Bill Shankly

1913–1981 · Scottish football manager, Liverpool FC 1959–1974

Bill Shankly was born in the Ayrshire mining village of Glenbuck on 2 September 1913 and died on 29 September 1981. After managing Carlisle United, Grimsby Town, Workington and Huddersfield Town, he took charge of a second-division Liverpool in 1959 and rebuilt it into a club that won three First Division titles, two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup before he retired in 1974. He is remembered as much for his talk as for his trophies — an aphoristic manager whose lines circulate so freely that even his most famous one, the remark about football being more important than life and death, is almost always repeated in a form he did not actually use.

Traced to source

6 quotes we’ve traced to Bill Shankly

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

Attributed

“At a football club, there's a holy trinity - the players, the manager and the supporters”

Attributed

“If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing”

Attributed

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

Disputed

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that”

Disputed

“The socialism I believe in is everyone working for each other, everyone having a share of the rewards. It's the way I see football, the way I see life”

Disputed

Not actually Bill Shankly

Often misattributed to Bill Shankly

Famous lines widely pinned on Bill Shankly that we’ve traced to someone else.

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

actually Unknown — an anonymous modern saying

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