Kop 10 Goals of the Noughties

1. Steven Gerrard – Liverpool v Olympiakos, 8th December 2004

"Oh you beauty! What a hit son, what a hit!", screamed ex-Everton player Andy Gray as the Liverpool captain rifled a ball home from the edge of the area. Seconds earlier, the Reds had been staring Champions League elimination in the face as they led Olympiakos 2-1 in their final group game. They needed to win by two clear goals to progress. Jamie Carragher fired a ball into the box which Neil Mellor nodded back to the skipper who hit the ball as dropped to the ground, past a powerless Antonis Nikopolidis to send Liverpool on their way to the knockouts.

2. Luis Garcia – Liverpool v Juventus, 5th April 2005

The Champions League quarter final between these two sides was always going to be explosive and the diminutive Spaniard provided the biggest possible fireworks with a stunning rocket from 25 yards out. Having already taken the lead courtesy of Sami Hyypia's close-range volley, Liverpool mounted another counter attack. Out-of-favour winger Anthony Le Tallec made a rare appearance for the Reds in this game and provided the looping ball into the path of Garcia who hit a looping half-volley into the top right-hand corner of the sprawling Gianluigi Buffon's goal to double the advantage.

3. Steven Gerrard – Liverpool v Middlesbrough, 30th April 2005

In a season when they failed to win every domestic game after a Champion League clash, the visit of Boro to Anfield was no different for Rafael Benitez's side. However his Huyton-born skipper attempted to offer a glimmer of hope with arguably one of his finest efforts in a red shirt. Trailing at the break, Liverpool went on the offensive and not long into the second half, Gerrard struck. Latching on to a cross-field ball by John Arne Riise, making his 200th appearance for the club, Gerrad chested the ball into the path of his favoured right foot and unleashed a curling half-volley that evaded Brad Jones in the Kop net to pull the home side level.

4. Fernando Torres – Marseille v Liverpool, 11th December 2007

After slumping to a shock 1-0 defeat at Anfield in their first meeting, Liverpool were determined to put the French giants to the sword in their own back yard. After Steven Gerrard had given the Reds an early lead, Torres stepped up to the plate. After receiving the ball from Harry Kewell on the edge of the area, he Spaniard danced through the Marseille defence before cooly slotted the ball into the back of the net; demonstrating the ability and technique that has made him a legend amongst the Liverpool supporters.

5. Neil Mellor – Liverpool v Arsenal, 28th November 2004

Having taken an early lead through Xabi Alonso, Liverpool were pegged back by the Gunners thanks to Patrick Viera who appeared to have given his side a deserved point as the clock ran down at Anfield. In the dying seconds of stoppage time, Jerzy Dudek fired a long-range goal kick in a bid to find Harry Kewell. The Australian was sent sprawling after being sandwiched between two Arsenal defenders as the ball fell to Neil Mellor. The 22-year-old had been scoring for fun in the reserves in previous years and vowed to carry on that trend when he evaded Vieira and rifled home a stunning half-volley past Jens Lehmann in the Kop goal. As his team mates mobbed him, Anfield descended into raptures as a crucial win for Rafael Benitez’s side was sealed.

6. John Arne Riise – Liverpool v Manchester United, 4th November 2001

Manchester United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez must have been sick of the sight of a Liverpool shirt by the end of this year after shipping five goals in two meetings between the sides, both at Anfield. The gaffe-prone Frenchman was powerless to stop an effort from the Norwegian. Thirty-three yards from goal, the Reds had a free kick. Dietmar Hamann and Riise both stood over the ball but it was the left-back who shaped to shoot and unleashed a shot after being teed up by his German team mate. The ball flew into the top right-hand corner of Barthez’s net to extend Liverpool’s lead after Michael Owen had opened the scoring to give the Reds an Anfield double over their rivals from down the East Lancs Road.

7. Fernando Torres – Liverpool v Blackburn Rovers, 11th April 2009

There was a very raw atmosphere at Anfield for the Saturday lunchtime game between these two sides. The Kop gave an emotional rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster four days later as players from both teams joined supporters in falling silent for a minute in memory of the 96 Reds supporters who died in Sheffield two decades previous. In the stages of the game Torres received a long ball from Jamie Carragher, chested it down and hit a fantastic curling effort from the far right-hand side of the penalty area into Paul Robinson’s net. Scoring this sublime goal with such skill and technique from a very tight angle earned saw Torres’ nominated for FIFA’s Goal of the Year. El Nino celebrated by pointing both hands up to the sky in tribute of those who died at Hillsborough.

8. Danny Murphy – Manchester United v Liverpool, 17th December 2000

Before the former Red Devils apprentice scored, Liverpool had not won at Old Trafford since 1990. Nick Barmby dummied the dead ball for Murphy who curled it around the United wall, over the heads of crouching Reds duo Michael Owen and Markus Babbel, and into the far left-hand side of Barthez’s goal. The ex-Crewe midfielder would become something of a bogey man for Alex Ferguson’s side during his time at Anfield.

9. Steven Gerrard – Liverpool v Manchester United, 31st March 2001

Another player with a penchant for scoring against the Old Trafford outfit, Gerrard opened the scoring for the Reds in a 2-0 win which gave them a league double over their arch rivals. After receiving the ball from Robbie Fowler, the future Liverpool skipper struck a lightning bolt with his right foot from 35 yards out and went some way to securing Gerrard’s title as PFA Young Player of the Year for that season as Liverpool swept all before them in cup competitions.

10. Steven Gerrard – Liverpool v West Ham United, 13th May 2006

There is a reason that Liverpool’s 2006 FA Cup win has been christened ‘the Gerrard final’ and that is because, as in Istanbul the previous season, the captain led by example and pulled his side level with an inspiring fightback. Trailing 3-2 at the end of normal time, the fourth official indicated that four additional minutes would be played. John Arne Riise fired a ball into the Hammers’ box which was headed away but Mohammed Sissoko failed to meet it. Cue Gerrard stage left to hit home from 35 yards out, through a body of West Ham players and into the bottom corner of the net to send the game into extra time. With no goals during a tense half-hour of extra time, it was left to Pepe Reina to perform heroics and secure Liverpool’s seventh FA Cup triumph but ultimately that day at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium belonged to the skipper.

Liverpool FC's Team of the Noughties

PEPE REINA (goalkeeper): There is an age-old mantra that you have to be mad to be a goalkeeper and Reina appears to be as crazy as they come which is probably why he is considered to be one of the best keepers in the modern game at this moment in time. With three consecutive Golden Glove awards to his name, the Spaniard enjoys legend-like status in his adopted city as well as that of a national treasure in his homeland after leading the celebrations like a man possessed when his country lifted the European Championship in 2008.

