1975–76 Liverpool F.C. season

Liverpool F.C. won its ninth Football League title and second UEFA Cup, which were the first trophies won under manager Bob Paisley, in his second season as manager.

Liverpool F.C.

1975–76 season
Chairman	John W Smith
Manager	Bob Paisley
First Division	Champions
UEFA Cup	Winners
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	Third round
Top goalscorer	League: John Toshack (16) All: John Toshack (23)
Average home league attendance	41,670
Home colours Away colours

Paisley saw his team clinch the league title narrowly ahead of contenders Queens Park Rangers. In a climax to the season, Liverpool needed to either win or secure a low-scoring draw against relegation-threatened Wolverhampton Wanderers. With 14 minutes left for play and despite constant pressure in the second half, the Reds trailed to a Steve Kindon strike for Wolves. The title was slipping away from Liverpool but three late goals from Kevin Keegan, John Toshack and Ray Kennedy in front of away support ensured Liverpool's ninth title and Bob Paisley's first trophy.

In the UEFA Cup, Liverpool overcame Barcelona in the semi-finals, to set up a final with FC Bruges. Liverpool won the first leg 3–2 on 28 April after being two-nil down in the first half. Three weeks later, a 1–1 draw in Olympiastadion, Brugge, saw them lift the cup for the second time.

The emergence of Phil Neal, Phil Thompson and Ray Kennedy in the Liverpool side saw them make their England debuts in the Welsh FA Centenary International against Wales on 24 March 1976.[1] Also in the England side were Ray Clemence and, captaining England for the first time, Kevin Keegan, and those five would go on to play for England for many years to come.

Squad

Goalkeepers

• Ray Clemence
• Frank Lane
• Peter McDonnell

Defenders

• Emlyn Hughes
• Joey Jones
• Brian Kettle
• Chris Lawler
• Alec Lindsay
• John McLaughlin
• Phil Neal
• Tommy Smith
• Max Thompson
• Phil Thompson

Midfielders

• Ian Callaghan
• Jimmy Case
• Peter Cormack
• Brian Hall
• Steve Heighway
• Ray Kennedy
• Terry McDermott

Attackers

• Phil Boersma
• David Fairclough
• Kevin Keegan
• Kevin Kewley
• John Toshack
• Alan Waddle

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Liverpool (C)	42	23	14	5	66	31	2.129	60	Qualified for European Cup
2	Queens Park Rangers	42	24	11	7	67	33	2.030	59	Qualified for UEFA Cup
3	Manchester United	42	23	10	9	68	42	1.619	56
4	Derby County	42	21	11	10	75	58	1.293	53
5	Leeds United	42	21	9	12	65	46	1.413	51

Source:
(C) League Champions.

