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{{Short description|Scottish footballer and manager (1913–1981)}}
{{hatnote|"Shankly" redirects here. For others with the last name Shankly, see [[Shankly (surname)]].}}
{{Good article}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name                = Bill Shankly <br /> <small>[[Order of the British Empire|OBE]]</small>
| image               = Billshankly1.jpg
| full_name           = William Shankly<ref>{{Hugman|17750|access-date=31 March 2017}}</ref>
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1913|9|2|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Glenbuck]], [[Ayrshire]], Scotland
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1981|9|29|1913|9|2|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Liverpool]], England
| position            = [[Right-half]]<ref name="wing" group="nb"/>
| height              = 5 ft 7 in<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-dispatch-football-guide-1936-v-di/134566111/ |title=Preston North End. Defensive lapses will worry Mr. Tom Muirhead |newspaper=Sunday Dispatch Football Guide |location=London |date=23 August 1936 |page=vi |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
| youthyears1         = 1931–1932
| youthclubs1         = [[Cronberry Eglinton F.C.|Cronberry Eglinton]]
| years1              = 1932–1933
| years2              = 1933–1949
| clubs1              = [[Carlisle United F.C.|Carlisle United]]
| clubs2              = [[Preston North End F.C.|Preston North End]]
| caps1               = 16
| caps2               = 297
| goals1              = 0
| goals2              = 13
| totalcaps           = 313
| totalgoals          = 13
| nationalyears1      = 1938–1939
| nationalteam1       = [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]]
| nationalcaps1       = 5
| nationalgoals1      = 0
| manageryears1       = 1949–1951
| manageryears2       = 1951–1954
| manageryears3       = 1954–1955
| manageryears4       = 1956–1959
| manageryears5       = 1959–1974
| managerclubs1       = [[Carlisle United F.C.|Carlisle United]]
| managerclubs2       = [[Grimsby Town F.C.|Grimsby Town]]
| managerclubs3       = [[Workington A.F.C.|Workington]]
| managerclubs4       = [[Huddersfield Town A.F.C.|Huddersfield Town]]
| managerclubs5       = [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]]
}}
'''William Shankly''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE}} (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish [[association football|football]] player and [[Manager (association football)|manager]] who is best known for his time as manager of [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]]. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winning three League Championships and the [[UEFA Europa League|UEFA Cup]]. He laid foundations on which his successors [[Bob Paisley]] and [[Joe Fagan]] were able to build by winning seven league titles and four European Cups in the ten seasons after Shankly retired in 1974. A charismatic, iconic figure at the club, his oratory stirred the emotions of the fanbase.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bill Shankly the great orator, a two-punch KO and super street flipping |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/aug/29/classic-youtube-best-sports-clips |access-date=6 February 2020 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref name="Icon"/> In 2019, 60 years after Shankly arrived at Liverpool, Tony Evans of ''[[The Independent]]'' wrote, "Shankly created the idea of Liverpool, transforming the football club by emphasising the importance of [[Liverpool F.C.#Support|the Kop]] and making supporters feel like participants".<ref name="Icon">{{cite news |title=Bill Shankly remains the personification of Liverpool 60 years after he arrived on Merseyside |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/liverpool-fc-bill-shankly-legacy-anfield-merseyside-socialism-a9225931.html |access-date=6 February 2020 |work=The Independent}}</ref>

Shankly came from a small Scottish mining community and was one of five brothers who played football professionally. He played as a ball-winning [[Wing half|right-half]] and was capped twelve times for [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]], including seven wartime internationals. He spent one season at [[Carlisle United F.C.|Carlisle United]] before spending the rest of his career at [[Preston North End F.C.|Preston North End]], with whom he won the [[FA Cup]] in [[1938 FA Cup Final|1938]]. His playing career was interrupted by his service in the [[Royal Air Force]] during the Second World War. He became a manager after he retired from playing in 1949, returning to Carlisle United. He later managed [[Grimsby Town F.C.|Grimsby Town]], [[Workington A.F.C.|Workington]]<ref name="Allen 1990">{{cite book |first=Tom |last=Allen | title=Team from Beyond the Hills | publisher=Martin Wingfield | date=1990}}</ref><ref name="Allen">{{cite book | first=Tom |last=Allen | title=Reds Remembered: The Definitive Workington AFC | publisher=Soccerdata | isbn=1899468234 | date=1 November 2005}}</ref> and [[Huddersfield Town A.F.C.|Huddersfield Town]] before moving to become Liverpool manager in December 1959.

Shankly took charge of Liverpool when they were in the [[Football League Second Division|Second Division]] and rebuilt the team into a major force in English and European football. He led Liverpool to the Second Division Championship to gain promotion to the top-flight [[Football League First Division|First Division]] in 1962, before going on to win three First Division Championships, two FA Cups, four [[FA Community Shield|Charity Shield]]s and one [[UEFA Europa League|UEFA Cup]]. It was during Shankly's tenure that the club changed to an all-red home strip, and "[[You'll Never Walk Alone#Liverpool F.C.|You'll Never Walk Alone]]" became the club's anthem. Shankly announced his surprise retirement from football a few weeks after Liverpool had won the [[1974 FA Cup Final]], having managed the club for 15 years, and was succeeded by his long-time assistant [[Bob Paisley]]. He led the Liverpool team out for the last time at Wembley for the [[1974 FA Charity Shield]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Bill Shankly: Timeline | url=http://www.shankly.com/Article/2597 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | access-date=29 August 2015 | archive-date=24 September 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924101053/http://www.shankly.com/Article/2597 | url-status=dead }}</ref> He died seven years later, aged 68. Considered one of the greatest football managers of all time,<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 September 2023 |title=Ranked! The 100 best football managers of all time |work=[[FourFourTwo]] |url=https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/ranked-the-100-best-football-managers-of-all-time |access-date=22 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=20 August 2019 |title=The 50 greatest football managers of all time |work=[[90min]] |url=https://www.90min.com/posts/6437151-the-50-greatest-football-managers-of-all-time |access-date=22 November 2023}}</ref> Shankly was among the inaugural inductees into the [[English Football Hall of Fame]] in 2002, and the [[Scottish Football Hall of Fame]] in 2004.

==Early life==
[[File:Shankly Memorial and lane to Glenbuck. - geograph.org.uk - 1504678.jpg|thumb|Shankly memorial (to the right) and the lane to Glenbuck]]
Bill Shankly was born in the small Scottish coal mining village of [[Glenbuck]], [[Ayrshire]], whose population in 1913, the year of Shankly's birth, was around 700. People born there would often move to find work in larger coal mines.<ref name=S9>Shankly, p. 9.</ref> As a result, Glenbuck became largely derelict and by the time Shankly's ghost writer John Roberts visited it in 1976, there were only 12 houses left, including a cottage owned by Shankly's sister, Elizabeth, whom Roberts described as "the last of the children of Glenbuck".<ref name=S9/>

Shankly's parents, John and Barbara, lived in one of the Auchenstilloch Cottages with their 10 children; five boys and five girls.<ref name=K12>Kelly, p. 12.</ref> William was the ninth child and the youngest boy.<ref name=K12/> Although he was known as Bill throughout his football career, his name in the family was Willie, pronounced [''Wullie''].<ref name=S21>Shankly, p. 21.</ref> His father was a postman who became a tailor of handmade suits. Despite the football pedigree in his family, he did not play himself.<ref>Shankly, pp. 11–12.</ref>

All five Shankly brothers played professional football and Shankly claimed they could have beaten any five brothers in the world when they were all at their peaks.<ref name=S9/> His brothers were [[Alec Shankly|Alec]], known as Sandy by the family, who played for [[Ayr United F.C.|Ayr United]] and [[Clyde F.C.|Clyde]];<ref>Kelly, p. 14.</ref> [[Jimmy Shankly|Jimmy]] (1902–1972), who played for various clubs including [[Sheffield United F.C.|Sheffield United]] and [[Southend United F.C.|Southend United]];<ref>Kelly, pp. 14–15</ref> [[John Shankly|John]] (1903–1960), who played for [[Portsmouth F.C.|Portsmouth]] and [[Luton Town F.C.|Luton Town]];<ref>Kelly, p. 15.</ref> and [[Bob Shankly|Bob]] (1910–1982), who played for [[Alloa Athletic F.C.|Alloa Athletic]] and [[Falkirk F.C.|Falkirk]].<ref name=K16>Kelly, p. 16.</ref> Bob became a successful manager, guiding [[Dundee F.C.|Dundee]] to victory in the [[Scottish Football League|Scottish championship]] in 1962 and the semi-finals of the [[European Cup]] the following year.<ref name=K16/> Their maternal uncles, [[Bob Blyth|Robert]] and William Blyth were professional players who both became club directors at Portsmouth and [[Carlisle United F.C.|Carlisle United]] respectively.<ref name=K12/>

Shankly wrote in his autobiography that times were hard during his upbringing and that hunger was a prevailing condition, especially during the winter months.<ref name=S13>Shankly, p. 13.</ref> He admitted that he and his friends used to steal vegetables from nearby farms; bread, biscuits and fruit from suppliers' wagons, and bags of coal from the pits.<ref>Shankly, pp. 13–14.</ref> Shankly admitted the act was wrong but insisted it was done out of devilment only because the root cause was their constant hunger. He said that he and his friends learned from their mistakes and became better people in later years.<ref name=S14>Shankly, p. 14.</ref> He was at school from age five until 14. Discipline at both home and school was strict but Shankly said it was character-building.<ref name=S15>Shankly, p. 15.</ref> His favourite subject was [[geography]] and he played football as often as possible, especially in the school playground, but there was no organised school team.<ref>Shankly, pp. 15–16.</ref>

After Shankly left school in 1928, he worked at a local mine alongside his brother Bob. He did this for two years until the pit closed and he faced unemployment.<ref>Kelly, pp. 17–18.</ref> In his autobiography, he described the life of a miner at some length and mentioned many of the problems such as the sheer hard work, rats, the difficulties of eating and drinking at the coal face. The worst problem was the filth because the miners never felt really clean, even though they would go home to wash in a tub after each shift.<ref name=S18>Shankly, p. 18.</ref>

While Shankly was employed as a miner, he played football as often as possible and sometimes went to [[Glasgow]] to watch either [[Celtic F.C.|Celtic]] or [[Rangers F.C.|Rangers]], sharing his allegiance between the two and ignoring the sectarianism that divides Glasgow.<ref>Kelly, p. 17.</ref> Shankly developed his skills to the point that he was unemployed for only a few months before Carlisle United signed him. He wrote that he had his football future worked out in his mind and that, even when working in the pit, he was only "killing time". He always believed that it was only a matter of time before he became a professional player. He explained that, in football terms, he had always been an optimist with a belief in his destiny and that was the basis of his undying enthusiasm for the sport.<ref name=S19>Shankly, p. 19.</ref>

Shankly's village team was called the [[Glenbuck Cherrypickers]], a name probably derived from the [[11th Hussars]] (the "Cherry Pickers"), but he said the club was near extinction when he had a trial and he never actually played for them.<ref name=S27>Shankly, p. 27.</ref> Shankly, aged 18, then played part of the 1931–32 season for [[Cronberry Eglinton F.C.|Cronberry Eglinton]], about 12 miles from Glenbuck. He used to cycle to and from the ground.<ref name=S27/> Cronberry were in the Cumnock & District League.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2395 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Cronberry Eglinton | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=17 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217102832/http://www.shankly.com/article/2395 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Although Shankly had less than one full season at Cronberry, he acknowledged his debt to [[Scottish Junior League|Scottish Junior Football]] as he learned a lot, mainly by listening to older players and especially his brothers.<ref name=S27/>