STEVE FINNAN (right-back): One of the biggest unsung heroes of the past decade at Anfield. Branded by some as Mr Consistency, Finnan gave six years of loyal service to the Reds before leaving for a failed stint in Spain with RCD Espanyol. Currently with Premiership strugglers Portsmouth after securing a return to England in the summer transfer window.

SAMI HYYPIA (centre-back): A man who epitomised the spirit of Liverpool Football Club both on and off the pitch. The big-hearted Finn was a model pro during his decade at the club and showed the extent of his generosity by pledging £23,000 to rescue a charity appeal by Arrowe Park Hospital. You would be hard pressed to find anyone with a bad word to say about the 36-year-old, currently plying his trade with German outfit Bayer Leverkusen; the team he scored against for the Reds in the 2002 Champions League.

JAMIE CARRAGHER (centre-back): The Bootle-born defender has been a veteran of all things defensive during the 12 years he has donned the red shirt. Despite a shaky start to the 2009/10 season, Carra has regained form and continues to gain adulation from the Kop with strong-blooded performances. At the tender age of 31 he still has the measure of the likes of Didier Drogba and Wayne Rooney, demonstrating that old dogs can be taught new tricks. A consistent performer any club would love to have in their ranks.

JOHN ARNE RIISE (left-back): Norwegian full-back Riise occupied the Reds’ defensive left side for seven years with 300 appearances to his name. Netting a grand total of 31 goals, he was not scared of demonstrating his ability in front of goal with countless long-range efforts, including the infamous blast against Manchester United in November 2001. Despite bowing out of Anfield on a low note after several defensive lapses in recent times, including an own goal that sealed Liverpool’s Champions League exit in 2008, Riise is still considered one of the best left-backs in the club’s recent history.

STEVEN GERRARD (right midfield): The timeless theory that no player is bigger than the club is in danger of being dispelled thanks in part to the Huyton-born midfielder. To say that Gerrard has been a key factor in Liverpool’s progress over the past decade would be an insult to the 29-year-old. No other player has left such an impression on a team as the captain. Despite coming close to leaving on two occasions, the boyhood Red has stuck with his club and has led them to historic victories such as the FA Cup win of 2006 and the miracle of Istanbul in 2005.

DIETMAR HAMANN (defensive midfield): A German with a Scouse heart. The midfield dynamo was more Wavertree than Waldsassen because of his affiliation to the Kop. A truly old school player whose lifestyle reflected that of the supporters he played for. ‘The Kaiser’ was one of the greatest players to grace the middle of the park in the noughties and showed great courage by taking a penalty in the 2005 Champions League final with a broken foot. Despite a three-year spell at Manchester City, Hamann still hold Liverpool in a high regard and returned to the club briefly earlier this year to help coach the youth team.

XABI ALONSO (centre midfield): The ex-Real Sociedad playmaker gained a reputation for his defence-splitting passes within weeks of making his Liverpool debut. Alonso is a creative midfielder with a fantastic eye for goal. It was this vision that he demonstrated on several occasions in 2006, scoring three spectacular efforts from inside his own half. Now with Real Madrid following a year-long courtship, his presence has been sorely missed by the Reds this season.

GARY MCALLISTER (left midfield): Etched his name into Anfield folklore in the treble-winning season of 2000/01 with a series of pivotal goals; especially a hattrick of winners in the space of a week in April of that campaign. Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona both fell foul of the veteran Scot’s clinical penalty-taking ability but not before he delivered the sweetest of Merseyside derby victories when, aged 36, he curled a 44-yard free kick past helpless Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard in the dying seconds at Goodison Park to give Liverpool an emphatic 3-2 win. The Scot has since had unsuccessful managerial spells with former clubs Coventry City and Leeds United.

JARI LITMANEN (striker): Part of Ajax’s European Cup-winning side of 1995, the Finn moved to Merseyside after being deemed surplus to requirements by Barcelona. Like his spell at the Nou Camp, his time at L4 was plagued by injuries which saw him miss all three finals of the treble-winning season. Despite being vastly underused by Houllier, with only 43 appearances to his name, 30-year-old Litmanen was a fantastic finisher in the box and showed some fantastic ability and vision. His finest hour in a red shirt was a finely-struck goal from outside the area against Tottenham Hotspur in September 2001. Still going strong at the age of 38, Litmanen is back in his homeland with FC Lahti after spells with Ajax, Hansa Rostock, SS Malmo and Fulham.

FERNANDO TORRES (striker): Possibly the only foreign striker to arrive at Liverpool and almost immediately justify his extravagant price tag and endear himself to the Kop at the same time. At £20.2 million, it was money very well spent by Rafael Benitez on his compatriot. Despite failing to lift any silverware, he is already enjoying legendary stature after 61 goals in 100 appearances for the Reds since joining from Atletico Madrid in 2007.

SUBS BENCH:

JERZY DUDEK (goalkeeper): Gained something of a reputation for being a questionable stopper after failing to thwart Manchester United’s Diego Forlan in December 2002 but managed to hold onto the number one spot for a further three years. Enjoyed his finest hour in a red shirt in Istanbul where his Bruce Grobbelaar-like antics during the penalty shootout helped the club to their 2005 Champions League triumph. Moved to Real Madrid in the summer of 2007 as cover for Iker Casillas but has made only one appearance for Los Blancos.

STEPHANE HENCHOZ (centre-back): Formed part of the legendary defensive partnership with Sami Hyypia during Houllier’s reign but was replaced by Carragher after Benitez took over. In the 2001 League Cup final, Birmingham City pull level from the penalty spot after the Swiss defender handled the ball, something he did on several occasions during his Liverpool career. After leaving Anfield, Henchoz enjoyed spells with Celtic and Wigan Athletic before hanging up his boots in 2008 following a return to Blackburn Rovers.

MARKUS BABBEL (right-back): A consistent performer who turned down the overtures of Real Madrid to join the Reds from Bayern Munich. Babbel was a key member of the 2001 treble-winning side with the occasional goal and several assists. Unfortunately he was stricken down with Guillain-Barré syndrome at the beginning of the 01-02 season and spent most of the season recovering. Upon returning the German played for Blackburn Rovers before hanging up his boots with VfB Stuttgart, where he became manager until he was sacked at the beginning of December.

