Former Liverpool manager Bill Shankly dies – archive, 1981

Bill Shankly, the former Liverpool manager and one of the best-loved and respected figures in British football, died early today.

He was taken ill with a heart attack on Saturday, and went into Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool. He was put in the intensive care unit yesterday after suffering a relapse.

Liverpool manager Bob Paisley, who was Shankly’s deputy for 14 years, said: “Bill was one of the greatest managers there has ever been. I am deeply, deeply shocked. Although I knew just how seriously ill he was, the news has still come as a great blow.”

A hospital spokesman said that 66-year-old Mr Shankly, who only hours before his condition became critical had been sitting up in bed joking with nurses, suffered a cardiac arrest at 12:30 this morning. He died at 1:20 a.m. His wife, Nessie, was by his bedside.

Mr Shankly, a legend in Liverpool, was the manager who turned Liverpool into one of the finest and most successful footballing sides in Britain. He brought the team back to the First Division and left them in 1974 on the threshold of even greater victories in Europe.

In his 15 years as manager, Liverpool won the League Championship three times, the FA Cup twice and the UEFA Cup once.

He was born in Ayrshire, one of ten children, in 1913 and played his first football in the Scottish junior league. He turned professional with Carlisle United in 1932 and the following year was transferred for £500 to Preston North End. He won an FA Cup winner’s medal as a wing-half and five caps for Scotland.

Such was the mystique of the man that the day he stepped down in July, 1974, supporters in tears jammed the Liverpool club’s switchboard hoping it was all a hoax. Even a local factory threatened to go on strike if he did leave. Shortly afterwards he received the OBE. The Queen said to him: “You have been in football a long time.” He replied: “It’s been 42 years.”

A tribute to Shankly by the Guardian’s David Lacey appeared on 30 September 1981