Results

First Division

Main article: 1975–76 Football League § First Division

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Report 1	Report 2
16-Aug-75	Queens Park Rangers	A	0–2		27,113	Report	Report
19-Aug-75	West Ham United	H	2–2	Callaghan  24' Toshack  81'	40,564	Report	Report
23-Aug-75	Tottenham Hotspur	H	3–2	Keegan  54 Pen' Case  68' Heighway  72'	42,729	Report	Report
26-Aug-75	Leeds United	A	3–0	Kennedy  26' Callaghan  84', 88'	36,186	Report	Report
30-Aug-75	Leicester City	A	1–1	Keegan  50'	25,008	Report	Report
06-Sep-75	Sheffield United	H	1–0	Kennedy  78'	37,340	Report	Report
13-Sep-75	Ipswich Town	A	0–2		28,132	Report	Report
20-Sep-75	Aston Villa	H	3–0	Toshack  62' Keegan  77' Case  86'	42,779	Report	Report
27-Sep-75	Everton	A	0–0		55,570	Report	Report
04-Oct-75	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–0	Hall  60' Case  86'	36,391	Report	Report
11-Oct-75	Birmingham City	H	3–1	Toshack  13', 59', 86'	36,532	Report	Report
18-Oct-75	Coventry City	A	0–0		20,695	Report	Report
25-Oct-75	Derby County	H	1–1	Toshack  27'	46,324	Report	Report
01-Nov-75	Middlesbrough	A	1–0	McDermott  71'	30,952	Report	Report
08-Nov-75	Manchester United	H	3–1	Heighway  12' Toshack  46' Keegan  78'	49,136	Report	Report
15-Nov-75	Newcastle United	A	2–1	Hall  41' R. Kennedy  88'	39,686	Report	Report
22-Nov-75	Coventry City	H	1–1	Toshack  28'	36,929	Report	Report
29-Nov-75	Norwich City	H	1–3	Hughes  87'	34,780	Report	Report
02-Dec-75	Arsenal	H	2–2	Neal  23 Pen', 59 Pen'	27,447	Report	Report
06-Dec-75	Burnley	A	0–0		18,426	Report	Report
13-Dec-75	Tottenham Hotspur	A	4–0	Keegan  43' Case  54' Neal  74' Heighway  86'	29,891	Report	Report
20-Dec-75	Queens Park Rangers	H	2–0	Toshack  22' Neal  75 Pen'	39,182	Report	Report
26-Dec-75	Stoke City	A	1–1	Toshack  8'	32,092	Report	Report
27-Dec-75	Manchester City	H	1–0	Cormack  61'	53,386	Report	Report
10-Jan-76	Ipswich Town	H	3–3	Keegan  13', 33' Case  78'	40,547	Report	Report
17-Jan-76	Sheffield United	A	0–0		31,255	Report	Report
31-Jan-76	West Ham United	A	4–0	Toshack  63', 75', 81' Keegan  88'	26,741	Report	Report
07-Feb-76	Leeds United	H	2–0	Keegan  40' Toshack  71'	54,525	Report	Report
18-Feb-76	Manchester United	A	0–0		59,709	Report	Report
21-Feb-76	Newcastle United	H	2–0	Keegan  26' Case  51'	43,404	Report	Report
24-Feb-76	Arsenal	A	0–1		36,127	Report	Report
28-Feb-76	Derby County	A	1–1	Kennedy  86'	32,800	Report	Report
06-Mar-76	Middlesbrough	H	0–2		41,391	Report	Report
13-Mar-76	Birmingham City	A	1–0	Neal  83 Pen'	31,397	Report	Report
20-Mar-76	Norwich City	A	1–0	Fairclough  59'	29,013	Report	Report
27-Mar-76	Burnley	H	2–0	Fairclough  39', 61'	36,708	Report	Report
03-Apr-76	Everton	H	1–0	Fairclough  88'	54,632	Report	Report
06-Apr-76	Leicester City	H	1–0	Keegan  58'	36,290	Report	Report
10-Apr-76	Aston Villa	A	0–0		44,250	Report	Report
17-Apr-76	Stoke City	H	5–3	Neal  37 Pen' Toshack  43' Kennedy  51' Hughes  73' Fairclough  78'	44,069	Report	Report
19-Apr-76	Manchester City	A	3–0	Heighway  73' Fairclough  88', 89'	50,439	Report	Report
04-May-76	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	3–1	Keegan  76' Toshack  85' Kennedy  89'	48,900	Report	Report

Football League Cup

Main article: 1975–76 Football League Cup

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Report 1	Report 2
10-Sep-75	York City	A	1–0	Lindsay  88 Pen'	9.421	Report	Report
07-Oct-75	Burnley	H	1–1	Case  81'	24,607	Report	Report
14-Oct-75	Burnley	A	0–1		19,857	Report	Report

FA Cup

Main article: 1975–76 FA Cup

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Report 1	Report 2
03-Jan-76	West Ham United	A	2–0	Keegan  37' Toshack  82'	32,363	Report	Report
24-Jan-76	Derby County	A	0–1		38,200	Report	Report

