Thank you Bill. You made the people happy.
Bill Shankly
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By making me skulk off?
(Sorry)
(Sorry)
The day Bill Shankly signed me
As a teenager David Fairclough idolised Bill Shankly. Here he remembers the day the Scot signed him.
He made the modern Liverpool. That may sound a bit over the top but I don't think Liverpool were going anywhere before Shankly arrived at Anfield.
He set the foundations for all the years of success and domination. He put rules in place and methods and I think up to not so long ago most of those ways were still very much ingrained in the club.
His influence on me was massive in some ways. I met him on the day I signed apprentice forms for Liverpool and I remember signing professional forms and he had his hand on my shoulder.
It's something I have been lucky enough to get a film of. Whilst you have your memories of meeting Shankly and talking to him, to actually have one or two images of him with me was very important.
I remember growing up as a fan and he was everything. He was very much the boss. You think of Liverpool and you think instinctively Bill Shankly. It wasn't so much the 11 players but how he ran the club and he was the main man. There was absolutely no doubt about that.
In this day and age where players tend to take the limelight and spotlight of managers' in those days Bill Shankly was the number one. I remember going to Anfield on many days collecting autographs and Shanks appeared and everybody got excited and would rush to him. Just to hear him talk, he was never shy to offer a few words to anybody who would listen.
It's obviously very difficult to know whether or not Shanks would have survived in this day and age but I think he would have done. People would raise a question mark or two but I think his passion, enthusiasm for the game, his way of treating people and his appreciation of people and supporters - Shanks had everything. He wouldn't be playing second fiddle to anybody.
I think he picked up straight away what the Liverpool people wanted and how they reacted. They were a mixed group, almost cosmopolitan in those days and a great mix of cultures and nationalities. We were a special breed and I think Shanks picked up on that very quickly. I think he relished the job of dragging Liverpool out of where they were and delivering something to the public.
In return they just knew that he was the type of man with the required passion and determination. He made everyone give everything for the supporters and once that was ingrained in the team then the mix was absolutely perfect and Shankly just played to the crowd.
There are one or two images of Shanks down the years and there are a couple in particular, with his arms out acknowledging the support and taking the applause. There were others that required silence and very few people could have the control of a Liverpool crowd like him.
I remember the day after the 1974 FA Cup final when we came back and he got silence when he talked to the crowd on St George's plateau. It was absolutely awesome and in his own way he was very much the leader of Liverpool.
I don't think you will ever see anyone like him again, you won't get two Bill Shanklys. He was a very special man. When he spoke to you the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end - you listened. He just wanted to talk to people and he was enthusiastic.
He had a great outlook on life and you could never have anyone equal to Shankly. I know there have been great football managers down the years and they all had their way of doing things, but I'm sure a number of them have taken one or two of the lessons that Shankly put out and learned from him.
As a teenager David Fairclough idolised Bill Shankly. Here he remembers the day the Scot signed him.
He made the modern Liverpool. That may sound a bit over the top but I don't think Liverpool were going anywhere before Shankly arrived at Anfield.
He set the foundations for all the years of success and domination. He put rules in place and methods and I think up to not so long ago most of those ways were still very much ingrained in the club.
His influence on me was massive in some ways. I met him on the day I signed apprentice forms for Liverpool and I remember signing professional forms and he had his hand on my shoulder.
It's something I have been lucky enough to get a film of. Whilst you have your memories of meeting Shankly and talking to him, to actually have one or two images of him with me was very important.
I remember growing up as a fan and he was everything. He was very much the boss. You think of Liverpool and you think instinctively Bill Shankly. It wasn't so much the 11 players but how he ran the club and he was the main man. There was absolutely no doubt about that.
In this day and age where players tend to take the limelight and spotlight of managers' in those days Bill Shankly was the number one. I remember going to Anfield on many days collecting autographs and Shanks appeared and everybody got excited and would rush to him. Just to hear him talk, he was never shy to offer a few words to anybody who would listen.
It's obviously very difficult to know whether or not Shanks would have survived in this day and age but I think he would have done. People would raise a question mark or two but I think his passion, enthusiasm for the game, his way of treating people and his appreciation of people and supporters - Shanks had everything. He wouldn't be playing second fiddle to anybody.
I think he picked up straight away what the Liverpool people wanted and how they reacted. They were a mixed group, almost cosmopolitan in those days and a great mix of cultures and nationalities. We were a special breed and I think Shanks picked up on that very quickly. I think he relished the job of dragging Liverpool out of where they were and delivering something to the public.
