No. 16 – The Day Bill Shankly Arrived
Without Shankly, Anfield would be home to a very different football club today. The engraving on his statue outside the club’s museum captures the essence of Shankly’s triumph.
“He made the people happy,” it says.
He still does….
TIA forum member Bkwitche takes us back to that cold December day in 1959, the day Bill Shankly arrived…..
“Its December of 1959. Liverpool Football Club have been out of the first division for five years and don’t seem to have any designs on getting back in to it anytime soon.
Finding himself unable to inspire the form necessary for a comeback and frustrated with the state of the club, Phil Taylor resigns from his position as the manager of the team. He was to be replaced by a young Scottish manager named Bill Shankly. Shankly had previously applied to be the top man at Liverpool in 1951, but was turned down. This time he had more experience under his belt and the time for change had come.
Little did the Liverpool board know that they had made one of the decisions that would forever alter the history of the club. In his book Dynasty Paul Tomkins says, “It is impossible to imagine what Liverpool Football Club would now be like had Bill Shankly never arrived; his imprint remains so undeniably unique.
After his arrival, he quickly set about modernizing the club in every way. He had plumbing put in so that the field could be watered, he had the training ground updated, and he oversaw success with the club that led to the expansion of the ground to a much larger capacity.
If it were not for his arrival on that fateful winter day, Liverpool Football Clubs history would be not only different, but also rather less successful.”
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