Although Liverpool are often associated with their ‘local boys’ more than anything, it must be said that the club owes a great deal of gratitude to our friends north of the border.
As much as Steven Gerrard exemplified the spirit of the Liverpool lad living out his boyhood dreams before our very eyes, it was Kenny Dalglish that became the king of the Kop, despite his Scottish roots.
It seems for every Jamie Carragher and Phil Thompson, there has always been a counterpart in the North.
I suppose it’s fitting, then, that Liverpool’s ultimate icon came from a small village in East Ayrshire.
The club that we support has a heritage built on the names of the legends that have come before, and there are many. However, only one is immortalised in bronze.
Bob Paisley was the man that led the club into its most successful era, a time where Liverpool were arguably alone at the summit of world football, but it’s often said that even Bob would have struggled without the groundwork that was put down by his predecessor.
When Bill Shankly took over the Reds, they were a languishing second division side, desperately searching for relevance. Fifteen years later, they were on the brink of greatness.
Bill Shankly is Liverpool.
The man just had an aura about him that is near impossible to replicate in the modern game. Tactics aside, it was Shanks’ personality that the fans loved. A mixture of quick Scottish wit and overwhelming pride in his position at the helm of Liverpool FC made him a formidable force, and his outbursts are the stuff of legend.
Brian Clough and Jose Mourinho are two managers that have attempted to follow the blueprint, but even they struggled to live up to the character that was Bill Shankly. Here’s a selection of his greatest quotes (via myliverpoolfc.org):
“A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are. In my time at Liverpool we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool Reserves.”
“If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I’d pull the curtains.”
“For a player to be good enough to play for Liverpool, he must be prepared to run through a brick wall for me then come out fighting on the other side.”
After Liverpool’s victory over Everton in the 1971 FA Cup semi-final: “Sickness would not have kept me away from this one. If I’d been dead, I would have had them bring the casket to the ground, prop it up in the stands and cut a hole in the lid.”
“If you are first you are first. If you are second, you are nothing.”
On Brian Clough: “He’s worse than the rain in Manchester. At least the rain in Manchester stops occasionally.”
“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.”
Happy birthday, Shanks!
