MY Story

On September 29, 1981 Liverpool Football Club mourned the loss of its modern day founding father – the legendary Bill Shankly. On the 26th anniversary of his death, let us pay our respect to the great man. 

And what better way to remember the legend that was Shanks than by recalling a selection of his classic anecdotes.
 
You’ve probably read or heard these on countless occasions in the past but like our memories of him they remain priceless…
 
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‘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.’
 
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‘If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.’
 
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‘Liverpool was made for me and I was made for Liverpool.’
 
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‘The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they don’t know the game.’
 
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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.’ - to Ian St John when he signed for Liverpool.
 
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To a journalist who suggested Liverpool were struggling – ‘Ay, here we are with problems at the top of the league.’
 
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Talking to a reporter about Roger Hunt – ‘Yes Roger Hunt misses a few, but he gets in the right place to miss them.’
 
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Explaining to Kevin Keegan what’s expected of him at Anfield - ‘Just go out and drop a few hand grenades all over the place son!’
 
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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 to Goodison than Everton on a Saturday afternoon’ – speaking at the funeral of Everton legend Dixie Dean
 
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‘If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I’d pull the curtains.’
 
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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.’ - after beating Everton in the 1971 FA Cup semi-final
 
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Addressing the Liverpool fans who turned up in their thousands to welcome the team home despite losing to Arsenal in the 1971 FA Cup Final - ‘Chairman Mao has never seen a greater show of red strength.’
 
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After signing Ron Yeats - ‘With him in defence, we could play Arthur Askey in goal.’
 
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To Alan Ball after he’d signed for Everton - ‘Never mind Alan, at least you’ll be able to play next to a great team’
 
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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 !’
 
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To the players after failing to sign Lou Macari - ‘I only wanted him for the reserves anyway’
 
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To Ian St John - ‘If you’re not sure what to do with the ball, just pop it in the net and we’ll discuss your options afterwards.’
 
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‘In my time at Anfield we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside - Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.’
 
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About the This-is-Anfield plaque - ‘This is to remind our lads who they’re playing for, and to remind the opposition who they’re playing against.’
 
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‘Of course I didn’t take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present. It was her birthday amd would I have got married during the football season? Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves.’
 
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Shankly to the Brussels hotel clerk who queried his signing ‘Anfield’ as his address on the hotel register: ‘But that’s where I live.’
 
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Shankly explaining rotation to a reporter - ‘Laddie, I never drop players, I only make changes.’
 
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Comparing the Anfield pitch to other grounds - ‘It’s great grass at Anfield, professional grass!’

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‘The difference between Everton and the Queen Mary is that Everton carry more passengers!’
 
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To a local barber, who in 1968 had asked ‘Anything off the top? Shanks retorted: ‘Aye, Everton!’
 
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On awaiting Everton’s arrival for a derby game at Anfield, Shankly gave a box of toilet rolls to the doorman and said: ‘Give them these when they arrive – they’ll need them!’
 
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‘I always look in the Sunday paper to see where Everton are in the league – starting, of course, from the bottom up.’
 
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To Chris Lawler during a training session at Melwood – ‘Was it a goal? Was I off-side?’ Lawler replied: ‘You were boss.’ Shanks then quipped: ‘Christ, son, you’ve been here four years, hardly said a word and, when you do, it’s a bloody lie!’
 
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To Tommy Smith during training – ‘You son, could start a riot in a graveyard.’
 
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‘There’s Man. Utd and Man. City at the bottom of Division 1, and by God they’ll take some shifting.’

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‘It’s a 90 minute game for sure. In fact I used to train for a 190 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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On a wartime Scotland v England match – ‘We absolutely annihilated England. It was a massacre. We beat them 5-4.’

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After losing to Ajax in the 1967 European Cup - ‘We cannae play these defensive continental sides!’
 
Shanks and Tommy Docherty were at a game. There was a player every other club coveted on view. Docherty said to Shanks: ‘100,000 wouldn’t buy him.’ Shanks retorted: ‘Yeah, and I’m one of the 100,000!’
 
