The greatest football manager of all time - Gone but never forgotten
R.I.P. Bill - You'll never walk alone
R.I.P. Bill - You'll never walk alone
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April 15th 1989 is a day that all football fans should never forget. It was a day when 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives at a football match at Hillsborough.
Rest In Peace 96 - You'll Never Walk Alone -
I still believe this quote was tongue-in-cheek, however many people think otherwise. Can you imagine if Shanks had lived to see the horrors of Heysel and Hillsborough? The media would have ripped him apart for that quote….Originally posted by El Diego
The man was a true legend, the likes of which we will unfortunately never see again.
YNWA Shanks!Just when I discovered the meaning of life, they changed itComment
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That would be the 1971 final then - I was there, so thank you for the respect!Originally posted by El Diego
Scrappy game played in 80-odd degree temperature. There was officially 100,000 there but there must have been thousands more inside (mostly standing back then) as loads of people in the queue were slipping the bloke on the gate some money and jumping over the turnstile.
The trains were in chaos too and I remember we waited hours to get on one coming home and were promptly turfed off at either Crewe or Runcorn - can't remember which - and had to complete our journey by bus, arriving in Liverpool well after midnight. And we lost!Comment
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Originally posted by PhilHe made the people happy
RIP
I have this pic in my front room. RIP and YNWA. He was great!I live with Steptoe.Comment
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Originally posted by Redspin
I thought this pic was when we first won itI live with Steptoe.Comment
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Next to the Toby jugs and the swallows on the wall?Originally posted by MumsafanComment
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YNWA Shanks!
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
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Mr Liverpool ... YNWA ... RIP"Its not about the long ball or the short ball, its about the right ball." Bob PaisleyComment
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If it was when we won it in 65 I wasn't there, as I only went to my first game in the Cup Winners Cup against Juve at home in the October, but I'm sure the trains would have been in chaos anyway!Originally posted by MumsafanComment
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"For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son"Comment
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FAMOUS BILL SHANKLY QUOTES
"If you are first, you are first. If you are second, you are nothing."
The winning philosophy.
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."
The most famous of Shankly lines.
"Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple."
How Shankly's teams played.
"I'm just one of the people who stands on the Kop. They think the same as I do, and I think the same as they do. It's a kind of marriage of people who like each other."
Relationship with the fans.
"It's there to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing against."
On his famous 'This is Anfield' sign in the players' tunnel.
"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."
Shankly rejects suggestions he is not the romantic type.
"I only wanted him for the reserves anyway."
After failing to sign Lou Macari.
"The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game."
An oft-repeated remark.
"It was the most difficult thing in the world, when I went to tell the chairman. It was like walking to the electric chair. That's the way it felt."
On his resignation.It's my job to handle life and death situations on a daily basis. It's what I do, and I'm very good at it.Comment
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Here are some more....quality! The man must be even more quotable than Groucho himself!!
"My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility. Napoleon had that idea. He wanted to conquer the bloody world. I wanted Liverpool to be untouchable. My idea was to build Liverpool up and up until eventually everyone would have to submit and give in."
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"I don't think I was in a bath until I was 15 years old. I used to use a tub to wash myself. But out of poverty with a lot of people living in the same house, you get humour."
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"I'm a people's man - only the people matter"
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"My life is my work. My work is my life."
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"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."
Notes: at Dixie Dean's funeral
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"The problem with you, son, is that all your brains are in your head."
Notes: to a Liverpool trainee
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"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."
Notes: after beating Everton in the '71 FA Cup semi-final
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"I was the best manager in Britain because I was never devious or cheated anyone. I'd break my wife's legs if I played against her, but I'd never cheat her."
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"Liverpool was made for me and I was made for Liverpool."
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"This is a team of skill and character, with men eager and ready to do any job if it's for the benefit of the club."
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"The fans here are the greatest in the land. They know the game and they know what they want to see. The people on the Kop make you feel great - yet humble."
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"No one was asked to do more than anyone else...we were a team. We shared the ball, we shared the game, we shared the worries."
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"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."
Notes: on boardroom meetings
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"If he isn't named Footballer of the Year, football should be stopped and the men who picked any other player should be sent to the Kremlin."
Notes: on Tommy Smith
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"Fire in your belly comes from pride and passion in wearing the red shirt. We don't need to motivate players because each of them is responsible for the performance of the team as a whole. The status of Liverpool's players keeps them motivated."
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"Don't worry, Alan. At least you'll be able to play close to a great team!"
Notes: to Alan Ball, who'd just signed for Everton
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"He has football in his blood," the disappointed scout complained. "You may be right," Shankly said, "but it hasn't reached his legs yet."
Notes: after a scout told Shankly about a young player who he'd given a trial at Liverpool
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"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."
Notes: after being told that he had never experienced playing in a derby
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"Where are you from?" "I'm a Liverpool fan from London." "Well laddie ... What's it like to be in heaven?"
