Source: Liverpool_Echo
Ian St John: ’Bill Shankly had to rip up Liverpool FC rule book’
IAN ST JOHN stood five feet seven-and-a-half inches small in his stockinged feet. Kevin Keegan was barely half an inch taller, while Ian Callaghan was never going to audition for a part in Land of the Giants - and all three are Anfield icons.[LNB]Yet none might have signed for Liverpool but for Bill Shankly's insistence in sweeping away the outdated rules and boardroom practices which were suffocating the club in the 1950s.[LNB]Peter Robinson is recognised as one of Anfield's greatest administrators, having served as club secretary, chief executive and vice-chairman - and for more than a decade he was Shankly's closest confidant at Anfield. And the pair were totally bemused by the level of bureaucracy which hindered progress while Shankly was trying to construct his 'bastion of invincibility.'[LNB]'I think Bill was the right man for the time because the club certainly needed changing, explained Robinson.[LNB]'There was a minute in the boardroom minutes book that staggered me. It recommended that Liverpool shouldn't pay more than £12,000 for any player, and if you bear in mind the going rate for any top player in the late 50s was well above that, Liverpool were getting what they were paying for.[LNB]'Rhere was also a minute which stated every player should be seen by at least two directors before he was signed and, if possible, they should be in excess of six feet tall.[LNB]'Obviously Bill changed all that. We paid £37,500 for Ian St John and £22,000 for Ron Yeats. Under the previous regime they simply wouldn't have been bought.'[LNB]While Shankly was the wind of change, he had an able and ambitious ally on the board in the shape of Eric Sawyer. His presence, Robinson believes, was vital in helping Shankly shape the club.[LNB]'Eric Sawyer came at the same time as Bill and was appointed managing director,' he explained.[LNB]'John Moores did have great interest in both clubs, and he persuaded the Liverpool directors to put Eric Sawyer on the board. He knew the club needed change. He came on board with a totally different outlook.[LNB]'It was a partnership. Eric was a brilliant businessman. He was the man who built the Littlewoods empire into what it became - and as well as rebuilding the team, they started to rebuild the ground.'