==Playing career==

===Carlisle United===
Shankly had a single season, 1932–33, at Carlisle United, then relatively new to the [[English Football League|Football League]] and playing in the [[Football League Third Division North|Third Division North]], their reserve side playing in the [[North Eastern League]]. Shankly was recommended by scout Peter Carruthers, who had seen him playing for Cronberry.<ref name=S34>Shankly, p. 34.</ref> He was invited for a month's trial and said it was the first time he had left Scotland. He was signed after just one trial match for Carlisle's reserves against [[Middlesbrough F.C.|Middlesbrough reserves]], even though Carlisle reserves lost the match 6–0.<ref>Shankly, pp. 34–35.</ref> A local newspaper report said that he had worked hard and might develop into a useful [[left back]]. In fact, he developed into a top-class [[wing half|right-half]].<ref>Kelly, p. 19.</ref>

Shankly made his senior debut on 31 December 1932 in a 2–2 draw against [[Rochdale A.F.C.|Rochdale]] and made 16 appearances for the first team.<ref name="LFC-CU">{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2396 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Carlisle United (Player) | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=29 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229165629/http://www.shankly.com/article/2396 | url-status=dead }}</ref> At the end of the season, the reserves won the North Eastern League Cup, defeating [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]] reserves 1–0 in the final. In his 1976 autobiography, Shankly stated that he still had the medal.<ref name=S35>Shankly, p. 35.</ref>

At this stage of his career, Shankly was assessed as "a hard running, gritty right-half"<ref name="wing" group="nb">The position of [[wing half]] is now obsolete in football terminology but it was an important role at the time of Shankly's career when teams routinely played in a [[Formation (association football)#2–3–5|2–3–5 formation]]. The wing halves (right and left) played outside the [[centre-half]] in the middle three. Although some wing halves were more creative than defensive, Shankly's job was to win the ball (hence his emphasis on his tackling skills) and move it forward, so he was the equivalent of what is called a [[holding midfielder]] in 21st century football.{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}}</ref> whose displays brought him much praise and credit. He was considered a promising key young player who was capable of taking Carlisle to greater things.<ref name="LFC-CU"/> He was paid £4 and ten [[Shilling (British coin)|shillings]] a week at Carlisle, which he considered a good wage as the top rate at that time was £8.<ref name=K21>Kelly, p. 21.</ref> Shankly was happy at Carlisle, which was close to his home at Glenbuck, and he had settled in well with almost a guarantee of first team football. When the opportunity came for him to move on, he was not convinced he wanted to leave.<ref name=K23/>

===Preston North End===
Soon after the 1932–33 season ended, Shankly received a telegram from Carlisle United asking him to return as soon as possible because another club wanted to sign him.<ref name=S37>Shankly, p. 37.</ref> Arriving at Carlisle, he discovered that the interested club was [[Preston North End F.C.|Preston North End]] who had offered a transfer fee of £500. The terms for Shankly personally were a fee of £50 plus a £10 signing-on fee and wages of £5 a week ({{Inflation|UK|5|1933|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}).<ref name=K23>Kelly, p. 23.</ref> Shankly's initial reaction was that it was not enough and the deal nearly fell through.<ref name=K23/> His brother Alec pointed out to him that Preston were in the [[Football League Second Division|Second Division]] and a bigger club than Carlisle with the potential to regain [[Football League First Division|First Division]] status.<ref>Kelly, p. 24.</ref> Alec persuaded him that the opportunity was more important than what he would be paid immediately, stressing that it was what he would get later that counted. Shankly took his brother's advice and signed the Preston contract in a railway carriage.<ref>Kelly, p. 25.</ref>

Shankly began his Preston career in the reserves, who played in the [[Central League (England)|Central League]] which was a higher standard than the North Eastern League.<ref name=S39>Shankly, p. 39.</ref> He made his first team debut on 9 December 1933, three months after his 20th birthday, against [[Hull City A.F.C.|Hull City]].<ref name="LFC-PNE">{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2397 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Preston North End | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=17 March 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317174614/http://www.shankly.com/article/2397 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Shankly created an early goal to help Preston win 5–0, earning him praise in a national newspaper for his "clever passing".<ref>Kelly, p. 29.</ref> With his wholehearted attitude and commitment to the team, he quickly established himself as a first-team regular and became a crowd favourite.<ref name="LFC-PNE"/> Preston fulfilled their potential and gained promotion to the First Division as runners-up to [[Grimsby Town F.C.|Grimsby Town]].<ref name="LFC-PNE"/> It was therefore a successful debut season for Shankly who stayed with Preston until he retired in 1949. His wage was increased to eight pounds a week with six pounds in the summer.<ref name=S40>Shankly, p. 40.</ref> In a summary of the 1933–34 season, a Preston correspondent, Walter Pilkington, wrote:<ref name="LFC-PNE"/>

<blockquote>One of this season's discoveries, Bill Shankly, played with rare tenacity and uncommonly good ideas for a lad of 20. He is full of good football and possessed with unlimited energy; he should go far.</blockquote>

In his autobiography, Shankly wrote that Preston had more than held their own in the 1934–35 season and the club was not relegated again until the end of the 1948–49 season in which he left them.<ref name=S40/> Shankly developed into a tough half back, as good as any in the Football League.<ref>Kelly, p. 32.</ref> The outstanding [[Northern Ireland national football team|Northern Ireland]] international [[Peter Doherty (footballer)|Peter Doherty]] recalled how Shankly dogged his footsteps in one match and kept muttering: "Great wee team, North End, great wee team", subduing Doherty completely as Preston defeated [[Manchester City F.C.|Manchester City]] 3–1.<ref>Kelly, p. 31.</ref>

In 1936–37, Preston reached the [[1937 FA Cup Final|FA Cup Final]] but were well beaten 3–1 by [[Sunderland A.F.C.|Sunderland]] at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]].<ref name=S41>Shankly, p. 41.</ref> Preston recovered to reach the [[1938 FA Cup Final]] in which they defeated [[Huddersfield Town A.F.C.|Huddersfield Town]] 1–0 with a penalty scored by [[George Mutch]] in the final minute of extra time. As well as winning the FA Cup, Preston finished third in the league.<ref name=S41/> That season marked the pinnacle of Shankly's playing career.<ref name="LFC-PNE"/>

Shankly had just reached his 26th birthday when the [[World War II|Second World War]] began and the war claimed the peak years of his playing career.<ref name="LFC-PNE"/> He joined the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) and managed to play in numerous wartime league, cup and exhibition matches for [[Norwich City F.C.|Norwich City]], [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]], Luton Town, [[Cardiff City F.C.|Cardiff City]], [[Lovell's Athletic F.C.]] and [[Partick Thistle F.C.|Partick Thistle]], depending on where he was stationed<ref name="LFC-PNE"/> (winning the [[Summer Cup (Scottish football)|Summer Cup]] with the [[Glasgow]] club in 1945).<ref>[http://partickthistleahistory.wikifoundry.com/page/1945+-+Summer+Cup+Final Thistle Get the Cup, But Not All the Honour] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503234852/http://partickthistleahistory.wikifoundry.com/page/1945+-+Summer+Cup+Final |date=3 May 2015 }}, Evening Times, 30 June 1945 (via Partick Thistle History Archive)</ref> On 30 May 1942, he played a single game for [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] in a 4–1 win over [[Everton F.C.|Everton]] at [[Anfield]].<ref name="LFC-PNE"/> Shankly was keen on [[boxing]] and fought as a [[middleweight]] in the RAF, winning a trophy when he was stationed in Manchester.<ref name=S52>Shankly, p. 52.</ref> He confirmed in his autobiography that his weight as an RAF boxer was 159 pounds (72&nbsp;kg) and he was only six pounds (2.7&nbsp;kg) heavier than that in 1976.<ref name=S52/> Shankly met his wife, Nessie, in the RAF (she was in the [[Women's Auxiliary Air Force|WAAF]] and stationed at the same camp) and they married in 1944.<ref>Kelly, pp. 50–51.</ref>

With the resumption of full League football again in the 1946–47 season, Shankly returned to Preston who held his registration, but he was now 33 and coming to the end of his playing days.<ref name="LFC-PNE"/> By 1949, he was Preston's club captain but had lost his place in the first team, which was struggling against relegation despite having [[Tom Finney]] in the side.<ref name=K57>Kelly, p. 57.</ref> Shankly was a qualified [[masseur]] and had decided he wanted to become a coach so, when Carlisle United asked him to become their manager in March of that year, he retired as a player and accepted the job.<ref name="LFC-PNE"/><ref>Shankly, pp. 59–60.</ref> Shankly's departure from Preston was resented by some at the club and he was refused a benefit match, to which he felt entitled. He described Preston's attitude as the biggest letdown of his life in football.<ref name=S60>Shankly, p. 60.</ref>

Shankly had enormous admiration for Tom Finney and devotes more than three pages of his autobiography to Finney's prowess as a footballer.<ref>Shankly, pp. 44–47.</ref> In the 1970s, Shankly was asked how a current star compared to Finney and Shankly replied: "Aye, he's as good as Tommy – but then Tommy's nearly 60 now".<ref>''When Saturday Comes – The Half Decent Football Book'', p. 143.</ref> Another Preston player admired by Shankly was his Scottish international teammate [[Andy Beattie]], with whom he would later work in management.<ref name=S47>Shankly, p. 47.</ref> Shankly was succeeded in the Preston team by [[Tommy Docherty]] and Shankly told Docherty that he should "just put the number four shirt on and let it run round by itself because it knows where to go".<ref name="LFC-PNE"/>

===Scotland===
Shankly played for Scotland 12 times from 1938 to 1943 in five full and seven wartime internationals.<ref name=S6>Shankly, p. 6.</ref> He spoke of his "unbelievable pride" when playing for Scotland against [[England national football team|England]] and how, when confronted by the "[[Auld enemy|Auld Enemy]]", the Scottish players would become [[William Wallace]] or [[Robert the Bruce]] for 90 minutes after pulling on the blue jersey.<ref name=S20>Shankly, p. 20.</ref> Shankly himself certainly had that spirit when playing for Scotland as confirmed by [[Alex James (footballer)|Alex James]], who said of Shankly: "He is a real Scotland player who will fight until he drops".<ref name="LFC-SCO">{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2398 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Scotland | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=29 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229165659/http://www.shankly.com/article/2398 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Shankly made his international debut on 9 April 1938 against England at Wembley; Scotland winning the match 1–0 with a late goal by [[Tommy Walker (footballer, born 1915)|Tommy Walker]].<ref name="LFC-SCO"/> Nine of his Scotland appearances were against England and the others were against Northern Ireland, [[Wales national football team|Wales]] and [[Hungary national football team|Hungary]].<ref name="LFC-SCO"/> He was Scotland's captain in the wartime match against England at [[Hampden Park]], attended by 78,000 people on 3 May 1941, but Scotland lost that game 1–3.<ref name="LFC-SCO"/> Perhaps his most memorable international was the wartime game at Wembley on 18 April 1942 when Scotland won 5–4 and Shankly scored his only Scotland goal. A post-match report said that Scotland's success was inspired by "the Busby–Shankly victory service" when Shankly and his future management rival [[Matt Busby]] combined to help Scotland's cause.<ref name="LFC-SCO"/> According to the Liverpool website, Shankly's goal was "probably the strangest national goal ever".<ref name="LFC-SCO"/> He took a speculative shot towards goal from 50 yards and the ball bounced over the England goalkeeper's head and into the net.<ref name="LFC-SCO"/> In January 1973, when Shankly was the subject of ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'', the goal was shown and Shankly commented that "they all count and we won".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.tv.com/shows/this-is-your-life-uk/bill-shankly-703377/ | publisher=tv.com | title=This Is Your Life | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=7 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307154943/http://www.tv.com/shows/this-is-your-life-uk/bill-shankly-703377/ | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Kelly, p. 48.</ref>

===Style and technique===
Shankly declared in his autobiography that he specialised in what he called "the art of tackling", emphasising that it is an art.<ref name=S31>Shankly, p. 31.</ref> He wrote that he was never sent off or booked by a referee.<ref name=S31/> In his view, the art of tackling is in the timing and the sole object is to win the ball. He wrote that even if the opponent is injured in the tackle, it is not a foul if you have timed everything right and you have won the ball.<ref name=S31/> His philosophy, therefore, was to play hard but fair with no cheating.<ref name=S31/> During his playing career, Shankly said he would not argue with referees. He realised after taking the advice of his brothers that it is a waste of time. The referee, he wrote, always wins in the end.<ref>Shankly, pp. 29–30.</ref>

