Best 62 quotes of Bill Shankly on MyQuotes

Bill Shankly

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    Bill Shankly

    Above all, I would like to be remembered as a man who was selfless, who strove and worried so that others could share the glory, and who built up a family of people who could hold their heads up high and say 'We're Liverpool'.

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    Bill Shankly

    A football team is like a piano. You need eight men to carry it and three who can play the damn thing.

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    Bill Shankly

    Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor.

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    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.

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    Bill Shankly

    Although I'm a Scot, I'd be proud to be called a Scouser.

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    Bill Shankly

    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 checks.

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    Bill Shankly

    Chairman Mao has never seen a greater show of red strength.

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    Bill Shankly

    Denis Law could dance on eggshells.

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    Bill Shankly

    Don't worry, Alan. At least you'll be able to play close to a great team.  (to Alan Ball, who'd just signed for Everton)

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    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.

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    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.

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    Bill Shankly

    Football is a simple game made complicated by people who should know better.

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    Bill Shankly

    Football (soccer) is a matter of life and death, except more important.

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    Bill Shankly

    For a player to be good enough to play for Liverpool, he must be prepared to run through a brick wall for me then come out fighting on the other side.

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    Bill Shankly

    Forget the Beatles and all the rest. This is the real Liverpool sound. It's real singing, and it's what the Kop is all about.

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    Bill Shankly

    He's not just the best centre-forward in the British Isles, but the only one.  (about Ian St John)

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    Bill Shankly

    I always look in the Sunday paper to see where Everton are in the league - starting, of course, from the bottom up.

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    Bill Shankly

    Ian Callaghan is everything good that a man can be. No praise is too high for him. Words cannot do justice to the amount he has contributed to the game. Ian Callaghan will go down as one of the game's truly great players.

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    Bill Shankly

    I don't drop players. I make changes.

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    Bill Shankly

    If a man….who’s playing in front of the public, is being well paid, and he doesn’t dedicate himself to the job, I’d be hard on him. If I could I would put him in jail, out of the road of society. Because he’s a menace

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    Bill Shankly

    If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be.

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    Bill Shankly

    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 Kremlin.  (on Tommy Smith)

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    Bill Shankly

    If you are first you are first. If you are second, you are nothing.

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    Bill Shankly

    If you get to the edge of the penalty area with the ball and don't know what to do next, just stick the ball in the net for now. We can evaluate the other options later.

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    Bill Shankly

    If you're not sure what to do with the ball, just pop it in the net and we'll discuss your options afterwards.

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    Bill Shankly

    I have always had the deepest respect for Bill Nicholson as a person and as a manager. The Spurs boss is an honest Yorkshireman and you will go a long way before finding a straighter character than that. Bill has never wavered in his determination to give White Hart Lane fans the best.

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    Bill Shankly

    I have been received more warmly by Everton than I have by Liverpool. It is scandalous that I should have to write these things about the club that I helped build into what it is today.

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    Bill Shankly

    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.

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    Bill Shankly

    I never drop a player I only make changes.

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    Bill Shankly

    In my time at Anfield we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside - Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.

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    Bill Shankly

    It's a 90 minute game for sure. In fact I used to train for a 190 minute game so that when the whistle blew at the end of the match I could have played another 90 minutes.

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    Bill Shankly

    Its great grass at Anfield, professional grass.

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    Bill Shankly

    It's the greatest thing in the world, natural enthusiasm. You are nothing without it.

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    Bill Shankly

    It's to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing against.  (on the 'This Anfield' plaque)

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    Bill Shankly

    I’ve been a slave to football. It follows you home, it follows you everywhere, and eats into your family life. But every working man misses out on some things because of his job.

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    Bill Shankly

    I've had many skilful men and the likes of Peter Thompson, Ian St John, Kevin Keegan and Steve Heighway were the ones who caught the eye. But the best professional of the lot was Gerry Byrne. He wasn't flashy and he wouldn't score you goals. But he was hard and skilful and gave you everything he had. More than that he was totally honest. Which is the greatest quality of all. He was a true Liverpudlian who couldn't look his fellow Scousers in the face after a game unless he'd given everything he had for 90 minutes.

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    Bill Shankly

    I want to build a team that's invincible, so that they have to send a team from bloody Mars to beat us.

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    Bill Shankly

    I was in the game for the love of football - and I wanted to bring back happiness to the people of Liverpool.

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    Bill Shankly

    I was the best manager in Britain because I was never devious or cheated anyone. I’d break my wife’s legs if I played against her, but I’d never cheat her.

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    Bill Shankly

    Just go out and drop a few hand grenades all over the place, son.  (to Kevin Keegan)

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    Bill Shankly

    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.

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    Bill Shankly

    Liverpool was made for me and I was made for Liverpool.

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    Bill Shankly

    Me having no education. I had to use my brains.

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    Bill Shankly

    My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility. Had Napoleon had that idea he would have conquered the bloody world. I wanted Liverpool to be untouchable. My idea was to build Liverpool up and up until eventually everyone would have to submit and give in.

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    Bill Shankly

    Of course I didn't take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present. It was her birthday and would I have got married during the football season? Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves.

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    Bill Shankly

    One day in 1959, when Huddersfield were playing Cardiff City, Tom (T.V.) Williams, who was then chairman of Liverpool, and Harry Latham, a director, came down the slope at Leeds Road to see me. Mr Williams said, 'How would you like to manage the best club in the country?' 'Why, is Matt Busby packing it up?' I asked.

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    Bill Shankly

    Pressure is working down the pit. Pressure is having no work at all. Pressure is trying to escape relegation on 50 shillings a week. Pressure is not the European Cup or the Championship or the Cup Final. That's the reward.

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    Bill Shankly

    Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.

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    Bill Shankly

    The difference between Everton and the Queen Mary is that Everton carry more passengers!

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    Bill Shankly

    The problem with you, son, is that all your brains are in your head.  (to a Liverpool trainee)