“This (‘This is Anfield’ sign) is to remind our lads who they’re playing for, and to remind the opposition who they’re playing against.”
On September 29, 1981, Liverpool football club mourned the death of the club’s greatest ever manager, Bill Shankly, and vowed to build the club around his values. Twenty-nine years on, the club is owned by profit-oriented businessmen, with dollar-shaped eyes, who view it solely as a cash-making opportunity; represented by a set of players who put in as much effort as a government employee on a Sunday; and supported by a set of fans who are fast lowering their expectations whilst drowning in self-pity.
Bill and the boys!
Perhaps, it’s fitting that Bill Shankly passed away during the peak years of Liverpool’s glory. The current state of affairs at the club would have disappointed the man who shaped the identity of this club and took it from the mediocrity of the second division to the summit of England. Had he been alive today, to witness the carnage of his footballing ideals, he would have preferred death.
‘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 cheques.’
Shankly’s ideal world was a cohesive bond between players, managers and supporters. He was known to be a ‘people’s man’, who took every step for the people of his club. He was a transformational leader, who would inspire players to perform beyond their capabilities. He instilled, in each player, a sense of accountability towards the supporters. Players did not play for money, or for themselves. The players sweat for the club, and the club only. The owners were nowhere in the picture.
Today, Liverpool is suffering because Shankly’s holy trinity has been distorted by the increasing influence of directors and owners. The players appear to be affected by the off-field issues and using the same as an excuse to cover for bad performances, but is anyone telling them to sit through boardroom meetings? Is anyone telling them to pay the debt of the club? Or has the club taken away their wages? Instead, their job description is the most simple. It includes no calculations and no long-term decisions; just a simple “Go out and win!”.
The departure of Rafael Benitez and the appointment of Roy Hodgson seems to have divided the dressing room. While Steven Gerrard looks to have stepped up his commitment this season after Benitez’s departure, Fernando Torres doesn’t seem too bothered about what is going on the pitch. Daniel Agger has made public his disapproval of Hodgson’s tactics, and reports suggest that Jamie Carragher had a hand in Rafa’s exit.
Perhaps these players, who drowned in their petty disputes and egos, need to be reminded of the stature of the club they represent, and how insignificant they are in the bigger picture, if singled out. Bill Shankly did exactly that, and his no tolerance policy needs to be religiously followed.
To the supporters, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ has never been a song, or an anthem. It has been a prayer of worship; and thus, it is fast becoming meaningless. Most players who currently don the colors of Liverpool football club are far from the idols these fans want to look up to. The results aren’t the main source of frustration for the lovers of this club. It is the lack of desire that is clearly visible on the pitch; it is a state of ‘going through the motions’ that disturbs every supporter.
“He’d make you feel like a colossus and a great player and you’d go out on the pitch and perform like one.”
The new manager, Roy Hodgson, hasn’t been able to shed light on the darkness of Rafa’s last season. Perhaps he will, but a defeat to newly-promoted Blackpool and an inexplicable humiliation to fourth-division side Northampton suggest it’s a bleak possibility in the near future. He has neither been able to strike a motivational chord with the players, nor a tactical one. An attack consisting of Gerrard, Torres, Cole and Kuyt has failed to significantly threaten the opposition. The defense is in transition, attempting to adapt to the manager’s new philosophy, but struggling to do so with hugely damaging consequences.
So, are the pieces being used in a wrong manner? Or are the pieces simply not good enough? One suspects it is a combination of the two. Either way, today’s Liverpool team is far from displaying the arrogance, the swagger, the confidence and the cohesiveness it possessed during the Shankly era. It lacks a leader both on the pitch and off it.
‘If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I’d pull the curtains.’
Bill Shankly was a red, through and through. Any mention of Liverpool’s local rivals – Everton – would lead to him taking out his verbal sword. He used the anti-Everton aspect to push Liverpool to greater heights. It’s the consequence of Shankly’s reign that Liverpool are regarded as the number one club in town. The last thing he would have wanted to do is to look up the league table to find Everton.
Ahead of next week’s derby, being widely ridiculed as a ‘relegation six-pointer’, Liverpool are in the relegation zone – one place below Everton. In fact, Everton have been the better side this season, but without rewards. Off the field, plans of Liverpool and Everton sharing a common stadium are floating around. The club might need Everton for financial stability and progress.
The current scenario would be the very definition of Bill Shankly’s dark days – a lack of faith in each other, a lack of confidence to deliver, a lack of direction to the club and on top of all that, a place below Everton with the future possibility of a joint venture with the neighbouring club. The contrast could hardly be more clear.
But is there anyone who can even come close to his ‘Bill’ing? Perhaps not. Such was the aura and devotion of the late great man who turned around this club’s fortunes over forty years ago. Liverpool are in a dire need of another savior right now, to perform what Shankly did.
A Merseyside miracle.