Shankly was always noted for his dedication to football and, in his playing days, would do his own training during the summer months. During the summer of 1933 when he returned to Glenbuck after completing his first season as a professional, he decided to develop his [[throw-in]] skills. He was an early exponent of the long throw-in – he practised by throwing balls over a row of houses and the small boys of the village helped by fetching them back for him.<ref name="LFC-CU"/>

==Management career==
Shankly wrote in his autobiography that he had long prepared himself for a career as a football manager.<ref name=S60/> He had absorbed all the coaching systems with any useful qualifications and had full confidence in his ability and in himself to be a leader. For him, he had done the hard work and it was simply a question of waiting for an opportunity to present itself.<ref name=S60/> Shankly summed up the essential criteria for success in football management when he claimed he could speak common sense about the game and could spot a good player.<ref name=S61>Shankly, p. 61.</ref> In spotting a player, he always applied a basic formula which was that, first and foremost, the player must have both ability and courage. Other attributes were physical fitness and willingness to work, especially to struggle against the odds.<ref name=S61/>

===Carlisle United===
Shankly began his managerial career at Carlisle United, the club where his professional playing career had started. Carlisle in the 1948–49 season were struggling in the bottom half of the Third Division North and finding it difficult to attract southern-based players because of the city's geographic remoteness in the far north of England.<ref name="LFC-MCU">{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2399 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Carlisle United (Manager) | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=19 October 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019003343/http://www.shankly.com/article/2399 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Shankly's work ethic transformed the team who finished 15th in 1948–49 after he had been in charge for only the last few matches. They improved to ninth in 1949–50 and then to third in 1950–51, almost gaining promotion.<ref name="LFC-MCU"/>

One of Shankly's players at Carlisle was [[Geoff Twentyman]], then a promising young [[centre half]], who was later transferred to Liverpool. After he retired from playing, Twentyman became chief scout at Liverpool, working with Shankly and finding several outstandingly talented players.<ref>Kelly, p. 62.</ref>

Shankly used [[psychology]] to motivate his players, for example telling them that the opposition had had a very tiring journey and were not fit to play the match. He urged the local population to support the team and would use the public address system at matches to tell the crowd about his team changes and how his strategy was improving the team.<ref name="LFC-MCU"/> Shankly recalled that [[Brunton Park]] was dilapidated, writing that the main stand was falling to pieces and the terraces derelict.<ref name=S62>Shankly, p. 62.</ref> He even burned all the kits. When the team was travelling to [[Lincoln City F.C.|Lincoln City]], he saw a sportswear shop in [[Doncaster]] and stopped the coach to buy a full set of kits in which the team played at Lincoln.<ref>Kelly, p. 65.</ref>

Season ticket sales in 1950–51 reached an all-time high and Carlisle challenged strongly for promotion as well as achieving a draw with Arsenal at [[Arsenal Stadium|Highbury]] in the FA Cup. It ended badly, however, because Shankly accused the club's board of reneging on a bonus promise for the players should the team finish in the top three of the league. He resigned and accepted an offer from Grimsby Town. Shankly's overall record in league football at Carlisle was 42 wins and 22 defeats from 95 matches.<ref name="LFC-MCU"/>

===Grimsby Town===
After an unsuccessful interview at Liverpool,<ref>Kelly, pp. 73–74.</ref> Shankly moved to manage Grimsby Town in June 1951. He said in his autobiography that there was greater potential at Grimsby than at Carlisle.<ref name=S66>Shankly, p. 66.</ref> His main problems were that Grimsby had been relegated twice in recent seasons, dropping from the First to the Third Division, and some good players had been transferred before he arrived.<ref>Kelly, p. 76.</ref> Even so, Shankly believed he still had good players to work with and was able to buy some additional players on the transfer market for low fees.<ref name=S66/>

Grimsby made a strong challenge for promotion in 1951–52 but finished second, three points behind Lincoln City (only one team was promoted from Division Three North, with one from Division Three South).<ref name=S67>Shankly, p. 67.</ref> Shankly insisted in his autobiography that his Grimsby team was:<ref name=S67/>

<blockquote>Pound for pound, and class for class, the best football team I have seen in England since the war. In the league they were in, they played football nobody else could play. Everything was measured, planned and perfected and you could not wish to see more entertaining football.</blockquote>

Shankly's biographer [[Stephen F. Kelly|Stephen Kelly]] quotes the "pound for pound" analysis but qualifies it as another of Shankly's slight, though well-meant, exaggerations.<ref name=K77>Kelly, p. 77.</ref> Kelly added that this kind of talk by Shankly could only boost morale at the club.<ref name=K77/>

Shankly made great use of five-a-side football in training at Grimsby, playing these games as if they were competitive cup or league matches.<ref name=S68>Shankly, p. 68.</ref> The games would last an hour each time. Shankly worked on set pieces such as throw-ins and tried to devise a method of counter-attacking from corners conceded.<ref name=S68/>

Grimsby's ageing team made a bright start in 1952–53 with five straight wins but eventually slipped and finished in fifth place.<ref>Kelly, p. 78.</ref> In 1953–54, Shankly became disillusioned when the board could not give him money to buy new players. He was reluctant to promote some promising reserves because of loyalty to the older players (a fault that was to resurface at Liverpool years later) and he finally resigned in January 1954, citing the board's lack of ambition as his main reason.<ref name="LFC-GT">{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2400 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Grimsby Town | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=29 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229170115/http://www.shankly.com/article/2400 | url-status=dead }}</ref> In his autobiography, he said that he and his wife were feeling homesick in Grimsby and, when an opportunity came to manage [[Workington A.F.C.|Workington]], he was attracted to the challenge partly because they would be closer to Scotland.<ref name=S68/> Shankly's record in league football at Grimsby was 62 wins and 35 defeats from 118 matches.<ref name="LFC-GT"/>

===Workington===
Although the Workington team was close to the bottom of the Third Division North, Shankly saw it as a challenge and attacked the job with all of his usual enthusiasm and relish.<ref name="LFC-W">{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2401 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Workington | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=29 February 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229170719/http://www.shankly.com/article/2401 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Workington rose to 18th by the end of the 1953–54 season and so did not have to apply for re-election. In 1954–55, the team finished a creditable eighth and saw a rise in attendances from 6,000 to 8,000.<ref name="LFC-W"/>

Workington operated on a shoestring and Shankly had to do much of the administration work himself, including answering the telephone and dealing with the mail by using an old typewriter to answer letters.<ref name="Allen 1990"/><ref name="Allen"/> In addition, he had the risky job of going to the bank each week to collect the payroll. One of his main problems was sharing the ground with the [[Workington Town|local rugby league club]] and Shankly was very concerned about the damage done to the playing surface by the rugby players.<ref>Shankly, pp. 69–71.</ref> The situation led to numerous arguments with the club's board which, as Kelly records, included a majority of rugby league men whose interest in football took second place to rugby.<ref>Kelly, p. 81.</ref>

Shankly resigned on 15 November 1955 to take up the post of assistant manager at Huddersfield Town, working with his old friend Andy Beattie.<ref>Kelly, pp. 90–91.</ref> His record in league football at Workington was 35 wins and 27 defeats from 85 matches.<ref name="LFC-W"/>

===Huddersfield Town===
Shankly's initial role at Huddersfield was as reserve team coach. He found himself in charge of several promising youngsters who soon graduated to the first team after Town were relegated to the Second Division at the end of the 1955–56 season. Beattie resigned in the next season and, on 5 November 1956, Shankly succeeded him as manager. On Christmas Eve, he gave a first team debut to 16-year-old prospect [[Denis Law]]. Another prospect in his team was left back [[Ray Wilson (English footballer)|Ray Wilson]] who went on to become Huddersfield's most capped player before joining Everton.<ref>Kelly, p. 98.</ref> Shankly did not gain promotion at Huddersfield, the team finishing 12th in 1956–57, ninth in 1957–58 and 14th in 1958–59.<ref name="LFC-HT">{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2402 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Huddersfield Town | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=18 October 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018191841/http://www.shankly.com/article/2402 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Other players in Shankly's Huddersfield team were [[Ken Taylor (cricketer, born 1935)|Ken Taylor]], who was an [[England national cricket team|England]] [[Test cricket]]er; striker [[Les Massie]] and captain [[Bill McGarry]].<ref name=S75>Shankly, p. 75.</ref> On 21 December 1957, Huddersfield lost [[Charlton Athletic F.C. 7–6 Huddersfield Town A.F.C.|7-6]] to [[Charlton Athletic F.C.|Charlton Athletic]], who played most of the match with ten men, after Huddersfield were leading 5–1 with just 27 minutes remaining. Shankly described it as one of the most amazing games he had ever seen.<ref name=S82>Shankly, p. 82.</ref> On another occasion, Huddersfield beat Liverpool 5–0 with ten men and Shankly recalled the Liverpool directors leaving the ground in single file as if they were in a funeral procession.<ref>Kelly, p. 111.</ref>

Disillusioned by a board that wanted to sell his best players without offering money to buy replacements, Shankly felt stifled by Huddersfield's lack of ambition and was delighted in November 1959 to receive an approach for his services by Liverpool. He recalled how Liverpool chairman Tom (T.V.) Williams asked him if he would like to manage the best club in the country, to which Shankly replied: "Why, is Matt Busby packing up?"<ref name=S84>Shankly, p. 84.</ref> Shankly decided to think about the offer as he realised the great potential at Liverpool, who like Huddersfield were in the Second Division at that time. Rumours began and were fuelled by Liverpool's visit to [[Leeds Road]] on 28 November. Although Huddersfield won the game 1–0, Shankly accepted the Liverpool offer and resigned his position as Huddersfield manager at a board meeting on 1 December 1959.<ref>Kelly, p. 120.</ref> His league record at Huddersfield was 49 wins and 47 defeats in 129 matches.<ref name="LFC-HT"/>

===Liverpool===

====Early years (1959–1964)====

{{rquote|right|My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility. Had Napoleon had that idea he would have conquered the bloody world. My idea was to build Liverpool up and up until eventually everyone would have to submit and give in.|Shankly on his vision for the club.<ref name="Telegraph quotes"/>}}
When Shankly arrived at Anfield on Monday, 14 December 1959, Liverpool had been in the Second Division for five years, and had been defeated by non-league [[Worcester City F.C.|Worcester City]] in the [[1958–59 FA Cup]].<ref>Kelly, p. 136.</ref> Anfield itself was in disrepair with no means of watering the pitch and Shankly insisted the club spend £3,000 to rectify that.<ref name=S85>Shankly, p. 85.</ref> Shankly described the training ground at [[Melwood]] as "a shambles".<ref name="LFC-L60">{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2403 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Liverpool Sixties Team | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=7 July 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140707112229/http://www.shankly.com/article/2403 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The Liverpool squad he inherited consisted largely of average players and some promising reserves.<ref name="LFC-L60"/>

In spite of the difficulties, Shankly quickly felt at home in his new club and believed he shared an immediate bond with the supporters, whom he saw as his kind of people.<ref name="LFC-L60"/> He quickly established working relationships with the coaching staff of [[Bob Paisley]], [[Joe Fagan]] and [[Reuben Bennett]] who shared his views about loyalty to each other and to the club.<ref>Kelly, p. 141.</ref> Paisley's influence at Liverpool was crucial for, as Kelly puts it, Shankly was "the great motivating force behind Liverpool, but it was Paisley who was the tactician".<ref>Kelly, p. 138.</ref> One aspect of the quartet's legacy to football was the conversion of an old storage room into what became known as the "[[Boot Room]]", which was used for tactical discussion while cleaning and repairing boots.<ref>{{cite news | title=The legacy of the boot room | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/1418093.stm | first=Sanjeev | last=Shetty | work=BBC Sport | date=21 December 2001 | access-date=24 March 2012}}</ref> Although Shankly believed he had an excellent coaching staff, the playing staff were not so impressive – indeed, Shankly said of the latter:<ref>Shankly, pp. 87–88.</ref>

