'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'... As Liverpool (and Preston) toast Bill Shankly's 100th birthday, Golden Years remembers the great Scot
British football has been blessed with some magnificent managers and the likes of Sir Matt Busby, Jock Stein, Brian Clough and Sir Alex Ferguson have become legends thanks to their success and charisma.
BIll Shankly deserves his place in that company, for taking Liverpool from the Second Division to the top of the English game.
Liverpool's 18 league titles and five Europeans Cups puts them in the same bracket as Manchester United as by a distance England's most successful clubs, and it was the inspirational brilliance of Shankly between 1959 and 1974 that paved the way.
The three league titles, two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup won by Shankly are all the more remarkable when you consider where Liverpool were when he joined - the second tier.
Not only was he successful, but Shankly was hugely charismatic, the quote at the top of this feature just one of many. He also had an aura about him that only a few men in the game over the decades have possessed.
With Preston playing Liverpool this weekend - Shankly spent most of his playing career with the Lancashire club - in a special match to commemorate what would have been the great Scot's 100th birthday, which falls in September, Golden Years remembers him with some special images from the archives.
Some great pics in there.....
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