Bill Shankly Quotes

Denis Law could dance on eggshells.

In my time at Anfield we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside - Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.

If you are first you are first. If you are second, you are nothing.

What a great day for football, all we need is some green grass and a ball.

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 checks.

The difference between Everton and the Queen Mary is that Everton carry more passengers!

Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.

The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.

The socialism I believe in is everybody working for the same goal and everybody having a share in the rewards. That’s how I see football, that’s how I see life.

If Everton were playing down the bottom of my garden, I'd draw the curtains.

A football team is like a piano. You need eight men to carry it and three who can play the damn thing.

The socialism I believe in isn't really politics. It is a way of living. It is humanity. I believe the only way to live and to be truly successful is by collective effort, with everyone working for each other, everyone helping each other, and everyone having a share of the rewards at the end of the day. That might be asking a lot, but it's the way I see football and the way I see life.

Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor.

If you can't support us when we lose or draw, don't support us when we win

If a man….who’s playing in front of the public, is being well paid, and he doesn’t dedicate himself to the job, I’d be hard on him. If I could I would put him in jail, out of the road of society. Because he’s a menace

Laddie, that man scored 200 goals in 270 matches - an incredible record - and he has won cup after cup as a manager. When he talks, pin back your ears.

A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are.

Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple.

When I've got nothing better to do, I look down the league table to see how Everton are getting along.

Liverpool was made for me and I was made for Liverpool.

Above all, I would like to be remembered as a man who was selfless, who strove and worried so that others could share the glory, and who built up a family of people who could hold their heads up high and say 'We're Liverpool'.

For a player to be good enough to play for Liverpool, he must be prepared to run through a brick wall for me then come out fighting on the other side.

If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be.

My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility. Had Napoleon had that idea he would have conquered the bloody world. I wanted Liverpool to be untouchable. My idea was to build Liverpool up and up until eventually everyone would have to submit and give in.

Fire in your belly comes from pride and passion in wearing the red shirt. We don't need to motivate players because each of them is responsible for the performance of the team as a whole. The status of Liverpool's players keeps them motivated.

If you get to the edge of the penalty area with the ball and don't know what to do next, just stick the ball in the net for now. We can evaluate the other options later.

I don't drop players. I make changes.

I have been received more warmly by Everton than I have by Liverpool. It is scandalous that I should have to write these things about the club that I helped build into what it is today.

I always look in the Sunday paper to see where Everton are in the league - starting, of course, from the bottom up.

Me having no education. I had to use my brains.

It's to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing against. (on the 'This Anfield' plaque)

We are a team. We share the ball, we share the game, we share the worries.

Yes, Roger Hunt misses a few, but he gets in the right place to miss them.

Of course I didn't take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present. It was her birthday and would I have got married during the football season? Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves.

Football (soccer) is a matter of life and death, except more important.

Although I'm a Scot, I'd be proud to be called a Scouser.

Pressure is working down the pit. Pressure is having no work at all. Pressure is trying to escape relegation on 50 shillings a week. Pressure is not the European Cup or the Championship or the Cup Final. That's the reward.

One day in 1959, when Huddersfield were playing Cardiff City, Tom (T.V.) Williams, who was then chairman of Liverpool, and Harry Latham, a director, came down the slope at Leeds Road to see me. Mr Williams said, 'How would you like to manage the best club in the country?' 'Why, is Matt Busby packing it up?' I asked.

Don't worry, Alan. At least you'll be able to play close to a great team. (to Alan Ball, who'd just signed for Everton)

I never drop a player I only make changes.

Chairman Mao has never seen a greater show of red strength.

I’m just one of the people who stands on the Kop. They think the same as I do, and I think the same as they do. It’s a kind of marriage of people who like each other.

If you're not sure what to do with the ball, just pop it in the net and we'll discuss your options afterwards.

Football is a simple game made complicated by people who should know better.

Just go out and drop a few hand grenades all over the place, son. (to Kevin Keegan)

We absolutely annihilated England. It was a massacre. We beat them 5-4.

If he isn't named footballer of the year, football should be stopped and the men who picked any other player should be sent to Kremlin. (on Tommy Smith)

I was in the game for the love of football - and I wanted to bring back happiness to the people of Liverpool.

With him in defense, we could play Arthur Askey in goal. (after signing Ron Yeats)

I would have played Tom Finney in his overcoat - there would have been four men marking him when we were kickin' in.