Ipswich Town 0–3 Liverpool: Dalglish doubles up at Portman Road
Graeme Souness opened the scoring and Kenny Dalglish added two as Liverpool made it two league wins from two at the start of 1978–79.
Liverpool · Season reference
1978–79
A historical reference entry. Original long-form writing appears in Articles.
- Manager
- Bob Paisley
- League / division
- First Division
- League finish
- Champions
- Top scorer
- Kenny Dalglish · 25 goalsAll competitive first-team matches
- Trophies won
- First Division
Season overview
Liverpool regained the First Division title with 68 points, eight ahead of Nottingham Forest. Bob Paisley’s side won 30 of their 42 league matches, scored 85 goals and conceded only 16. They were unbeaten at Anfield in the league, where opponents scored just four times.
Kenny Dalglish led the scoring with 25 goals in all competitions and was named the football writers’ Footballer of the Year. David Johnson contributed 18 goals, while Alan Kennedy arrived from Newcastle United. A 7–0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield was among the season’s outstanding league results.
The cups brought less success. Nottingham Forest ended Liverpool’s European Cup defence in the first round, and Anderlecht won the European Super Cup 4–3 on aggregate. Manchester United beat Liverpool in an FA Cup semi-final replay, while Sheffield United knocked them out of the League Cup in the second round.
Match reports
Explore 9 published reports from 1978–79, in match order.
Manchester City 1–4 Liverpool: Souness scores twice at Maine Road
Liverpool answered Brian Kidd's equaliser with three more goals to complete a third successive league win at the start of the season.
Nottingham Forest 2–0 Liverpool: Barrett doubles the damage
Garry Birtles put Forest ahead before Colin Barrett's late second left the European champions with a two-goal deficit to recover at Anfield.
Liverpool 0–0 Nottingham Forest: the European defence ends
Forest kept a second clean sheet against Liverpool to eliminate the holders and end their pursuit of a third successive European Cup.
Liverpool 5–0 Derby County: Kennedy and Dalglish score twice
Four second-half goals completed Liverpool's ninth league win in ten matches, with Ray Kennedy and Kenny Dalglish each scoring twice against Derby.
Manchester United 0–3 Liverpool: Fairclough crowns Boxing Day win
Ray Kennedy and Jimmy Case established a first-half lead before David Fairclough marked his first league start of the season with Liverpool's third.
Liverpool 6–0 Norwich City: three goals after the interval settle it
Kenny Dalglish and David Johnson scored twice each as Liverpool turned a narrow half-time lead into a six-goal victory over Norwich.
Liverpool 3–0 Aston Villa: an eleventh league title at Anfield
Alan Kennedy scored after 47 seconds as Liverpool beat Aston Villa to secure the championship with two matches remaining.
Leeds United 0–3 Liverpool: champions finish on 68 points
David Johnson scored twice at Elland Road as Liverpool completed their league season with 30 wins, 68 points and only 16 goals conceded.
Domestic cups
- FA Cup
- Semi-final — lost a replay 1–0 to Manchester United at Goodison Park after a 2–2 draw at Maine Road.
- League Cup
- Second round — lost 1–0 away to Sheffield United.
Europe
- European Cup
- First round — lost 2–0 on aggregate to Nottingham Forest, losing 2–0 away and drawing 0–0 at home.
- European Super Cup
- Runners-up — lost 4–3 on aggregate to Anderlecht, losing 3–1 away and winning 2–1 at home.
Key players
- Kenny Dalglish
- Ray Kennedy
- Phil Neal
- Graeme Souness
- Ray Clemence
- Phil Thompson
- Terry McDermott
- Jimmy Case
- Alan Kennedy
- Alan Hansen
- Steve Heighway
- David Johnson
Transfers
Significant senior moves. Fees are included only where established reliably; summer arrivals are grouped with the campaign they joined.
Transfers in
- Alan KennedyFrom Newcastle UnitedPermanent transfer
Joined in August 1978.
- Kevin SheedyFrom Hereford UnitedPermanent transfer
June 1978 signing, allocated to the incoming campaign.
- Frank McGarveyFrom St MirrenPermanent transfer
Signed in May 1979.
Transfers out
- Tommy SmithTo Swansea CityFree transfer
Left in August 1978.
- Ian CallaghanTo Swansea CityFree transfer
Left in September 1978.
- Joey JonesTo WrexhamPermanent transfer
Left in October 1978.
Important connections
Seven against Tottenham
Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur 7–0 at Anfield.
The league campaign completed
Liverpool won their final league fixture 3–0 at Leeds United and finished with 68 points.
In the History Explorer
Bob Paisley · 1974–1983Related seasons
1977–78Sources & historical notes
Researched and checked 13 September 2026. These sources support this season’s statistics, transfers and historical account. Key players are an editorial selection.
- Liverpool FC: Bob Paisley, manager Manager from 1974 to 1983; first-season runners-up finish, the 1976 double, 1977 European Cup and 1979 league record.
- RSSSF: Football League 1978-79 Final First Division standings, points, wins, draws, defeats and goals for and against.
- LFChistory: 1978-79 results Competitive fixture dates, scores, venues and cup rounds; supports the competition results and dated match events.
- LFChistory: 1978-79 goalscorers Leading competitive scorer and goals by competition, excluding friendlies.
- LFChistory: 1978-79 transfers Listed incoming and outgoing transfers, clubs and chronology. Summer moves follow the incoming-campaign convention.
- LFChistory: 1978-79 appearances First-team involvement supporting the editorial key-player selection.
- Liverpool FC: Kenny Dalglish Joined from Celtic in August 1977 for £440,000 after Keegan left for Hamburg; led scoring with 31 goals in his first season including the 1978 European Cup winner; Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year in 1979.
- Liverpool FC: UEFA Super Cup First won on 6 December 1977, following 1–1 away and 6–0 home results against Hamburg; McDermott hat-trick. Anderlecht won the following edition 4–3 on aggregate.
- Liverpool FC: Alan Kennedy Joined from Newcastle United in 1978; won the league in his first season.
- Liverpool FC: David Johnson Eighteen goals in all competitions in 1978–79.
- Liverpool FC: Alan Hansen Part of the defence that conceded 16 goals in 42 league matches in 1978–79.
- 11v11: Liverpool players, 1978-79 Independent corroboration of Kenny Dalglish as leading scorer with 25 competitive goals. Other player totals are not used.
Notes on the record
The 68 points were earned under two points for a win; they should not be compared directly with modern three-point totals. League totals combine the home and away columns in the RSSSF table.
The December 1978 Super Cup belongs to this campaign. Sheedy’s June 1978 arrival is grouped with 1978–79; McGarvey’s May 1979 signing remains here because the league campaign was still in progress. Emlyn Hughes’s later departure must be considered with the following season.
Overview evidence: paragraph 1 — rsssf-league, lfc-paisley and lfc-hansen; paragraph 2 — lfch-scorers, lfc-dalglish, lfc-johnson, lfc-alan, lfch-transfers and lfch-games; paragraph 3 — lfch-games and lfc-super.
11v11 agrees on the leading scorer but differs from LFChistory on some other player totals. Those disputed figures are not published; 11v11 is used only to corroborate the leading scorer.