THURSDAY MARKS 30 years since the death of the former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly from a heart attack.
Having spent most of his playing career – which was interrupted by war – with Preston North End as a wingback, the Ayrshire native took in spells managing Carlisle United, Grimsby Town, Workington and Huddersfield Town before taking over at Anfield in 1959.
Liverpool were a club in crisis, languishing in the old Second Division, but Shankly changed all that.
Converting an old store room into the famed ‘Boot Room’ – along with the likes of Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett and Bob Paisley – and getting rid of 24 untalented players, Shankly galvanised the team with new training regimes and efforts at team bonding.
The Reds were promoted back to the First Division in 1961/62, and clinched their sixth league title two years later thanks to players such as Ian St. John, Ron Yeats and Gordon Milne.
Liverpool would beat Leeds to win their first FA Cup in 1965, and claim the league again in 1966, before a period of transition as Shankly built his second great team.
It would be 1973 before another league title was won, along with the UEFA Cup, and his last competitive game in charge saw his team beat Newcastle United 3-0 in the FA Cup Final.
He would hand over the reins to Paisley, who would go on to even greater success than his predecessor, but the tone for Liverpool’s dominance in the late 1970s and 1980s was set by Shankly, as outspoken as he was brilliant.