LUIS GARCIA (left midfield): Like Litmanen, another arrival from Barcelona who proved to be an instant hit. The diminutive Spaniard was a talismanic figure during the successful run to the Champions League final in 2005 with goals against Bayer Leverkusen, a thunderbolt against Juventus and, more famously, 'that goal' against Chelsea in the semi final. The debate over whether Garcia's hooked shot crossed the line before William Gallas cleared it away but the goal stood and the winger, now with Atletico Madrid, saw his name written into Anfield folklore.

MICHAEL OWEN (striker): A controversial choice given the manner in which he left Liverpool and snubbed a return in favour of moves to Newcastle and Manchester United. Despite prioritising club over country, the Chester-born striker was one of the finest finishers on his day between 2000 and 2003. His two goals in the 2001 FA Cup final should have sealed his Anfield legacy but an acrimonious exit followed by a move to Old Trafford in the summer of 2009 has tarnished his Reds reputation.

50 Years of Shankly - The Final Salute

Karen Gill was born into the greatest footballing dynasty bar none as the granddaughter of the legendary Bill Shankly, who arrived on Merseyside 50 years ago this week.

She spoke exclusively to Click Liverpool about her memories of her famous granddad and about what he would make of modern football:

• As a football-mad man, did Shanks ever play the game with you and the other grandkids in his back garden?

"My granddad always seemed to have a ball attached to the end of his foot. The truth is though that we were all girls and girls simply didn’t play football for him.

"Don’t forget he was born at the beginning of the last century and he was brought up in a mining village where the men went down the mine and played football in their free time. The women were the homemakers and my granddad was quite a traditionalist in that sense.

"So he didn’t play football with us but I know that he spent a lot of his time carrying me and my sister Pauline around in his arms and we loved to rub our hands back and forwards across his shortly cropped hair. We would also sit on his knee at the barber’s while he had a haircut."

• He could control huge crowds of fans with just a simple gesture - could he do the same in the Shankly household?

"My memories of him at home are of him standing in the hallway, on the phone. He was always on the phone talking to somebody or other about football.

"So there he was standing in the hallway with one hand on his hip and the other gesturing wildly …jabbing the air with his finger. You had to be quiet when he was on the phone.

"The rest of the time I remember he was either watching football on the TV (you also had to be quiet then) or filling in his football coupons but when he did pay you some attention, you felt like you’d just scored a goal.

"As you can see then the whole household obviously revolved around him and he was a very imposing figure. I can also tell you that as a child you never wanted to fall over and get injured because he really did used to get annoyed with you if you hurt yourself!"

• Did you ever sense any regrets he had about retiring?

"Most of my real memories of him are of his retirement age. I was born in 1965 so during his really successful years at Liverpool, I was just a baby. I really started to feel his presence when I was about seven or eight.

"I remember Christmas parties at Anfield for the staff and players, I remember we went to London for 'This Is Your Life', and I suppose it was then or a year later that he retired.

"Being just children we were never told details and never really wondered why suddenly we were seeing more of nanny and grandy (which is what we called them.

"I do know that he never stopped living and breathing football and I realize now that he did regret retiring though he never said anything at the time. He wasn’t a man who expressed himself easily as far as his feelings were concerned."

• Do you think Liverpool FC should have made a place for him despite a new manager taking over from him?

"I definitely feel that a place should have been made for him at the club, even if it was just a nominal role as a token gesture to acknowledge the importance of his contribution to LFC.

"The gesture would have been important to him; after all he gave his life to Liverpool Football Club.

"However I’m not sure my granddad would have really embraced any 'nominal' position. It wasn’t in his character."

• A bit of research has thrown up a revelation that your granddad had an idea about groundsharing, with Aintree racecourse in mind as the ideal venue but it failed to materialise. With the current talk of a ground share between LFC and Everton, do you think his vision would or could have worked?

"I don’t really think such a vision could work in practice. Firstly, I’m sure you’ll agree that a ground is the embodiment of any big club…it’s not just a place. It represents the history of the club and ties the fans to it inextricably.

"When you've got two clubs like Liverpool and Everton, with such passionate supporters on both sides, I really think it’s just a recipe for disaster."

• What would he have thought proposed new Anfield?

"I think his bond with Anfield was so great (he kind of regarded it as a faithful old friend) that he would have been extremely sad to move away.

"But on the other hand, let’s not forget that my granddad’s greatest aim was for Liverpool Football Club to be a force to reckon with and if he thought a new ground was the right way forward, he would have made the sacrifice."

• He famously said that he didn't have time for directors as the Holy Trinity consisted of a manager, players and the fans. As the patron of Spirit of Shankly, how do you think he would have responded to headline-grabbing owners like the ones currently at Anfield?

"Let’s not forget that my granddad was a headline grabber too, but it was always for the good of the club he loved. He would not have approved of any negative publicity surrounding LFC.

"He didn’t have time for directors for the simple reason that in his experience he could see that other things, beyond the actual game of football itself, were their priority.

"For my granddad, money was the means it was not the end. For me SOS is an admirable organization for many reasons, first and foremost because one of its main goals is the protection of the fans who made LFC what it is today.

"I have seen them at work first hand and they are committed, organized, articulate and passionate. I believe my granddad would be behind them 100% but would be saddened at the same time that there was a necessity for such a union."

• Would he have relished the money in the game through commercialisation and the like. Or would he have been strongly opposed to it?

"Anything that affected the game negatively, he would not have approved of. I personally believe that money has distorted the game totally beyond recognition and the priorities are all twisted.

"Anybody who knows what it’s like to play with fire in your belly for the game itself and not for the material rewards it brings, strongly opposes the ethics of contemporary football."

• What would he make of the behaviour of today's stars and what do you think would he have done about them?

"I think we all know the answer to that one! Nobody was bigger than the team; he would never have abided the kind of behaviour we see from some of today’s big stars.

"He would have given them a verbal lashing and brought them right down to size. Simply put, football cannot be about individuals."

• What was it in your granddad that made him the great manager that he was?

"Apart from all the qualities I’m sure most of us know about: determination, vision, dedication, motivation etc. I’m going to add, what for me, is the most important ingredient; the thing that set and continues to set him apart from other managers - the mutual adoration and respect of the supporters."

• You knew him as your granddad, what was it like being related to the greatest Liverpool manager of all time?

"I have to confess that at times it was just purely annoying and frustrating. He was like the Pied Piper wherever he went and when you’re trying to vie for someone’s attention with hundreds of adoring fans it can be irritating to say the least.

