Fact: Liverpool last won the league title in the 1989/90 season – nearly 27 years ago. The Reds were the most dominant team in England in the 1970s and 1980s, winning 11 league titles and four European Cups. But since then, it’s been an uphill struggle to win the Premier League as other teams rose to prominence.
However, football is not the only arena where things have changed since the Reds tasted league success. The world itself has changed over nearly three decades and we look back at the major events that have happened and shaped the world since Kenny Dalglish lifted the league title in 1990.
1) Kenny Dalglish got Blackburn Rovers promoted – and won the league
Dalglish is a bonafide Liverpool legend. Having scored 169 goals for the Reds and also serving as a successful player-manager winning eight league titles in all, he had resigned in 1991. Off the field, he was commended for his heroic actions when he attended a number of funerals of the 96 Liverpool fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough – events that took its toll on the Scottish manager.
When he returned to management, it was with second division side Blackburn Rovers. In 1992, he got them promoted to the newly formed Premier League and finished fourth and second in their first two seasons in the top flight. In his third season, he led the Rovers to the Premier League title – beating Manchester United by one point to lift the trophy.
Dalglish would return to Liverpool in 2011 when the Anfield side was in crisis. Although he helped them win their last trophy (the League Cup in 2012), he left that summer after the Reds finished eighth – 37 points behind league winners Manchester City.
2) Microsoft released 18 different versions of Windows
The ‘90s saw a personal computer boom that took technology to the next level. Back in the day, computers were machines that were used mainly in research facilities and corporate offices but the advent of user interfaces and Microsoft’s Windows OS saw people realise the benefits of using it in homes and schools.
Windows 3.1 was released in April 1992 and since then it has seen a number of iterations – most notably Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8 and finally Windows 10 (which came out in 2015).
In that time, Bill Gates became a self-made billionaire and officially became the world’s richest person – now worth $86 billion (according to Forbes). If his wealth continues to grow at this rate, Gates could become the world’s first trillionaire. Liverpool have about two-and-a-half decades to win a title before that happens, though.
3) Peter Schmeichel won the league and saw his son Kasper grow up to win it too
Manchester United’s legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel first won the Premier League title in 1992/93. He would go on to win it five times, culminating in the historic treble-winning campaign in 1999.
Young Kasper was only seven years old when his father first lifted the league title in England. When his father ended his career at Manchester City, Kasper was starting out in the youth team at the club. His career would soon see him move to Leeds before settling down at Leicester City.
We all know what happened next. The 2015/16 season saw the Foxes overcome 5000/1 odds to lift the title – a sporting fairytale for the ages.
Leicester City became only the sixth team to lift the Premier League title after Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Blackburn. Since 1990, Liverpool have finished second four times – most recently in 2013/14.
4) Donald Trump almost became bankrupt, became a billionaire and won the US Presidential election
In the 1980s, Donald Trump was an up and coming businessman estimated to be worth $200m and was named in Forbes’ list of wealthy individuals. However, he suffered losses between 1990 and 1995 and was nowhere to be seen on that list.
When Liverpool last won the league title, the US president was George HW Bush. Since then, each president has served two terms after winning the quadrennial elections. Bill Clinton won in 1992 and 1996, George W Bush (George HW Bush’s son) won in 2000 and 2004 while Barack Obama won the election in 2008 and 2012.
During this time, Trump slowly made his way back into the game and, despite a few failures (such as his businesses going bankrupt), he soon became worth close to $4.1 billion according to Forbes. He now sits in the Oval Office as the 45th President of the United States – the ninth presidential term since Liverpool won the league.
5) Manchester United dethroned Liverpool as the most successful club in England
“My greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f***ing perch – and you can print that,” said a delighted Sir Alex Ferguson when Manchester United finally overhauled their arch-rivals with their 19th league title. He would go on to help the Red Devils win a 20th.
And recently, United became the most successful club in England with their 42nd trophy – prompting Liverpool to remove the ‘Most successful club in England’ tag from their Twitter bio.
Since 1990, Liverpool have won only nine major trophies (including three FA Cups and a Champions League trophy). In that time, their North-West Derby rivals have won 13 league titles and five FA Cups and two Champions League titles.
Two of United’s key players were Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. Giggs won 13 titles in all while Scholes won 10, then retired, returned to football and won one more to take his tally to 11 league titles.
6) The European Union was formed and is now on the brink of collapse
1 November 1993 saw the formal establishment of the European Union (EU) as the Maastricht Treaty was signed. The continent had taken years to heal following World War II and subsequent decades saw countries sign various agreements that laid the foundations for the EU.