In return they just knew that he was the type of man with the required passion and determination. He made everyone give everything for the supporters and once that was ingrained in the team then the mix was absolutely perfect and Shankly just played to the crowd.
There are one or two images of Shanks down the years and there are a couple in particular, with his arms out acknowledging the support and taking the applause. There were others that required silence and very few people could have the control of a Liverpool crowd like him.
I remember the day after the 1974 FA Cup final when we came back and he got silence when he talked to the crowd on St George's plateau. It was absolutely awesome and in his own way he was very much the leader of Liverpool.
I don't think you will ever see anyone like him again, you won't get two Bill Shanklys. He was a very special man. When he spoke to you the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end - you listened. He just wanted to talk to people and he was enthusiastic.
He had a great outlook on life and you could never have anyone equal to Shankly. I know there have been great football managers down the years and they all had their way of doing things, but I'm sure a number of them have taken one or two of the lessons that Shankly put out and learned from him.
Ray Clemence on Shankly
Legendary goalkeeper Ray Clemence has his say on what the name Bill Shankly means to him.
It's incredible to think it's 50 years since the great man's arrival and it makes us all feel a lot older I have to say!
He was an amazing man. A lot of people nowadays have heard about Shankly but weren't around when he was at this magnificent football club.
It's difficult to explain just how influential he was, but for those at this club at the time he really did set the foundations. This club would not be what it is today without Bill Shankly coming 50 years ago, I can assure you of that.
He set so many good standards and so many levels that you just had to perform for this football club.
He will be up there looking down now and hoping that there will be some silverware coming soon.
I remember the first time I met him was the day I signed back in 1967. It seems an eternity now, over 40 years ago, and I remember his first words to me were 'Hello son. How are you doing?"
So simple, but I always remember I was totally overawed by the man. I was so impressed with how much he loved this football club; how much it was the fans' football club, and how privileged I was going to be to come and play for Liverpool and play in front of the greatest set of football supporters in the world. He wasn't wrong.
He got that message through to every single player. You were privileged to play on that pitch in front of those 50,000 fans every week. He was quite simply an incredible person.
Legendary goalkeeper Ray Clemence has his say on what the name Bill Shankly means to him.
It's incredible to think it's 50 years since the great man's arrival and it makes us all feel a lot older I have to say!
He was an amazing man. A lot of people nowadays have heard about Shankly but weren't around when he was at this magnificent football club.
It's difficult to explain just how influential he was, but for those at this club at the time he really did set the foundations. This club would not be what it is today without Bill Shankly coming 50 years ago, I can assure you of that.
He set so many good standards and so many levels that you just had to perform for this football club.
He will be up there looking down now and hoping that there will be some silverware coming soon.
I remember the first time I met him was the day I signed back in 1967. It seems an eternity now, over 40 years ago, and I remember his first words to me were 'Hello son. How are you doing?"
So simple, but I always remember I was totally overawed by the man. I was so impressed with how much he loved this football club; how much it was the fans' football club, and how privileged I was going to be to come and play for Liverpool and play in front of the greatest set of football supporters in the world. He wasn't wrong.
He got that message through to every single player. You were privileged to play on that pitch in front of those 50,000 fans every week. He was quite simply an incredible person.
Hall: Shanks was extraordinary
In the week marking 50 years since Bill Shankly arrived at Anfield, Brian Hall recalls the glory of 1974 and a show of red strength.
Bill Shankly is the most extraordinary man I've ever met in my life.
He was a character that was bigger than anything I've ever met before and anything I've ever met since. He was a quite remarkable man.
He wasn't just a great manager, he was a great speaker. It wasn't so much a lengthy speech of 30 to 40 minutes long but he had that wonderful ability to communicate in very simple terms to large numbers of people.
There were times when I heard him talk to people and quite frankly it was bordering on genius. He was quite an amazing character.
Everything about him was simple and I mean that in the best possible way. His football strategy was simple and so was his training. His lines of delivery when speaking to people was simple to the point and they were direct - the man was a genius.
Two abiding memories of the great man for me both involve cup finals. The first was in 1971 when we lost to Arsenal after extra-time. We came back to Liverpool and had an open-top bus tour.
It was my first season in the team and I just didn't know what to expect because I thought we had lost the FA Cup final so there wouldn't be that many people out to see us. How wrong was I! There was hundreds of thousands of people and it was absolutely spectactular.