"I’ll never forget the time I had to be rushed to hospital after putting my arms through a glass door…I was quite scared anyway because I had a fear of hospitals and I needed comforting and reassurance.

"As soon as we got to the hospital my sister and I lost him amidst the adoring crowds who had gathered around him and one boy who had been speared by a railing had forgotten his pain and was getting an autograph."

• What is it about your granddad and the Scottish thread that runs through great managers?

"I think it was the era they lived in. They were mining folk, they were hard workers, and they were definitely working class men.

"I can’t speak for the other great managers, but I think the fact that my granddad was brought up in a small community played an integral role in defining his character and gave him that fiery determination that drove him to success.

"Generally speaking, the Scottish people as a nation have been shaped by their history and their history meant they had to fight for freedom, fight for their country and defend their property and their families: Nothing better than that for character building, great characteristics for any manager to have."

• Did you realise just how much he meant to Liverpool fans when you were younger or has the legacy grown as time has progressed?

"Unfortunately the full realization of what he meant to the fans and the people of Liverpool generally, didn’t really completely dawn on me until the day of his funeral and after that at his memorial service.

"To see the streets lined with people, mainly a sea of red and white but interspersed with blue at fairly regular intervals, was just something I will never ever forget.

"Since then I believe that the legacy just keeps growing stronger and I think the main reason for that is people realize that he really was a one off, the mould was broken, and they look back nostalgically to that era and wish they could have just some of the glory of that time back."

• To finish, what's your favourite personal memory of your granddad?

"There are so many memories that I have of my granddad, and so many people have shared their memories of him with me that I feel doubly blessed.

"However, for me what will always remain are the special times we stayed the night at nanny and grandy’s. We’d be rigorously bathed, grandy would make us toast before bed, then it was bedtime tales about life in Glenbuck and in the morning he would always get up early to make our breakfast.

"I loved those times so much and I will treasure those memories of him forever."

Liverpool 2 Wigan Athletic 1: Torres revives spirit of Shankly's untouchables

Bill Shankly once said: "My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility...I wanted Liverpool to be untouchable".

The club he dragged up from the doldrums of the old Second Division have not been untouchable or even close to a bastion of invincibility this season but they were able to give a credible account of themselves as Anfield marked the 50th anniversary of his arrival with a narrow 2-1 win over Wigan Athletic.

Goals from David Ngog and a touch of class by Fernando Torres were enough to secure maximum points for the Reds despite a late consolation by Charles Nzogbia.

Liverpool went into the game on the back of just three wins in all competitions against a Wigan side that had conceded 15 goals in their previous three games and were intent on going one better than the solitary point earned at L4 in January 2008 with a 1-1 draw during what was a turbulent spell off the field for the Reds. Rafael Benitez was hoping to make the Latics his eighth unbeaten game against a bottom half side this season.

The Spaniard made three changes from the side that slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal three days previous with Martin Skrtel replacing Jamie Carragher in central defence with the veteran covering the right-back role in place of injured Glen Johnson. Lucas Leiva had to settle for a place on the substitutes' bench, bizarrely in favour of Fabio Aurelio in central midfield. Also starting on the bench was Torres who was replaced by David Ngog.

Prior to kick-off, the Kop displayed a mosaic proclaiming 'Shanks The Legend' alongside banners bearing the visionary Scot's image including one which read 'The spirit of Shankly still shines' as legends from those halcyon days of Shankly formed a guard of honour for the two teams.

Daniel Agger tried an ambitious long-range effort on three minutes which floated wide, to the right of Chris Kirkland's goal. Ngog opened the scoring with his sixth goal in eight starts just before the tenth minute when he beat Anfield old boy Kirkland to deftly head home an Aurelio cross. Kirkland was left in a little discomfort not long after that when he landed awkwardly in a clash for the ball with team mate Emmerson Boyce as Ngog bore down on goal again.

At the other end, Wigan attemped to threaten when Paul Scharner latched onto a N'zobia through ball but fired straight into the safe hands of Pepe Reina from close range. N'zogbia went close himself not long after with a cross-cum-shot that narrowly missed Reina's goal.

Kirkland was called into action after Ngog received a quickly taken throw-in to Kuyt who forced England's World Cup hopeful to block from close-range. Liverpool continued to dominate and saw an Ngog effort cleared off the line by Hendry Thomas midway through the half. Hugo Rodallega capitalised on a misplaced pass to free Jordi Gomez who, like Scharner, fired a tame shot into the arms of Reina as the visitors attempted to even things out.

Minutes from the break, Ngog fired wide across the face of the goal after Aurelio's ball deflected off Thomas into the Frenchman's path as the fourth official indicated four minutes of stoppage time at the end of the half but the Reds went into the interval a goal to the good.

On the pitch, members of Shankly's two FA Cup-winning teams of 1965 and 1974 were joined by members of his family as Anfield fell silent as two Scottish pipers played 'Amazing Grace' to which the Kop attempted to accompany with chants of the great man's name as the famous old ground remembered the man who gave birth to a footballing revolution.

At the start of the second half, the Kop chanted "when you hear the noise of the Bill Shankly boys, we'll be coming down the road"; based on a similar chant aired by Scotland supporters when following their national side. He would have no doubt been delighted as his former employers demonstrated some fine one-touch passing which freed Kuyt on 49 minutes but he was thwarted in the box by Kirkland.

Javier Mascherano, who had suffered a brief concussion in the first half after taking Mohamed Diame's attempted long ball square in the face, let fly from distance but saw his effort dip on the wrong side of Kirkland's crossbar in the minutes that followed. Ngog had the perfect opportunity to extend Liverpool's lead ten minutes later but failed to connect with a low Gerrard cross at the far post.

Benitez introduced Lucas and Torres as the Reds attempted to double their advantage with 25 minutes remaining but it was Wigan who went closest to scoring. On 74 minutes, Latics substitute Jason Scotland capitalised on a looping cross into the box which caught out Reina, allowing the Trinidadian a free volley on goal. Unfortunately for him, his effort hit the crossbar and had most of the 41,116 fans inside Anfield breathing a sigh of relief.

A minute later Torres, making his 100th appearance for the club, netted Liverpool's second after rounding Kirkland in a style of which legendary Kop marksmen Kevin Keegan, watching on as a guest of honour, would have approved. Despite sidestepping the Wigan stopper, his tap-in was blocked by Titus Bramble. A goalmouth melee ensued but El Nino scrambled home the rebound from a couple of yards.

