Paul Tomkins

London Skies

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

Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool FC - Champions of Everything

Perched

Abandoned time and again by those he holds dear, Patrick Clement is forging a reputation as a forensic sculptor, helping to identify the unclaimed missing. But he can’t leave behind a remarkable summer night in 1993, spent alone on Brighton’s derelict West Pier with Black, a beautiful photography student. Patrick is haunted by the fact that no sooner did he get to know her than she disappeared from his life... Who is this girl? And where is Black, the one who got away? Decades on, while at work, Patrick is tasked with reconstructing the skull of an unidentified girl found on the pier in the 1970s – the pier he still thinks about. A crime he recalls from childhood, when his family life was in turmoil, Patrick works to discover the truth behind what has happened. Set in Brighton, The Girl on the Pier spans several decades, from the seventies to the present day. Inspired by literary novelists such as Ian McEwan, Anne Tyler and John Updike, Paul uses vivid images to make the reader feel as though they are right there in the story. The Girl on the Pier will appeal to lovers of psychological thrillers and suspense novels.

The Girl on the Pier

Jonathan Swain

Despite having to cope with the departure of Michael Owen, as well as an unprecedented injury list, Rafael Benitez brought the European Cup back to Liverpool in his first season in charge. This is the full story, written as the season unfolds.

Liverpool FC: Champions of Europe 2005

Golden Past, Red Future

Above Us Only Sky

Graeme Riley

'These Turbulent Times' gathers together the best articles to appear on the award-winning Tomkins Times website since its inception in 2009, covering all aspects of Liverpool FC's fortunes in that time. The analysis encompasses a wide range of styles and approaches, including straight opinion pieces; historical reporting on major events; in-depth tactical reviews; professional data analysis on a number of statistical issues; legal issues courtesy of a prominent football lawyer; and exclusive interviews with key personnel at the club. It includes many pieces that have only previously appeared behind the site's paywall.

The True Price of Success in the Premier League Era

Pay as You Play

Andrew Beasley

Daniel Rhodes

Chris Rowland

Irrespective of the outcome of a controversial Champions League final, 2017/18 had already proved an historic and scintillating season in Europe for Liverpool FC; smashing the competition's record for the most goals in a single season, as the Reds racked up almost 50. As money increasingly dominates the Premier League landscape, Jürgen Klopp proved once again that he can take undervalued resources and create a thrilling team, centred around the joyous interplay of Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané.Liverpool were 40-1 outsiders at the outset, with a team of misfits, rejects, journeymen and discards, who, it transpired, just needed the right coaching and direction. This is the story of an eventful season, with a slow, difficult start, and where, at the halfway point, the club was forced to sell its 'best' player, yet went from strength to strength. Boom! is the story of this exciting campaign as told in rich and varied ways by fans at the games, and by The Tomkins Times' coterie of acclaimed writers and authors. 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".Chris Rowland is the editor of The Tomkins Times, and the author of "From Where I Was Standing: A Liverpool Supporter's View of the Heysel Stadium Tragedy" Daniel Rhodes, deputy editor of TTT, has edited several of The Tomkins Times' books, and contributes to the Anfield Index podcast.Andrew Beasley is a freelance football writer who has written for several leading football websites, and been part of TTT since its inception in 2009."The Tomkins Times is an indispensable website whose diagnosis of all things Liverpool is beyond compare." LFCHistory.com

How Jürgen Klopp's Explosive Liverpool Thrilled Europe

Boom!

Rafa Benitez's Liverpool Revolution

Red Revival

Fireworks fizzed and popped and sprayed as the phalanx of scarlet coaches inched along the streets. Flares and smoke bombs spread a red mist across Merseyside, explosions of sparkling confetti shot again and again from an air cannon into the blue skies, as the best part of a million Liverpool fans thronged the route, sitting astride traffic lights and hanging out of windows, risking life and limb to get a glimpse of the returning heroes. Jurgen Klopp, lager bottle in hand - one leg slung over the back of the open-top bus - looked at his clenched fists, then extended one finger, then two - until, one by one, he had counted to six. Another huge grin in the pyro glow, before, half-cut, he almost fell off the back of the bus.Liverpool Football Club, Champions of Europe. For a sixth time.This is the story of how Liverpool went from no-hopers in 2015 to the kings of Europe four years later.* * *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 Paul Tomkins and The Tomkins Times: "Phenomenal. Absolutely quintessential reading for Liverpool fans." Redmen TV."The Tomkins Times is an indispensable website whose diagnosis of all things Liverpool is beyond compare." LFCHistory.net"Perhaps the most intelligent guide to LFC available on the internet." The Independent on Sunday"Golddust analysis", John Sinnott, BBC"[Football analysis] is best left to the professionals, like the admirable Mr Tomkins." The Daily Telegraph.

Paul Tomkins

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