Liverpool are one of the biggest football clubs on the planet. Even the best clubs go through bad spells though, and Liverpool are no different. Which raises a question some fans might not even want to consider, have Liverpool ever been relegated?
Relegation isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. Football has a way of catching even the greatest clubs off guard. In this article, we’ve taken a look through Liverpool’s history to see how many times the club was relegated.
How Many Times Have Liverpool Been Relegated?
Yes, Liverpool have been relegated three times in their history. Here are all the seasons where Liverpool couldn’t stay in the top flight.
- 1953–54 season
- 1903–04 season
- 1894–95 season
Now, it’s worth addressing something. Some sources will tell you Liverpool have never been relegated. That’s technically true since the Premier League was formed in 1992. Liverpool is one of only six clubs to have played in every single Premier League season. However, Liverpool have been relegated before from the old First Division on three separate occasions, just not in the Premier League era.
Overall, the last time Liverpool were relegated was back in the 1953–54 season, over 70 years ago. In the meantime, decades of success have turned the club into a global institution and Liverpool boast one of the largest fanbases in world football. That level of sustained success is also reflected in the betting markets, where Liverpool often enter competitions as favourites. As a result, comparing prices across bookmakers has become a common part of analysing their matches, with tools like Boostfinder by BookiesBonuses used to highlight the best odds.
For every club that drops down a division and recovers quickly, there are plenty of others that never return to the top flight at all. Relegation can trigger a spiral that’s hard to stop. Liverpool actually handled their relegations well by historical standards. Each time they went down, they came back up relatively quickly.
It’s worth remembering that even a club with Liverpool’s resources and history spent eight years in the Second Division after their 1954 relegation. Toward the end of this era, Bill Shankly took the reins and rebuilt the soul of Liverpool.
Shankly’s arrival changed everything. He cleared out the squad, brought in the right players, and within a few years had turned Liverpool into one of the most dominant forces in English football. For most clubs, relegation can take years to recover from. Liverpool are one of the rare examples of a club that bounced back every single time.
Relegation doesn’t have to be the end of the story, but it does take the right people, the right decisions, and a bit of luck to turn things around.