<blockquote>After only one match I knew that the team as a whole was not good enough. I made up my mind that we needed strengthening through the middle, a goalkeeper and a centre half who between them could stop goals, and somebody up front to create goals and score them.</blockquote>

To deal with what he saw as a below average playing squad, he placed 24 players on the transfer list. All of them had left the club within one year. Shankly resolutely pursued his strength through the middle goal and always knew which three players he needed to achieve it.<ref name="LFC-L60"/><ref>Kelly, p. 146.</ref>

{{quote box|width=30%|bgcolor=#FFFFF0|align=right|quote=The foundations Shankly laid at Melwood manifested in success at Anfield. In an age where long, punishing training runs forced players to plod around on the pavement were the norm, Shankly opted to mandate fitness work be done with a ball at the foot of his players. Small-sided games, proper warm-up and cool-down periods, periodised technical workouts, circuit training and segmentation practices created a standard that would eventually come to be known as 'The Liverpool Way'.|source=—The revolutionary training methods implemented by Shankly at the club's training ground, [[Melwood]].<ref name="FootballTimes"/>}}
Melwood was overgrown and had only an old wooden [[cricket]] pavilion.<ref>Kelly, p. 142.</ref> Shankly commented that one of the pitches looked as if bombs had been dropped on it and he asked if the Germans had been over in the war.<ref name=S87>Shankly, p. 87.</ref> He instituted a development programme to cultivate the site and modernise the facilities. In the meantime, he arranged for the players to meet and change at Anfield before going to and from Melwood by bus.<ref name=S87/> According to Kelly, Liverpool's eventual success was based on hard work done in the training system that Shankly, Paisley, Fagan and Bennett introduced at Melwood. Shankly deplored long-distance running on roads and insisted that, apart from warm-up exercises or any special exercises needed to overcome injuries, the players trained on grass using a ball. Everything was done systematically with players rotating through exercise routines in groups with the purpose of achieving set targets. These would first cycle through athletic exercises, like skipping or squats, before moving on to football-specific functions, such as heading the ball or chipping it.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Askew |first1=Joshua |title=Video: A Tactical History of Liverpool, Episode 0: Bill Shankly's Liverpool 1959-1964 |url=https://www.holdingmidfield.com/video-a-tactical-history-of-liverpool-episode-0-bill-shankly-liverpool-1959-1964-tactics-tactical-analysis/ |website=holdingmidfield.com |date=7 January 2022 |publisher=Holding Midfield |access-date=13 January 2022}}</ref> Five-a-side games, as at all Shankly's earlier clubs, were at the heart of the system and he again insisted on these being as competitive as league matches.<ref>Kelly, p. 145.</ref>

One particular routine designed to develop stamina, reflexes and ball skills was the "sweat box" which Shankly described as: "using boards like the walls of a house with players playing the ball off one wall and on to the next; the ball was played against the boards, you controlled it, turned around and took it again".<ref name=S96>Shankly, p. 96.</ref> Shankly got the idea from a routine he had seen Tom Finney use at Preston to hone his skills. After experimenting with the routine, he set the players a limit of two minutes per session. The system was geared to Shankly's simple philosophy of "pass and move", which formed the basis of Liverpool's strategy.<ref>Shankly, pp. 96–97.</ref> Shankly insisted on suitable cooling-off periods after training (now called "warming down") before the players took a bath and had a meal. The team changed the studs in their boots to suit all playing conditions. Shankly summarised the entire strategy in terms of attention to detail with nothing left to chance.<ref name=S100>Shankly, p. 100.</ref>

Liverpool's recovery depended on new players being acquired and, in his autobiography, Shankly recalled the struggles he had with the board to make them realise the club's potential and the need to spend money on good players. He said there were times when he felt like walking out. He found a valuable ally in Eric Sawyer, of the [[Littlewoods]] pools organisation, who joined the board not long after Shankly's appointment and shared Shankly's vision of Liverpool as the best club in England. At one board meeting in 1961 when Shankly insisted the club make offers for two players in Scotland, the board's initial response was that they could not afford them, but Sawyer stepped in and said: "We can't afford ''not'' to buy them".<ref>Shankly, pp. 87–90.</ref>

The two Scottish players were centre half [[Ron Yeats]] and centre forward [[Ian St John]] from [[Dundee United F.C.|Dundee United]] and [[Motherwell F.C.|Motherwell]] respectively.<ref>Kelly, pp. 160–165.</ref> With Sawyer's help, Shankly signed them both in the spring of 1961 and challenged the Liverpool board to sack him if they could not play.<ref>Shankly, pp. 90–91.</ref> At a press conference when Yeats came to Liverpool, Shankly emphasised Yeats' height by inviting the journalists to "go and walk round him; he's a colossus!"<ref>Kelly, p. 165.</ref> Goalkeeper [[Tommy Lawrence]] came through the club's junior teams, so Shankly now had his "strength through the middle" and the team building continued with the acquisition of wing half [[Gordon Milne]] from Preston. Other players developed at Anfield were [[Jimmy Melia]], [[Ronnie Moran]], [[Alan A'Court]] and the future England internationals [[Gerry Byrne (footballer, born 1938)|Gerry Byrne]] and [[Roger Hunt]]. Shankly said of goalscorer Hunt the first time he saw him: "Christ, this one can play!"<ref name=S91>Shankly, p. 91.</ref> Liverpool had finished third in both 1959–60 and 1960–61 (only the top two clubs were promoted); but the new team gained promotion in the 1961–62 season by winning the Second Division championship, Hunt scoring 41 goals.<ref name="LFC-L60"/>

Liverpool consolidated in 1962–63, finishing eighth in their first top flight season under Shankly's management. Significant signings were wing half [[Willie Stevenson]] from Rangers in 1962 and left winger [[Peter Thompson (footballer, born 1942)|Peter Thompson]] from Preston in 1963.<ref>Kelly, pp. 175–177.</ref> Shankly described the Thompson deal as "daylight robbery".<ref>Kelly, p. 177.</ref> Liverpool's youth system produced more future England internationals in [[Ian Callaghan]], [[Tommy Smith (footballer, born 1945)|Tommy Smith]] and [[Chris Lawler]].<ref>Shankly, pp. 97–99.</ref> The hard work paid off in 1963–64 when Liverpool won their sixth First Division title, ending the season with a 5–0 defeat of Arsenal at Anfield.<ref name=S94>Shankly, p. 94.</ref> According to Roger Hunt, the secret of Liverpool's success was that, under Shankly, they were the fittest team in the country.<ref>Kelly, p. 180.</ref> In 1964, Jimmy Melia was transferred to [[Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.|Wolverhampton Wanderers]];<ref>Kelly, p. 184.</ref> with Shankly buying Arsenal's utility player [[Geoff Strong]] for £40,000; this was Liverpool's last significant transfer activity until 1967.<ref>Kelly, p. 188.</ref>

====1964 to 1970====
One of Shankly's greatest ambitions when he joined Liverpool was to win the FA Cup and, after he signed Yeats and St John, he told the club directors that they would win it with these two players in the team.<ref name=S91/> It was St John who scored the winning goal in May 1965 when Liverpool won the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history with a [[1965 FA Cup final|2–1 extra time victory]] over [[Leeds United F.C.|Leeds United]] at Wembley. In his autobiography, Shankly recounted that among his many achievements, winning the 1965 FA Cup final was his greatest day in football.<ref name=S102>Shankly, p. 102.</ref> Ahead of the final [[The Beatles]] had sent Shankly a telegram wishing the team luck,<ref>{{cite news |title=Shankly Hotel to mark anniversary by unveiling The Beatles' never-before-seen telegram to Liverpool icon |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/shankly-hotel-mark-two-year-13487137 |access-date=23 February 2020 |newspaper=Liverpool Echo}}</ref> and Shankly appeared on the BBC's ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' where he picked the club's anthem "[[You'll Never Walk Alone]]" as his eighth and final selection.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bill Shankly, Desert island Discs|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/a805b634 |access-date=23 February 2020 |agency=BBC |date=26 April 1965}}</ref>

{{rquote|right|The introduction of the all-red strip had a huge psychological effect. I went home that night and I said to my wife Ness: "You know something... tonight I went out onto Anfield and for the first time there was a glow like a fire was burning. Our game against Anderlecht was a night of milestones. We wore the all-red strip for the first time. Christ, the players looked like giants. And we played like giants.|Shankly following his decision to change to an all-red home strip in 1964.<ref name="Red Kit">{{cite news |title=50 years since LFC first wore all red |url=https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/174990-50-years-since-lfc-first-wore-all-red |access-date=22 February 2020 |agency=Liverpool FC}}</ref>}}
Liverpool made their European debut in 1964–65, competing in the European Cup and reaching the semi-finals. In the second round, the club was drawn against the formidable [[R.S.C. Anderlecht|Anderlecht]]. Immediately before the match, Shankly decided to experiment with the Liverpool kit.<ref name="Red Kit"/> Liverpool played in red shirts with white shorts and white socks with red stripes, but Shankly and Ian St John had the idea of an all-red kit that would give the impression the players were taller. Liverpool played in all-red only for European matches but quickly adopted the colour permanently.<ref>Kelly, p. 199.</ref>

Three days after winning the FA Cup, Liverpool defeated European champions [[Inter Milan]] 3–1 at Anfield in the semi-final first leg with a performance that was saluted by Inter's coach [[Helenio Herrera]].<ref>Kelly, p. 208.</ref> The second leg at the [[San Siro]] remains controversial because, according to Shankly, the match was "a war" which Liverpool lost 3–0 and so were knocked out of the competition 4–3 on aggregate.<ref name=S105>Shankly, p. 105.</ref> Eleven years later, Shankly maintained that two of Inter's goals were illegal.<ref name=S106>Shankly, p. 106.</ref> Even today, the Liverpool website describes the match by saying that Liverpool were denied at the semi-final stage by a dishonest referee in Milan.<ref name="LFC-L60"/> According to Kelly, however, video evidence shows that the two disputed goals were actually legitimate.<ref>Kelly, p. 210.</ref> Shankly said after the defeat in Milan that the Inter fans were going mad because they were so pleased to have beaten Liverpool and he insisted it proved the high standard to which the Liverpool team had raised itself.<ref name=S106/> In the 1964–65 First Division, Liverpool dropped from first to seventh with 13 fewer points than the previous season, perhaps due to the exertion of lengthy participation in the FA and European Cups.<ref name="LFC-L60"/>

In 1965–66, Liverpool regained the First Division title and reached the final of the [[European Cup Winners' Cup]] at Hampden Park, where they lost 2–1 in extra time to [[Borussia Dortmund]]. Shankly's summary of that final, played on a wet night, was that the team did not play well and gave away "two silly goals".<ref name=S106/> Shankly and Paisley had learned a great deal about European football which Liverpool would eventually turn into trophies. Their strategy in two-legged ties would be containment away and attack at home.<ref name=K217>Kelly, p. 217.</ref> Shankly had applied the principle in a preliminary round tie against [[Juventus FC|Juventus]] when Liverpool were away in the first leg. Despite Juventus taking the lead after 81 minutes, Shankly ordered his players to ensure the deficit was only one goal. Liverpool then switched to all-out attack in the second leg at Anfield and won 2–0 (2–1 aggregate).<ref name=K217/>

