I don't know if anyone else saw Shankly-Nature's Fire on the BBC last night.? I recorded it and have watched it this afternoon. What a great man Shanks really was. Every one of his former players and the fans, didn't have a bad word to say about him which is very rare. Kevin Keegan commented that he wouldn't much care for the game in its present format and said like a lot of us have commented, football is no longer a simple working class game, it's become a commercial cash cow that's lost enthusiasm and humanity. One journalists remark was spot on " it's a game that has been taken from the people and is now being sold back at an exhorbitant price". How very true that is. Low spot for me in what was a brilliant piece of TV ,was the way Shanks was treated by the Liverpool board once he announced his retirement. He was a hard act for Paisley to follow but sadly he was treated as a pariah around the Club whenever he returned either to Anfield or the training complex at Mellwood. The highspots for me was the fans pilgrimage to his grave in Glenbuck Ayrshire and the inscription on his statue outside Anfield. It simply reads " He made the people happy."
I missed it but will watch it on catch up. I watched the Kenny Dalglish documentary a few weeks ago and that was very good.
He was a man of the people. Loved how he stood on the Kop with the fans even though he was hero-worshipped and mobbed by them. I like the story Kevin Keegan told about when he won an award (Footballer of the Year I think) and he presented the trophy to Bill Shankly stating that he would have been nothing without the great man's input. Years later when he went to Shankly's funeral, Nessie Shankly gave the award back to Keegan saying that Bill wanted him to have it after he died. Keegan was choked up just telling the story.
