 |
| Shanks in front of an adoring Spion Kop |
On this day in 1913 Bill Shankly was born in Glenbuck Scotland. He played for Cronberry Englington, Carlisle Utd and Preston North End and was manager at Carlisle Utd, Grimbsby, Workington and Huddersfield before arriving at his spiritual home Anfield in 1959.
When Bill Shankly arrived at Anfield in 1959, Liverpool were in the second division and going nowhere. The training ground, Melwood was a shambles and Anfield was not a pretty sight. With Roger Hunt and Ian St. John Scoring goals and Ron Yeats in defence Liverpool won promotion back to the old 1st division in the 61-62 season. In 63-64 Shankly delivered the League Title with a side which still contained the nucleus of the side which had gained promotion 2 years previously.
To summarise Bill Shankly's contribution to Liverpool I will use the words of Bob Paisley: "One man transformed Liverpool from a run-of-the-mill Second Division team into the greatest team in the world. That man, of course, was Bill Shankly. His philosophy was simple; If you are going to to play football, you play to win. While he was the making of Liverpool, there is no doubt that Anfield was the making of Bill Shankly. His character, his own enthusiasm, his will to win were so infectious."
This is just intended to be a short tribute to the great man.
MANAGERIAL RECORD:
League Matches: 609
Won: 319
Drawn: 152
Lost: 138
Best Placing:
1st in Division 1 1963/64, 1965/66 and 1972/73
HONOURS:
1961-62 - Division 2 champions
1963-64 - Division 1 champions
1964-65 - F.A. Cup Winners
1965-66 - Division 1 champions, European Cup-Winners-Cup finalists
1970-71 - F.A. Cup finalists
1972-73 - Division 1 champions, UEFA Cup winners
1973-74 - F.A. Cup winners
ANECDOTES:
IAN ST JOHN - Liverpool 1961-1971
I could confirm a thousand times the Shankly caricature. I was around, for example, one day when he took a bemused reporter into a toilet cubicle in the new dressing room at Anfield, pulled the chain and said: 'You know it refills in 15 seconds . . . it’s a world record.'"
-----------------------------------------
TOMMY SMITH
"I was trying to get fit and Shanks caught me in the medical room at Anfield with Joe Fagan shaving my leg preparatory to strapping it up. Shanks said, 'What the hell are you doing?' I said, 'I want to play, so Joe's strapping my leg.' He said, 'Don't be daft. You're not playing. Get off that table!' After a bit of an argument, I said, 'I am playing. It's my leg.' Straight away he answers back, 'It's not YOUR bloody leg. It's LIVERPOOL FC's leg. And you're bloody not playing!'"
-----------------------------------------
GEORGE BEST - Man Utd and Northern Ireland legend
"In 1967, we arrived at Anfield to play Liverpool and as I glanced out of the window of the coach I saw Bill Shankly standing at the main entrance. I was the first player to alight from the coach and when I reached the entrance Bill shook my hand warmly. 'Good to see you again, George,' he said. 'You're looking well, son.'
This was unusual for him, and knowing Shanks to be a wily old fox, I decided to hang around to try to find out what he was up to. As each of the United players entered Anfield, Shanks shook his hand, welcomed him and told him how good he looked. Eventually, Bobby Charlton, a born worrier, came up to Shanks.
'Bobby, son. Good to see you,' Shanks said, shaking his hand. 'But by God, if ever there was a man who looked ill, it's you, Bobby!'
Bobby's face went as colourless as an icicle. 'Ill? I look ill?' he repeated, running the fingers of his right hand over his forehead and down his right cheek. He was visibly shaken.
'Aye, Bobby, son. You look like you're sickening for something. If I were you I'd see a doctor as soon as you set foot back in Manchester.' Shanks patted Bobby on the back and took off down the corridor, leaving him trembling in the foyer.
In the dressing room, Bobby was conspicious by his absence and, ominously, there was a delay in announcing the team. We sat around kicking our heels, no one daring to get changed in case Matt Busby had a tactical plan which meant leaving one of us out. The thought of getting changed only to be told to put your clothes back on because you're not in the team is a player's nightmare.
Eventually Matt Busby entered the dressing room with Jimmy Murphy and told us they had reshuffled the team which had beaten West Ham the previous week. Bobby Charlton was unavailable. He'd suddenly been taken ill."
-----------------------------------------
PETER THOMPSON
One day Shanks called me into his office. As I walked in, he began swearing and saying how disappointed he was in me. I was shocked, because I had been doing exceptionally well and the team had been winning. He agreed that I was playing brilliantly and I was now more bemused, until he said, ‘I’ve just heard that you’ve got a blue car, bloody sell it!”
QUOTES:
The famous Chris Lawler story
"The only time Chris Lawler was injured was when Tommy Smith 'did' him in a five-a-side match at Melwood. We had just got the pitch levelled and Tommy, who was younger than Chris, caught him with the sole of his boot. Chris' ankle went up like a balloon, but he was only out of action for ten days.
It was around this time we were due to play Anderlecht and one day we were playing a five-a-side game and Chris, still injured was watching. The boys called Chris 'Silent Knight' because he had so little to say for himself. My team in the five-a-side was claiming a goal and I said, 'Just hold on. Chris, you were watching.' 'Yes', he said. 'Speak up, Chris,' I said, 'I can't hear you. Did you think that was a goal, Chris?' 'No, he said.' 'Good God, Chris,' I said, 'this is the first time I've heard you speak to me and you tell me a bloody lie!'"
-----------------------------------------
"Of course I didn't take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present.It was her birthday. Would I have got married in the football season? Anyway,it was Rochdale reserves."
-----------------------------------------
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."
-----------------------------------------
"If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be."
-----------------------------------------
"If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I'd pull the curtains."
-----------------------------------------
About the "This is Anfield" plaque:
"It's there to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing against."
-----------------------------------------
To Alan Ball, who'd just signed for Everton:
"Don't worry, Alan. At least you'll be able to play close to a great team!"
-----------------------------------------
At Dixie Dean's funeral:
"I know this is a sad occasion but I think that Dixie would be amazed to know that even in death he could draw a bigger crowd than Everton can on a Saturday Afternoon."
This information has mostly been taken from the excellent http://www.shankly.com/ which contains a biography and basically anything you could wish to know about the great man, including many, many more excellent quotes, anecdotes and tributes
No comments:
Post a Comment