Liverpool began the 1966–67 season by beating neighbours Everton in the [[FA Community Shield|FA Charity Shield]] match but the team were never really in contention for major honours that season, finishing fifth in the league. Shankly recognised the potential of Blackpool teenager [[Emlyn Hughes]], a future England captain, and signed him for £65,000 in February 1967.<ref name=S106/> Liverpool's performance in the [[1966–67 European Cup]] was poor and, after struggling to overcome [[FC Petrolul Ploiești]] in the first round, they were well beaten in the last 16 by [[AFC Ajax|Ajax Amsterdam]], inspired by 19-year-old [[Johan Cruyff]].<ref name=S107>Shankly, p. 107.</ref> Ajax won 7–3 on aggregate after defeating Liverpool 5–1 in Amsterdam. Several years later, in his autobiography, Shankly still complained that the match in Amsterdam should never have started because of fog and, although Liverpool lost 5–1, he still thought Liverpool would win the tie at Anfield.<ref name=S107/> Although Shankly claimed to have been unworried about the Ajax defeat, he acknowledged that he was examining the team and planning ahead.<ref name=S108>Shankly, p. 108.</ref> The Liverpool site argues that Shankly was mistaken in his decision at this time to postpone team rebuilding.<ref name="LFC-L60"/>

Liverpool improved their league performances over the next two years, finishing third in 1967–68 and then second in 1968–69, although to Shankly himself it was "a mediocre time in the late 1960s as we prepared for the 1970s".<ref name=S109>Shankly, p. 109.</ref> Shankly made two controversial signings in this period which did not turn out as he had hoped. In 1967, he signed striker [[Tony Hateley]] from [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]] for a club record £96,000 and then felt obliged to transfer him to [[Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City]] only a year later.<ref name=S109/> He wrote that bad luck and injuries disrupted the progress of two other prospects [[Alf Arrowsmith]] and [[Gordon Wallace (footballer, born 1944)|Gordon Wallace]]; Shankly had compared the latter to Tom Finney.<ref name=S110>Shankly, p. 110.</ref> In September 1968, he paid £100,000 ({{Inflation|UK|100000|1968|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) to Wolverhampton Wanderers for their teenage striker [[Alun Evans]] who thus became "football's first £100,000 teenager". Evans started well and produced some outstanding performances during his four years at the club but Shankly eventually had to sell him to [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]]. He later recalled that Evans was scarred by a glass in a nightclub incident which, in Shankly's opinion, had a detrimental impact on his career.<ref>Shankly, pp. 110–111.</ref>

The only long-term success that Shankly had in the transfer market in the late 1960s was his signing of Emlyn Hughes, who went on to captain Liverpool to victory in the European Cup. Otherwise, he did not significantly change the team until the 1969–70 season when Liverpool finished fifth in the league championship, a long way behind the winners, their local rivals Everton.<ref name="LFC-L70">{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2403-2 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325002723/http://www.shankly.com/Article/2403-2 | url-status=dead | archive-date=25 March 2012 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Liverpool Seventies Team | access-date=24 March 2012}}</ref> Shankly was characteristically defiant whenever Everton got the better of Liverpool and, although he liked and respected everyone connected with Everton, would always talk up Liverpool at Everton's expense. Typical of this was his joke about the city having two great football teams – Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.<ref name=DMQ/>

In the 1969–70 FA Cup quarter final, Liverpool played against struggling Second Division side [[Watford F.C.|Watford]] at [[Vicarage Road]] and lost 1–0 after a very poor performance.<ref name="LFC-L70"/> The Liverpool site records that the defeat signalled the end for St John, Hunt, Byrne, Yeats and Lawrence; the incomers included [[Ray Clemence]], [[Alec Lindsay]], [[Larry Lloyd]], [[John Toshack]], [[Brian Hall (footballer, born 1946)|Brian Hall]] and [[Steve Heighway]].<ref name="LFC-L70"/> Apart from Hall who graduated through the reserves, they were all signed from clubs in lower divisions or even, in the case of Heighway, from non-league football.<ref>Shankly, pp. 115–117.</ref> Adding the new players to Tommy Smith, Ian Callaghan, Chris Lawler and Emlyn Hughes, Shankly formed the nucleus of a second great team which went on to dominate English and European football in the 1970s.<ref name="LFC-L70"/>

Many of the new players came to Liverpool because of a new scouting system created by Shankly in 1967 and placed under the control of new chief scout Geoff Twentyman, who had played for Shankly at Carlisle and had then spent several seasons at Liverpool, retiring shortly before Shankly's appointment. According to Stephen Kelly, hiring Twentyman as chief scout was "perhaps Shankly's finest signing ever".<ref>Kelly, p. 244.</ref> It was through Twentyman that Liverpool found the new players and, after Shankly retired, Twentyman gave sterling service to Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan by finding players including [[Phil Neal]], [[Alan Hansen]] and [[Ian Rush]].<ref name=K245>Kelly, pp. 245–246.</ref> As always, Shankly kept things simple and Twentyman was told to look for a prospect's basic qualities which were the abilities to pass the ball and move into position to receive a pass.<ref>Hughes, p. 17.</ref> Shankly also wanted Twentyman to check the player's personality and ensure he had the right attitude for a professional footballer. Above all, said Twentyman, "he wanted to know if the lad had the heart to play for Liverpool".<ref name=K245/> Although Shankly sometimes paid large transfer fees he was loath to do so and Twentyman's brief was to find young players so he (Shankly) could mould them into what he wanted.<ref>Hughes, p. 44.</ref>

====1970 to 1974====
The new team began promisingly in 1970–71 by retaining fifth place in the league and reaching the semi-finals of the [[1970–71 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup|Inter-Cities Fairs Cup]] where they lost 1–0 to Leeds United.<ref>Kelly, pp. 254–255.</ref> The highlight of Liverpool's European campaign that season was a 4–1 aggregate victory in the quarter-final over [[FC Bayern Munich|Bayern Munich]].<ref>Kelly, p. 255.</ref> For the first time since winning the competition in 1965, Liverpool reached the [[1971 FA Cup Final|FA Cup Final]] but, as in the Fairs Cup, experience was the major factor and Shankly's young team were beaten 2–1 by league champions Arsenal despite having taken the lead in extra time through a Steve Heighway goal.<ref>Kelly, p. 258.</ref> Watching from the sidelines was another new player whom Shankly had recently signed from [[Scunthorpe United F.C.|Scunthorpe United]] for £35,000 on Twentyman's recommendation.<ref>Kelly, p. 259.</ref> This was [[Kevin Keegan]] and he was such an important addition to the new Liverpool team that Shankly devoted an entire chapter of his autobiography to him entitled ''A Boy Called Keegan''.<ref>Shankly, pp. 118–123.</ref> Shankly summarised Keegan as "the inspiration of the new team".<ref name=S123>Shankly, p. 123.</ref>

In Keegan's first season, 1971–72, Liverpool missed out on winning the First Division by a single point, the title going to [[Brian Clough]]'s [[Derby County F.C.|Derby County]]. Shankly maintained that Liverpool were denied a definite penalty in their crucial away match against Derby and then had a good goal disallowed towards the end of their final match against Arsenal.<ref>Kelly, p. 262.</ref> Both decisions cost the team a vital point which would have been enough to claim first place. Shankly took encouragement from the team's overall form, especially as they had a strong finish to the season, and he was confident of success in 1972–73.<ref name=S125>Shankly, p. 125.</ref>

[[File:This is Anfield.jpg|thumb|upright|The "THIS IS ANFIELD" sign in the players' tunnel was installed by Shankly in 1972 to instil fear into the opposition.|alt=steps leading down to tunnel, above the tunnel is a sign with This Is Anfield in white letters on a red background, with a crest on it]]
Shankly had always been noted for his use of psychology, both to encourage his own players and to raise doubt in the minds of opponents.<ref>Kelly, pp. 263–264.</ref> One of his lasting innovations is the "THIS IS ANFIELD" plaque secured to the wall above the players' tunnel.<ref name=K126>Kelly, p. 126.</ref> Coupled with the roar of the crowd, it was designed to intimidate.<ref name=K126/><ref name=S126/> Shankly stated the plaque "is to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing against".<ref name="Telegraph quotes">{{cite news |title=Bill Shankly 50th anniversary: famous sayings of legendary Liverpool manager |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/6692873/Bill-Shankly-50th-anniversary-famous-sayings-of-legendary-Liverpool-manager.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/6692873/Bill-Shankly-50th-anniversary-famous-sayings-of-legendary-Liverpool-manager.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=22 February 2020 |work=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In the first match after it was erected, Liverpool defeated Newcastle United 5–0 on 18 March 1972,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.11v11.com/matches/liverpool-v-newcastle-united-18-march-1972-81519/ |title=Liverpool v Newcastle United, 18 March 1972 |work=11v11 |access-date=26 March 2022}}</ref> despite an attempt by [[Malcolm Macdonald]] to joke about the sign.<ref name=S126>Shankly, p. 126.</ref> Shankly would try to boost the confidence of his own players by announcing that a key opponent was unfit. When Keegan was about to play against [[Bobby Moore]] for the first time, Shankly told him that Moore had been out at a nightclub and was hungover. Afterwards, Keegan having produced an outstanding performance against the equally outstanding Moore, Shankly told him that Moore had been brilliant that day and Keegan would never play against anyone better.<ref name=K264>Kelly, p. 264.</ref>

In 1972–73, Liverpool won the club's eighth league title and their third under Shankly.<ref>Kelly, p. 268.</ref> On 30 December 1972 the team beat [[Crystal Palace F.C.|Crystal Palace]] at Anfield to make it 21 consecutive home wins in the league.<ref>{{cite news |title=In numbers: How Klopp and Shankly won 21 home games in a row |url=https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/features/388370-in-numbers-how-klopp-and-shankly-won-21-home-games-in-a-row |access-date=27 February 2020 |publisher=Liverpool F.C.}}</ref> This was the [[Football records and statistics in England#Wins|longest run in English top-flight history]] until it was surpassed by [[Jürgen Klopp]]'s Liverpool who made it 22 consecutive home wins in March 2020.<ref>{{cite news |title=Salah and Milner reaction: 'We showed our mentality to win' |url=https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/389748-salah-milner-liverpool-mentality-bournemouth-reaction |access-date=7 March 2020 |website=Liverpool FC}}</ref> A massive bonus for the club was winning the [[1972–73 UEFA Cup|1973 UEFA Cup]], the club's first European success.<ref>Kelly, pp. 272–280.</ref> In the [[1973 UEFA Cup Final|two-legged final]] they faced [[Borussia Mönchengladbach]], whom Shankly rated the best team in Europe.<ref name=S131>Shankly, p. 131.</ref> The first leg at Anfield had to be played twice after an abandonment due to heavy rain which flooded the pitch.<ref>Kelly, p. 278.</ref> Shankly had left John Toshack out of the team but then, having studied the Borussia defence, recalled him for the rematch the following night. Toshack used his height and heading ability to great effect and created two goals for Keegan as Liverpool won 3–0.<ref>Kelly, pp. 278–280.</ref> The second leg in Mönchengladbach was a different story as Borussia took an early 2–0 lead and Shankly admitted he thought the final was lost, but Liverpool held on to win the final by an aggregate score of 3–2.<ref>Kelly, p. 280.</ref> It was the first time an English club had won both the league title and a European trophy in the same season.<ref>Shankly, pp. 131–132.</ref>

Liverpool were well beaten by [[Red Star Belgrade]] in the second round of the 1973–74 European Cup and lost out to Leeds in the First Division, finishing second.<ref>Kelly, pp. 286–287.</ref> In the third round of the FA Cup, Liverpool had to score a late equaliser to draw 2–2 at home against Fourth Division [[Doncaster Rovers F.C.|Doncaster Rovers]] but recovered to win the replay and then go all the way to the final.<ref>Kelly, pp. 287–288.</ref> In what proved to be Shankly's last competitive game in charge, Liverpool produced a superb second half performance to defeat Newcastle 3–0 at Wembley.<ref>Kelly, p. 288.</ref>

===Relationship with fans===
[[File:Shankly Scarf 001.jpg|thumb|right|Bill Shankly during a lap of honour at Anfield in April 1973, wearing the scarf thrown to him by a Liverpool fan]]
In his autobiography, Shankly wrote: "Right from the start as a manager [i.e., when he was at Carlisle] I tried to show that the fans are the people that matter. You've got to know how to treat them (and) have them on your side".<ref name=S63>Shankly, p. 63.</ref> This was particularly true at Liverpool and Shankly said he was made for Liverpool where the people that matter most are the ones who come through the turnstiles.<ref name=S175>Shankly, p. 175.</ref> He added that a manager has got to identify himself with the people because their team is something that really matters to them. In return, he said, the support of the Liverpool fans for their team had been incredible.<ref name=S175/>

