Burnwinter wrote:
Liverpool are basically Spurs 1990. Haven't won the league in 20+ years but for some reason think they're the beating heart of real football.
Unlike Spurs though, Liverpool have managed to maintain a high profile by performances on the pitch.
Their fans may be deluded as to how big a club they really are, but I expect a greater share of media coverage than their club would actually get based on results, because a lot of journalists would have grown up in the period when they did dominate English and to a lesser extent European football. They were a massive club, and still are to a degree.
One area which has enabled them to maintain a high profile was their consistent qualification (until 2010) for the Champions League coupled with their participation in the latter rounds. The fact that they won it and reached another final ensured that they received a lot of coverage, more than we were able to muster.
Since Wenger arrived at Arsenal the respective trophy hauls of the most successful English teams other than United:
Arsenal:
3 League, 4 FA Cup
Liverpool:
2 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, 1 Champions League and 1 UEFA Cup
Chelsea:
3 Leagues, 4 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, 1 Cup Winners Cup
IMO, they have won just enough trophies of significant stature at regular enough intervals to maintain their status as a big club, even if they haven't managed to win the Premier League.
Another factor which I think has fuelled their coverage is the manner in which they have won most of those trophies. Dramatic victories in the CL (2005), FA Cup (2001, 2006) and UEFA Cup (2001) provided great viewing for the neutral. The unlikely comebacks in those games appealed to the desire to witness exciting, unpredictable matches where the underdog could and did win it. Their ability to thwart Jose Mourinho in the CL when Chelsea were the dominant PL team helped. Even as clear favourites in other finals, they made hard work of it, but it did make for great TV.
It does irritate that they have had an uncanny ability to be on the right end of so many dramatic matches stretching all the way to finals. United have set the standard as being the most ruthless and efficient operators in the PL, but Liverpool, IMO, have come to occupy the romantic position as the team most likely to come out of nowhere and upset the biggest teams.