When we got down to St George's Hall and we came down to the plateau there is this iconic picture when the Lord Mayor goes up to the microphone to address the crowd and the 250,000 people just carried on chanting.
You couldn't hear a word and then Shanks went over to the microphone and just put his arms up. I was about two yards from him and I experienced the whole thing. He calmed them down with his arms and they stopped and there was silence. It was absolutely stunning.
We won the FA Cup against Newcastle in 1974 and by the time we had got down to Lime Street the streets were absolutely packed to the rafters, and our bus was having problems getting through the crowd!
The police were also having problems guiding us through them.
It was manic but at the same time it was fantastic because we had the FA Cup with us. We had a few beers and we were in the best of spirits. The crowd were going daft and waving scares and rattles.
As we approached the library I had this tap on my shoulder and it was the boss. In the middle of all this mayhem Shanks said to me: 'Son, who is the Chinaman with the wee red bull?' I just turned to him and said 'Chairman Mao!' He said Yes, that's him. I honestly thought he was cracking up and wondered what has that got to do with where we were at.
We came to the balcony and Shanks went up to the microphone again and puts his hands up. Everybody goes quiet, 250,000 again just went silent. His opening line was Chairman Mao has never seen a greater show of red strength! They went absolutely ballistic and again I was stood there two yards away from him and thought 'That's just genius!' He just knew exactly what to say and it was quite stunning.
He didn't say much more after that but had hit the right note yet again and pressed all the buttons. It was phenomenal.
It was an absolute privilege to play for him. He was a hard task master. I can't speak for other players but I had times when quite frankly I didn't like him because he made decisions that affected me playing.
He demanded that we all worked hard at all times and he demanded that we always played as a team. Everybody was in it together. It was that collectiveness that I liked about him.
To be a successful team Shanks had Bob, Joe, Ronnie and Roy came along when Bob became manager, and they all knew that the collective effort was greater than all of their individual efforts. It's that collectiveness and togetherness that made such great teams and that's what I liked about it.
Once you put on that red shirt and went out onto the pitch you had to perform in the team structure. You had to perform well but inside the team structure and it was fascinating living in that environment.
Shanks was a socialist. Politically he didn't do a great deal and push that too strongly but he had this principle that working together we could achieve far more than individually.
It wasn't just about the 11 red shirts on the pitch and him, Bob, Joe and Ronnie. That was one team but there was another team that was all very much a part of what he was trying to achieve as a manager.
He sensed and realised the power of the supporters. When he came to Liverpool he realised there was something very special, so the team for Shanks was the 11 red shirts, okay 10 and a green one! His backroom staff and 50,000 people. Everybody got behind the team and he harnessed that - he brought that in.
Again that's the collectiveness I am talking about and it was absolutely fascinating. He knew how to communicate to those people and he knew how to say the right words at the right time to bring the people on board.
He might not have won the European Cup with Liverpool but he laid the foundations for it to happen. As I was coming to the end of my playing days with Liverpool I realised something and that was Shanks never stopped learning.
The European football was probably the most important lesson they were learning from. In Shanks and Bob's era all of English football was affected by the Hungarian massacre of England at Wembley when Puskas inspired it.
By going into Europe and playing against some of the best teams in the world there was a learning curve process and all that background started from when he arrived at Anfield in December 1959.
When Shanks resigned in June 1974 is everybody including the players wondered what was next. Could Bob take over as manager? He just carried on doing what we had always done under Shanks in training and nothing changed. It was just a different guy making the team decisions but nothing else changed.
What Shanks did was take the slumbering giant that was Liverpool Football Club with this fantastic support and he harnessed the whole lot together. He brought quality players into the club and began to develop learn about producing successful football clubs. That was the foundation upon which everything else was built.
Bob, Joe and Ronnie just took that on and they too never stopped learning.
There will never be another Bill Shankly because the scrutiny from the modern media is so intense these days that I don't think Shanks would have got away with some of the things he used to say quite frankly!
Shanks was a newspaper man's dream because he would always have a line for them. Every game he would come out with something.
He wasn't just a great football manager, he was a great speaker and he had that ability to be able to communicate with Liverpool supporters.
He is not just revered by Liverpool supporters, he is acknowledged by football supporters from many different clubs and different cultures.
In the week marking 50 years since Bill Shankly arrived at Anfield, Brian Hall recalls the glory of 1974 and a show of red strength.
Bill Shankly is the most extraordinary man I've ever met in my life.
He was a character that was bigger than anything I've ever met before and anything I've ever met since. He was a quite remarkable man.