In April 1973, when Shankly and the team were showing off the League Championship trophy to the fans on [[Spion Kop (stadiums)|the Kop]], he saw a policeman fling aside a Liverpool scarf which had been thrown in Shankly's direction. Shankly retrieved the scarf and wore it. He said to the policeman: "Don't you do that. That's precious".<ref name=S138>Shankly, p. 138.</ref> Shankly saw the offer of the scarf as a mark of respect which deserved his respect in return.<ref name=S138/>

Shankly emphasised the importance of communication with the supporters. At Carlisle, rather than writing in the programme, he used the public address system to speak and explain his team changes and his views about the previous match.<ref>Shankly, pp. 63–64.</ref> At Workington, he would answer supporters' letters in person, using an old typewriter.<ref name=S70>Shankly, p. 170.</ref> He said he preferred to phone business people as he would put as little as possible in writing when dealing with them.<ref name=S70/> He would readily obtain match tickets for fans whom he considered to be deserving cases and wrote in his autobiography that he would give people anything within reason.<ref name=S181>Shankly, p. 181.</ref>

Shankly formed a special bond with the Liverpool supporters and, at the end of the 1961–62 season when Liverpool won the Second Division championship, he told the ''[[Liverpool Echo]]'': "In all sincerity, I can say that they are the greatest crowd of supporters in the game".<ref>Kelly, p. 171.</ref> In Tommy Smith's view, Shankly was completely in tune with the city of Liverpool; he loved the supporters and they loved him, mainly because they knew he understood them.<ref>Smith, p. 285.</ref>

{{blockquote|"Liverpool is not only a club. It's an institution. And my aim was to bring the people close to the club and the team and for them to be accepted part of it. The effect was that wives brought their late husband's ashes to [[Anfield]] and scattered them on the pitch after saying a little prayer. I said to them: 'In you come, you're welcome', and they trotted in by the dozen. One young boy got killed at his work and a bus load of 50 people came to Anfield one Sunday to scatter his ashes at the Kop end. So people not only support Liverpool when they're alive. They support them when they are dead. This is the true story of Liverpool. This is possibly why Liverpool are so great. There is no hypocrisy about it. It is sheer honesty."|Shankly (who had his own ashes scattered at Anfield) on instilling the club's connection with the fans.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Keith |first1=John |title=The Essential Shankly: Revealing the Kop Legend Who Launched a Thousand Quips |date=2001 |publisher=Robson |pages=56, 56}}</ref>}}

Regarded as a great orator who stirred emotions among the fanbase, following the 1971 FA Cup Final (which Liverpool lost to Arsenal), Shankly and the players toured the city of Liverpool where people turned out to greet the gallant losers. Standing on the steps of [[St George's Hall, Liverpool|St George's Hall]], Shankly overlooked a crowd of over 100,000 Liverpool fans, and delivered one of his most famous speeches. "'Since I've come here to Liverpool, to Anfield, I've drummed it into our players, time and again, that they are privileged to play for you. And if they didn't believe me, they believe me now."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hughes |first1=Simon |title=Allez Allez Allez: The Inside Story of the Resurgence of Liverpool FC, Champions of Europe 2019 |date=2019 |publisher=Random House}}</ref> Commenting on the mood of the crowd, a moved Peter Robinson, club secretary of Liverpool, told a reporter, "Bill's got such power of oratory that if he told them to march through the [[Mersey]] tunnel and pillage [[Birkenhead]] they'd do it".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Keith |first1=John |title=The Essential Shankly: Revealing the Kop Legend Who Launched a Thousand Quips |date=2001 |publisher=Robson |pages=149, 150}}</ref>

==Retirement from Liverpool==
Shankly was 60 when Liverpool won the 1974 FA Cup final and said in his autobiography that, on returning to the dressing room at the end of the match, he felt tired from all the years.<ref name=S141>Shankly, p. 141.</ref> His mind was made up and he knew he was going to retire.<ref name=S141/> His wife, Nessie, had asked him to retire a year earlier but he decided that was not the right time.<ref name=S142/> Tommy Smith said that Shankly's feelings for Nessie were undoubtedly a major reason for his decision.<ref>Smith, p. 286.</ref> In 1974, he decided that he could leave Liverpool with pride in a job well done and only one regret, which was that he did not win the European Cup.<ref name=S142>Shankly, p. 142.</ref>

Shankly had considered retirement in previous years. The Liverpool secretary Peter Robinson was initially blasé in 1974 but, when he realised Shankly was serious this time, tried to make him change his mind. Shankly's granddaughter, Karen Gill, said to ''[[The Observer]]'' in 2009: "I think that perhaps it was tiredness, that football had taken its toll on him".<ref name=G09>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/oct/18/bill-shankly-liverpool-manager | newspaper=The Observer | title=Bill Shankly: Life, Death and Football | access-date=25 March 2012 | location=London | first=James | last=Corbett | date=18 October 2009}}</ref> In her 2006 book about her grandfather, Karen Gill said Shankly never professed anything privately about retirement that he did not declare publicly. She did not agree that there was any hidden motive behind his decision and she thought Brian Clough's view about tiredness was probably correct.<ref>Gill, p. 218.</ref>

Shankly's retirement was officially and surprisingly announced at a press conference called by Liverpool on 12 July 1974. Chairman, John Smith, said in his opening address:<ref name="LFC-RET">{{cite web | url=http://www.shankly.com/article/2410 | publisher=LFCHistory.net | title=Bill Shankly's Retirement | access-date=24 March 2012 | archive-date=14 March 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314051201/http://www.shankly.com/article/2410 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

<blockquote>It is with great regret that I as chairman of Liverpool Football Club have to inform you that Mr Shankly has intimated that he wishes to retire from active participation in league football. And the board has with extreme reluctance accepted his decision. I would like to at this stage place on record the board's great appreciation of Mr Shankly's magnificent achievements over the period of his managership.</blockquote>

Shankly soon regretted his decision and tried to continue his involvement with the club, mainly by turning up for team training at Melwood. He said he still wanted the involvement as the club had become his life.<ref name=S143>Shankly, p. 143.</ref> He soon stopped going to Melwood because he felt there was some resentment and people were asking what he was doing there.<ref name=S144>Shankly, p. 144.</ref> He still attended matches, but sat in the stand away from the directors and staff. He was especially annoyed that Liverpool did not invite him to attend away matches as the club's guest. When, finally, he was invited to travel with them to the away leg of the [[1976 UEFA Cup Final]] in [[Bruges]], he was accommodated in a separate hotel and said he found that insulting.<ref name=S144/> Shankly contrasted Liverpool's attitude with what he encountered at other clubs, including Liverpool's great rivals Everton and Manchester United, where he was received warmly. He recalled Manchester United manager Tommy Docherty's comment to a Liverpool director that he (Shankly) was welcome at Old Trafford.<ref name=S145>Shankly, p. 145.</ref> About Everton, once his greatest rivals, he wrote that he had been received more warmly by Everton than by Liverpool. He said it was a scandal that he needed to say that about the club he had helped to build.<ref name=S145/>

From Liverpool's point of view, the situation was that Shankly had retired and the club had to move on. Shankly did not understand that, by turning up for training at Melwood, he was effectively undermining Bob Paisley's status as manager. On one visit to Melwood, a player opined to Shankly that Paisley had made a good start in the job. Shankly retorted: "I could have left a monkey in charge!"<ref>{{cite book | author=Herbert, Ian | title=Quiet Genius: Bob Paisley, British Football's Greatest Manager| publisher=Bloomsbury Sport| year=2017| isbn=978-1472937322 | page=66}}</ref> Shankly's visits even went as far as actually taking over the training. Tommy Smith recalled that Shankly as manager never ran training and would only speak to Paisley, Fagan and Bennett about what needed to be done. As a visitor at Melwood, he began to intervene and Paisley's initial pleasure on seeing him soon turned to polite embarrassment. Eventually, Paisley had to point out to Shankly that he did not work there any more, that it was now Paisley's team and that he had things which he wanted to do with the team.<ref name=G09/>

It is believed that Shankly wanted a seat on the Liverpool board, as Matt Busby had been given by Manchester United after he retired as their manager in 1969.<ref name=G09/> Again, what Shankly did not understand was that his relations with the board had often been acrimonious with several resignation threats and a statement made by Shankly that:<ref name=G09/>

<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

Although some club officials like secretary Peter Robinson wanted bygones to be bygones, Tommy Smith summarised the board's view as one of satisfaction that Shankly had "gone at last".<ref name=G09/> There was a perception that Shankly was an overbearing figure, who could use a position on the board to be a "backseat driver", and the board were well aware that Matt Busby's time as a Manchester United director had been disastrous. Busby's successors had complained about being undermined by his continued presence at United, who had been relegated in [[1973–74 in English football|1974]]. While Liverpool's treatment of Shankly may have seemed disrespectful, they were acting in the best interests of the club and its new manager by pursuing the same relentless winning ethic that Shankly himself had instilled. In any event, their perceived ruthlessness was vindicated by the unprecedented haul of League Championship titles and European Cups won over the next decade<ref name=G09/> under Bob Paisley<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.lfchistory.net/Managers/Manager/Profile/10 | title=Manager profile: Bob Paisley | publisher=LFCHistory.net | access-date=26 July 2018}}</ref> and Joe Fagan.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.lfchistory.net/Managers/Manager/Profile/11 | title=Manager profile: Joe Fagan | publisher=LFCHistory.net | access-date=26 July 2018}}</ref>

Soon after Shankly's retirement, [[Brian Clough]] – who himself had recently been sacked by [[Leeds United]] – was asked during a [[David Frost]] interview whom in football management he respected, to which Clough replied: "Well, the guy who had my total respect finished a few months ago at Liverpool. He's a one off, there'll never be another one like Shanks. Never at all. He absolutely lives the game ... he was totally honest, he believed implicitly in what he was doing, and there was never, ever a doubt when you either talked to him, met him, or anything; he was above board. He was above board. He was one off."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Frost |first1=David |title=The Frost Interview - Brian Clough - 1974 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nty4nErzo68  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508021431/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nty4nErzo68  |url-status=dead  |archive-date=8 May 2023 |website=Youtube |access-date=31 May 2019 |time=Minute 25:35 |date=1974}}</ref>

==Later years==
[[File:Bill Shankly statue, Anfield 2018.jpg|thumb|upright|The statue of Shankly, erected in 1997, outside the Kop at [[Anfield]]]]
Shankly was awarded the [[British honours system|OBE]] in November 1974, four months after he retired as Liverpool manager. He and Nessie went to [[Buckingham Palace]] and, according to Kelly, that was a rare day out for them.<ref name=K309>Kelly, p. 309.</ref> They continued to live in the semi-detached house at [[West Derby]], near the Everton training ground at [[Bellefield]], which they bought when they moved to Liverpool in 1959.<ref name=K306>Kelly, p. 306.</ref> After Shankly's death in 1981, Nessie lived there alone until she died in August 2002.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/page.cfm?objectid=12574473&method=full&siteid=50061 | publisher=icLiverpool | title=Bill Shankly's old home goes up for sale | access-date=26 March 2012}}</ref>

Shankly tried to keep busy in retirement and stay in touch with football. He worked for [[Radio City 96.7|Radio City]], a Liverpool station on which he presented his own chat show, once interviewing prime minister [[Harold Wilson]], and was a pundit on its football coverage. He briefly took up advisory roles at [[Wrexham A.F.C.|Wrexham]] and then at [[Tranmere Rovers F.C.|Tranmere Rovers]], helping former Liverpool captain Ron Yeats at the latter. In November 1976, the press speculated that Shankly would make a return to management as the successor to [[Dave Mackay]] at Derby County, but the position went to [[Colin Murphy (footballer, born 1950)|Colin Murphy]] instead. John Toshack recalled that Shankly was a great help to him when he went into management with [[Swansea City A.F.C.|Swansea City]] in 1978. Despite being in his sixties, Shankly kept himself fit and often took part in five-a-side football. If nothing else was available he would join teams of youngsters in kickabouts.<ref name=G09/>