Alberto Aquilani was brought on for Benayoun as Roberto Martinez's side piled on the pressure in a desperate bid to stage an audacious late comeback. In the 86th minute the Italian playmaker emulated the overhead kick he attempted during his debut in the Carling Cup defeat to Arsenal but saw it fall into the hands of Kirkland.

In stoppage time, Nzogbia capitalised on poor marking by the home side to dance past several defenders before firing a low shot past a sprawling Reina but Liverpool held on. It wasn't the performance of a bastion of invincibility but, as the old adage says, a win is a win.


Final score: Liverpool 2-1 Wigan Athletic

Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Agger, Skrtel, Insua, Benayoun (Aquilani), Mascherano, Aurelio (Lucas), Kuyt, Gerrard, Ngog (Torres). Subs not used: Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Darby, Dossena.

Wigan: Kirkland, Thomas, Scharner, N'zogbia, Gomez (Koumas), Boyce, Bramble, Rodallega, Melchiot, Diame (Scotland), Figueroa. Subs not used: Amaya, Cho, Sinclair, De Ridder, Kingson.

Attendance: 41,116

50 Years of Shankly - Ron Yeats

Over 48 years ago, Bill Shankly invited journalists assembled at Anfield to walk into the home dressing room and inspect the latest addition to his squad.

"I've just signed a colossus - come in and walk round him", he proclaimed as he ushered them in to inspect the newly acquired Ron Yeats. Towering over six foot in height, it was evident to see why centre-half known by the Kop as 'Rowdy' left a lasting impression on his fellow Scot.

"I came from Aberdeen which is a long distance from here and obviously missed my mother and father as well. He was like a father to me," says Ron, now 72.

"I'll always remember him saying 'we'll get you a house near the training ground Ron' which was great because I was married and had a little kiddie.

"He put me in a new house in West Derby, a beautiful house and I would have enjoyed it but he only lived 200 yards away from us! So every morning he would knock on my door asking, 'Is the big man ready for training?' There was no escape from him!

"There was a bus stop right outside my house and of course as we got more and more popular they're looking out the windows so I asked him to give me somewhere else. So he said 'no problem' and got me a house in Maghull, away from the bus stop!"

The arrival of Yeats from Dundee United, along with compatriot Ian St John from Motherwell, in the summer of 1961 was described by Shanks as "the very beginning of Liverpool's rise".

And big Ron took to Shankly's revolutionary training methods like a duck to water, having been in the British Army prior to joining the ranks at Melwood.

"Before Bill Shankly came, players used to do road running," he said.

"I wouldn't have been running from Anfield right down to Melwood, which is one hell of a distance, and then train like they did. It didn't do them any good.

"His fitness regime however was wonderful. When I say wonderful, I mean it was wonderful for him but it was torture for us! But we were fit; 90 minutes or whatever, we could play.

"I'm glad of it because as a player you do wild things while you've got the chance but he made sure you didn't.

"I was made up because I was in the army and probably had an edge on some of my team mates because it was hard work and I played in the army team so there was an emphasis on fitness all the time."

Under the stewardship of the great man, Liverpool won promotion from the Second Division, two League Championships, one FA Cup, two Charity Shields and finished runners up in the European Cup Winners' Cup.

As Anfield prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of Shankly's arrival as Reds manager before tonight's league clash with Wigan Athletic, Yeats has paid tribute to the legacy of his former boss left at L4 and believes that the great Scot would have had a few choice words about the extra curricular activities of the modern generation of players.

"Players are a different breed now," he concedes.

"I couldn't see Bill Shankly putting up with some of their activities. He was a disciplinarian. If he said something that he wanted you to do, it would be for your own good.

"He probably frightened a lot but never did anything but when he threatened you he made you think 'I'm not doing that again!'

"I never saw him lose his head talking to the players or anybody really; that's the kind of man he was. He was a man that thought 'well I've said it now and I mean it. And if you don't want to do it my way you won't do it at all'."

"He would have made sure that if you were fit, you would play. If you've won the game, you'll play the week after.

"The players today don't know if they'll be playing the week after a good win but with us it was a case of 'same team next week' if we won. If you were injured, you had to fight your way back."

When asked if Bill Shankly was the single greatest figure in Liverpool FC's vast history, Yeats added: "He definitely was the greatest figure in my career as a footballer. I loved the man, he was absolutely brilliant."

Review: The Bill Shankly Story

The 50th anniversary of Bill Shankly's appointment as Liverpool manager did not go unnoticed but the day he officially took control was largely overlooked.

However, a half-century to the exact day the great Scot set foot inside a dilapidated Anfield and equally derelict Melwood, some of the people who knew him best took to the stage at the Liverpool Empire for a one-off performance of The Bill Shankly Story.

Long-standing Merseyside journalist John Keith scripted the show which charts Shankly's life from a football-mad youngster in Glenbuck, to his playing days at Preston North End and, most prominently, his tenure in the managerial hot seat at Anfield.

Actor Steve Hazelhurst narrated the story with Keith, a Shankly biographer who interviewed the legendary manager on numerous occasions during and after his 15-year reign at Liverpool had ended, offering his best Highland voice when reading quotes from Shanks. Some would call it a poor impression but, unlike other artists, Keith has insisted that he does not attempt to emulate that unique Ayrshire accent.

Beneath a large red banner, bearing Shanks' image, Kop idols Ian Callaghan, Chris Lawler, Ian St John and Ron Yeats offered a whole host of anecdotes that generated a rightful amount of laughter and applause from an audience of sons of Shankly and younger generations who have seen the fruits of his labour reaped down the years.

The audience were also highly appreciative of the presence of two legendary figures of the Shankly dynasty at Anfield; Gerry Byrne, considered by some as the original Anfield hard man after playing through the 1965 FA Cup final with a broken collarbone, and former Reds chief executive Peter Robinson both received a warm round of applause when they were confirmed as present onlookers.

On stage, stories of cup finals, European escapades and day-to-day life at Melwood under a man who ate, slept and breathed football left the sell-out crowd spellbound, despite running around half an hour over its approximate schedule. This is a must-see for any football fan, Liverpool or not.

Local musician Gerry Murphy closed the show with his specially written ‘Shankly’s Song’ which was followed by an emotional rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone as the people of Liverpool and beyond paid tribute to the man who gave them a team they could be proud of.

50 Years of Shankly - Gerry Byrne

Whenever Kopites supporters hear the name Gerry Byrne, they think of a courageous left-back that symbolised the true grit and determination of Bill Shankly's 1960s Liverpool side.

