Footballing Greats: William 'Bill' Shankly - The Legacy

 

Bill Shankly retired from all forms of football in 1974 with his outstanding dignity intact.

Right from the start as a manager, I tried to show that the fans are the people that matter. You’ve got to know how to treat them; have them on your side”

Shankly’s relationship with his fans was extremely important to him. While managing Carlisle, he used to speak to them over the PA system instead of a few lines in a match day programme – something that would be seen as diverse in this day and age. He explained the team,strategy and any information he felt they would like to know. He was a man of the people.

I’m a people’s man – only the people matter”

While at Workington, as well as being administrator, managing the club and sorting out finances; Shankly would work around the clock to reply to fans letters that he had been sent. He used an old typewriter and would readily obtain match tickets and distribute them to those he felt were deserved.

Liverpool was the pinnacle of his career. He exclaimed while manager of the club:

In all sincerity, I can say that they are the greatest crowd of supporters in the game”

In 1973, his Liverpool side were parading their League trophy at Anfield when a scarf was thrown on to the pitch, Shankly spotted a policeman flinging it aside so Shankly confronted him and quipped:

Don’t do that. It’s precious”

Shankly went on to wear the scarf for the remainder of the parade.

Another remarkable incident occurred after the 1974 FA Cup final victory. Two overwhelmed Liverpool fans broke onto the pitch and kissed the feet of Bill Shankly, who claimed they were just happy that their team had won the trophy.

Although I’m a Scot, I’d be proud to be called a Scouser.”

His incredible wit seemed lost on the media at times. After a journalist pointed out that he had never been involved in a Merseyside derby, Shankly retorted:

Nonsense! I’ve kicked every ball, headed out every cross. I once scored a hat-trick; one was lucky, but the others were great goals.”

During an interview with excited Italian press, Shankly told his interpreter:

Tell them I disagree with everything they say”

His retirement was announced soon after that special moment. He claims he felt his time was up went he re-entered the changing rooms, quoting that he could leave Liverpool after a job well done and only one regret – not winning the European Cup. The months following his exit from the beautiful game, Shankly sighed:

I cannae live without my daily fix of football!”

Although there was possible talk of a u-turn from him for the following season, nothing prevailed.
Shankly loved the club and the game so much that he tried to get into Liverpool once again. He used to turn up to training at Melwood however, some months later, he began to feel resented.

The club had become my life, but I wasn’t given the choice”

In his autobiography, he once stated about Liverpool’s Merseyside rivals:

I have been received more warmly by Everton than I have by Liverpool. It is a scandal that I must write these words about the club I helped to build”

Nothing hurt the man more than praising Everton, but he had the respect and dignity about him that he would give praise when praise was due. Something many of us find very difficult.

Bill Shankly wished upon a role on the club’s board, following in Sir Matt Busby’s footsteps who joined the Manchester United board in 1969. However, this ambition never came to pass due to an acrimonious relationship with the board and also an untimely line from Shankly:

At a football club, there’s a holy trinity – the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don’t come into it. They are only there to sign the cheques”

He was unsuprisingly refused membership. Liverpool’s view was that the club needed to move on, and with Manchester United being relegated a few years later with Busby on the Directors list, it seems the decision was made. The boards perceived ‘ruthlessness’ was vindicated when Liverpool went on to become England’s most successful club after hauling many league championships and European Cups just seasons later.
Shankly lived ‘just a stone’s throw away’ from Everton’s training ground, Bellefield in West Derby. After Shankly’s death in 1981, his wife Nessie lived there until her passing in 2002. Bill was awarded an OBE in November 1974 and a trip for the couple down to Buckingham Palace was said to be ‘a rare day out’.

Shankly kept actively involved in the community. He worked for local radio, Radio City 96.7 and took up advisory roles at Wrexham and Tranmere Rovers. John Toshack recalled that he was a great help when the Welshman took over management at Swansea City. To keep fit, if there was nothing else to do, Shankly used to join youngsters on the nearby park for a kickabout.

On Saturday 26th September 1981, he admitted to Broadgreen Hospital with a heart attack. With his health seemingly stable, many felt he would pull through, yet on the following Monday, his health deteriorated and the day after, at 01:20, he was pronounced dead after suffering a cardiac arrest. Upon his wishes before he died, he was cremated at the Anfield Crematorium and his ashes scattered on the Anfield turf at the Kop End, where thousands of his adoring fans would stand and watch him conduct his play.