==Death and legacy==
On the morning of 26 September 1981, Shankly was admitted to [[Broadgreen Hospital]] following a heart attack. His condition appeared to be stable and there was no suggestion that his life was in danger. On the following Monday morning, his condition suddenly deteriorated and he was transferred into intensive care. At 00:30 on 29 September, he suffered another cardiac arrest and was certified dead, aged 68, at 01:20. He was cremated at the [[Anfield Crematorium]] on 2 October and his ashes were scattered on the Anfield pitch at the Kop end.<ref>Kelly, pp. 312–314.</ref>

[[File:Shankly Gates.jpg|thumb|The Shankly Gates were erected outside [[Anfield]] in 1982]]
[[File:Shankly plinth, 96 Avenue.jpg|thumb|The Shankly plinth outside Anfield]]
On the day of Shankly's death, training was cancelled at both Melwood and Bellefield.<ref name=K313/> The [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] conference stood in a minute's silence for a man who had always been a socialist.<ref name=K313/> Sir Matt Busby, the former Manchester United manager, was so upset that he refused to take any telephone calls from people asking him for a reaction.<ref name=K313/> Tributes poured in from the world of football, especially from the former players of all Shankly's clubs. Liverpool chairman John Smith summed them up with a simple but fitting: "In my opinion, he was the most outstanding and dynamic manager of the century".<ref name=K313>Kelly, p. 313.</ref> On 3 October, Liverpool's first home league game since his death, Anfield celebrated his life, with one fan on the Kop holding aloft a homemade banner declaring "Shankly Lives Forever".<ref>{{cite news |title=The Kop commemorates Bill Shankly - 20"x16" Premium Framed Print |url=https://picturestore.liverpoolfc.com/LFC/Product/Display/21439 |access-date=2 July 2020 |agency=LiverpoolFC.com |archive-date=3 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703021111/https://picturestore.liverpoolfc.com/LFC/Product/Display/21439 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Liverpool erected the {{convert|15|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}} cast iron Shankly Gates in front of the Anfield Road stand. Inscribed "You'll Never Walk Alone", they were opened by Nessie Shankly at a low-key ceremony in August 1982. In 1997, a seven-foot tall bronze statue of Shankly was unveiled outside the stadium.<ref name=G09/> It bears the legend: "He made the people happy".<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/5381414.stm | title=Remembering Bill Shankly | work=BBC Sport | date=29 September 2006 | access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref> In 2016, a plinth to Shankly was installed on 96 Avenue outside Anfield. The inscription features details of Liverpool's 1965 win over [[Inter Milan]] at Anfield, the club's first great European night.<ref>{{cite news |title=Liverpool reveal 96 Avenue and Paisley Square will form part of new-look Anfield |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-reveal-96-avenue-paisley-11760738 |access-date=16 January 2020 |work=Liverpool Echo}}</ref>

From the mid-1990s, Preston North End started a complete rebuilding of [[Deepdale]] to convert it into a modern all-seater stadium. When the former Spion Kop end was replaced by a new stand in 1998, it was named the Bill Shankly Kop and was designed with different coloured seats depicting an image of Shankly's head and shoulders.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.pnefc.net/page/GroundGuide/0,,10362~1053093,00.html | publisher=Preston North End |title=Deepdale Ground Guide | access-date=26 March 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307022258/http://www.pnefc.net/page/GroundGuide/0%2C%2C10362~1053093%2C00.html | archive-date=7 March 2009 | df=dmy}}</ref>

Shankly was made an inaugural inductee of the [[English Football Hall of Fame]] in 2002, in recognition of his impact on the English game as a manager.<ref name="EFHOF">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/score_on_bbci/4345966.stm | work=BBC Sport | title=Wright Inducted into Hall of Fame | access-date=26 March 2012 | date=15 October 2005}}</ref> In 2004, he was an inaugural inductee into the [[Scottish Football Hall of Fame]].<ref name="SFHOF"/> [[David Peace]]'s biographical novel [[Red or Dead (novel)|''Red or Dead'']], published in 2013, is a fictionalised account of Shankly's career as Liverpool manager.<ref>{{cite book | last=Peace | first=David | author-link=David Peace | title=Red or Dead | publisher=Faber & Faber | location=London | date=2013 | isbn=978-0-571-28066-7}}</ref> The novel was short-listed for the inaugural [[Goldsmiths Prize]] (2013).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24347367 |title=Jim Crace makes Goldsmiths Prize shortlist |agency=[[BBC News]] |date=1 October 2013 |access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref> A hotel and museum opened in Liverpool in August 2015 dedicated to the life and career of Bill Shankly.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/bill-shankly-themed-hotel-open-liverpool-6888737 | title=Bill Shankly-themed hotel to open in Liverpool | newspaper=Liverpool Echo | date=28 March 2014 | access-date=26 July 2018}}</ref> Shankly also features in the popular Liverpool chant "Allez, Allez, Allez", which is frequently sung by Liverpool supporters, especially during European matches.<ref>[https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/allez-allez-allez-the-story-behind-famous-liverpool-chant/153649oachmrr16od823fwe6c9 "Allez Allez Allez! The story behind famous Liverpool chant"]. Goal. Retrieved 10 June 2021</ref> Archived voice overs of Shankly ("My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility") appear on the track "[[Anfield Rap]]", a Liverpool FA Cup Final song from 1988.<ref>{{cite news |title=Do you know the Anfield Rap lyrics? Take our quiz to find out if you REALLY do |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/you-know-anfield-rap-lyrics-10339481 |access-date=10 June 2021 |work=Liverpool Echo}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|The club was unrecognisable from the decrepit, rundown place it had been on the eve of the 60s. Shankly found a team mired in the second tier of English football and propelled them to the continent's top table. He led the side to three titles, delivered their first FA Cup and their first European trophy, the Uefa Cup. Yet the silverware tells only a fraction of the story. The man from Glenbuck's biggest impact was metaphysical. He created the idea of Liverpool, something that did not exist before his arrival on Merseyside. That concept still runs through the club. Shankly made a point of emphasising the importance of fans. He talked about the Kop "sucking the ball into the net", and made spectators feel like participants in games. Shankly is the most significant icon in the club's history.|Tony Evans, ''[[The Independent]]'', December 2019. 'Bill Shankly remains the personification of Liverpool 60 years after he arrived on Merseyside'.<ref name="Icon"/>}}

==Personal life==
Shankly was married to his wife Agnes Wren-Fisher from 1944 until his death 37 years later. They had met earlier during [[World War II]], when Bill was serving as a Corporal with the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] and "Nessie", who was six years younger, was serving with the [[WRAF]]. They had two daughters – Barbara (born 1945) and Jeanette (born 1951) – and eventually went on to have six grandchildren, although their youngest grandchild and only grandson was born several months after Bill Shankly's death. Nessie survived her husband by more than 20 years, dying in August 2002 at the age of 82.<ref>[https://shanklyhotel.com/the-family/ "Shankly family"]. Shankly Hotel. Retrieved 15 January 2020</ref> On Shankly's appointment as Liverpool manager in 1959, he and his family moved into a house in Bellefield Avenue, [[West Derby]], Liverpool. Nessie Shankly was still living there at the time of her death more than 40 years later.<ref>[https://www.thefreelibrary.com/End+of+era+as+Nessie+Shankly+dies+at+82.-a090109616 "End of era as Nessie Shankly dies at 82"]. ''Daily Post''. Retrieved 15 January 2020</ref>

Upon his death in 1981 Shankly left £99,077 in his will ({{Inflation|UK|99077|1981|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}).<ref>{{cite news|title=Latest wills|url=https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=1&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CCS203000164&docType=Death+notice&sort=Pub+Date+Forward+Chron&contentSegment=ZTMA-MOD1&prodId=TTDA&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CCS203000164&searchId=R4&userGroupName=wes_ttda&inPS=true|access-date=12 August 2020|work=[[The Times]]|issue=61073|date=4 November 1981|page=12}}</ref>

Shankly was, at a time, [[Teetotalism|teetotal]].<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8zpu6yukyM&t=147s |title=1974: The KOPITES of Liverpool FC {{!}} The Kop {{!}} Classic BBC sport {{!}} BBC Archive |date=20 May 2024 |last=BBC Archive |access-date=23 May 2025 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

==Personality==
{{quote box|width=27%|bgcolor=#FFFFF0|align=right|quote=Bill Shankly was always more than a great football manager. He was football's Muhammad Ali: a charismatic maverick whose utterances had an unexpected, undeniable poetry. He led Liverpool like a revolutionary leader, casting his personnel not just as footballers but soldiers to his cause, and became a folk hero to the fans. |source=—James Corbett, ''[[The Guardian]]''. October 2009.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bill Shankly: Life, death and football |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/oct/18/bill-shankly-liverpool-manager |access-date=1 August 2020 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref>}}

Stephen Kelly, in his 1997 biography of Shankly, calls him "the ultimate obsessive".<ref name=K3/> Shankly was fanatical about Liverpool and about football in general. From coaching his players and arguing with journalists to buttonholing fans in pubs, all Shankly ever wanted to do was talk about football and to be involved in football.<ref name=K3>Kelly, p. 3.</ref> As a result, he had few interests outside the game other than his family. His wife Nessie told Kelly that Shankly would spend time in the garden, mowing and weeding.<ref name=K293>Kelly, p. 293.</ref> She could rely on him to clean the cooker when Liverpool lost.<ref name=K293/> Family holidays were limited to a week in [[Blackpool]], where they always stayed at the Norbreck Hotel.<ref name=K293/> One non-football activity that Shankly did enjoy was playing cards and Ian St John said he loved it, always taking part on long coach trips to away matches.<ref>St John, p. 119.</ref>

Shankly was noted for his charismatic personality and his wit; as a result, he is oft-quoted.<ref name=DMQ>{{cite news | url=http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Liverpool-legend-Bill-Shankly-Football-more-important-than-life-and-death-plus-his-other-great-quotes-article570339.html | newspaper=Daily Mirror | title=Some people believe football is a matter of life and death... The wit and wisdom of Bill Shankly | date=2 September 2010 | access-date=26 March 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120726020748/http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Liverpool-legend-Bill-Shankly-Football-more-important-than-life-and-death-plus-his-other-great-quotes-article570339.html|archivedate=26 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bill Shankly remembered: 11 brilliant quotes from Liverpool's iconic manager |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/bill-shankly-remembered-11-brilliant-10156199 |access-date=6 February 2020 |work=Liverpool Echo}}</ref> His most famous quotation is probably one that is often paraphrased:<ref name=DMQ/>

<blockquote>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.<ref name=DMQ/></blockquote>

Kelly wrote that, although it was said half-jokingly, so far as Shankly was concerned there was a degree of truth in what he had said. Shankly had fully realised the importance of football to its die-hard fans, himself included. It had become too important.<ref>Kelly, p. 290.</ref> Ian St John agreed that much of Shankly's behaviour was "bizarre", but everything was done with a purpose because Shankly always knew what he was doing and what he was saying.<ref>St John, p. 92.</ref>

{{rquote|right|It's the greatest thing in the world, natural enthusiasm. You're nothing without it.|Shankly on his most treasured character trait.<ref name="Telegraph quotes"/>}}
On how his tough, working class upbringing kept him grounded. "Pressure is working down [[Coal mining in the United Kingdom|the pit]]. Pressure is having no work at all. Pressure is trying to escape relegation on 50 shillings a week. Pressure is not the European Cup or the Championship or the Cup Final. That's the reward."<ref name="Telegraph quotes"/> On his belief in hard work, he referred to his time in the RAF: "If I had a job to do, even if it was scrubbing the floor, I wanted my floor to be cleaner than yours. Now if everyone thinks along these lines and does all the small jobs to the best of their ability – that's honesty, then the world would be better and football will be better. So, what I want is hard work. And no football club is successful without hard work."<ref name="FootballTimes">{{cite news |title=Bill Shankly: It's Not How You Arrive, It's How You Leave |url=https://thesefootballtimes.co/2015/11/12/bill-shankly-its-not-how-you-arrive-its-how-you-leave/ |access-date=22 February 2020 |work=These Football Times}}</ref>

