David Peace - Red or Dead

On the bench, the Wembley bench. His jacket melted into his shirt. His shirt melted into his vest. His vest melted into his skin. His eyes drained of colour and his face carved with lines. Bill got up from the bench. The Liverpool bench. Bill walked down the touchline. The Wembley touchline. And Bill shook the hand of Bertie Mee. And then Bill walked across the pitch. The Wembley pitch. Bill went from player to player. From Wilson to Rice. From Rice to McNab. From McNab to Storey. From Storey to McLintock. From McLintock to Simpson. From Simpson to Armstrong. From Armstrong to Graham. From Graham to Radford. From Radford to Kennedy. From Kennedy to George. And from George to Kelly. And Bill shook their hands. Bill congratulated them all. And then Bill turned. Bill turned and Bill walked across the turf. The Wembley turf. Towards the supporters of Liverpool Football Club. Towards their scarves and their flags, towards their banners and their songs. And Bill stopped on the pitch. The Wembley pitch. Bill stood on the turf. The Wembley turf. Before the sea of red, before the world of red. His jacket stuck to his shirt. His shirt stuck to his vest. His vest stuck to his skin. His eyes filling with colour again. The lines leaving his face again. And Bill raised his arms. Bill put his hands together. And Bill applauded the supporters of Liverpool Football Club. For their sea of red, their world of red. And the supporters of Liverpool Football Club applauded the players of Arsenal Football Club, they saluted the players of Arsenal Football Club. And the supporters of Liverpool Football Club applauded the players of Liverpool Football Club, they saluted the players of Liverpool Football Club. And then the supporters of Liverpool Football Club cheered. The supporters of Liverpool Football Club sang. And the supporters of Liverpool Football Club roared, one word, the same word. Over and over, again and again,

one word: Shank-lee! Shank-lee …

SHANK-LEE!

…

On the balcony of the St George’s Hall. Bill could not believe his eyes. Everywhere Bill looked, he saw faces. The faces of people. Two hundred and fifty thousand people, five hundred thousand people. People smiling, people happy. And Bill could not believe his ears. People cheering, people clapping. People shouting, people singing. Two hundred and fifty thousand people, five hundred thousand people all cheering and all clapping, all shouting and all singing –

LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL,

LI–VER-POOL …

And Bill stepped forward. Bill opened his arms. And the people, the two hundred and fifty thousand people, the five hundred thousand people, all fell silent. And Bill said, Ladies and gentlemen. Yesterday at Wembley. We may have lost the Cup. But you, the people. Have won everything. You have won over the public in London. You have even won over the policemen in London. And it’s questionable if even Chairman Mao of China could have arranged such a show of strength as you have shown yesterday and today …

And the people, the two hundred and fifty thousand people, the five hundred thousand people, they all cheered and they all clapped, they all shouted and they all sang, LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL,

LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL,

LI–VER-POOL …

And Bill fought back tears. Bill struggled to breathe. And again Bill opened his arms. And again the people, the two hundred and fifty thousand people, the five hundred thousand people, all fell silent. And Bill said, Since I came to Liverpool. And to Anfield. I have drummed it into our players. Time and again. That they are privileged to play for you. And if they didn’t believe me then –

They believe me now.

Two months after Liverpool Football Club had finished fourth in the First Division. Two months after Liverpool Football Club had lost the final of the FA Cup. The chairman, the directors and the manager of Liverpool Football Club held a press conference at Anfield, Liverpool. A press conference to announce changes at Anfield, Liverpool –

Bob Paisley was promoted from senior trainer to assistant manager. Joe Fagan was promoted from reserve-team trainer to first-team trainer. Ronnie Moran was promoted from looking after the junior teams to looking after the reserve team. Tom Saunders was appointed to look after the junior teams and the club’s youth policy. And Reuben Bennett was officially given the role of assessing players recommended by the scouts of Liverpool Football Club and of assessing the opponents of Liverpool Football Club; the job and the title of ‘special duties in conjunction with the manager’ –

And, said Eric Roberts, the new chairman of Liverpool Football Club, Mr Shankly was offered a five-year contract. But Mr Shankly has decided to settle for three years. However, Mr Shankly also knows he has a further option on his contract when this new one expires in May, 1974. Because Mr Shankly knows that the job is his for as long as he wants it. And we hope, and we pray, he will continue to want it for a very, very long, long time …

I have always said, said Bill Shankly, I am happy to go on working here. Here at Anfield, here in Liverpool. Because the happiest and hardest days of my life have been spent here. Here at Anfield, here in Liverpool. Only Celtic and Rangers in their pomp could begin to compare with Liverpool Football Club. But I don’t think I’ll be going back to Scotland. And so I see no reason why I should even think of going to another football club. And so contracts do not matter to me …

And retirement is something I rarely consider. For me, football is my life. Provided I can still do my job satisfactorily and as long as I feel able to carry on. It seems silly to me to say you are such and such an age and therefore you are too old to carry on working and you must retire. It’s that old motto: you are as young as you feel you are. And that will always be one of my yardsticks. And whenever I come round to thinking about retirement, I will base my decision on two things: how I feel. And also my means. Because, basically, any man must go on working until he has earned enough to live independently. A lot of publicity is given to the high salaries to be earned in football. Not only by the players but by the managers. But there is not a lot said about the vast tax that has to be paid. The higher a person’s income, the more severely he is taxed, with surtax and then supertax following the normal levels of income tax. These taxes mean that someone earning one hundred pounds a week, in fact, receives little more than fifty pounds in his pay packet. As a result, it is only when you reach the age when you begin to consider retirement that you realise the benefit and the value of the pension schemes and the like that have been introduced into football in the last ten years. But there are not many men in football today who can say they have made enough to retire. So much for my means! But as far as feeling my age is concerned, I’m feeling perfectly fit and ready to go on for years yet. I train every day and do nothing that is likely to jeopardise my health. I don’t smoke. And the only time I drink is for medicinal purposes. When a drop of Scotch will keep out the cold and do me good. As a result, I feel fit and younger than most people of my age. And so I feel I am able to continue working as manager of Liverpool Football Club as long as Liverpool Football Club are willing to have me …

Football management, though, can be a soul-destroying profession. But I think I am about to achieve what I set out to do when I took over almost twelve years ago …

It was in the autumn of 1959 that I was given the opportunity of taking over another Second Division club, Liverpool Football Club. There was not much more money in it for me. And so that was not why I accepted the offer from Liverpool Football Club. What attracted me to Liverpool Football Club was the potential of the support. For me, the support given to Rangers and Celtic has always been unequalled. But here at Anfield, here in Liverpool, I felt there was the potential support to rival even those two great clubs. That was the main reason I took the job. So I felt my job, my challenge, was to wake up the support that was lying dormant. Here at Anfield, here in Liverpool. That they only needed a good team to make them the finest supporters in the country. And I think the supporters of Liverpool Football Club have proved that over the last twelve years. In fact, I know they have!