How did this outstanding manager foul up football? For one overwhelming reason. It was Shankly who said, in a television interview in 1981, that the game was “more important” than life and death. Not just more important, but “much more” important.
Whether it was uttered in jest, as some have maintained, he never disowned it. Trotted out from time to time as an example of his lacerating wit (although it proves nothing of the sort), the easily impressed have used it to justify all kinds of unpleasant things in the years since, in the expectation that others will swell the laughter of recognition.
“Aggressive self-pity” was the phrase that Edward Pearce, the journalist, applied to Liverpool. These are deep waters, for the city has many attractions, and there is another Liverpool that people do not always see. It is to Shankly’s credit that he gave his adopted home so much to be proud of at a time when Liverpool’s main commercial function, as a port that looked outward to the world, found itself facing the wrong way.
But it is an ambiguous bequest. Liverpool fans have been spoilt by being told too often they are a breed apart, and Shankly did nothing to dampen that sense of exceptionalism.
Sport is not “much more” important than life or death — as those Liverpool fans who lost loved ones at Hillsborough could have told him — nor can his remark be laughed away as a merry jape by “good old Shanks”. Football should only ever be a pleasant diversion, even in Liverpool.
Roman Abramovich
Sam Allardyce
Mike Ashley
David Baddiel
Tony Banks
Joey Barton
Ken Bates
Sid and Doris Bonkers
Billy Bragg
Ashley Cole
Gary Cook
Hunter Davies
Didier Drogba
Martin Edwards
Sven-Goran Eriksson
The Fans
Paul Gascoigne
Geordie Blubber
The Golden Generation
Alan Hansen
Derek Hatton
Nigel Kennedy
Richard Keys
Lord Kinnaird
Nick Love
Steve McLaren
Piers Morgan
Jose Mourinho
Graham Poll
Antonio Rattin
Charles Reep
Don Revie
Peter Risdale
Robinho
Cristiano Ronaldo
Richard Scudamore
Bill Shankly
Bob Shennan
Peter Swales
Sir Harold Thompson
Terry Venables
Ian Wright
Pini Zahavi
Victoria Beckham
George Best
Gordon Taylor
Alan Green
Wayne Rooney
Freddie Mercury
Sir Alf Ramsey
Are you too scared to have ago at Busby & Ferguson, what about Clough, you fucking shitbag.
Ferguson's done infinitely more damage to football than just about anyone you fucking cunt.
I hope your book bombs, you vacuous fucking blert.
What a blert. Especially sickening to see him using Hillsborough, an event we all know Shankly was not alive to witness, to prove whatever fucked up point he's trying to make.
And why's Jockey on there? And Freddie fucking Mercury?
Why take the bait? He's just trying to make a name out of your indignation. Don't let him win. Delete this shit and condemn him back to the anonymity from whence he came.
On this occasion, SpeedyG speaks sense. The oldest trick in the book - he'll be made up that lots of people will reinforce the cliche so accurately. Man up and shrug it off people. It really doesn't matter.
Why take the bait? He's just trying to make a name out of your indignation. Don't let him win. Delete this shit and condemn him back to the anonymity from whence he came.
Spot on.
I really hope people don't make a big deal about this and give his book the publicity he's after.
__________________
Originally Posted by Red Nick If you have ever had sex with a Russian women you never go back, The women from Cordoba and Sevilla are some of the most beautiful in the world But Russians, Ukranians and girls from Belarus are light years ahead of the rest. They might not be enjoying it but they let you think they are.
The first person to write and complain will be the first to cause a very broad grin to split across Hendersons face. Ignore it, and don't give the fucker the airtime.
His use of "What would the families of the Hillsborough victims think" is tiresome and obvious. If he can't understand that Shanks meant that during the time you think about football, be it training, on the pitch, etc, then it is THE most important thing in the world at that moment and much more important then life and death, then he is just an idiot. He's tabloid lazy journo shite at it's worst.
People get so hung up on the tabloids, but the really shitty things written about Liverpool in general and LFC in particular have always been in the so called 'intelligent' press;
Margolis
Raven
Waugh
Heffer
Liddle
This cunt's been pulling this stunt for 20 years. Simon Hoggart's another one, can't wait to leave Manchester but that peculiarly vicious bile never leaves them.
This twat has been sniping at Liverpool, the club and the city's people, for years. He is a freelance cunt and fills in at papers when their regular sports journalists have to check in at The Priory.
