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As a manager he didn't win as much silverware as Paisley but he is without doubt the most loved manager associated with Liverpool FC.
Born on 2 September 1913 in the Ayrshire village of Glenbuck, Bill Shankly was one of ten children. Five of these children went onto become professional footballers. Bill was born into a hard working mining village and like most of the families around them the Shanklys endured hardship. It was as a result of this poverty that he developed his tremendous sense of humour and quick wit.
Bill played for a number of teams, including Liverpool during ww2, and his country. His managerial career began at Carlisle United in 1949 and Liverpool asked him to manage them two years later, a position which Shankly refused, as Liverpool was governed by its committee of directors, they even chose the team. Three years later in 1954 Liverpool were relegated for the third time.
Bill was appointed manager of Liverpool FC on 1 December 1959 on his own terms. He became the first manager of Liverpool to select the team. They were at the bottom of the second division. The stadium was old and crumbling, training facilities were poor and the team lacked quality players and morale. A lot of changes needed to be made and it was going to take a while. In his first year, Bill sold 24 players.
Bill arranged for the players to turn up at Anfield and make the trip to Melwood training ground together, this encouraged a sense of team camaraderie. Once there he encouraged and developed the very basic principles of pass and move and used a goal that had been painted on a wall that had been split into eight target sections. He would then insist that the whole team travel back to Anfield on the bus, change and shower and eat together.
Initially Liverpool wasn't winning much but they were not losing as much either. In 1961/62 they gained promotion back to the first division and in the 1963/4 season they won the league championship title. The following year Liverpool won its first ever FA Cup.
But it is not bringing silverware to Liverpool that we love Bill Shankly for, or even for dragging us back into the first division and keeping us there. Bill Shankly embedded into Liverpool Football Club and fans alike a sense of pride, a love and a passion that would lay the foundations for all that Liverpool FC was and would be. A true gentleman he essentially created Liverpool.
Bill Shankly died from a heart attack just seven years after leaving Liverpool, at the age of 68. But his legend will never die. He embedded a passion and a sense of pride into Liverpool that will never leave us. No manager has ever had as huge an impact on a club or a whole city as he did.
