Monday 2 September 2013

The Nativity of Bill Shankly (1913)

Introit:

Shankly! Shankly!
Shankly! Shankly!
Shankly! Shankly! Shankly! 

Shankly! Shankly!
Shankly! Shankly!
Shankly! Shankly! Shankly! 

Reading from St Shanks:

'If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.'
'If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I'd pull the curtains.'
'In my time at Anfield we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside - Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.'
'The difference between Everton and the Queen Mary is that Everton carry more passengers!'
'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.'
'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.'

Hymn: Fields of Anfield Road

2nd Reading, from St Bob:

"He's trying to get right away from football. I believe he went to Everton."
"This club has been my life. I'd go out and sweep the street and be proud to do it for Liverpool FC if they asked me to."
"Its not about the long ball or the short ball, its about the right ball."

A Short Thought:

For Bill Shankly, a football club was about commitment. It was a family, a place where everybody worked for everybody else. The game wasn't just about the superstars, the manager - and especially not the board. It was as much about the people on the terraces, and the people living in the terraces around the ground. The people who were just as involved in the success of the club as the ones who got the attention. On the pitch, the theory was, whenever somebody was in trouble, there were two players available to pass to. It's a nice philosophy. Wonder where else we could use it?

Hymn: You'll Never Walk Alone

Recessional:

Shankly! Shankly!
Shankly! Shankly!
Shankly! Shankly! Shankly! 

Shankly! Shankly!
Shankly! Shankly!
Shankly! Shankly! Shankly! 


Shanks quotes from "Bill Shankly in Quotes"
Bob Paisley quotes from "Bob Paisley Quotes"

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