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What Shanks disliked about football: ‘The end of the season.’
 
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Radio Merseyside reporter to Shankly: ‘Mr Shankly, why is it that your teams’ unbeaten run has suddenly ended?’ Shanks replied: ‘Why don’t you go and jump in the lake?’
 
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On hearing a rival manager was unwell: ‘I know what’s wrong - he’s got a bad side!’
 
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To reporters after a 3-0 defeat – ‘They’re nothing but rubbish. Three breakaways, that’s all they got.’
 
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Talking about Tommy Smith – ‘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.’
 
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To a translator, when being surrounded by gesticulating Italian journalists - ‘Just tell them I completely disagree with everything they say!’
 
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After winning the FA Cup in 1974 Shankly goes into a fish and chip shop and orders a fish supper. The woman at the counter asks: ‘Mr Shankly, shouldn’t they be having steak suppers?’ Shanks replied: ‘No lass, they’ll get steak suppers when they win the double!’
 
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To the Anfield PA during a match – ‘Jesus Christ, son, can ye no’ talk into that microphone when the players are in the penalty box. You’re putting them off, you’re doing more damage than the opposition.’
 
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Shankly on boardroom meetings - ‘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.’
 
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Talking about the Liverpool fans – ‘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.’

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Explaining on what the off-side rule should be - ‘If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be.’
 
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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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‘"If you can’t make decisions in life, you’re a bloody menace. You’d be better becoming an MP!’
 
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When told he had never experienced playing in a derby - ‘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.’

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After a 0-0 draw at Anfield – ‘What can you do playing against 11 goalposts!’
 
Waxing lyrical about Ian Callaghan - ‘He typifies everything that is good in football, and he has never changed. You could stake your life on Ian.’
 
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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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‘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.’
 
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On the leaving of Liverpool – ‘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.’

BILL SHANKLY – 1913 to 1981

Gone But Never Forgotten

LIVERPOOL

‘S VITAL STATISTICS

By the old standards set at Liverpool Football Club, last season could be said to have been unremarkable, and certainly not worthy of troubling the record books. After all, ‘first is first, and second is nowhere’, right?

Well, even ignoring the fact that even 4th has significant rewards these days, 2005/06 was actually notable in a number of ways. There was the record-breaking sequence without conceding a goal, which contributed to the 33 clean sheets, one shy of the all-time record. There was also the incredible percentage of league games won by the Reds: the 2nd-highest in the club’s history. It was a busy year for the ‘stattos’.

It was after being contacted by Oliver Anderson – a statistician,

Liverpool

fan and qualified football coach – that I stumbled upon the last fact. He had worked out the win percentages in recent campaigns, but I asked him to compare them to the 18 title-winning sides, to see how the current crop compared.

With every passing week during the spring months the Reds eclipsed the win percentage of another Anfield Championship era, eventually overtaking the phenomenal 1987/88 side and finishing behind only the supreme 1978/79 vintage.

Having helped me compile such statistics for my column on this website, as well as for my latest book, Oliver requested my input on his own project.

So let me set the scene. I am waiting in a coffee bar to discuss the fruits of his labours: original and detailed statistical analysis of

Liverpool

’s fortunes since the arrival of Rafa Benítez.

Having only conversed by email, I am perhaps guilty of looking out for a guy carrying a clipboard, wearing a ’70s civil servant suit and peering out through jam-jar glasses. It’s hot and sunny outside, but over his death-grey clothes I anticipate some kind of anorak; possibly a cagoule, with its practical self-storage capacity.

Unless the anorak has been hastily concealed upon his entrance, the person I meet has the look of a regular guy. He looks more like a sportsman than a librarian. He has a normal sized head.

We discuss zonal marking, and he shows me figures that ‘prove’

Liverpool

were actually the most successful team defending set pieces in the Premiership. There are comparisons between Steven Gerrard’s productivity on the centre and on the right, and the same with Djibril Cissé.

