For Ronny Rosenthal, it all happened so quickly. One moment, he was out of favour at Standard Liege. Then, he was on trial at Hibernian and Luton Town. Then, out of nowhere, came a call from his agent, telling him Liverpool — the mighty Liverpool — wanted a look at him.

He was viewed with suspicion at first, “coming from third-world football in Israel and Belgium to Liverpool, a club of stars”, but throughout a 10-day trial, he made enough of an impression to persuade Kenny Dalglish to take a punt. If they were going to overhaul Aston Villa in the title race, they needed fresh impetus. A deal was concluded on transfer deadline day. Rosenthal was, to his amazement, a Liverpool player.

Liverpool had just lost at Tottenham Hotspur and were trailing at home to Southampton with 20 minutes to go when Dalglish released his secret weapon. Square-shouldered with a direct running style, Rosenthal immediately got the Kop on his side as he helped to turn a...

While protestors rioted over the government’s proposed Poll Tax scheme, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was in the final throes of her premiership that would ultimately end in November of that year.

As Madonna topped the U.K. pop charts with ‘Vogue’ on Saturday 28 April, Liverpool welcomed Queens Park Rangers to Anfield with English football’s No.1 three points away from a record 18th league title.

In a season that was played out in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster, the club and the city were still coming to terms with the tragedy that claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans. And having dramatically conceded the championship to Arsenal in the final game of the 1988-89 campaign, Kenny Dalglish’s side put their on-pitch disappointments behind them to lead the First Division table for the majority of 1989-90.

After just one defeat in 20 games, QPR stood between victory and a return of the trophy that had become an almost permanent fixture in the Anfield trophy cabinet. But the visitors took a shock 14th-minute lead through Roy Wegerle and for a period it would seem that the R’s would spoil proceedings.

Eventually, normal service resumed five minutes before half-time as Ian Rush’s near-post effort flashed past David Seaman to pull Liverpool level. In the second half, a fortuitous penalty award gave John Barnes the chance to put the hosts in front which he duly took to make it 2-1.

Despite a nervy finish, victory coupled with nearest challengers Aston Villa’s 3-3 draw with Norwich sealed Liverpool’s status as champions once again with two games to spare. Victory also secured Dalglish’s third league title as manager, and the club’s 10th in the previous 15 seasons to reaffirm their grip on English football. But 1990 was to mark the end of Liverpool’s dominance and usher in a period of rapid decline.

It was a different story this season as Jurgen Klopp’s side stormed to a 25-point lead in the Premier League and were two wins away from ending the club’s longest title drought. Yet just as glory was in sight, the suspension of football due to the coronavirus pandemic has put all possible celebrations on hold and an anxious wait for those affiliated with the red half of Merseyside now ensues.

Speaking on Liverpool: 30 Years of Hurt – Barnes admits he didn’t appreciate the significance that title triumph would have in years to come

The ex-Reds midfielder said: “Obviously with hindsight and looking back, I won’t say it would have meant more to me, but I probably would have savoured it more because of course at the time we didn’t think we were never going to do it again for 30 years.”

For the time being, the wait goes on as Reds fans everywhere have hope in their hearts a fantastic season will get the ending they’ve dreamed of for three decades.

Liverpool: 30 Years of Hurt premieres as part of a special themed day dedicated to all things Liverpool FC.

Liverpool.