Source: Liverpool_Echo
Liverpool FC 12 days of Christmas - One Bill Shankly
As the festive season approaches, we have put together a special online 12 days of Christmas with a Liverpool FC twist. A new installment will be online at www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/lfc and www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/lfc each day up to the 25th[LNB] No-one is bigger than Liverpool Football Club, but there is a certain Scot from Glenbuck who comes pretty close. His idea was to build Liverpool into a "bastion of invincibility" and in 15 years in charge of the Reds he did just that. [LNB]Bill Shankly arrived from Huddersfield Town in 1959 to manage Liverpool, then languishing in the Second Division of English football. In 1962, he guided his side back to the top flight. By the end of the 1963/64 season, the Reds had added a sixth league title to their collection.[LNB] Shanks led Liverpool to their first ever FA Cup triumph a year later, the Reds beating Leeds 2-1 at Wembley in 1965. In that same year, Shankly's men were robbed of a chance to claim the European Cup after losing 4-3 on aggregate in controversial fashion to Inter Milan in the semi-finals.[LNB]Speaking about the the second leg, which the Reds lost 3-0 in Italy, Shanks said: "I was told before the game in Milan that whatever happened we would not go through to the final. It was just like a war that night. Two of the Inter goals weren't legal and I think the atmosphere affected them as well as us."[LNB]The Reds went on to add more silverware to the cabinet under Shanks - two more leagues, in 1966 and 1973, the UEFA Cup in 1973 and fittingly and finally another FA Cup in 1974 - but off the pitch the Scot also left a giant legacy. Shankly put in place a set of traditions and an ethos that defined Liverpool football club as Kopites know it: the all-red kit, the "This is Anfield" sign in the tunnel and the famous boot room.[LNB] Bill Shankly died in 1981 following a heart attack, but his statue stands proud outside Anfield and his name will forever be sung by Liverpool fans. He made the people happy.[LNB]See next page for more on Bill Shankly >>>>>>