However history may have been different for the local-born defender had the Glenbuck-born boss not intervened.

Despite signing professional forms in 1955 after a two-year spell at schoolboy level, the 17-year-old found his chances at Anfield highly restricted under manager Don Welsh and Phil Taylor after him.

"I wasn't getting anywhere and I asked to go on the transfer list," admits Byrne, now 71.

During the visionary Scot's tenure, 18 Liverpool players gained international recognition for their country and Byrne was one of them - earning two England caps and was a part of the 1966 World Cup-winning squad.

However it was a rainy Saturday afternoon in May 1965 that has been considered his finest hour in the game by Reds supporters the world over as he demonstrated real courage as he played through an entire FA Cup final with a broken collarbone following a crunching tackle by Leeds United captain Bobby Collins.

"Bobby was only tiny," he recalls.

"He went over the ball and took out my shoulder. It would probably have got a red card today but there was no cards given for the foul.

"I didn't know what I'd done but I made the mistake of taking a throw in and couldn't raise my right arm."

Shankly's unexplained yet notorious dislike for injuries extended to the final and was kept away from Byrne as he received makeshift treatment from physio Bob Paisley.

He said: "Shanks didn't like injuries so we didn't see a doctor at half time.

"All Bob did was put a bit of cotton wool and a plaster on and then we went to the hospital after the final match.

"When somebody got injured he'd look from a distance. He wouldn't acknowledge you face-to-face.

"He wouldn't even look at me at the cup final when I broke my collarbone even though I laid off the first goal for Roger Hunt after it happened."

Four days on from the win over Don Revie's young and upcoming side, the Reds marched on in Europe to face Inter Milan in the first leg of their European Cup semi final.

Byrne, his arm now in a sling, and fellow Liverpool casualty Gordon Milne paraded the newly-won trophy in a pre-match lap of honour which almost took the roof off the famous old ground when the pair walked across the front of the Kop.

Despite seeing his name go down in Anfield folklore at Wembley, Byrne insists that his finest hour was in December 1964 when a Roger Hunt goal gave the Reds an away win in the European Cup against Anderlecht; a game after which Shanks gave him high praise.

"I had a great game and Bill Shankly said "that's the best defensive player I've ever seen," he said.

Byrne believes that he owes all his success in the game to Shanks after he refused to sell the frustrated full-back and took him off the transfer list shortly after his arrival.

He added: "I would probably have done well somewhere else but I was delighted when he took me off the list and put me in the team and that was it."

"I wasn't going anywhere under Don Welsh or Phil Taylor so I owe it all to Shanks."

50 Years of Shankly - Vic Gill (Shanks' son-in-law)

When Bill Shankly arrived at Melwood in December 1959, he didn’t expect to be meeting his future son-in-law in the grounds of a disused West Derby cricket pavilion.

“My first meeting with him was in the training ground. I did a few laps with him before the training started,” recalls Vic Gill.

“He wasn't officially taking over but I didn't know who he was. I went down the toilet and this guy came down and stood next to me, asked ‘how old are you son?’ and I said 16 and he said ‘aye, you're a big lad’.

“Then I went out and did a couple of laps and saw the likes of Chris Lawler and Ian Callaghan coming in and Eli Wass (the groundsman) came over to me and said ‘suckhole’ so I asked why.

“He said ‘that's the new manager - Bill Shankly’ and that was the first time I ever met him. Even in that first meeting he just came across as a nice bloke.”

As a fresh-faced youngster in the amateur ranks at Melwood, Gill was pleased to see the exuberant Scot improving training methods on all levels of the playing staff.

“He showed up and took an interest in the youth team which was a real boost. I'd been there for the previous two years under Phil Taylor and I hardly ever saw him at all, certainly not taking part in training sessions.

“The whole training changed from mostly running exercises to doing everything with a ball apart from the warm-ups. It was just brilliant and thorougly enjoyable.

"The original sweat box was filled with sand and had a board at one end with pieces of wood on which you had to keep kicking which I enjoyed after a while, not immediately though!”

Not long after that first meeting, Shankly and Gill came face to face again when the Kop boss’ daughter Barbara formally introduced him in the great man’s home.

“It was a bit frightening but that said I already knew him. At the very beginning Barbara and I were not serious; we were kind of mates and then it grew of course.

“He was always very welcoming I think because he had someone else to talk about football to instead of three women because without the football he was like a bear with a sore bum.”

The couple were married on Saturday 23 January 1965 at 10am due to the father of the bride’s commitments at Anfield.

“Liverpool were playing Everton at Goodison and of course Shanks wasn't going to miss that. Neither was I quite frankly so I didn't really mind being at the church at 10am," confesses Vic.

"It was only the ladies really who were a bit upset so early in the morning but it was great. He said a lot of nice things, he had to of course!

“And then the game at Goodison was called off because the pitch was waterlogged so it all seemed to be a waste but my wife and I went off to Weymouth for our honeymoon.”

Unlike most modern managers, Shanks preferred to take his holidays regionally and Gill recalls the standard drill for the annual family trip to Blackpool.

He said: “All holidays were taken in Blackpool, at the Norbreck Hydro Hotel. I went to a few and we'd play football against some of the Italian waiters in the car parks. He could never get away from it really.

“He would get us tickets for the best shows at the Winter Gardens and he would sod off to Preston to watch the dog racing which was his other passion.”

Gill also remembers how Shankly spent time with him at Anfield and even embarked on an impromptu scouting mission with the great Scot to take a look at a player who would lead the Reds’ front line for years to come.

“In November 1970 I got a call from Mr Shankly asking if I wanted to a match with him. It was Tranmere Rovers versus Scunthorpe in the third replay of an FA Cup match," he remembers.

"Kevin Keegan covered the whole pitch; backwards, forwards and scored the winning goal.

“After the game he dropped me off at home and he said ‘what did you think of the game son?’ and I said I really liked the little number ten (Keegan) who covered every blade of grass and he said ‘Aye he was a busy little bugger!’”

Vic’s favourite memory of his legendary father-in-law was not one related to Liverpool FC itself but, as with virtually everything in Shanks’ life, it was football-related.

“After leaving Liverpool I was a driver on the buses and played a bit of non-league football in my spare time. I would represent the Liverpool Transport side.

“We were meant to be playing Kirkby Town on a Saturday but they brought it forward to the Wednesday because they had just installed floodlights and they invited Mr Shankly along for the game.

“It was a very special evening for them and was my first experience apart from training at Melwood of playing under floodlights in a competitive match.

