Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Bill Shankly 'Invented' Liverpool Football Club - Wales Boss John Toshack


Wales manager John Toshack believes that Bill Shankly is the reason that Liverpool established themselves as a footballing giant, and that the values instilled into Anfield by the Scot will persist for years to come.

"I suppose he invented Liverpool as the club they are now. You only have to go there now and you see the foundations he laid down 50 years ago are still evident," Toshack said, according to Press Association Sport.

"Shanks used to say, and it is poignant now because it is 50 years since he was appointed, that 'the most important things in football were important 50 years ago and they will be important 50 years from now'.

"Shankly is the most important thing in the history of Liverpool and he will still be important 50 years from now.

"Everything he did, the style, the system, the way Liverpool played, is still in place. Still as relevant now as it was all those years ago.

"He gave Liverpool that mystique, that aura of greatness. Without a shadow of a doubt."

Toshack was a target man who formed a deadly strike partnership with Kevin Keegan during the 1970s at Anfield. Throughout that time, Shankly's secret was to keep things simple.

"He didn't really coach, I don't recall anyone telling me what to do. But they watched us all closely before they signed us and then pieced us all together into a team," the Welshman explained.
"The training was simple. Control, pass, move. We worked with the ball every day, they had the training routines and set-ups always the same. But it was always enjoyable.

"Shankly always had a story to get his point over. You might not always have had a good day or feel right, but by the time you went out to play for him you knew how important Liverpool was.

"He almost invented Liverpool as a great club, the magic, the mystique.

"He created one great side that won the cup, and then he created another one equally as good. But he only used, I think, 14 players one season in 60 games.

"He would not have understood rotation. When you asked him what the team was, he said, 'the same as last season'.

"Shanks almost changed the way fans perceived managers. He was Mr. Liverpool, unique."

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