David Peace - Red or Dead

So when I arrived, my first job, my first challenge, was to get Liverpool Football Club out of the Second Division and to win respect for Liverpool Football Club, at home and abroad. Next was the ground. Because when I first came here, the place was a disgrace. But at the beginning of the new season, the new main stand will be open. It will be a place fit for a king. It will mean that three sides of the ground have been completely rebuilt. And on the fourth side, the Kop end — which must never be rebuilt — we have made improvements. We are trying to build a fortress here. An impregnable fortress. And a bastion. A bastion of invincibility. Because the fans are worthy of that. And we are nearly there. Because my last challenge is to build another team, a new team. And last season. With a team of boys, a team of mere boys. We had the greatest average attendance in the League. That is the greatest tribute to those supporters. And we reached the Cup Final. With a team of boys, a team of mere boys. And so I think we are nearly there now. I think the end is in sight now….

But for me, personally, the end is not in sight yet. Retirement is not yet something I have considered. While I feel as fit and able as I do, I shall go on as manager of Liverpool Football Club. Here at Anfield, here at Liverpool. We live on strength, not weakness. Because there is nothing for anybody who does not give one hundred per cent. We have too many good players around. Our motto is pro-Liverpool, anti-nobody. And so now we are going for the big stuff. The real meat. And the League, and the Cup, and the European Cup will do for a start!

…

In the summer of 1971. After the walking and after the jogging. Outside Anfield, in the car park. In his tracksuit, in his sweater. Bill Shankly waited for the players, Bill Shankly greeted the players. Bill Shankly shook their hands and Bill Shankly patted their backs. He asked after their weekends, he asked after their families. Bill Shankly laughing, Bill Shankly joking. And then Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett, Ronnie Moran and Tom Saunders joined Bill Shankly and the players in the car park at Anfield. Then Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett, Ronnie Moran, Tom Saunders, Bill Shankly and the players all climbed on the bus to Melwood. Bill Shankly joking, Bill Shankly laughing. Everybody laughing, everybody joking. And then they all got off the bus at Melwood. Bill Shankly and the players ran round the training pitch at Melwood. Bill Shankly laughing, Bill Shankly joking. Everybody joking and everybody laughing. Bill Shankly and the players heard the whistle. Bill Shankly and the players split into their groups. And they lifted weights. They skipped. They jumped. They did squats. They did abdominal exercises. And they sprinted. Bill Shankly joking, Bill Shankly laughing. Bill Shankly and the players heard the whistle again. And they passed the ball. They dribbled with the ball. They headed the ball. They chipped the ball. They controlled the ball. They tackled. Bill Shankly laughing, Bill Shankly joking. Bill Shankly and the players heard the whistle again. And they went between the training boards. Playing the ball against one board. Then taking the ball, controlling the ball. Turning with the ball, dribbling with the ball. Up to the other board. In just ten touches. Playing the ball against the other board. Then pulling the ball down, turning again and dribbling again. Back down to the first board. In just ten touches. Bill Shankly joking, Bill Shankly laughing. Bill Shankly and the players heard the whistle again. Bill Shankly and the players went inside the sweat box. Ball after ball. Into the box. Every second, another ball. For one minute. Then for two minutes. Then for three minutes. Ball after ball, into the box. Bill Shankly laughing, Bill Shankly joking. Bill Shankly and the players heard the whistle. And they played three-a-sides. Three-a-sides then five-a-sides. Five-a-sides then seven-a-sides. Seven-a-sides then eleven-a-sides. Bill Shankly joking, Bill Shankly laughing. And then Bill Shankly and the players ran one last time around the training pitch. Bill Shankly laughing, Bill Shankly joking. And then Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett, Ronnie Moran, Tom Saunders, Bill Shankly and the players all got back on the bus to Anfield. Bill Shankly still joking, Bill Shankly still laughing. Everybody laughing, everybody joking. And then they all got off the bus. Still joking and still laughing. They all went into Anfield. Bill Shankly laughing, Bill Shankly joking. In the dressing rooms, Bill Shankly and the players took off their boots, the players took off their tracksuits. Joking and laughing. Bill Shankly and the players went into the baths. Joking and laughing. Bill Shankly went into the baths. Bill Shankly laughing, Bill Shankly joking. Bill Shankly and the players washed and changed. Still joking, still laughing. And then Bill Shankly said goodbye to the players –

See you tomorrow, boys. Bright and early, lads. So don’t be up late, boys. Don’t be staying up all hours now, lads …

Bill Shankly still laughing, Bill Shankly still joking. The players went out to their cars. The players went back to their houses. Everybody smiling, everybody happy. Bill Shankly did not go out to his car. Bill Shankly did not go back to his house. But Bill Shankly was still smiling, Bill Shankly still happy. Because Bill Shankly had been looking, Bill Shankly had been listening. Always looking, always listening. And Bill Shankly had liked what he had seen, Bill Shankly had liked what he had heard. The players laughing, the players joking. But the players training, the players working. Hard. And Bill Shankly liked what he had learnt. Everybody smiling, everybody happy. But everybody working. Hard, together. Happy in their work. Together. Happy and prepared. Together. Happy and ready. Together –

The way it should be, the way it had to be –

The Anfield way. Together.

…

On Saturday 7 August, 1971, Liverpool Football Club travelled to Filbert Street, Leicester. That afternoon, twenty-five thousand, one hundred and four folk came, too. Twenty-five thousand, one hundred and four folk to watch the 1971 FA Charity Shield between Leicester City and Liverpool Football Club. Arsenal Football Club had won the Football League and the FA Cup. Arsenal Football Club had done the Double. But Arsenal Football Club did not want to play in the 1971 FA Charity Shield. Arsenal Football Club had gone to Holland to play Feyenoord of Rotterdam instead. Leeds United had finished second in the First Division. But Leeds United did not want to play in the 1971 FA Charity Shield. So the Football Association invited the Second Division Champions to play the FA Cup runners-up in the 1971 FA Charity Shield. And in the fifteenth minute of the 1971 FA Charity Shield, Fern passed to Whitworth. And Whitworth tapped the ball into the net and into a goal. And the Second Division Champions beat the FA Cup runners-up in the 1971 Charity Shield.

Three days afterwards. At Melwood, behind closed doors. The Liverpool first team played the Liverpool reserve team. It was always the last pre-season game before the start of the season. The new season, the real season. That day, Kevin Keegan played for the first team. And Alun Evans and Bobby Graham played for the reserve team. That day, Kevin Keegan scored a hat-trick for the Liverpool first team. That day, the Liverpool first team beat the Liverpool reserve team seven — one. At Melwood, behind closed doors.

Four days later, Nottingham Forest came to Anfield, Liverpool. That afternoon, fifty-one thousand, four hundred and twenty-seven folk came, too. Fifty-one thousand, four hundred and twenty-seven folk to watch the first game of the 1971–72 season. At home, at Anfield. Tommy Smith led out Ray Clemence, Chris Lawler, Alec Lindsay, Larry Lloyd, Emlyn Hughes, Peter Thompson, Steve Heighway, John Toshack, John McLaughlin and Kevin Keegan to the centre of the pitch, the Anfield pitch. The players of Liverpool Football Club stood in the centre circle, in the centre of the pitch. The Anfield pitch. And the players of Liverpool Football Club turned and waved to every part of the stadium. The Anfield stadium. And then the players of Liverpool Football Club turned and faced the Kop. The Spion Kop. And the players of Liverpool Football Club waved at the Kop. The Spion Kop. And the Kop, the Spion Kop roared –