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Shankly - The Man

Much has been written on this site about Bill Shankly and his footballing career. But what about the man behind the legend ? The essential elements of Bill Shankly's remarkable persona can be traced back to his Glenbuck roots. His socialist political views, his personal fitness and toughness, and his love of American gangster movie stars.

The socialist beliefs were as much a part of him and the folk of Glenbuck as their Ayrshire accent. The sheer struggle of living and working in raw mining communities engendered a reliance of community members on each other. There was always someone who needed extra food or clothes, someone who could use a little extra money and you helped out wherever you could. After all, that someone was just as likely to be you next time round. Down in the mineshafts this ethos was even stronger. In an era where mine owners often gave scant regard to the safety of their workers, lives often depended on looking out for your workmates.


*His mother, Barbara*	*His father, John*

As a boy, Shankly had seen the men of the village go through the General Strike of 1926, a thoroughly just cause in his eyes, only to see them sold out by the politicians and the white collars who pulled the strings. The miners remained on strike a full seven months longer than anyone else and eventually were forced back through starvation to even worse conditions than they had suffered previously. He would grow up with a fervent mistrust of bosses and boardrooms that would often lead to friction in his life.

His socialism took an idealistic, pure form. He mistrusted politicians, even the staunch Labour men who stood in his own constituency, as he blamed them almost as much as the mine owners for the conditions he and his family lived in. Shankly's attitude was such that he felt a strong bond to his fellow man and wanted to see their lot improved. A hero of Shankly's in this respect was the poet Rabbie Burns, who Shankly recognised as an early socialist. He selected 'The Life of Robert Burns' by James Black as his book to take with him on Desert Island Discs. The philosophy he took into his footballing life was a microcosm of his political beliefs - a trust in teamwork and team spirit, of helping one another out for the greater good.

Life was hard for the mining families of Glenbuck, but it wasn't all bleak. One of the more pleasurable diversions for the Shankly family were the trips to the nearest cinema, in Muirkirk. As a boy, his father would often take the young Shankly, a mere 8 mile round trip on foot ! The Hollywood stars of the day who impressed Bill the most were Jimmy Cagney, and Edward G Robinson. These were tough guys doing a tough job. Men's men who Shankly could identify with.

Years later, during his time at Anfield, he would amaze the playing staff with references to Cagney and to his new television hero, Eliott Ness from the T.V. series The Untouchables. 'You think you're a hard man ?' he once asked Tommy Smith. 'Here, these guys were hard men', and he threw down photographs of Cagney and his mobsters. 'If they did something wrong they got shot !'

Liverpool would always travel by bus to away matches on the Friday night prior to the game. Shankly would ensure that wherever the match was, the bus would arrive in time for him to catch The Untouchables on the television before going to bed.

His familiar sharp suits ( his father had been a much respected tailor ), hand on hips strutting pose, and jaunty style, owed much to the Hollywood image. You could imagine him standing on the Kop roof like Jimmy Cagney on top of the gasometer in White Heat, 'look at me ma, top of the world !' Even the way he spoke, spitting out his words in a machine gun rhythm was pure Cagney.

His love of boxing would often surface too. At one team talk, recalled elsewhere on these pages, Shankly spent 15 minutes talking to his players about boxing before they went out onto the pitch. No mention of football at all. The boxing and the gangsters where all part of the tough guy image. He had boxed in his army days and had won a trophy at middleweight during a period where he was stationed in Manchester.

Shankly 'boxing' at Preston North End

Shankly's toughness went hand in hand with his fitness too. His fitness levels were extraordinary. He was wrongly cast aside years too early at Preston as the club sought to re-establish itself in the post war years. Fantastically fit, Shankly could have played well into his late thirties at the highest level.

The fitness was honed in Glenbuck. Working in the mines was bound to produce hard men, but to be athletically fit required a discipline separate to that. Shankly's father, John, had been a renowned runner and had provided fitness training for the men of Glenbuck. He was a man who looked after his body and took alcohol only sparingly. His input into the sporting prowess of the famous Cherrypickers' was widely recognised. It would have been surprising if Bill had not picked up the same good habits exhibited by his father. The long walk to the cinema to see his on screen heroes would have been no problem to him.

He worked hard in later years to keep his personal fitness level high, once comically remarking to Emlyn Hughes at Melwood, 'when I go son, I'm going to be the fittest man ever to die.' He always took part in the 5-a-side games at the clubs he managed, often forcing the game to go on and on until his side emerged victorious.

Playing in the 'Dads n Lads' game at Huddersfield

During his time at Huddersfield, Bill took part in a kickabout every Sunday with the locals on a field in Crosland Road near where he was living. He would play whatever the weather and would go in as hard on a ten year old boy as he would on a grown man, never holding back or altering his style for anyone !