He wasn't just a great manager, he was a great speaker. It wasn't so much a lengthy speech of 30 to 40 minutes long but he had that wonderful ability to communicate in very simple terms to large numbers of people.
There were times when I heard him talk to people and quite frankly it was bordering on genius. He was quite an amazing character.
Everything about him was simple and I mean that in the best possible way. His football strategy was simple and so was his training. His lines of delivery when speaking to people was simple to the point and they were direct - the man was a genius.
Two abiding memories of the great man for me both involve cup finals. The first was in 1971 when we lost to Arsenal after extra-time. We came back to Liverpool and had an open-top bus tour.
It was my first season in the team and I just didn't know what to expect because I thought we had lost the FA Cup final so there wouldn't be that many people out to see us. How wrong was I! There was hundreds of thousands of people and it was absolutely spectactular.
When we got down to St George's Hall and we came down to the plateau there is this iconic picture when the Lord Mayor goes up to the microphone to address the crowd and the 250,000 people just carried on chanting.
You couldn't hear a word and then Shanks went over to the microphone and just put his arms up. I was about two yards from him and I experienced the whole thing. He calmed them down with his arms and they stopped and there was silence. It was absolutely stunning.
We won the FA Cup against Newcastle in 1974 and by the time we had got down to Lime Street the streets were absolutely packed to the rafters, and our bus was having problems getting through the crowd!
The police were also having problems guiding us through them.
It was manic but at the same time it was fantastic because we had the FA Cup with us. We had a few beers and we were in the best of spirits. The crowd were going daft and waving scares and rattles.
As we approached the library I had this tap on my shoulder and it was the boss. In the middle of all this mayhem Shanks said to me: 'Son, who is the Chinaman with the wee red bull?' I just turned to him and said 'Chairman Mao!' He said Yes, that's him. I honestly thought he was cracking up and wondered what has that got to do with where we were at.
We came to the balcony and Shanks went up to the microphone again and puts his hands up. Everybody goes quiet, 250,000 again just went silent. His opening line was Chairman Mao has never seen a greater show of red strength! They went absolutely ballistic and again I was stood there two yards away from him and thought 'That's just genius!' He just knew exactly what to say and it was quite stunning.
He didn't say much more after that but had hit the right note yet again and pressed all the buttons. It was phenomenal.
It was an absolute privilege to play for him. He was a hard task master. I can't speak for other players but I had times when quite frankly I didn't like him because he made decisions that affected me playing.
He demanded that we all worked hard at all times and he demanded that we always played as a team. Everybody was in it together. It was that collectiveness that I liked about him.
To be a successful team Shanks had Bob, Joe, Ronnie and Roy came along when Bob became manager, and they all knew that the collective effort was greater than all of their individual efforts. It's that collectiveness and togetherness that made such great teams and that's what I liked about it.
Once you put on that red shirt and went out onto the pitch you had to perform in the team structure. You had to perform well but inside the team structure and it was fascinating living in that environment.
Shanks was a socialist. Politically he didn't do a great deal and push that too strongly but he had this principle that working together we could achieve far more than individually.
It wasn't just about the 11 red shirts on the pitch and him, Bob, Joe and Ronnie. That was one team but there was another team that was all very much a part of what he was trying to achieve as a manager.
He sensed and realised the power of the supporters. When he came to Liverpool he realised there was something very special, so the team for Shanks was the 11 red shirts, okay 10 and a green one! His backroom staff and 50,000 people. Everybody got behind the team and he harnessed that - he brought that in.
Again that's the collectiveness I am talking about and it was absolutely fascinating. He knew how to communicate to those people and he knew how to say the right words at the right time to bring the people on board.
He might not have won the European Cup with Liverpool but he laid the foundations for it to happen. As I was coming to the end of my playing days with Liverpool I realised something and that was Shanks never stopped learning.
The European football was probably the most important lesson they were learning from. In Shanks and Bob's era all of English football was affected by the Hungarian massacre of England at Wembley when Puskas inspired it.
By going into Europe and playing against some of the best teams in the world there was a learning curve process and all that background started from when he arrived at Anfield in December 1959.
When Shanks resigned in June 1974 is everybody including the players wondered what was next. Could Bob take over as manager? He just carried on doing what we had always done under Shanks in training and nothing changed. It was just a different guy making the team decisions but nothing else changed.