“Before we started Bill came up to me with a box and said ‘I've noticed your boots are getting old son’ and handed me a brand new pair of Gola boots. I put them on and scored a hattrick! It's a personal memory but one I remember in particular because he was a good man.”

Gill, now 66, cannot speak highly enough of a man he was proud to call not only his father-in-law but also as the revolutionary that transformed Liverpool Football Club.

He added: “I feel very proud because above all, not only was he a great manager but he was a good man. He had a good heart and did really love the people of Liverpool. He loved Liverpool FC and he made us what we are today and I feel very proud.”

50 Years of Shankly - Brian Hall

In October 1965, a diminutive university student walked through the gates of Melwood and sat patiently in the visitors' dressing room waiting to take part in amateur training session.

He was joined by the club’s manager Bill Shankly who was a little bemused by the 18-year-old, dressed in a bus conductor's uniform.

"When I was a student during the summer holidays, I was a bus conductor in Preston," explains Brian Hall.

"It was the only time to train with the pros being there one night a week with the rest of the amateurs. I turned up in my busman's uniform because I had to go straight there after I finished my shift.

"The boss walked in and started getting changed. He took one look at me in my busman's uniform and just said "Are you the student, son?" and asked me where I was from so I told him Preston.

"Of course he played for Preston for a long time so he went into this great eulogy about Sir Tom Finney and what a wonderful player he was.

"In the middle of it all he just stopped and said 'do you need a degree to be working on the buses?' I didn't really bother explaining but even in that first encounter, he had this phenomenal persona; this huge character."

Hall spent three years at the University of Liverpool where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree but it was at L4 where he found his true calling.

Following a shock FA Cup defeat to Watford in February 1970, Shankly began to rebuild his team for a new era; a second Anfield revolution. The line-up that used to host the likes of Lawrence, Yeats and St John now read Clemence, Lloyd and Toshack. However Hall felt no added burden taking over the mantle of his predecessors.

“I never felt particular pressure from that side of things and I don’t think any of the lads did quite frankly,” he admits.

“It was about winning football matches and we started to do that. Our first year was a very good year because we got to the FA Cup final.

“We didn’t win it but we got there and I think that showed to the boss, the coaching staff and the fans that we had a young team that a lot of potential and of course that was proved right.”

That run to the 1971 cup final is one Hall remembers with fondness, having scored the winning goal in the semi-final against Everton. However there would be no glory for the Reds as they were downed by league champions Arsenal who completed an historic league and cup double.

Despite losing to Charlie George’s spectacular long-range effort, Liverpool received a heroes’ welcome when they arrived back home and Hall remembers Shankly demonstrating messiah-like qualities as he silenced the Kopites assembled at St George’s Plateau.

“We came back on the open-top bus from Allerton train station in south Liverpool. I didn’t anticipate there being too many people about because we’d lost.

“The journey from the railway station all the way down to Lime Street was just phenomenal. We went out onto St George’s Plateau and there must have been between 200-250,000 people there.

“The Lord Mayor went over to the microphone to say something but you couldn’t hear him through all the noise. Somebody else tried to calm the crowd down but to no avail.

“Shanks just went over to the microphone. I was stood about a yard or two away from him, facing this huge wall of noise that was in front of us. He just put his arms up in the air, that classic pose that I think everybody has seen.

“Everyone went deftly silent. I’ve never seen anything like it before or since. It was just stunning.”

Three years later Liverpool returned to Wembley and took home the cup but behind the scenes Shankly was agonising over whether or not to continue. Despite having no knowledge of this, Hall remembers one or two incidents that made him think that something was not right with the Kop boss.

He said: “I have to say that there were one or two little instances where I thought ‘Is he cracking up a little bit? Is the pressure getting to him?’

“He was quite an eccentric character normally, and I mean that in a very good way, but there was one of two little instances where I had this little thought of ‘that’s not like the boss’.

“But you get carried away with the entire euphoria of winning the FA Cup final so at the end of the day, everything in the garden is sweetness and light.”

However life was far from rosy in the Anfield garden as Hall remembers all too well the day he arrived at the famous old ground to the devastating news that Shanks had resigned.

“It was the close season and I was doing a bit of gardening. My wife stuck her head out the door and said “I’m sure they’ve just said on the radio that Shanks has retired”. It was one of those moments where everything stopped.

“I went back into the house, cleaned up a bit, jumped in the car and went straight to Anfield to find out. Like the rest of the football world, I just could not believe that this man had given up and retired. Of course when I got to the club the answer was yes, he had retired. I was just in shock.”

Despite the void left by Shankly’s departure life at Melwood in the 1974-75 season was no different than it had been under his tenure, something Hall believes is a real testament to his legacy as the trophy haul that followed testified.

He added: “I thought as a player that there was no way Bob Paisley could take over from Shanks; they were just completely different characters. But we started pre-season training and it was exactly the same as we’d been doing because that was the way Shanks, Bob, Joe and Ronnie had always done it.

“Nothing changed; it just carried on but this is what Shanks had built. He built all those foundations; the club was on the right path and nothing needed to change. It was absolutely amazing, stunning really.”

50 Years of Shankly - Ian St John

In the summer of 1961, the cornerstone of the first Shankly revolution was in place with the arrival of a highly-rated Scottish duo. “The very beginning of Liverpool’s rise,” was how the legendary Kop boss described it, “Yeats at the back, St John at the front.”

Costing a bargain £37,500, Ian St John joined compatriot Ron Yeats at Anfield and the striker admits that his first meeting with Shankly took him by surprise after he Newcastle United had shown a keen interest in the then 22-year-old.

“My first meeting with the boss was in the dressing room at Motherwell where I'd just finished playing a game,” remembers the Saint, now 71.

“The manager came in and said “just you hang on a second, there’s somebody here to see you”. I didn’t know who the person was, so the lads all leave having showered and left and I’m just sat there on my own.

“Then a very dynamic man and smart dresser came in and said “Hello son, “I’m going to take you to Liverpool.” I never knew about that. The next day our baby went to my mother-in-law’s as we got in a Rolls-Royce and set off all the way down to Liverpool.

“I didn’t know of Bill Shankly because 50 years ago there was no football on TV around and only the odd magazine but I learned about him once I had met him, by talking to people in England and everybody had a good word about him as a player and as a guy so I realised that he was a genuine character.”

Having netted one of the fastest hat tricks of all time in two-and-a-half minutes during his time at Motherwell, St John signalled his intent with three goals on his debut. Unfortunately for the Saint, Liverpool lost 4-3 to Everton in the Merseyside Senior Cup final at Goodison Park.

