Left - John Barnes.

Joe Fagan, a long servant of the club succeeded Paisley. In his first of his 2 seasonsat the helm, he was to achieve what no English manager (then and now) have done before.That is to win 3 major trophies in one season. He achieved that by winning the League Cup,European Cup and the League championship. That particular championship was of greatsignificance, it was the 3rd in the row. Thus Liverpool FC equalled the feat ofHuddersfield in the 1920s and Arsenal in the 1930s. Everton snapped the title away inFagan's second season, the Reds finished second in the league and was dumped out of the FACup. Fagan decided to retire after the European Cup Final against Juventus that year.Winning the European Cup would be a great farewell present for Fagan but tragedy struck.In Heysel Stadium, 38 fans were killed when wall collapses after rioting by some Liverpoolfans. Juventus would go on to win the match by a single goal by Michel Platini. Thisincident caused the ban on English clubs from all European club compeitions for a fewyears.

Kenny Daglish took over the hot seat as player-manager. King Kenny was a great playerwith Glasgow Celtic and Paisley's Liverpool. Many doubted his abilities as a manager letalone player-manger. His response to the sceptics - the League and FA Cup double in hisfirst season as player-manger.

Left- King Kenny- In his first season as player-manager in 1986, he scored the goal at Chelsea whichclinched the championship helping Liverpool win the League and Cup "double" forthe first time.

During Daglish's reign, the fans were also saddened by the news that Ian Rush hasdecided to sign for Juventus after the 1986/87 season. In place of Rush, John Aldridge, achildhood Reds fan came to Anfield. Barnes was signed during the 1987-88 season joiningSteve Nicol, Bruce Grobbelaar and Peter Beardsley who were already in the club. With thisawesome array of talents, Liverpool began their 1987/88 campaign confidently by beatingArsenal at Highbury 2-1. Ray Houghton, a reliable midfielder was signed midseason fromOxford United. It was hardly surprising that the Reds won the title that year. With the FACup Final coming up, Liverpool was favourite to win the double. But alas, Wimbledon playedtheir hearts out to their credit and denied us of the double. The match ended 1-0 but thematch was best remembered for the first ever penalty miss in FA Cup Final history byAldridge.

The 1988/89 season was a sad season for the club despite Ian Rush's return to the club.During Liverpool's FA Cup semi final with Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough, disasterwould strike again. 6 minutes into the game, the players were ashered out of the pitch.Apparently a barrier had collapsed and scores of Liverpool fans poured onto the pitch.During this chaos, many fans were strampled on. 96 fans died from the Hillsboroughincident. For the second time in 5 years, the club had been associated with a majortragedy.

Liverpool beat Forest in the replay 3-1 in Old Trafford. Meanwhile the club fought hardto chase up with league leaders Arsenal. Liverpool did have a chance to pay their tributeto the fans who lost their lives in Hillsborough in the FA Cup final. Wembley was filledwith Merseysiders. It was one of the rare occasions both Liverpool and Everton fans wereone. The atmosphere was emotional. "You'll Never Walk Alone" was sung before aminute of silence was observed. Everton and Liverpool truly played one of the most classicfinals ever seen. It was also remembered as the one which Ian Rush came on as a subsituteand scored 2 splendid goals to win the match 3-2. After winning the Cup, Liverpool had toplay Arsenal in the season's last match to secure the double.

When the title came to the crunch in the final match of the season, Liverpool crumbled.Arsenal had to win by 2 clear goals to nip the title away. Liverpool was losing 1-0 butappeared to have the title wrapped up until the very last minute. Michael Thomas then anArsenal player scored the killer goal in injury time to deny Liverpool of the championshipand the double.

After 5 years in-charge, Daglish captured 3 league championships, 3 FA Cups and alsovoted manager of the year 3 times in 1986,1988 and 1990. He resigned after a muchremembered FA Cup replay against Everton in Goodison Park which ended 4-4. It was thefirst time in Liverpool's history that it has failed to win after leading 4 times. Hecited "stress" as the reason for his resignation in February 1991.