25 Apr 2019 08:46:27
Here's a question for ya all. How ruthless were Shanks, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan&Kenny when it came to selling players, dropping players etc etc.

{Ed001's Note - it was Shanks' weakness that he was too loyal and Paisley learnt from it. Fagan was not in charge long enough to judge and Kenny suffered badly due to losing Paisley's advice and the aftermath of Hillsborough, so impossible to judge.}

1.) 25 Apr 2019
25 Apr 2019 11:10:39
In what way was Sir Bob helping Kenny Ed?

{Ed001's Note - he advised him initially. So every way to start with and then gradually stepped away as time went on to let the King stand on his own.}

2.) 25 Apr 2019
25 Apr 2019 11:37:50
Ed01, spot on about Bill Shankly being too loyal to his players. I was at the Watford v Liverpool FA Cup quarter final game at Vicarage Road in 1970 which was a watershed game for a number of the stalwarts of the hugely successful 1960s team. Watford were struggling in the old 2nd Division (now the Championship) and Liverpool were well placed in the old 1st Division. Watford deservedly won 1-0 and Shanks finally lost patience with some of his fading stars and used the rest of the season to bring in the new breed such as Ray Clemence, Larry Lloyd, Brian Hall, Steve Heighway, etc. it was a miserable journey home on an old fashioned ‘footy special’ train.

{Ed001's Note - both Paisley and Shankly said about it WW. Shanks said himself it was his big mistake and Paisley that he learnt from it to be more ruthless with players. And he was utterly ruthless.}

3.) 25 Apr 2019
25 Apr 2019 12:11:59
Was Bob that ruthless?

{Ed001's Note - extremely ruthless. He was getting rid of players when everyone else thought they had more time in them.}

4.) 25 Apr 2019
25 Apr 2019 12:56:49
Very soft spoken and a gentleman on the outside but ruthless on the inside. Brilliant👍.

{Ed001's Note - the greatest ever.}

5.) 25 Apr 2019
25 Apr 2019 16:38:12
While I don’t look back in life generally with rose tinted glasses (as I remember it lots of things were pretty s**t in the so called ‘good old days’), I do look back with great fondness on that whole Liverpool Boot Room gang - Shanks, Paisley, Ruben Bennet, Joe Fagan, Ronnie Moran and Roy Evans. The stories about them are legion and one of my favourites was told by Sammy Lee (I hope I have remembered the details correctly) . As the team were waiting in the tunnel before the 1984 European Cup Final against Roma, Joe Fagan went up to Sammy and said “Sammy, we want you to man-mark their playmaker. Stay tight on him all night”. This came as a surprise to Sammy as this ploy had not been mentioned before but as ever he was up for the task. “OK Joe” said Sammy “Which one is their playmaker? ” “I can’t remember his name” said Joe “But you’ll know him - he’ll see a lot of the ball”. Priceless.

6.) 26 Apr 2019
25 Apr 2019 23:32:01
Not long finished reading Quiet Genius about Paisley well worth a read. It talks about his relationship with the players and also his attitude and approach. As Ed says it shows just how ruthless he was as well as his management style which was very much focused on the players basically figuring it out for themselves and adjusting when need to, no micro managing and allowing senior players instilling discipline. Those that were good enough and strong enough mentally would make it, those who didn’t have that mentally often ended up leaving or were got rid of.