In his autobiography, Shankly gave insights into his character such as his world-view as a socialist, explaining that the socialism he believed in was not about politics but about collectivism, with everyone working for each other and enjoying a share  of the rewards. That was the basis of his approach to football which is a team game in which everyone works together and shares the rewards.<ref name=S32>Shankly, p. 32.</ref>

While he lived most of his life in the North of England, Shankly identified as a [[Scottish people|Scot]], saying "If Scotland went to war tomorrow, I'll be the first one there."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rudd|first=Alyson|title=Three Kings: A tear-jerking tale of how three Scots built Liverpool, Manchester United and Celtic|newspaper=[[The Times]] |language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/three-kings-a-tear-jerking-tale-of-how-three-scots-built-liverpool-manchester-united-and-celtic-bf87jzv92|access-date=29 October 2020|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> He admitted to idolising [[Robert Burns]], whose birthplace was only 26 miles from Glenbuck, and he was inspired by many of Burns' philosophical quotations, such as his egalitarian statement that "[[A Man's A Man for A' That]]".<ref name="S33">Shankly, p. 33.</ref> Shankly had no time for bigotry or prejudice, especially arising from differences of religion. He compared the cities of Glasgow and Liverpool by saying that there is nothing like the [[Old Firm|Rangers–Celtic situation]] in Liverpool because the supporters of Liverpool and Everton are a mixed bunch whose religion is football.<ref name="S31" />

Shankly's public persona was that of a "tough guy" with the swagger of his favourite film star [[James Cagney]] but privately he was very different. Joe Mercer described his "heart of gold" and likened him to a [[Border Collie]] who drives his sheep but could never hurt them.<ref name=K240>Kelly, p. 240.</ref> Liverpool's perceived failings in the late 1960s have been attributed to Shankly's reluctance to drop his long-serving players even though they were past their best. Bob Paisley said it was Shankly's one failing and it was because he was "a softie at heart".<ref name=K240/>

When asked by a TV interviewer how he would like to be remembered, Shankly replied:<ref>Kelly, p. 314.</ref> <blockquote>Basically as an honest man in a game that is sometimes short on honesty. That I've been working honestly for the people of Liverpool to try and give them entertainment.</blockquote>

==Honours==
===As a player===
'''Preston North End'''
*[[FA Cup]]: [[1938 FA Cup Final|1937–38]], runner-up: [[1936–37 FA Cup|1936–37]]
*[[Football League War Cup]]: [[1940–41 in English football|1940–41]]<ref name = "PNE 300">{{ cite web | title = PNE's 300 Club: Bill Shankly | url = https://www.pnefc.net/news/2021/june/pnes-300-club-bill-shankly/ | publisher = Official Preston NE FC | date = June 2021 | access-date = 30 June 2021}}</ref>
* [[Football League Second Division]]: promotion [[1933–34 Football League|1933–34]]<ref name = "PNE 300"/>

'''Scotland'''
* [[British Home Championship]]: [[1938–39 British Home Championship|1938–39]]<ref>{{cite web | title = William Shankly | url=https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/players/?pid=113024&lid=1 | publisher = [[Scottish FA]] | date = June 2021 | access-date = 30 June 2021}}</ref>

===As a manager===
'''Liverpool'''
*[[Football League First Division]]: [[1963–64 Football League|1963–64]], [[1965–66 Football League|1965–66]], [[1972–73 Football League|1972–73]]
*[[Football League Second Division]]: [[1961–62 Football League|1961–62]]
*FA Cup: [[1965 FA Cup Final|1964–65]], [[1974 FA Cup Final|1973–74]]
*[[FA Community Shield|FA Charity Shield]]: [[1964 FA Charity Shield|1964]], [[1965 FA Charity Shield|1965]], [[1966 FA Charity Shield|1966]]
*[[UEFA Europa League|UEFA Cup]]: [[1973 UEFA Cup Final|1972–73]]

'''Individual'''
* [[LMA Manager of the Year|Manager of the Year Award]]: [[1972–73 Football League|1972–73]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/23605961 |title=Bill Shankly's career in pictures |date=1 September 2013 |work=BBC Sport |access-date=27 September 2018 |language=en-GB }}</ref>
* [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]]: 1974<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/2006/09/25/shankly_twentyfive_yearson_feature.shtml |title=Shankly – Your memories |date=11 October 2006 |work=BBC |access-date=27 September 2018 |language=en-gb }}</ref>
* [[PFA Merit Award]]: 1978<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamHons/HonsPFAMerit.html |title=England Player Honours – Professional Footballers' Association MeritAward |website=England Football Online |access-date=27 September 2018 }}</ref>
* [[ESPN]] 10th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013<ref name="espn">{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/soccer/news/story/_/id/1515931|title=Greatest Managers, No. 10: Shankly|publisher=ESPN FC|access-date=21 October 2019}}</ref>
* [[France Football]] 10th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019<ref name="franceff">{{cite web|url=https://www.givemesport.com/1462037-france-football-have-ranked-the-50-greatest-managers-of-all-time|title=France Football have ranked the 50 greatest managers of all time|date=19 March 2019 |publisher=GiveMeSport|access-date=19 March 2019}}</ref>
*[[World Soccer (magazine)#Greatest Managers of All Time|World Soccer 20th Greatest Manager of All Time]]: 2013<ref>{{cite web|title=The Greatest Manager of all time|url=https://www.worldsoccer.com/features/the-greatest-manager-of-all-time-341473|publisher=World Soccer|author=Jamie Rainbow|date=4 July 2013}}</ref><ref name="Greatest XI">{{cite web|title=The Greatest XI: how the panel voted|url=http://www.worldsoccer.com/features/the-greatest-xi-how-the-panel-voted|publisher=World Soccer|author=Jamie Rainbow|date=2 July 2013|access-date=17 May 2020|archive-date=1 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150101233404/http://www.worldsoccer.com/features/the-greatest-xi-how-the-panel-voted|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[English Football Hall of Fame|Inaugural Inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame]]: 2002<ref name="EFHOF"/>
* [[Scottish Football Hall of Fame|Inaugural Inductee to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame]]: 2004<ref name="SFHOF">{{cite web |url=http://www.scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk/hall-of-fame/2004.html |title=2004 |publisher=[[Scottish Football Museum]] |access-date=17 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928040649/http://www.scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk/hall-of-fame/2004.html |archive-date=28 September 2011 }}</ref>

In April 2013, Shankly was honoured by [[Royal Mail]] in the United Kingdom, as one of ten people selected as subjects for the "Great Britons" [[Great Britain commemorative stamps 2010–19#2013|commemorative postage stamp]] issue.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.royalmailgroup.com/en/press-centre/press-releases/royal-mail/royal-mail-celebrates-great-britons-with-launch-of-latest-special-stamp-collection/ |title=Royal Mail celebrates 'Great Britons' with launch of latest special stamp collection |date=17 April 2013 |publisher=Royal Mail |access-date=26 April 2013}}</ref>

==Managerial statistics==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Team
!rowspan="2"|From
!rowspan="2"|To
!colspan="9"|Record
|-
!G!!W!!D!!L!!Win %
|-
|align="left"|[[Carlisle United F.C.|Carlisle United]]
|align="left"|1949
|align="left"|1951
{{WDL|108|48|33|27}}
|-
|align="left"|[[Grimsby Town F.C.|Grimsby Town]]
|align="left"|1951
|align="left"|1953
{{WDL|80|47|16|17}}
|-
|align="left"|[[Workington A.F.C.|Workington]]
|align="left"|1954
|align="left"|1955
{{WDL|85|35|23|27}}
|-
|align="left"|[[Huddersfield Town A.F.C.|Huddersfield Town]]
|align="left"|1956
|align="left"|1959
{{WDL|134|49|35|50}}
|-
|align="left"|[[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]]
|align="left"|1959
|align="left"|1974
{{WDL|783|407|198|178}}
|-
!colspan="3"|Total
{{WDLtot|1190|586|305|299}}
|}

==See also==
* [[List of English football championship winning managers]]
* [[List of longest managerial reigns in association football]]

==Footnotes==
<references group="nb" />

==References==
===Specific===
{{Reflist}}

===General===
* {{cite book |title=The Real Bill Shankly |last=Gill |first=Karen Elizabeth |year=2006 |publisher=Trinity Mirror Sport Media |location=Liverpool |isbn=1905266138}}
* {{cite book |title=Geoff Twentyman: Secret Diary of a Liverpool Scout |last=Hughes |first=Simon |year= 2009 |location=Liverpool |publisher=Trinity Mirror Sport Media |isbn=978-1-906802-00-4}}
* {{cite book |title=Bill Shankly: It's Much More Important Than That |last=Kelly |first=Stephen F. |author-link=Stephen F. Kelly |year=1997 |publisher=Virgin Books |location=London |isbn=0-7535-0003-5}}
* {{cite book |title=Shankly |last1=Shankly |first1=Bill |last2=Roberts|first2= John |year=1976 |publisher=Arthur Barker Ltd |location=London |isbn=0-213-16603-8}}
* {{cite book |title=Anfield Iron |last=Smith |first=Tommy |author-link=Tommy Smith (footballer, born 1945) |year=2008 |publisher=Transworld Publishers |location=London |isbn=978-0-593-05958-6}}
* {{cite book |title=The Saint: My Autobiography |last=St John |first=Ian |author-link=Ian St John |year= 2005 |location=London |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=0-340-84114-1}}
* {{cite book |title=When Saturday Comes – The Half Decent Football Book |year=2005 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=0-14-051575-5}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
* {{Scottish Sports Hall of Fame|bill-shankly-obe}}
* [https://www.liverpoolfc.com/info/bill-shankly Profile] at the Liverpool F.C. website
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100322202633/http://www.shankly.com/ Shankly.com on LFCHistory.net] – website dedicated to the life and times of Bill Shankly (archived 22 March 2010)
* [https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/oct/18/bill-shankly-liverpool-manager Bill Shankly: Life, Death and Football] – article in ''[[The Guardian]]'' 
* [https://shanklyhotel.com/ The Bill Shankly Hotel] – Website of the hotel dedicated to the life and career of Bill Shankly

{{Navboxes
|title=Awards
|fg=navy
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{{UEFA Cup / Europa League winning managers}}
{{English Football First Tier League Championship winning managers}}
{{FA Cup winning managers}}
{{Scottish Football Hall of Fame}}
{{English Football Hall of Fame}}
}}
{{Navboxes
|title=Bill Shankly managerial positions
|list1=
{{Carlisle United F.C. managers}}
{{Grimsby Town F.C. managers}}
{{Workington A.F.C. managers}}
{{Huddersfield Town F.C. managers}}
{{Liverpool F.C. managers}}
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{{Authority control}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}

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[[Category:1913 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century Scottish people]]
[[Category:Arsenal F.C. wartime guest players]]
[[Category:Men's association football wing halves]]
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[[Category:Cardiff City F.C. wartime guest players]]
[[Category:Carlisle United F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Carlisle United F.C. players]]
[[Category:Cronberry Eglinton F.C. players]]
[[Category:English Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:English Football League managers]]
[[Category:English Football League players]]
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[[Category:Liverpool F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Liverpool F.C. wartime guest players]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Footballers from East Ayrshire]]
[[Category:Preston North End F.C. players]]
[[Category:Scotland men's international footballers]]
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[[Category:Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Scottish Junior Football Association players]]
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[[Category:Scottish socialists]]
[[Category:UEFA Europa League–winning managers]]
[[Category:Workington A.F.C. managers]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Burials at Anfield Cemetery]]
[[Category:People from Glenbuck]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force airmen]]
[[Category:Military personnel from East Ayrshire]]