The 1972–73 season was

Liverpool Football Club Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

's 81st season in existence and their 11th consecutive season in the First Division. After seven years of not winning any trophies, Liverpool won both the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

in an extremely successful season, the highlight of

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winnin ...

's managerial career. The rebuilding of the team from the one that served so well in the 1960s had been fully realised. The league which they came so close to winning the year before, had finally been conquered by winning the title by three points from

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. The signing of

Peter Cormack Peter Barr Cormack (born 17 July 1946) is a Scottish former international football player and manager. His greatest success was with Liverpool in the early 1970s, for whom he played 178 times, winning two league championships, one FA Cup and t ...

from

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

during the summer of 1972 would also be another great signing. On 30 December 1972 Liverpool beat

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

at Anfield to make it 21 consecutive home wins in the league. This was the longest run in English top-flight history until it was surpassed by

Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Liverpool. He is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the world. Klopp spent most of his playing c ...

’s Liverpool who made it 22 consecutive home wins in March 2020. The

would also be the beginning of their dominance of regularly winning European trophies as well, overcoming the previous season's winners

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in the semi-finals and

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

over a two legged final 3-2 on aggregate. The emergence of

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 and ...

and

Ray Clemence Raymond Neal Clemence, (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020) was an England international football goalkeeper and part of the Liverpool team of the 1970s. He is one of only 31 players to have made over 1,000 career appearances, and holds the r ...

in the team would also see them start their international careers, with them both making their

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

debuts in the World Cup qualifier against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

on 15 November 1972, alongside

Emlyn Hughes Emlyn Walter Hughes (28 August 1947 – 9 November 2004) was an English footballer. He started his career at Blackpool in 1964 before moving to Liverpool in 1967. He made 665 appearances for Liverpool and captained the side to three league ti ...

already established in the England team.

Squad

Goalkeepers

Frankie Lane Frankie Lane (20 July 1948 – 19 May 2011) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He began his Football League career with Tranmere Rovers, before joining Liverpool, where he spent four years as reserve goalkeeper. He made only ...

* Grahame Lloyd

Defenders

* Steve Arnold *

Roy Evans Roy Quentin Echlin Evans (born 4 October 1948) is an English former footballer who played as a defender for Liverpool. He eventually rose through the coaching ranks to become the team manager. While predominantly plyi ...

Chris Lawler Chris Lawler (born 20 October 1943) is a former footballer who enjoyed much of Liverpool's success of the mid 1960s to early 1970s. Life and playing career A right-sided defender, Lawler joined his local club when he turned 17 in October 196 ...

Alec Lindsay Alec Lindsay (born 27 February 1948) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Bury, Liverpool and Stoke City. Career Born in Bury, Lancashire, England, Lindsay played 139 matches for Bury, helping the club gain ...

Larry Lloyd Laurence Valentine Lloyd (born 6 October 1948) is an English retired association football central defender and manager. He won domestic and European honours for both Bill Shankly's Liverpool and Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest in the 1970s. ...

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaugh ...

* Ian Ross * Tommy Smith *

Trevor Storton Trevor Storton (26 November 1949 – 23 March 2011) was an English footballer who played as a central defender. The early years He began his career at Tranmere Rovers, playing alongside his older brother Stan, he played over 100 games for the ...

* John Webb

Midfielders

Ian Callaghan Ian Robert Callaghan MBE (born 10 April 1942) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He holds the record for most appearances for Liverpool. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) ...

* Brian Hall *

Steve Heighway Stephen Derek Heighway (born 25 November 1947) is an Irish former footballer who was part of the hugely successful Liverpool team of the 1970s. Following his eleven-year spell at the club, he has been regarded by some as one of the greatest Live ...

* Hughie McAuley *

Phil Thompson Philip Bernard Thompson (born 21 January 1954) is an English retired footballer, who played as a defender for Liverpool team of the 1970s and 1980s. During this time, he also represented the England national football team on 42 occasions, and ...

* Peter Thompson

Attackers

Phil Boersma Philip Boersma (born 24 September 1949 in Kirkby) is an English former professional footballer, who played as a midfield/striker for Liverpool and Middlesbrough among others. Life and playing career He began his career with Liverpool, signin ...

* Derek Brownbill *

Kevin Kewley Kevin Kewley (born 2 March 1955) is an English former professional football player and coach. Active in England and the United States, he played as a midfielder and made over 450 career appearances, scoring over 120 goals. After retiring as a ...

John Toshack John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager. He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for th ...

* Jack Whitham

League table

Results

First Division

Football League Cup

FA Cup

UEFA Cup

Final First Leg Second Leg

References

LFC History.net – 1972–73 season

Liverweb - 1972-73 Season

{{DEFAULTSORT:1972-73 Liverpool F.C. season Liverpool F.C. seasons

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

English football championship-winning seasons UEFA Europa League-winning seasons