When Liverpool won the League Cup in the midst of their worst run of form in the League in over half a century, the topic of exactly what would constitute a successful season for the club began to come up. With a second chance at silverware on the horizon and any chance of Champions League qualification miles back in the rearview mirror, the question seems more relevant than ever. So today we want to know what you think: Would winning the FA Cup make this a successful season for Liverpool Football Club regardless of anything else?
For some the answer will be a resounding yes, as if the club exists to win trophies then what could winning two of them be if not success? Those same people would likely also point with some justification to the fact that nobody's ever been given a winner's medal for finishing fourth in the league, while it's not entirely unreasonable to suggest that a pair of trophies and Europa League qualification at a time when Europe's second competition is enjoying its best season in recent memory could be enough to attract talent that might normally only consider going to a side in the top four.
On the other hand, all of that will rely too much on speculation and hope for some, who will point to the club's stated preseason goal of a top four finish and work from there. After all, no matter how good the Europa League may have been this season, few will be under any illusions as to its respect when sat next to its more prestigious brother in the minds of the world's top footballers. Plus, one of the trophies Liverpool will have won this season if they do manage to do the domestic cup double will have been League Cup, a competition that barely registers for the average fan.
For those people the main concern will be the club's longer term chances of success, and heading into another season without Champions League action speaks to a very real fear of Liverpool becoming stranded mid-table for years to come in a league on its downward swing. European football is cyclical, and after a near decade of dominance the last few seasons have seen England's continental dominance begin to wane. This will begin to make attracting top non-British talent more difficult even for the sides near the top, and for a club on the outside looking in for too many seasons it could make the climb back into the European elite all but impossible—and with that, any reasonable hope of winning the league in the foreseeable future would disappear.
And of course between the two entrenched opposites there is always a middle ground for those who want to cheat a bit and take the easy route out with a noncommittal answer. Still, sometimes being the easy answer doesn't make it the wrong answer. Domestic cups may not rank with the European variety or winning the league, but they're still a genuine, worthwhile achievement. And though each year out of the top four does make getting back in harder—and as such does make a realistic chance of a title run all the harder—in players like Lucas, Agger, Skrtel, and Suarez the club has a strong core of players in their prime that will hopefully mean the added obstacle posed by another year out won't prove insurmountable.
So leave your vote, and let us know your full thoughts in the comments.