UEFA Cup

Main article: 1975–76 UEFA Cup

Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Report 1	Report 2
17-Sep-75	Hibernian	A	0–1		19,219	Report	Report
30-Sep-75	Hibernian	H	3–1	Toshack  21', 53', 64'	29,963	Report	Report
22-Oct-75	Real Sociedad	A	3–1	Heighway  20' Callaghan  61' Thompson  82'	16,256	Report	Report
04-Nov-75	Real Sociedad	H	6–0	Toshack  14' Kennedy  30', 75' Fairclough  72' Heighway  77' Neal  79'	23,796	Report	Report
26-Nov-75	Śląsk Wrocław	A	2–1	Kennedy  61' Toshack  75'	40,000	Report	Report
10-Dec-75	Śląsk Wrocław	H	3–0	Case  22', 30', 46'	17,886	Report	Report
03-Mar-76	Dynamo Dresden	A	0–0		32,182	Report	Report
17-Mar-76	Dynamo Dresden	H	2–1	Case  24' Keegan  47'	39,300	Report	Report
30-Mar-76	Barcelona	A	1–0	Toshack  13'	70,000	Report	Report
14-Apr-76	Barcelona	H	1–1	Thompson  50'	55,104	Report	Report

Final

Main article: 1976 UEFA Cup Final

First Leg

28 April 1976

19:30 BST

Liverpool	3–2	Club Brugge
Kennedy  59' Case  61' Keegan  65 Pen'	Report Report	Lambert  5' Cools  15'

Anfield, Liverpool

Attendance: 50,188

Referee: Ferdinand Biwersi (Germany)

Liverpool

Club Brugge

GK 1 Ray Clemence RB 2 Phil Neal LB 3 Tommy Smith CB 4 Phil Thompson LM 5 Ray Kennedy CB 6 Emlyn Hughes (c) ST 7 Kevin Keegan ST 8 David Fairclough RM 9 Steve Heighway ST 10 John Toshack  46' CM 11 Ian Callaghan Substitutes: MF 12 Jimmy Case  46' GK 13 Peter McDonnell DF 14 Joey Jones MF 15 Brian Hall MF 16 Terry McDermott Manager: Bob Paisley

GK 1 Birger Jensen RB 2 Fons Bastijns (c) CB 3 Eddie Krieger CB 4 Georges Leekens LB 5 Jos Volders MF 6 Julien Cools MF 7 René Vandereycken MF 8 Daniël de Cubber FW 9 Roger van Gool FW 10 Raoul Lambert FW 11 Ulrik le Fevre Substitutes: GK 12 Hugo Pieters RB 13 Norbert De Naeghel MF 14 Dirk Sanders FW 15 Konrad Holenstein FW 16 Dirk Hinderyckx Manager: Ernst Happel

Second Leg

19 May 1976

21:00 CEST

Club Brugge	1–1	Liverpool
Lambert  11 Pen'	Report Report	Keegan  15'

Olympiastadion, Brugge

Attendance: 29,423

Referee: Rudi Glöckner (East Germany)

Club Bruges

Liverpool

GK 1 Birger Jensen RB 2 Fons Bastijns (c) CB 3 Eddie Krieger CB 4 Georges Leekens LB 5 Jos Volders MF 6 Julien Cools MF 7 René Vandereycken MF 8 Daniël de Cubber  68' FW 9 Roger van Gool FW 10 Raoul Lambert  75' FW 11 Ulrik le Fevre Substitutes: GK 12 Hugo Pieters RB 13 Norbert De Naeghel FW 14 Dirk Hinderyckx  68' MF 15 Dirk Sanders  75' Manager: Ernst Happel

GK 1 Ray Clemence RB 2 Phil Neal LB 3 Tommy Smith CB 4 Phil Thompson LM 5 Ray Kennedy CB 6 Emlyn Hughes (c) ST 7 Kevin Keegan CM 8 Jimmy Case RM 9 Steve Heighway ST 10 John Toshack  62' CM 11 Ian Callaghan Substitutes: FW 12 David Fairclough  62' GK 13 Peter McDonnell DF 14 Joey Jones MF 15 Brian Hall MF 16 Terry McDermott Manager: Bob Paisley

References

1. http://www.englandstats.com/matches.php?mid=497

• LFC History.net – 1975–76 season
• Liverweb - 1975-76 Season