Source: Liverpool_Echo
Liverpool FC supporter Arthur remembers tearful hug with Bill Shankly at Wembley Stadium
ON THE 28th anniversary of Bill Shankly’s death earlier this week, lifelong Liverpool FC supporter Arthur Milton stood in front of an old photograph in his house and paid his own tribute to the great man.
The picture captured the moment at the 1974 Charity Shield when Arthur, now 63 and living in Holland but then a bearded 28-year-old from Fazakerley, ran on to the Wembley pitch in tears to hug the retiring Reds manager, wearing a homemade outfit of specially decorated overalls and an enormous top hat.
Although the picture has been seen by millions of people around the world, he doesn’t remember too much about the moment, as he explains.
“On the way to Wembley there used to be a pub called The Torch and I’d had a few pints in there, so I was pretty merry,” he said.
“I still don’t know to this day how I got onto the pitch, but Shanks had walked up to the supporters to say goodbye and I was very emotional. Somehow I made it on past the policemen and photographers and gave him a hug.”
Arthur added: “That is the type of man he was. Like all Liverpool fans, I loved Shanks and that seemed like a good way to show it.”
His journey to immortality thanks to the camera of former Liverpool Echo photographer Stephen Shakeshaft had started several months earlier, before Liverpool played Newcastle in the FA Cup final.
Along with his two friends, Ray Buck and Harry Thomas, Arthur decided to make a special outfit for the trip to London, using their work overalls.