What Shanks did was take the slumbering giant that was Liverpool Football Club with this fantastic support and he harnessed the whole lot together. He brought quality players into the club and began to develop learn about producing successful football clubs. That was the foundation upon which everything else was built.
Bob, Joe and Ronnie just took that on and they too never stopped learning.
There will never be another Bill Shankly because the scrutiny from the modern media is so intense these days that I don't think Shanks would have got away with some of the things he used to say quite frankly!
Shanks was a newspaper man's dream because he would always have a line for them. Every game he would come out with something.
He wasn't just a great football manager, he was a great speaker and he had that ability to be able to communicate with Liverpool supporters.
He is not just revered by Liverpool supporters, he is acknowledged by football supporters from many different clubs and different cultures.
Am I the only one who can't stand listening to Brian Hall speak?
Seems a decent enough chap, and a fine footballer, but he just annoys me and I'm not sure why.
Seems a decent enough chap, and a fine footballer, but he just annoys me and I'm not sure why.
I was at university with Brian Hall. He was a nice bloke, quiet and unassuming. He comes from Preston and once showed me an England cap which Tom Finney had given to him. I used to play five-a-side with him in the university gym which was in a disused church in Grove Street. We were always careful not to tackle him too hard, because he was already on Liverpool's books as a amateur.
He is notorious for having a bad memory and not turning up for appointments. He certainly doesn't remember me - when I have passed him in the street, he has only waved politely at my greeting, obviously thinking I am just an appreciative fan.
He is notorious for having a bad memory and not turning up for appointments. He certainly doesn't remember me - when I have passed him in the street, he has only waved politely at my greeting, obviously thinking I am just an appreciative fan.
[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=37579.msg1005077#msg1005077 date=1259846998]
[quote author=Dreambeliever link=topic=37579.msg1004886#msg1004886 date=1259814812]
[quote author=Mamma Mia link=topic=37579.msg1003696#msg1003696 date=1259689852]
[quote author=Le Chacal link=topic=37579.msg1003457#msg1003457 date=1259673585]
Finishing 2nd has become an achievement nowadays...
Great man Shankly.
[/quote]
If Bill was alive today, he'd call you a cunt. I won't, 'cos of the new rules and all.
[/quote]
If you think Shanks would call a fan a cunt you know nothing about the man.
[/quote]
Nuts to that. I grew up in Shanks' time and Mamma Mia has it spot on. Shanks was well capable of turning the air blue when the occasion demanded, and Chacal's stubbornness and penchant for vendettas would indeed have driven the great man spare.
[/quote]
So Shanks wouldn't agree that second is not acceptable?
[quote author=Dreambeliever link=topic=37579.msg1004886#msg1004886 date=1259814812]
[quote author=Mamma Mia link=topic=37579.msg1003696#msg1003696 date=1259689852]
[quote author=Le Chacal link=topic=37579.msg1003457#msg1003457 date=1259673585]
Finishing 2nd has become an achievement nowadays...
Great man Shankly.
[/quote]
If Bill was alive today, he'd call you a cunt. I won't, 'cos of the new rules and all.
[/quote]
If you think Shanks would call a fan a cunt you know nothing about the man.
[/quote]
Nuts to that. I grew up in Shanks' time and Mamma Mia has it spot on. Shanks was well capable of turning the air blue when the occasion demanded, and Chacal's stubbornness and penchant for vendettas would indeed have driven the great man spare.
[/quote]
So Shanks wouldn't agree that second is not acceptable?
[quote author=Portly link=topic=37579.msg1005337#msg1005337 date=1259872515]
I was at university with Brian Hall. He was a nice bloke, quiet and unassuming. He comes from Preston and once showed me an England cap which Tom Finney had given to him. I used to play five-a-side with him in the university gym which was in a disused church in Grove Street. We were always careful not to tackle him too hard, because he was already on Liverpool's books as a amateur.
He is notorious for having a bad memory and not turning up for appointments. He certainly doesn't remember me - when I have passed him in the street, he has only waved politely at my greeting, obviously thinking I am just an appreciative fan.
[/quote]
He just hates Lady Gaga.
I was at university with Brian Hall. He was a nice bloke, quiet and unassuming. He comes from Preston and once showed me an England cap which Tom Finney had given to him. I used to play five-a-side with him in the university gym which was in a disused church in Grove Street. We were always careful not to tackle him too hard, because he was already on Liverpool's books as a amateur.
He is notorious for having a bad memory and not turning up for appointments. He certainly doesn't remember me - when I have passed him in the street, he has only waved politely at my greeting, obviously thinking I am just an appreciative fan.
