Perched

Champions! After a 30-year wait, Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool won the English league title quicker than anyone in history, with seven games still to play; and with those final games played only after the season was almost cancelled in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Reds absolutely smashed the opposition, racking up a record-breaking 25-point lead during the run-in, adding the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup to the Champions League of 2019, before confirming the championship to get the club back on its perch in 2020.This book takes a look at the games, the players and management team, tactics and transfer policies, ownership and innovations, and the myriad facets that came together to make this Liverpool team - reigning European champions, with stars like Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané and captain Jordan Henderson - ranked the 4th-best in the history of football.About the author: Paul Tomkins is the author of over a dozen football books, an academic paper on the role football finances play in success, and the novel The Girl on the Pier. In addition, he was a columnist on the official Liverpool website between 2005 and 2012. In 2009 he set up the website The Tomkins Times.Praise for the work of Paul Tomkins and The Tomkins Times:"[Paul Tomkins' work is] ... phenomenal. Absolutely quintessential reading for Liverpool fans."The Redmen TV"The Tomkins Times is an indispensable website whose diagnosis of all things Liverpool is beyond compare."LFCHistory.net"The best Liverpool FC writer, bar none."Vic Gill, Bill Shankly's son-in-law and former LFC trainee."Perhaps the most intelligent guide to LFC available on the internet."The Independent on Sunday"Gold-dust analysis"John Sinnott, BBC"[Football analysis] is best left to the professionals, like the admirable Mr Tomkins."The Daily Telegraph"An ingenious and intelligent look beneath the surface to reveal what the headlines too often don't tell us. Fascinating."Jonathan Wilson"Another triumph of impeccable research, Pay As You Play brings much-needed factual insight to a discussion previously dominated by half-truths."Oliver Kay, The Times"Liverpool do happen to be blessed with supporters whose statistical analysis provides a lucid interpretation of where the club's strengths and weaknesses lie, accessible through the Tomkins Times website."The Independent