Chapter 1 League Cup Hangover

Winning the League Cup relaxed many Liverpool players, and they paid the price in the league. They lost on the road to an opponent that no one would have expected—Wigan Athletic.

Their unbeaten record so far this season was ended.

Liverpool lost 1-2 on the road. Chen Hero scored a goal, but he couldn't save the defeat.

The entire Liverpool team was too relaxed. After Wigan Athletic scored, they couldn't find their rhythm. And so it went...

As mentioned before, there were two things that no longer interested the media and fans: Chen Hero scoring, and Liverpool winning.

Since the 1-2 loss to Aston Villa in the twenty-eighth round of last season, Liverpool hadn't lost a league game for a full thirty-eight rounds—which is exactly one season.

If Liverpool had played like this for an entire season, they could have won the title with an undefeated record.

Unfortunately, this was the sum of two seasons' worth of games.

Nevertheless, it was still a remarkable achievement.

An unbeaten run of twenty-eight league games this season.

It's just a pity that it has all come to an end.

After this game, both Wigan Athletic and Liverpool made the headlines.

Wigan Athletic was naturally presented as a positive image, while Liverpool was the negative example.

"Liverpool became complacent after winning the League Cup!"

"Brave and tenacious Wigan Athletic made arrogant Liverpool suffer!"

"While the whole of England, and even Europe, was asking 'Who can beat Liverpool?', the unknown Wigan Athletic stepped up!"

"Hats off to Wigan Athletic! It was time for Liverpool to lose a game anyway!"

Martin O'Neill's comments and behavior at the post-match press conference were used as fodder for criticism.

"Martin O'Neill said that losing a game is no big deal. Given Liverpool's current situation, even if they lose two more games, he won't have any major problems… I have to say, that's pretty hypocritical!"

"O'Neill said that the team's loss was just an accident. The reality is that they had the advantage, but they couldn't beat their opponent, so he thinks it was just an accident… That's nonsense! Losing is losing, and it has nothing to do with the circumstances. If it were just about the circumstances, I think Arsenal would have monopolized the league title for the past few seasons…"

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"Hmph! These media!" O'Neill certainly knew how the media was evaluating him and Liverpool. The media's performance only made him more disgusted with these people. "It's like they're having a carnival..."

The assistant coach Sami Lee, sitting next to him, laughed: "What's there to be afraid of? Let them have their fun. It's really too difficult for them to find something to criticize about us..."

At first glance, Sami Lee was speaking for the reporters, but everyone could hear the thick confidence in his tone.

"We must win the next game, no draws allowed! Only in this way can we respond to those damn media," said the second assistant coach, Clarke.

"Hero's form is not a problem at all. He had seven shots in the last game, five of which were on target. He was just unlucky. So I'm not worried about the team's loss at all."

"Mm." Martin O'Neill listened as his colleagues reported various data from the game, then analyzed it collectively, and finally reached a conclusion.

The outside media saw this game as Liverpool being unlucky, and gloated over it.

Only they themselves knew that in the "Boot Room," this was nothing.

Yes, this was Liverpool's "Boot Room." Although it was different from before, the sign hanging at the door did indeed say "Boot Room."

Every week, Liverpool's coaching staff would meet here to discuss the team's affairs over the past week in an informal manner, and to look forward to the team's future.

In this room, there was no distinction between seniority or age. Anyone could express their opinion. Even if you were just an ordinary coach, as long as what you said made sense, the head coach would agree.

Here, anything related to the team, anything related to football, could be discussed, but other topics were not welcome here.

The "Boot Room" was originally just a small room under the main stand of Anfield. But don't underestimate this simple little room. It was in this small space that a group of people from the working class worked tirelessly and devoted themselves to pushing the Reds from the British Isles to the top of Europe.

It can be said that Liverpool's most glorious period was also the period when the "Boot Room" shone brightly. For forty years, the Boot Room produced several head coaches for Liverpool. During this time, Liverpool won thirteen First Division league titles (then the top league in England), one Second Division title, four European Cup titles, two UEFA Cup titles, one European Super Cup, five League Cups, and five FA Cups.

This was the most successful period in Liverpool's history, the period when Liverpool went from an ordinary team in Merseyside to a world-class powerhouse.

The Boot Room gradually formed when Shankly was coaching Liverpool.