Euro became the official currency of 19 member countries and it soon became the second largest reserve currency in the world after the American dollar. Trade and movement of both goods and people soon saw most economies thrive but there was friction between a few countries when debt crises and migration of Middle-Eastern refugees became causes for concern.
The United Kingdom finally held a referendum in 2016 and Brexit became a reality after the people voted to leave and the act now threatens to destabilise the entire region as more countries look to follow the UK out of the EU.
7) Barcelona, with zero Champions League titles, equalled Liverpool with five wins
When Liverpool lifted their 18th league title in 1990, they had won four European Cups (1976/77, 1977/78, 1980/81 and 1983–84). The Reds’ legendary manager Bob Paisley was responsible for three of those titles.
At the time, Barcelona were slowly on the rise thanks to the appointment of Johan Cruyff in 1988. The Dutch legend went about setting up his ‘Dream Team’ at the Camp Nou and the club also started to reap the benefits of the academy La Masia that was set up a few years prior. With the likes of Pep Guardiola, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, and Hristo Stoichkov – Barcelona won their first ever European title in 1992.
Liverpool last won the title in 2005 on that night in Istanbul with a win over AC Milan to make it five wins – the third most successful club after Real Madrid and Milan.
However, between 2006 and 2015, Barcelona saw unprecedented success as they dominated Spain and Europe to win four Champions League titles (2005/06, 2008/09, 2010/11 and 2014/15) – most of it thanks to the very same Pep Guardiola who became a manager.
Meanwhile, Liverpool have played in the Champions League only once since the 2009/10 season, fighting it out in the Europa League and reaching the final in 2016. On the other hand, Barcelona are still on course for a sixth European title.
8) The Undertaker joined WWE, accomplished a 21-0 winning streak at WrestleMania and retired
1990 was a very important year in the world of sport. No, not because Liverpool won the league but because the world Wrestling Federation (WWF – now WWE) signed a professional wrestler by the name of Mark Calaway who would go on to fight as The Undertaker.
The 6’10” Phenom from Death Valley went on to become the most successful wrestler in the WWE’s premier PPV event – WrestleMania. His legendary streak started in WrestleMania VII (1991) when he defeated Jimmy Snuka and, over the years, he went on to fight the likes of Giant González, Kane, Ric Flair, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Edge and Batista – beating them all.
It finally came to an end at WrestleMania 30 when Brock Lesnar defeated an old and weary Undertaker in a little over 25 minutes. Lesnar’s victory shocked the crowd into silence as they looked on stunned while the numbers 21-1 appeared on the big screen.
It was the end of what was regarded as one of sport’s greatest winning streaks – even though it was a part of a professional wrestling storyline.
Update: WrestleMania 33 turned out to be his final bow as The Undertaker retired with a 23-2 record.
9) JK Rowling wrote 7 Harry Potter books – and 8 movies were also made
Once of the most iconic rags-to-riches story saw JK Rowling become a multi-millionaire thanks to her books on a teenage boy wizard who discovered an entirely new world he didn’t know existed. Harry Potter is now one of the biggest literary figures of all time and it saw a generation of young fans take up reading.
It was a hit with youngsters and adults alike when the first book The Philosopher's Stone was published in 1997 after Rowling was given a small advance. Over the next decade, she would publish six more sequels – culminating in The Deathly Hallows in 2007. Rowling is now worth £600m and the series is the best-selling series of all time.
In 1998, she sold the movie rights to Warner Brothers and the first movie came out in 2001 starring Daniel Radcliffe as Potter himself. The last book was split into two parts and the eighth and final instalment was released in 2011. The film series has made approximately $8.5 billion worldwide. 13 different Harry Potter games have also been made by Electronic Arts.
10) FIFA’s #1 team in the World Rankings has changed 26 times
FIFA’s World Ranking system was introduced in 1992 – two years after Liverpool last won the league. At the time, the top spot was given to West Germany as Die Mannschaft were the most dominant team at the time having reached the World Cup final in 1982, 1986 and 1990 – winning the title in 1990.
Since then, a number of teams have vied the top spot. The first team to displace Germany was Brazil – who were subsequently replaced by Italy. The top ranking team changed a few times until 1994 when Brazil claimed top spot and held on to it for years. Although France would take top spot off them in 2001, the Selecao reclaimed top spot in 2002 and held on to it again until 2007.
In all, eight teams have topped the rankings – Germany, Brazil, Italy, France, Argentina, Spain, Netherlands and Belgium. Argentina currently lead the rankings having reached the 2014 World Cup final and the Copa America finals in 2015 and 2016.