I think he has a couple of convictions for child abuse and one for assault on an old lady newsagent who had the temerity to stock papers that carried news of his convictions. He was also involved in a scam in which he pocketed donations from people who believed they were contributiing to a children's hospice in Bangkok. He has served time in both male and female prisons. The latter because, after he had undergone transgender treatment in Thailand, there was some doubt about his sex. If the papers ever print a full length picture of Henderson you will notice that he has a pair of large firm breasts - and a third that seperates his ears.
Ok, not everything I have posted here is true, and, even if it were, none of it would be as damning and as appalling as the fact the he hails from Manchester. The poor, inbred, retarded cunt. Sad.
Classic trick he has pulled here, throw something out there that will get a reaction and it will mask the lack of depth. For a proper explanation of Shankly's remark see Brian Reade.
Funny how I couldn't see any mention of Murdoch in there, and I hope his book ends up failing. The book failing shouldn't be that difficult, he has upset quite a few fans judging by that list.
Classic trick he has pulled here, throw something out there that will get a reaction and it will mask the lack of depth. For a proper explanation of Shankly's remark see Brian Reade.
Funny how I couldn't see any mention of Murdoch in there, and I hope his book ends up failing. The book failing shouldn't be that difficult, he has upset quite a few fans judging by that list.
What gets me is his Shankly never disavowed his comments.
Shanks made those comments in 1981. Shanks died in 1981. He never had a fucking chance to. Even the most casual bit of research could have illuminated this fact.
As for not including Busby & Ferguson. Pure cowardice.
I find every word that comes out of that twat's mouth hilarious. Granted he doesn't mean them to be, because he's quite clearly a serious writer....
What an absolute clunge. But as has already been pointed out- don't rise to the bait. When Henderson is cold and decaying in an unvisited mound of earth in some shitty derelict cemetary, the name of Liverpool Football Club, and that of Bill Shankly, will still live on.
Fuck him.
__________________
"Sorry Ted, I was concentrating too hard on looking holy"
"God Ted, do you remember that feller who was so good at fashion they had to shoot him?"
"I'm no good at judging the size of crowds, Ted, but I'd say there was about seventeen million of them out there"
To be fair he's got George Best and Wayne Rooney in there too. 'Geordie Blubber' sounds about right as well!
Not sure why anyone would think Busby ought to be in there. Then again, Shanks is so a lot of it defies logic.
Edward Pearce is another cunt I left off the list. Saw him recently on Mastermind, looked like he was about to break into a quick chorus of Knocking On Heaven's Door.
To be fair he's got George Best and Wayne Rooney in there too. 'Geordie Blubber' sounds about right as well!
Not sure why anyone would think Busby ought to be in there. Then again, Shanks is so a lot of it defies logic.
Edward Pearce is another cunt I left off the list. Saw him recently on Mastermind, looked like he was about to break into a quick chorus of Knocking On Heaven's Door.
Good.
I'm sure I could make something up, possibly along the lines of exploiting Munich.
Either way it'd have about as much substance as his assertions against Shankly.
To be fair he's got George Best and Wayne Rooney in there too. 'Geordie Blubber' sounds about right as well!
Not sure why anyone would think Busby ought to be in there. Then again, Shanks is so a lot of it defies logic.
Edward Pearce is another cunt I left off the list. Saw him recently on Mastermind, looked like he was about to break into a quick chorus of Knocking On Heaven's Door.
Good.
yeah but I'd say Geroge Best, Wayne Rooney and even Geordie Blubber have, as much as we may hate any of them, added to the character of the game as opposed to foul it up
It's just a book with someone's views on people he doesn't like. It's pretty lighthearted, no worse than much of what is written on here. He's bound to throw in a few headline grabbers and he's bound to concentrate on those ones in the serialisation of his book as it's excellent publicity.
What gets me is his Shankly never disavowed his comments.
Shanks made those comments in 1981. Shanks died in 1981. He never had a fucking chance to. Even the most casual bit of research could have illuminated this fact.
As for not including Busby & Ferguson. Pure cowardice.
Im sure ive seen an interview with the great man where he was asked about that quote and he said something along the lines of he regretted the amount of time he spent on football to the detriment of his family.
My memory might be playing tricks on me but I think its on that history of liverpool dvd that came out after the 2001 treble.