At that time, Shankly moved into the manager's office, while assistant coaches Paisley and Bennett used an old room on the other side of the dressing room corridor. This was a small square room where the players' boots were stored, hence the name "Boot Room." Initially, there were no chairs in the Boot Room at all. The only beer crate that could be sat on was brought by another assistant coach, Fagan, from Orrell. Orrell was the coach of a local amateur team, and with Fagan's help, the club agreed to let Orrell's players receive treatment at Anfield. In return, Orrell sent a large amount of beer to be stored in the Boot Room. From then on, visiting team coaches were often invited to the Boot Room for a drink, and a large group of Scotsmen in the club also liked to come here to review the afternoon's game. But Shankly rarely patronized the Boot Room, perhaps considering his own status. Shankly left the Boot Room to his assistants. The Boot Room gradually became an office for studying strategies and tactics, and its importance grew day by day. If someone passed by and heard a "pop" sound, it was sure to be someone opening another can of beer. Unconsciously, the Boot Room became the nerve center for the assistants' work. Documents and accurate information about the team's daily training and games were collected here. Fagan was the first to record the key points of each day's training, and everyone gradually got used to this practice. For a time, the Reds' attention to detail reached a fever pitch. Any factor that could affect the players' performance was recorded, such as weather, injuries, etc. If a player had trouble during training and it was difficult to judge, they could search the database for similar cases. If it was a sign of some kind of injury, how to solve the problem, or change the training method, the simplest solution might be to change shoes… These things were all decided in the Boot Room.

Therefore, saying that the Boot Room was the brain of Liverpool is really not a problem at all.

It was in this Boot Room that two head coaches were cultivated who led Liverpool to the top of Europe one after another.

Paisley and Fagan.

These two head coaches who came out of the Boot Room were always Liverpool people. They understood everything about the club, were good at listening to opinions, would not cause trouble for the team, and were experienced and knew what Liverpool's true traditions were. Such people were almost the perfect Liverpool head coach.

Under their leadership, Liverpool completely reached the pinnacle of Europe, and they achieved unparalleled glory in the eighties.

That was the most glorious period in Liverpool's history.

To this day, no one has been able to surpass it.

This is the role and greatness of the Boot Room.

However, with the arrival of the Premier League era, tradition finally paled in comparison to money, and the Boot Room was no longer able to cultivate a suitable head coach for the team.

Later, after Souness replaced Moran as Liverpool's head coach, he also sounded the alarm for the "Boot Room" tradition. He not only razed the Boot Room to the ground and turned it into a new media reception room, but also drove away the old Liverpool people who used to haunt the Boot Room and installed his cronies, completely burying the tradition of the Boot Room and making Souness an enemy of many old Liverpool people.

Later, Souness was sacked for poor performance, and Boot Room veteran Evans took over, but in the wrong time and with the wrong choice of person, Evans could no longer lead Liverpool, which was burdened with problems, back to its peak.

Finally, when the Liverpool board of directors made the decision to let Frenchman Houllier and Evans co-coach, and then Evans voluntarily gave way, letting Houllier take full control. From then on, there was no more "Boot Room" at Anfield.

In fact, the so-called "Boot Room" tradition was a system of assistant coach succession—Liverpool's coaching staff must be Liverpool's own people. They have worked at Liverpool for a long time, and even played for Liverpool since their playing days. Such people are the most familiar with Liverpool and are the most able to understand what Liverpool needs. At the same time, they will abide by Liverpool's traditions and will not completely subvert everything like Souness.

In this way, when the previous head coach leaves the team, the assistant coach who has been cultivated and matured by the Boot Room can take over and become the team's new head coach. Because he understands everything about Liverpool, this coaching change is very smooth and seamless, and will not bring any impact to the team. The team's results can naturally be guaranteed.

Paisley is a typical representative of the "Boot Room" tradition.

Paisley played for Liverpool as a player. After retiring, he became the team's team doctor, treating players. Then, when Shankly took over, he became Liverpool's assistant coach, serving Shankly and receiving Shankly's guidance. Finally, he replaced Shankly and became Liverpool's head coach, and then took Liverpool to a height that even Shankly had never achieved.

It was only with the arrival of Houllier, with the full invasion of English football by continental football, that adhering to tradition had become laughable. So the glorious "Boot Room" tradition naturally disappeared.

However, with Dalglish's second stint as coach, he began to rebuild the Boot Room. He even found a room at Anfield again and cleaned it up to make a new Boot Room.

But he was sacked for poor performance before he could realize his ambitions.

Martin O'Neill became the team's new head coach. Just when everyone thought that Liverpool's "Boot Room" tradition would be nipped in the bud again.

Martin O'Neill chose to adhere to the "Boot Room" tradition.

Now, under his insistence, all the coaches gather in this new Boot Room one day a week to discuss and brainstorm. Many people believe that Liverpool's revival is because Niang brought a Chen Hero to the team. But in fact, the contributions made by these unsung coaches are also significant.

Today's Boot Room is no longer a dilapidated eight-foot-square cottage, but incorporates modern elements, is more spacious and brighter, has rows of seats, and a set of multimedia facilities where game and training videos can be played, and a computer is used to store all the data from training and games, forming a database, which contains all the Liverpool game data from recent years.

The "Boot Room" tradition, under Martin O'Neill's transformation, is no longer simply a form of assistant coach succeeding the head coach, but has become a brainstorming session. Perhaps the assistant coach will not become the next head coach, but this good atmosphere will become Liverpool's new wealth.

Liverpool is being reborn. The "Boot Room," which once created countless glories but was eliminated for being behind the times, is also moving towards a new life…