Bill Shankly citater
Bill
Shankly :
"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."
Bill
Shankly on boardroom meetings :
"At a football club, there's a holy trinity - the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don't come into
it.
They are only there to sign the cheques, not to make them out.
We'll do that, they just sign them."
Bill
Shankly on his relationship with the fans :
"I'm just one of the people who stands on the kop.
They think the same as I do, and I think the same as they do.
It's a kind of marriage of people who like each other."
Bill
Shankly on Tommy Smith :
"If he isn't named Footballer of the Year, football should be stopped and the men who picked any other player
should be sent to the Kremlin"
Bill
Shankly :
"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."
Bill
Shankly :
"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."
Bill
Shankly to a Liverpool fan :
"Where are you from?"
"I'm a Liverpool fan from London."
"Well laddie . . . . What's it like to be in heaven?"
Bill
Shankly :
"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."
Bill
Shankly on offsides :
"If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an
advantage, then he should be."
Bill
Shankly :
"If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I'd pull
the curtains."
Bill
Shankly to Tommy Smith :
"You son, you could start a riot in a graveyard."
Bill
Shankly on the day he signed Ian St John :
"Son, you'll do well here as long as you remember two things.
Don't over-eat and don't lose your accent."
Bill
Shankly to Kevin Keegan :
"Just go out and drop a few hand-grenades all over the place,
son."
Bill
Shankly on Brian Clough :
"He's worse than the rain in Manchester.
At least the rain in Manchester stops occasionally."
Bill
Shankly to Tommy Smith,
who tried to explain that his bandaged knee was injured :
"Take that bandage off.
And what do you mean about YOUR knee? It's Liverpool's knee!"
Bill
Shankly to the journalist suggesting Liverpool were in difficulties :
"Ay, here we are with problems at the top of the league."
Bill
Shankly to a translator,
when being surrounded by gesticulating Italian journalists :
"Just tell them I completely disagree with everything they say!"
Bill
Shankly about the "This is Anfield" plaque :
"It's there to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing
against."
Bill
Shankly to Alan Ball, who'd just signed for Everton :
"Don't worry, Alan. At least you'll be able to play close to a
great team!"
Bill
Shankly to a barber when asked if he wanted anything off the top :
"Aye, Everton."
A
scout told Shanks about a young player who he'd given a trial at
Liverpool:
"He has football in his blood," the disappointed
scout complained.
"You may be right," Shanks said, "but it hasn't reached
his legs yet!"
Bill
Shankly at Dixie Dean's funeral :
"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."
Bill
Shankly when told he had never experienced playing in a derby :
"Nonsense! I've kicked every ball, headed out every cross.
I once scored a hat-trick; One was lucky, but the others were great
goals."
Bill
Shankly after beating Everton in the '71 cup semi :
"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."
Bill
Shankly to a photographer who suggested Brian Clough was outspoken :
"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."
Bill
Shankly :
"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 Liverpool we always said we had the best two teams on
Merseyside,
Liverpool and Liverpool Reserves."
Bill
Shankly :
"If you are first you are first. If you are second, you are
nothing."
Bill
Shankly :
"The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game."
Bill
Shankly to a reporter in the 60's :
"Yes, Roger Hunt misses a few, but he gets in the right place to
miss them."
Bill
Shankly after signing Ron Yeats :
"With him in defence, we could play Arthur Askey in goal."
Bill
Shankly after a hard fought 1-1 draw :
"The best side drew."
Bill
Shankly after a 0-0 draw at Anfield :
"What can you do, playing against 11 goalposts?"
Bill
Shankly to the players after failing to sign Lou Macari :
"I only wanted him for the reserves."
Jock
Stein on Shanks :
"I don't believe everything Bill tells me about his players. If
they were that good, they'd not only have won the European Cup but the Ryder Cup, the Boat Race and even the Grand National!"
Bill
Shankly talking to a Liverpool trainee :
"The problem with you, son, is that all your brains are in your
head"
Bill
Shankly on Ian St.John :
"He's not just the best centre-forward in the British Isles, but
the only one."
Bill
Shankly on Ian Callaghan :
"He typifies everything that is good in football, and he has
never changed.
You could stake your life on Ian."
Bill
Shankly on his resignation :
"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"