted eventually and everything was fine.
February 2010
February started with us completing the double over bitter blues Everton with a slim one nil victory. This was followed by defeat to Arsenal. Next up was our first game in the Europa League after we dropped down into the competition due to finishing only third in our Champions League group.
The game against Unirea was a poignant moment for myself as my regular blog readers will know as it was my first match at Anfield, my blog post about the one nil win was probably based more on the day than the match but people did seem to enjoy my ramblings.
February also saw us beat Big Sam's Blackburn (2-1) and collect a 0-0 draw against Manchester City plus another win over Unirea to ensure we progressed into the next stages of the Europa League.
In the news...
A major "fireball" was said to have lit up the Iceland sky to the bewilderment to citizens on the ground. The Winter Olympics kick off in Vancouver, Britain ended up coming away with just one gold medal courtesy of Amy Williams. The Chile earthquake saw devastation hit the country and a Pacific wide tsunami warning was issued.
March 2010
March saw the situation surrounding Albert Riera take another turn after the believed to be available loan move out to Russia fell apart. Liverpool managed one win over Lille and one loss in March which eventually ensured progress through the Europa League.
Along with wins over Portsmouth (4-1) and Sunderland (3-0), it was the poor defeat to Wigan and disheartening loss to Manchester United that had fans discussing what on earth was happening to their football club on the pitch.
Fernando Torres scored a superb goal against our Manchester rivals and for a while it looked like the dream of doing the double from last season was back again, however a goal from Ji Sung Park ended any fantasies.
In the news...
Plans to close BBC6 and the BBC Asian Network were introduced. Ships in the Baltic Sea carrying passengers were stuck in thick ice and had to be rescued. Didier Drogba was named African footballer of the year. Red shirt anti government protesters step up their efforts in Thailand.
April 2010
April saw two lots of Europa League ties for the Reds. The first of which was against Benfica - we lost 2-1 and the second leg we won 4-1. Again it was untidy but Liverpool found themselves in the semi finals of the competition. Sandwiched between the two European ties we picked up two draws against Birminghan and Fulham.
After the draw with Fulham gave our hopes of finishing in the 4th a massive blow we successfully managed to beat West Ham 3-0 with goals from Yossi Benayoun and David N'Gog, we knew that we needed a miracle to get that last Champions League place and a win in all of our remaining games was the only way.
Either side of the 4-0 win over Burnley were the two fixtures against Atletico Madrid, star striker Fernando Torres missed out on both occasions against his former employers due to injury.
The first leg was very disappointing for Liverpool after a very scrappy goal from Diego Forlan was the only goal in the game. The match at Anfield was set up to be a special night, the atmosphere was there but unfortunately the result was not. After Liverpool took the lead and also scored a second goal without return from Atletico, it was Forlan again who in extra time broke the hearts of Kopites all over the land and sent the Spaniards through to the final on the away goals rule.
In the news...
The whole of the UK and most of Europe was brought to a standstill after the continued eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland sent ash high into the atmosphere, risk to aircraft and ultimately lives meant that airspace was closed, passengers were stranded and Liverpool themselves were also caught out having to make the majority of the trip to Spain via trains and coaches. Crude oil in the Gulf Of Mexico begins to pour into the ocean after the collapse of an oil platform. Don't Push It wins the Grand National with jockey Tony McCoy recording victory in the race for the first time.
May 2010
The end to the season saw Liverpool lose to Chelsea (2-0) and effectively hand the title to the Londoners. One thing Liverpool can look back and laugh at is the misfortune of Manchester United who cannot boast 19 league titles and Liverpool keep hold of their joint record breaking 18 for another season. The last game of the season was a bore 0-0 draw with Hull, somewhat encapsulating the style and fortunes of the whole season for Liverpool.
In the news...
The UK General election ends in a hung parliament, after days of meetings the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats form a coalition meaning David Cameron is Primer Minister with Nick Clegg as his deputy. Jamie Carragher makes a shock comeback to international football as Fabio Capello names him in his initial 30 man squad for the 2010 South Africa World Cup.
June/July
Trying to guess what may happen in these months for the club is unthinkable, no-one knows whether the appointment of Broughton will bring new investors in, although we all hope to see the back of Hicks and Gillett as soon as possible.
We still don't know whether Mr.Benitez will be at the helm. Some say we can't even guarantee that we will still have the likes of Gerrard and Torres playing their football at Anfield next season.
Will the manager, whoever it may be get a transfer kitty? Will they be able to target players they actually want or will it be Purslow handling things?
Who knows... All we can do is hope for the best.
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What was your favourite moment from the 2009/2010 campaign for Liverpool? Feel free to leave your comments below.
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