Notes: to a Liverpool fan
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"Aye, here we are with problems at the top of the league."
Notes: to the journalist suggesting Liverpool were in difficulties
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"100,000 wouldn't buy him.", Tommy Docherty said. "Yeah, I am one of the 100,000!", replied Shankly.
Notes: Shankly and Docherty discussing a player every other club coveted on sight
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"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 Anfield we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool reserves."
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"But that's where I live!"
Notes: to the Brussels hotel clerk who queried his signing 'Anfield' as his address on the hotel register
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"Just go out and drop a few hand grenades all over the place, son."
Notes: to Kevin Keegan
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"Take that poof bandage off, and what do you mean 'your' knee, it's Liverpool's knee!"
Notes: to Tommy Smith after he'd turned up for training with a bandaged knee
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"We absolutely annihilated England. It was a massacre. We beat them 5-4."
Notes: on a wartime England v Scotland match
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"Aye, Roger Hunt misses a few, but he gets in the right place to miss them."
Notes: to a reporter in the 60s
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"Anything off the top?", asked a barber in 1968. "Aye, Everton", replied Shankly.
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"Just tell them I completely disagree with everything they say."
Notes: to an interpreter regarding excited Italian journalists
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"The best side drew."
Notes: after a hard fought 1-1 draw
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"It's a 90 minute game for sure. In fact I used to train for a 180 minute game so that when the whistle blew at the end of the match I could have played another 90 minutes."
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"You son, could start a riot in a graveyard."
Notes: to Tommy Smith
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"I told this player, 'Listen Son, you haven't broken your leg. It's all in the mind.'"
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"Aye, watch it Bob, it's very greasy and treacherous out there. Very difficult for goalkeepers."
Notes: to Arsenal 'keeper Bob Wilson before the 1971 Cup Final
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"Sorry, boss, I should have kept my legs together.", said Lawrence. "No, Tommy, your mother should have kept her legs together!", replied Shankly.
Notes: after Tommy Lawrence had let in a fluke goal between his legs
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"If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I'd pull the curtains."
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"Son, you'll do well here as long as you remember two things. Don't over-eat and don't lose your accent."
Notes: on the day he signed Ian St John
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"What can you do, playing against eleven goalposts?"
Notes: after a 0-0 draw at Anfield
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"With him in defence, we could play Arthur Askey in goal."
Notes: after signing Ron Yeats
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"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."
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"If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be."
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"Although I'm a Scot, I'd be proud to be called a Scouser."
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"He's worse than the rain in Manchester. At least God stops the rain in Manchester occasionally."
Notes: about Brian Clough
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"He typifies everything that is good in football, and he has never changed. You could stake your life on Ian."
Notes: about Ian Callaghan
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"He's not just the best centre-forward in the British Isles, but the only one."
Notes: about Ian St John
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"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're Liverpool'."
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"When you get the ball, I want you to beat a couple of men and smash the ball into the net, just the same way you used to at Bury," said Shankly. Lindsay replied: "But Boss that wasn't me, it was Bobby Kerr." Shankly turned to Bob Paisley and said: "Christ Bob, we've signed the wrong player."
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"Laddie, that man scored 200 goals in 270 matches - an incredible record - and he has won cup after cup as a manager. When he talks, pin back your ears."
Notes: to a photographer who suggested Brian Clough was outspoken
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"It's great grass at Anfield, professional grass."
Notes: about Anfield
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"I've been a slave to football. It follows you home, it follows you everywhere, and eats into your family life. But every working man misses out on some things because of his job."
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"I was only in the game for the love of football - and I wanted to bring back happiness to the people of Liverpool."
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"A football team is like a piano. You need eight men to carry it and three who can play the damn thing."
Notes: Quoted by John Toshack in The Guardian 21 Jan 2006.
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"I have not been short of invitations to other clubs and have been received more warmly by Everton than I have by Liverpool."
Notes: After his retirement
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"Ladies and gentlemen, today we are joined by a man who ranks amongst the greatest there is; Shakespeare, Rembrandt and Bach. This man is Dixie Dean"
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"There's only two teams in Liverpool: Liverpool and Liverpool Reserves"Just when I discovered the meaning of life, they changed itComment
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RIP Shanks“If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.”Comment
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RIP Bill Shankly
Anyone know where I can get a decent Shankly Tee Shirt?Bill shankly to Tommy Smith after he'd turned up for training with a bandaged knee:
'Take that poof bandage off, and what do you mean YOUR knee, it's LIVERPOOL'S knee !'
"Sorry, boss, I should have kept my legs together," said Lawrence. "No, Tommy, your mother should have kept her legs together!," replied Shankly.
* After Tommy Lawrence had let in a fluke goal between his legsComment
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Originally posted by nobbylad
Get lost youI live with Steptoe.Comment
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