There’s the revealing goals-per-minute of Robbie Fowler, and the eye-opening productivity of Luis Garcia in the Premiership; based on minutes played, he comes out as the top

Liverpool

player. I am shown Pepe Reina’s save percentages, and how they compare with his rivals in the league, and with the other

Liverpool

keepers. Then there is the regularity with which players make mistakes that cost goals.

We discuss all areas of the team’s play over a number of hours (statisticians drink regular coffee, in a regular mug, without the aid of any unusual drinking apparatus), and I agree to help him with his own book.

I’ve always liked statistics, but believe in common sense when using them. Stats should carry warnings similar to those associated with junk food: as part of a sensible debate on football they are a healthy addition; as an entire diet, they’re bad news. Without thoughtful analysis, they can mean nothing.

More and more managers and coaches use figures to tell them intricate details of their team’s play. Technology is used to monitor all aspects of performance; it’s better to be armed with too much information than too little. Knowledge is power.

But it’s important to have some kind of understanding of football in the first place, and to respect the limitations of anything that reduces a complex interactive game involving a number of free-willed participants into a series of numbers. Statistics are an additional tool for analysing the game; they are not going to tell the full story.

Like Oliver, I feel it’s now important to look at ‘rate’ stats, especially for strikers. In years gone by, clubs had two strikers and they played two strikers; a third may be present as back-up, but there was no such thing as rotation; just injuries and being dropped.

Forty years ago there were no subs, and 20 years ago just one. Nowadays up to six players are likely to play just part of a game, either through being subbed on or off; the amount of minutes they play are the key factor here. No striker’s goals-per-game rate will benefit from being sent on in the 92nd minute to waste time.

Evaluating the amount of goals scored over the course of the season isn’t as revealing as the rate at which those goals are scored. Goals-per-minute tell us a lot more, especially when four strikers are sharing the duties fairly evenly.

Craig Bellamy was easily in the top 10 Premiership strikers based on goals-per-minute for Blackburn, and while someone like Darren Bent scored more goals, his scoring rate was significantly inferior to that of the new

Liverpool

striker.

Marginally ahead of Bellamy was Robbie Fowler, based solely on his time at

Liverpool

. However, add his goal against Manchester United for City in a fleeting league appearance, and he leaps to 5th on the list.

It’s a quite remarkable achievement, considering that he was coming back from injury and not match fit for the first month, and that he also had two legitimate league goals chalked off. (Having said that, the

Blackburn

goal was conciliatory gift from the linesman’s union.)

The trouble is, of course, that it’s no good being a ‘one goal in two games’ player if you only play two games a season. Fowler’s rate remains impressive, but now he needs a good season under his belt. Of course, it’s highly unlikely he’ll need to find his best on 60 occasions; he’s sharing striking duties, rather than being the sole provider of a decade ago.

It’s also interesting to look at the best positions of certain players, but not just for their own figures, but for the success of the team.

Djibril Cissé’s overall goalscoring record was impressive, but less so when he played as a striker, especially in the league. He was actually at his most prolific on the wing, but while his individual figures were fairly impressive out there, the team’s results suffered by comparison with other players in the role.

When Gerrard played on right, he created and scored less than during his time as an orthodox central midfielder – which is his ‘true’ position, after all – but the team benefited as a result; not only could he attack down the right, but his work-rate and defensive abilities meant he helped the team win a higher percentage of matches. He gave the team balance, in the absence of a specialist right-winger.

Facts like this aren’t always apparent when watching football on a match-to-match basis. You can have instincts and form impressions, but it often helps to see figures that provide another form of evidence.

And that’s something that Oliver, amongst others in the field, sets out to do.

Here again to remind you all…

Form Is Temporary, Class Is Permanent.

LIVERPOOL

WALK ALONE AT THE TOP

Our correspondent offers 18 league and five European titles as evidence.

No other supporters cling to their heritage such as

Liverpool

fans. One man carries a half-size metal replica of the European Cup to games, passing the trophy round pubs as grinning reds queue up to have their photograph taken with it, as if it were the real thing.

Callow adolescents sing of "The Fields of Anfield Road, where once we saw King Kenny play", something that Dalglish last did seriously before they were born. Such anachronisms are easy to mock. Especially since this is a club that has not won the league since 1990.