Shankly’s passing shook the world. The Labour party stood in a minutes silence for a man who was always a ‘socialist’. Famously, Sir Matt Busby was so distraught; he refused to take any phone calls and tributes poured in from around the globe. Training at Melwood and Bellefield was cancelled and Liverpool Chairman, summed the man up perfectly:

HE WAS THE MOST OUTSTANDING AND DYNAMIC MANAGER OF THE CENTURY”

In honour of the great man, a 7ft statue of Shankly was erected outside Anfield in addition to 15ft ‘Shankly Gates’ in front of the Anfield Road End stand. They were opened by lifelong companion, Nessie Shankly in a low key affair in August 1982.
When Preston decided on revamping Deepdale to an all-seater stadium in 1998, the Spion Kop end was replaced by the Bill Shankly Kop with different coloured seats resembling the great man’s face and shoulders. In one final honour, Shankly was made inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002; recognizing his mammoth impact on the game as manager.

In Stephen Kelly’s 1997 biography of Shankly, he describes him as:

The ultimate obsessive”

A football fanatic and that was all he wanted to do – talk about the game. Nessie recalled how they used to spend time together in the garden; mowing, weeding and just relaxing and how she could always rely on him to ‘clean the cooker when Liverpool lost’. Annual holidays were restricted to a pleasant week in Blackpool were they would always reside in The Norbreck Castle Hotel.
Noted for his outrageous personality and unrivalled wit, his most famous quote, is often mis-interpreted:

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”

Thinking back to his Scottish Football days, Shankly recalled:

Fortunately there is nothing like the Rangers-Celtic situation in Liverpool because the supporters of Liverpool and Everton are a mixed bunch whose religion is football”

Bill had no time for prejudice or bigotry stemming from a person’s ethics or religion.

His charisma represents that of a ‘tough guy’ however, Bob Paisley said that Shankly had one failure –

He was a big softie at heart”

When asked how he would like to be remembered, Shankly replied:

Basically as an honest man in a game that is sometimes short on honesty. That I’ve been working honestly for the people of Liverpool to try and give them entertainment”

William ‘Bill’ Shankly will never be forgotten for his services to English football as well as to the fortunate clubs he managed. His awesome charisma coupled with outstanding quotes will make him an idol for many people – football related or not. He carried Liverpool from the depths of being threatened with demotion from the Second Division to the dizzy heights of European football.

I was only in the game for the love of football – and I wanted to bring back happiness to the people of Liverpool”

He always aimed high, believing:

If you are first, you are first. If you are second, you are nothing”

He will always be remembered as possibly Liverpool’s greatest manager of all time – well up there with Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish. But in modern times, who is the new Bill Shankly?

In this day and age, we are always looking for comparisons to past players/managers so we can see what to expect. The trouble with Shankly is, he was so unique, original. Many will attempt to compare him with Sir Alex Ferguson. Of course, Ferguson is unique and brilliant in his own way, there’s no denying that. On evaluation, the Manchester United boss is very successful in terms of trophies and will also be written down in history. In 10 possibly 15 years, they will perhaps being remembered equally, as stalwarts and iconic figures of their respective clubs; maybe it’s me being biased, however, I believe Bill Shankly has scratched his name deeper into people hearts than that of Ferguson.

Athletic Bilbao coach, Marcelo Bielsa is a name that springs to mind. His eccentric personality yet outstanding style of play and management makes him a strong contender for ‘Bill Shankly of the 21st Century’.

Bielsa has been dubbed the most innovative coach around these days, Roberto Ayala, former Argentina captain states “Sometimes we wouldn’t see any of the strikers, because he’d have them training at a different time, and it was the same with the midfielders. He’s an innovator, and one of the people who I’ve learned most from during my career.”

Bielsa is also know for saying, “every section of the media should get the same attention from me, from the capital’s most prominent  TV channel to the smallest newspaper in the provinces”

But in terms of comparison of managers, no modern day day really comes close to Bill Shankly. He was a one off, unique and no doubt, a football legend. With unerring charisma and exceptional wit, Shankly built Liverpool Football Club – from the murky depths of Division Two, to the lofty heights if English supremacy and tantalizingly close to ruling Europe.

Bill Shankly, a troublesome fella to sum up, so I’ll let him do it himself:

Above all, I would like to be remembered as a man who was selfless, who strove and worried so that others could share the glory, and who built up a family of people who could hold their heads up high and say “We are Liverpool.”