[/quote]
He just hates Lady Gaga.
Anytime people tell me that football's a business and I take it too personally and players don't owe the club or the fans anything, etc... I think of how Shanks would respond to that.
Those montages of the great man should be compulsary viewing to anybody who calls themself a Liverpool fan.
My favourite picture of all time is the one where he's playing football on the street with the bunch of young lads, and he's soaring above them, winning a header, in his shirt and tie... Wonderful stuff.
Those montages of the great man should be compulsary viewing to anybody who calls themself a Liverpool fan.
My favourite picture of all time is the one where he's playing football on the street with the bunch of young lads, and he's soaring above them, winning a header, in his shirt and tie... Wonderful stuff.
[quote author=Whaddapie link=topic=37579.msg1005617#msg1005617 date=1259896358]
My favourite picture of all time is the one where he's playing football on the street with the bunch of young lads, and he's soaring above them, winning a header, in his shirt and tie... Wonderful stuff.
[/quote]
That's my favourite, too. Moving and amusing at the same time. It's on the back of the Radio City CD they released a few years ago.
My favourite picture of all time is the one where he's playing football on the street with the bunch of young lads, and he's soaring above them, winning a header, in his shirt and tie... Wonderful stuff.
[/quote]
That's my favourite, too. Moving and amusing at the same time. It's on the back of the Radio City CD they released a few years ago.
[quote author=Dreambeliever link=topic=37579.msg1005468#msg1005468 date=1259878367]
[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=37579.msg1005077#msg1005077 date=1259846998]
[quote author=Dreambeliever link=topic=37579.msg1004886#msg1004886 date=1259814812]
[quote author=Mamma Mia link=topic=37579.msg1003696#msg1003696 date=1259689852]
[quote author=Le Chacal link=topic=37579.msg1003457#msg1003457 date=1259673585]
Finishing 2nd has become an achievement nowadays...
Great man Shankly.
[/quote]
If Bill was alive today, he'd call you a cunt. I won't, 'cos of the new rules and all.
[/quote]
If you think Shanks would call a fan a cunt you know nothing about the man.
[/quote]
Nuts to that. I grew up in Shanks' time and Mamma Mia has it spot on. Shanks was well capable of turning the air blue when the occasion demanded, and Chacal's stubbornness and penchant for vendettas would indeed have driven the great man spare.
[/quote]
So Shanks wouldn't agree that second is not acceptable?
[/quote]
No, and neither would Rafa, which was the point here as you well know.
[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=37579.msg1005077#msg1005077 date=1259846998]
[quote author=Dreambeliever link=topic=37579.msg1004886#msg1004886 date=1259814812]
[quote author=Mamma Mia link=topic=37579.msg1003696#msg1003696 date=1259689852]
[quote author=Le Chacal link=topic=37579.msg1003457#msg1003457 date=1259673585]
Finishing 2nd has become an achievement nowadays...
Great man Shankly.
[/quote]
If Bill was alive today, he'd call you a cunt. I won't, 'cos of the new rules and all.
[/quote]
If you think Shanks would call a fan a cunt you know nothing about the man.
[/quote]
Nuts to that. I grew up in Shanks' time and Mamma Mia has it spot on. Shanks was well capable of turning the air blue when the occasion demanded, and Chacal's stubbornness and penchant for vendettas would indeed have driven the great man spare.
[/quote]
So Shanks wouldn't agree that second is not acceptable?
[/quote]
No, and neither would Rafa, which was the point here as you well know.
I'm not saying Shanks wouldn't or couldn't have adapted if football had evolved more rapidly, but, unsurprisingly, his style as a manager was very much rooted in his own era - it doesn't make much sense to keep imagining him returning today and being different from Benitez. It's a different time with different needs, demands and pressures. You might as well say Shanks would've been 'found out' if there'd been Sky and the internet in the late sixties, when he seemed to be over-loyal to an ageing squad. Shanks was brilliant at giving the media one soundbite and then that was it for the week. He knew exactly how to calm things down or shake things up. Today it just goes on and on and on and on, the non-stop sports news channels hype it all up, forums over-analyse every comment and every result is held up as momentous. So using what Shanks said in 1973 to make a point about qualifying for the Champions League without winning the domestic league, or coping with two absentee owners without any cash, is the kind of nonsense he'd reject as nonsense. The one thing one can be sure about him if he was still around would be his staunch loyalty to the club as a supporter.
Good post Macca.
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