This is an age of insane rebranding, where the past is often seen as worthless. So, hail to the Fink Tank for daring to believe that the past matters; that football existed before 1992. Expect a letter from the Premier League’s solicitors, Finksters - didn’t Blair’s Government ban all talk of the past some time in 2001? Yet another of the scourges of modern life is the utilisation of resources in academia to prove the bleedin’ obvious. The man in the pub with the miniature European Cup could have saved the Fink Tank hours of research and mountains of cash. If one club has won the title 18 times - three more than the next contestant - then it is clear who is best.

Only the mindlessly bigoted could disagree with

Liverpool

topping the table. Eighteen titles - championships, we used to say before the marketing men stole the word for the second-raters - begin and end the discussion. And that is before five European Cups are introduced as proof.

But football is not about evidence. It is as subjective and complex as poetry and depends on interpretation. So the Fink Tank’s mathematical certainty is just a jumping off point for the quarrels that will follow. Manchester United supporters, for example, their egos inflated by years of self-delusion - "We’re the biggest club in the world," they say - will stake their claim. They invoke romance and tragedy, as if they are exclusive to Old Trafford, and cite massive, half-hearted fan clubs in

Bangkok

, each member wearing a fake replica kit, as proof of global greatness. Come back when you have won four more titles.

Arsenal can make a case for ascendency with their longest continuous spell in the top flight, an impressive achievement. The marble halls and the sense of tradition make the club a unique institution. Recently, they have leavened the patrician attitude with a revolutionary attitude to importing foreign talent. It is hard not to be impressed. It is as compelling a case for greatness as can be made when you come to the table holding only 13 titles.

Yet this is the club that began life in southeast

London

, decided there were richer pickings to be had by squatting in Tottenham Hotspur territory and blagged their way into the top flight without having to bother with something as tiresome as winning promotion. Luciano Moggi, the Juventus fixer, is a mere amateur compared with Sir Henry Norris, who managed to get a team that finished fifth in the second division into the first in 1919 - and a Tube station renamed for the club.

Knowing that the aristocrats began life as robber barons puts their airs and graces in a different perspective.

As for

Chelsea

supporters, who will feel rather put out that

Huddersfield

Town

and

Burnley

rate higher, there is some sympathy. For all the importance of the past, being top of the pile now should carry some extra cachet. As it happens, the history at

Stamford

Bridge

is rich and full of bizarre characters, from William "Fatty" Foulke, the goalkeeper who weighed 26st, to Ken Bates, the former chairman, whose idea of getting the supporters buzzing was to use electrified fences for crowd control. Sadly, the days when Chelsea were a sideshow were more entertaining than recent winning Saturdays at Stamford Bridge, when Jose Mourinho’s overefficient drabs have succeeded without any sense of fun and left empty seats in their wake. Those stayaway

Chelsea

supporters prove that there is more to football than winning trophies.

But Liverpool are the greatest club and, furthermore, this table proves that they are based in the greatest football city in

England

. All the Fink Tank records worth having are shared between the city’s two clubs, with Everton - once the "Mersey Millionaires" and now, hilariously, "The People’s Club" - playing the most games in the top flight and scoring the most goals.

Mere dry statistics? Well, the city has bred

England

’s two best players in Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney. The epicentre of English football sits on the east bank of the

Mersey

.

The man in the pub with the cup could tell you that, too. He’d be even more vehement if he was carrying a newly-minted trophy this time next year - a Premiership replica would be ideal.

Even though it is nice to be the best ever, history is far sweeter in the making than in the remembering.

And so, let me remind you once again…

LIVERPOOL WALK ALONE AT THE TOP…

Walk On With Hope In Your Heart And You’ll Never Walk Alone.

The RED Inspiration Part 2

I saw poetry in motion;
a tide turning with the ferocity of a red ocean.
I saw physical exhaustion;
a field of poppies, not one broken!
I saw prize winning bullfighters,
Merseysiders, fanning a ring of fire.
I saw athletes, grafters, triers,
digging in the russet earth like goal miners.
I saw the mythical, the magical, the miracle,
a flock of flying scarlet Livers.
I saw Benitez, our players, supporters,
all still standing, winners, survivors.
 
