"Lord, I don't ask that I should win, but please, please don't let me finish behind Akabusi."
The Official Liverpool FC Illustrated history (Fourth Edition)
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Jeff Anderson and Stephen Done, London, Carlton, 2014. IBSN: 978-1-78097-724-9
The book covers the history of the club 1892-2015 in 12 chapters each covering 10-20 years in the early days and 5-7 years per chapter in the latter years. There is a foreword by Brendan Rogers (Oops!). There are also 33 pages of statistics and season by season game records.
Each page is generously illustrated and well designed. There are features on key players from each period – Elisha Scott, Billy Liddell, Roger Hunt, Kevin Keegan, Michael Owen, Luis Suarez etc. The description of Billy Liddell (played1938-1960) as “a non-smoker, tee-totaller, and Methodist lay-preacher [who] also supported many charities, gave his time freely to work as a DJ on hospital radio, and served as a magistrate” shows a stark contrast to the modern millionaire celebrity player.
A strength of the book is the description and analysis of each manager – of whom there have been a few more in the modern era than in the days of stability of Shankly and Paisley etc.
It is a book which works are several different levels. You can read in cover to cover; you can flick through it just looking at the pictures or you can dip in and find odd and interesting facts on every page.