Honours Won : League Championship (1986), FA Cup (1986), Charity Shield: Shared (1986), League Championship (1988), Charity Shield (1988), FA Cup (1989), Charity Shield (1989), League Championship (1990), Charity Shield: Shared (1990)
Runner-up : League Cup (1987), League Championship (1987), FA Cup (1988), League Championship (1989)
Fagan handed over the reins to striker Kenny Dalglish, who had established himself as a world class player and now wanted to prove himself as a manager.
By the end of September the league table was being led by Manchester United (who had won all of their first 10 league games), with Liverpool nine points behind in second place. By Christmas, however, the gap between Liverpool and United had been narrowed to four points, with Everton – along with surprise title challengers West Ham United, Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday – close behind.. A home defeat by league leaders Everton in late February left Liverpool with an eight point gap to close. Eleven wins and a draw in the last twelve matches, meant the league title was finally sealed on the last day of the season as they won 1–0 at Chelsea. The winning goal by Kenny Dalglish ensured they finished two points ahead of runners-up Everton. Hopes of a unique domestic treble ended on 5 March when Liverpool were edged out of the League Cup in the semi-finals by Queen's Park Rangers, one of the First Division's least fancied sides. However, their FA Cup run, which included three victories after extra time, put Liverpool in the FA Cup final – where they took on Everton on 10 May. An early goal by Gary Lineker gave the blue half of Merseyside the lead, but the tables turned in the second half as Ian Rush scored twice and Craig Johnston hit the other goal as Liverpool ran out 3–1 winners to become only the third club of the 20th century (and the fifth since the formation of the Football League in 1888) to win the league title and FA Cup in the same season. It was a perfect first season in management for Kenny Dalglish, marred only by the fact that UEFA had voted for the ban on English clubs in European competitions to continue into the 1986–87 season, so there was no question of Liverpool being able to challenge for another European Cup triumph.
