When Liverpool FC legend Bill Shankly apologised to Everton FC

02 October 2009 05:00
NO-ONE ever took offence at Bill Shankly's merry one-liners, did they? Delivered with a twinkle in his eye and tongue firmly in cheek, surely they were intended - and received - as a bit of harmless fun? I've always had my doubts, especially after a conversation many years ago with that redoubtable Evertonian Jimmy Gabriel. But further evidence has just emerged that Shankly's lacerating wit wasn't always so well received, especially across Stanley Park. It can be found on the truly outstanding Everton Collection website - a vehicle devoted to referencing and publicising every single item of the David France Collection. There are programmes, letters, pictures - and most fascinatingly, every single page of every single boardroom minute book at Goodison Park from 1887 to 1964. And it's here that you'll find yourself wasting more time than you ever thought possible on a website devoted to football memorabilia. On March 5, 1963, an entry read: 'A letter of apology was read from Liverpool FC for the critical statements made to the Press recently by their manager Mr W Shankly.' There is, frustratingly, no more information. Was it the 'two teams in this city' jibe? Or the 'anything off the top' barber's shop joke?

Source: Liverpool_Echo