I saw it! A bullet hit a target from over thirty yards,
the trigger a kick from Gerrard, –– our skipper.
I was there at the birth of a twister,
spinning from Cisse’s single ruby slipper.
I swear it! I witnessed rain rising,
in the leap of Pepe our goalkeeper.
 
I saw men of honour labour, earn a crust.
Hard working men lifting a shimmering FA Cup.
Shining, showing us that when the game gets tough,
Liverpool Football Club, never, never, never, gives up…

Red Inspiration

25th of May 2005,
From 45 minutes of dismay to the best night of our lives.
As the clocks started in the final, we all believed,
Until one minute in when we all bereaved.
1-0

Milan

and it only got worse,
Then 2-0 and 3-0 was our night of glory cursed?
 
Our heads were hung low, but there was still hope in our hearts,
And that hope turned to belief 9 minutes into the 2nd half.
Gerrard rose above the rest, to put the fire back in the crest upon his chest,
Because the best DO NOT rest! They stand tall,
And within 2 minutes that passion provided another goal.
 
You’ll Never Walk Alone echoed throughout the crowd and with this our warriors in red stood proud.
The chants rang loud as our confidence grew,
Would this legacy be passed from the old to the new?
And with that something remarkable occurred,
Almost drowned out by the passion of the pool a whistle was heard.
Penalty to

Liverpool

was this my imagination?
Then as Xabi drilled in the re-bound a roar was heard across the nation.
The mighty reds of

Liverpool

had achieved the impossible,
Now our night of glory again seemed quite possible.
 
Legs worked harder and hearts craved success,
But this night belonged to L.F.C some say we may have been blessed.
True we have a few legends,
Residing now in heaven,
But down on earth wearing red shirts I was counting legends and there were eleven.
 
Every player gave all they had to realise their wildest dreams,
And remember to do this you have to overcome and beat the best of teams.
So as extra time loomed and bodies became worn-out,
Another verse of our famous anthem rang again throughout.
 
Our 12th man roared again to rally their incredible team,
And every single one of them was dreaming the same dream.
Seeing that huge, big trophy in our captain’s grasp,
Then a huge gasp, and a sigh of relief,
As Shevchenko’s double shot was saved by Dudek.
See all you need is a little belief!!
And rumour has it if you watch the replay in slow-motion and follow nothing but the ball,
There were two goalies on the line that night: Dudek and Pope John Paul.
 
So as penalties followed and Serginho first stepped up,
Stevie G secretly had one eye on the cup.
Pirlo followed and missed his chance,
Dudek took Carra’s advice and did a little dance.
Smicer’s kick was a good one, and it was Milans last chance to redeem,
But Dudek guessed the right way and realised every Liverpudlian’s dream!
 
Finally 21 years later after that glorious night in

rome

,
A new era for

Liverpool

was born and THE CUP WAS COMING HOME.
As celebrations continued I realised it REALLY was not a lie,
At the end of the storm there REALLY IS a golden sky!

One day in the year 1987…

I was reading my uncle’s Shoot  magazine… After a few pages, i saw a guy clad in a RED jersey with ‘Candy’ written on its chest & the main eye-catching item for me at the time was the Liverbird crest…

I asked my uncle… Who’s this guy? What’s the name of this team, wearing my favourite colour? Soon my uncle replied an answer which i had to repeat it myself to my daughters some 15 years later…

That guy is Ian Rush. The team that wears RED with a Liverbird crest on their chests is LIVERPOOL FC. Oh, what an answer!!! And, from that day on, i love to be as what i am then, now, ’till the last day of my life - BEING A SCOUSER…

"LIVERPOOL WAS MADE FOR ME AND I AM MADE FOR LIVERPOOL"… Famous quote by the late Bill Shankly, which means a lot to me.

And ’till today, i am PROUD to be a LIVERPUDLIAN.

You’ll Never Walk Alone.