Football fans are like elephants. They never forget, particularly when it comes to anniversaries.
Even when they wish they could.
While May 25 is a date seared in the memories of every Liverpool supporter, May 24 is one they have been busily trying to scrub from their collective conscience.
The Reds have played only three competitive games on that date. They beat Arsenal 2-1 in 1947. Tottenham Hotspur were defeated 3-1 in 2009. And they went to Stoke City in 2015. The 6-1 defeat that followed was Liverpool’s heaviest reverse in a top-flight game since losing 7-2 to Tottenham in April 1963.
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Liverpool were 5-0 down at half-time. Former Reds Charlie Adam and Peter Crouch both netted. There was even the sight of Steven Nzonzi knocking one into the top corner from 25 yards.
Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, a dismal end to a season that, after the thrilling title challenge of the previous year, had seen Liverpool slip out of the top four, lose in semi-finals of both the League Cup and FA Cup, and fail to progress beyond the Champions League group stage and the first knockout round of the Europa League.
It’s worth recalling the team sent out by Brendan Rodgers that afternoon.
Emre Can at right-back. Joe Allen on the left wing. Mamadou Sakho making a comeback after injury. Lucas Leiva handed a first start in six weeks. Jordan Henderson on the right. Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho up front. That all bar two of the starters rated 4 or lower in the ECHO spoke volumes.
And that substitute Jordon Ibe, one of the rare chinks of light from a dismal match, was put up before the cameras after the game did not go unnoticed, the youngster being asked to explain how his senior colleagues had failed so spectacularly.
This was a landmark occasion in other ways. Steven Gerrard netted his 186th Liverpool goal on his 710th and final appearance for the club while Raheem Sterling, dropped to the bench and an unused substitute at the Britannia Stadium after refusing to sign a new deal, was gone to Manchester City before the summer was out.
Gerrard would later offer an insight into the game in his autobiography, per the Stoke Sentinel: “An hour after the match a friend texted me to ask what I’d made of a surreal afternoon. I answered him with one word: Wow.
“I might have had a slightly tight hamstring the night before, but it was fine during the match. We had no excuses. It was just a disaster. A catastrophe. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. We were 5-0 down at half-time. Yes – wow.
“Emre Can tried to put his hand up during the break and take responsibility. I stopped him after a few words. I think he’s going to be a great player…but he is a midfielder and he was playing out of position.
“A few others chipped in to make sure Emre didn’t take sole blame. We were all at fault … it was the worst performance of my Liverpool career.”
Rodgers, berated at half-time by some travelling supporters, was unsure about his own future.
“To start with, it’s an apology,” he said after the match. “For everybody connected with Liverpool, we are all embarrassed by that today. They, the supporters, deserve an apology. I’ve always said that if the owners want me to go, then I go. It’s as simple as that.”
It was tantamount to a come-and-sack-me plea.
Fenway Sports Group slept on it, and decided to stick with Rodgers. However, this was the beginning of the end and the start of Liverpool heading towards appointing Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp was preparing for his final game in charge of Borussia Dortmund, a 3-1 German Cup final defeat to Wolfsburg the following week.
A sabbatical would follow which, in retrospect, could explain Rodgers’ stay of execution. Barely eight weeks into the following season, Rodgers was gone, and a refreshed Klopp swept in to lift the gloom.
But that horror show in the Potteries is undoubtedly the afternoon that ultimately sealed the fate of the outgoing Liverpool boss – and sparked a new era at Anfield.
A version of this article was published in May 2019.
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