Talk:Bill Shankly

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• Someone said "football is more important than life and death to you" and I said "Listen, it's more important than that."
  • On a Granada Television chat-show in 1981.

• My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility. Had Napoleon had that idea he would have conquered the bloody world. I wanted Liverpool to be untouchable. My idea was to build Liverpool up and up until eventually everyone would have to submit and give in.

• I don't think I was in a bath until I was 15 years old. I used to use a tub to wash myself. But out of poverty with a lot of people living in the same house, you get humour.

• It's there to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing against.
  • On the "This is Anfield" plaque

• I'm a people's man - only the people matter.

• My life is my work. My work is my life.

• I know this is a sad occasion but I think that Dixie would be amazed to know that even in death he could draw a bigger crowd than Everton can on a Saturday afternoon.
  • At Dixie Dean's funeral.

• The problem with you, son, is that all your brains are in your head.
  • To a Liverpool trainee

• Sickness would not have kept me away from this one. If I'd been dead, I would have had them bring the casket to the ground, prop it up in the stands and cut a hole in the lid.
  • After beating Everton in the 1971 FA Cup semi-final

• I was the best manager in Britain because I was never devious or cheated anyone. I'd break my wife's legs if I played against her, but I'd never cheat her.

• Liverpool was made for me and I was made for Liverpool.

• This is a team of skill and character, with men eager and ready to do any job if it's for the benefit of the club.

• The fans here are the greatest in the land. They know the game and they know what they want to see. The people on the Kop make you feel great - yet humble.

• No one was asked to do more than anyone else...we were a team. We shared the ball, we shared the game, we shared the worries.

• 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.
  • On boardroom meetings

• I'm just one of the people who stands on the Kop. They think the same as I do, and I think the same as they do. It's a kind of marriage of people who like each other.
  • On his relationship with the fans

• If he isn't named Footballer of the Year, football should be stopped and the men who picked any other player should be sent to the Kremlin.
  • On Tommy Smith

• Fire in your belly comes from pride and passion in wearing the red shirt. We don't need to motivate players because each of them is responsible for the performance of the team as a whole. The status of Liverpool's players keeps them motivated.

• Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple.

• Don't worry, Alan. At least you'll be able to play close to a great team!
  • To Alan Ball, who'd just signed for Everton

• "He has football in his blood," the disappointed scout complained. "You may be right," Shankly said, "but it hasn't reached his legs yet."
  • After a scout told Shankly about a young player who he'd given a trial at Liverpool

• Nonsense! I've kicked every ball, headed out every cross. I once scored a hat-trick; One was lucky, but the others were great goals.
  • After being told that he had never experienced playing in a derby

• It was the most difficult thing in the world. When I went to tell the chairman, it was like walking to the electric chair. That's the way it felt.
  • On his resignation

• "Where are you from?" "I'm a Liverpool fan from London." "Well laddie ... What's it like to be in heaven?"
  • To a Liverpool fan

• Aye, here we are with problems at the top of the league.
  • To the journalist suggesting Liverpool were in difficulties

• I only wanted him for the reserves.
  • To the players after failing to sign Lou Macari in 1973

• "A hundred thousand wouldn't buy him," Tommy Docherty said. "And I'm one of the of the hundred thousand," replied Shankly.
  • Shankly and Docherty discussing a player every other club coveted on sight

• A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are. In my time at Anfield we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.
  • Frequently misquoted as "there are two teams on Merseyside, Liverpool and Liverpool Reserves".

• But that's where I live!
  • To the Brussels hotel clerk who queried his signing "Anfield" as his address on the hotel register

• Just go out and drop a few hand grenades all over the place, son.
  • To Kevin Keegan

• Take that poof bandage off, and what do you mean you've hurt 'your' knee, it's Liverpool's knee!
  • To Tommy Smith after he'd turned up for training with a bandaged knee

• We absolutely annihilated England. It was a massacre. We beat them 5-4.
  • On a wartime England v Scotland match

• Aye, Roger Hunt misses a few, but he gets in the right place to miss them.
  • To a reporter in the 1960s

• If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.

• The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.

• "Anything off the top?", asked a barber in 1968. "Aye, Everton," replied Shankly.

• Just tell them I completely disagree with everything they say.
  • To an interpreter regarding excited Italian journalists

• The best side drew.
  • After a hard fought 1-1 draw

• It's a 90 minute game for sure. In fact I used to train for a 190 minute game so that when the whistle blew at the end of the match I could have played another 90 minutes.

• You son, could start a riot in a graveyard.
  • To Tommy Smith

• I told this player, "Listen Son, you haven't broken your leg. It's all in the mind."

• Aye, watch it Bob, it's very greasy and treacherous out there. Very difficult for goalkeepers.
  • To Arsenal 'keeper Bob Wilson before the 1971 Cup Final

• "Sorry, boss, I should have kept my legs together," said Lawrence. "No, Tommy, your mother should have kept her legs together!," replied Shankly.
  • After Tommy Lawrence had let in a fluke goal between his legs

• If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I'd pull the curtains.

• Of course I didn't take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present, it was her birthday. Would I have got married in the football season? Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves.

• Son, you'll do well here as long as you remember two things. Don't over-eat and don't lose your accent.
  • On the day he signed Ian St John

• What can you do, playing against eleven goalposts?
  • After a 0-0 draw at Anfield

• With him in defence, we could play Arthur Askey in goal.
  • After signing Ron Yeats

• For a player to be good enough to play for Liverpool, he must be prepared to run through a brick wall for me then come out fighting on the other side.

• If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be.
  • On the offside rule.

• Although I'm a Scot, I'd be proud to be called a Scouser.

• He's worse than the rain in Manchester. At least God stops the rain in Manchester occasionally.
  • About Brian Clough

• He typifies everything that is good in football, and he has never changed. You could stake your life on Ian.
  • About Ian Callaghan

• He's not just the best centre-forward in the British Isles, but the only one.
  • About Ian St John

• Above all, I would like to be remembered as a man who was selfless, who strove and worried so that others could share the glory, and who built up a family of people who could hold their heads up high and say "We're Liverpool."

• "When you get the ball, I want you to beat a couple of men and smash the ball into the net, just the same way you used to at Bury," said Shankly. Lindsay replied: "But, boss, that wasn't me, it was Jimmy Kerr." Shankly turned to Bob Paisley and said: "Christ, Bob, we've signed the wrong player."

• Laddie, that man scored 200 goals in 270 matches - an incredible record - and he has won cup after cup as a manager. When he talks, pin back your ears.
  • To a photographer who suggested Brian Clough was outspoken

• It's great grass at Anfield, professional grass.
  • About Anfield

• I've been a slave to football. It follows you home, it follows you everywhere, and eats into your family life. But every working man misses out on some things because of his job.

• I was only in the game for the love of football - and I wanted to bring back happiness to the people of Liverpool.

• Ladies and gentlemen, today we are joined by a man who ranks amongst the greatest there is: Shakespeare, Rembrandt and Bach. This man is Dixie Dean.

• The socialism I believe in is everybody working for the same goal and everybody having a share in the rewards. That's how I see football, that's how I see life.

• If you're not sure what to do with the ball, just pop it in the net and we'll discuss your options afterwards.

• Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor.

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