“They were known back then as The Millionaires Club,” he recalls.

“I know other teams have taken over that mantle in recent years but Littlewoods’ John Moores owned them back then so they were the millionaire club and the rivalry was great between the two sets of fans.

“Ours supporters were stuck in the Second Division but under Shankly were feeling that they were going to go somewhere because he convinced them that we were going to be the team and he was true to his word and he was true to his word and we got ourselves up and out of it and into the top flight.”

Despite the defeat, Melwood’s newest recruit found out how positively different life was football-wise south of the Highland boarder.

“At most clubs, not just Motherwell, training was running round the pitch or up and down terracing. It was nonsense, absolute nonsense. It was fitness work but that was it. There was no ball work.

“When I arrived at Liverpool, we got to the training ground which was an old cricket pavilion that needed pulling down but the pitches were lovely and goals everywhere and bags of balls.

“Everything was done with a ball at Liverpool; there was no silly running up terraces. For me it was like being a kid at Christmas because it was completely different to what I had left up in Scotland.”

St John speaks fondly of the golden era during which Shankly took Liverpool from the lowly Second Division to the summit of English football and beyond. He also remembers the manager’s philosophy that bitter rivalries and religious bigotry had no place in the dressing room.

“Liverpool’s history was very much Scottish because the first chairman was a Scotsman and they have always had a lot of Scots in their team but it was great and the boss encouraged us.

"One thing he did say though was 'I don't want to hear anybody talking about Celtic and Rangers in here.' He put the frighteners on us even though I would never do that myself as an ex-Motherwell player. He was talking to all the Scots and he meant it. He would have no bigotry at all.

"He said 'There's only one religion, and that's football'. That was it - football was our religion."

St John believes that Shankly’s legacy has stood the test of time due to his obsession with the game which becomes more prominent with every year that passes.

He said: “He certainly had an aura. He’d walk into a room and people would immediately say ‘there’s Bill Shankly’. He was an outgoing man so he liked an audience; he liked to talk to people.

“He could never have gone in, got a newspaper and had a quiet read. He would go in looking to see who was there and if people wanted to talk football, he would talk football.

“If he got a guy who was a football fan, that was it; it didn’t matter who his team was, he would talk to him about the guy’s team. And he’d know everything about the guy’s team, never mind Liverpool so he was a very exceptional man.

“He was the biggest football fan in the world. He was quite amazing. A lot of people get enough of football and say ‘shut the door’ for a day or half a day but he was there 24 hours a day talking it.”

“He could be a hard man when he needed to be and give people a bollocking. I’d been on the receiving end of it myself! But at the same time, you could tell he had a love for his team and his club.”

50 Years of Shankly - Ian Callaghan

Bill Shankly, like virtually every English club manager of the 1960s, did not believe in signing players from overseas. It was an alien concept to the game at that time.

The legendary Liverpool manager’s teams consisted of many foreigners but they were not showboating Portuguese wingers cheating their way to league championships and European crowns. Instead they were home-grown English players to whom he added to his Scotch mix.

Like his future team mate Chris Lawler, central heating engineer Ian Callaghan trained at Melwood two nights a week with the junior sides before Shanks intervened and made plans to turn the young amateur into a fully fledged Liverpool player.

“He saw me playing in the junior sides and asked me if I would sign professional. I told him that I had an apprentice and that he would have to go down and see my mum and dad, which he did,” recalls Cally, Liverpool’s record appearance holder.

“He came down to the tenements where I lived (in Toxteth) in his big car and parked outside; I think it was a Ford Corsair. All the kids gathered round it because Bill Shankly was here. He came in, spoke to my parents and that’s how it all started really. I signed pro and it was the best thing I ever did.”

Callaghan’s progression through the ranks was rapid upon Shankly’s arrival and he made his debut, aged 17, in the 4-0 win over Bristol Rovers in April 1960 when he deputised for a Kop legend.

“I was playing in the A, B and C teams at Melwood. Then Mr Shankly arrived and I quickly started playing in the reserves but I didn’t play too many games for them. The next thing I knew it was coming to the end of the season in 1960 and I was in the team replacing the great Billy Liddell.”

Realising the potential of the young Callaghan, unlike managers in today’s game, Shankly chose to nurture that talent until midway through the promotion season of 1961-62.

“I think he saw me as a youngster who had just come into the game who needed to gain experience by playing in the reserves,” he said.

“In those days you had a big squad like they do now so you had a lot of older professional players playing in the reserves so you did get experience which was a learning period for me.”

Shankly described Callaghan as being “a real player” and “a fantastic man to have in your boots” and revealed that he never had a cross word although he did confess to have to curb the Toxteth-born midfielder’s tireless work ethic during training for fear of burning himself out.

“I loved training; I used to pinch myself every day going to Melwood and Anfield and when I was training with the lads,” Callaghan beamed.

“It was just a fantastic life getting paid to be a professional footballer but it got to the point where he would slow me down in training if we had a couple of games in the space of a week.”

Under the guidance of Shanks, and later his successor Bob Paisley, Callaghan lifted five League Championships, one Second Division title, two FA Cups, two UEFA Cups and one European Cup during his Anfield career as well as being part of England’s World Cup-winning squad of 1966.

Despite the Reds only lifting three major trophies during the swinging sixties, the football they played was captivating and one of their finest performances came in the first leg of the 1965 European Cup semi-final.

Inter Milan travelled to Anfield just four days after Shankly had led Liverpool to their first ever FA Cup triumph and Callaghan believes that of all the European nights the famous old ground has witnessed, the visit of Inter was the greatest in the club’s history.

“If I had to pick out a game at Anfield, it would be that,” he said.

“I was lucky enough to be playing in the St Etienne match in 1977 but I think the Inter match was better because it was on the back of winning the cup and coming back to Anfield.

“Gordon Milne, who didn’t make the final, and Gerry Byrne, who broke his collarbone, parading the cup around and the fans went wild.

“At that stage, Inter Milan had just become World Club Champions and on the night we hammered them 3-1. Chris Lawler scored a goal which was disallowed but we played really well on the night.”

Despite retiring in 1974, Shanks became an imposing figure at Melwood during the early days of Paisley’s tenure and Callaghan remembers the awkwardness of the whole situation as the great Scot was told to stay away from the club’s training base.

“Even after he’d retired, he was that sort of character that you still called ‘boss’. It was a bit embarrassing at the time because Bob was the boss but we still called him Bob instead of ‘boss’ and we were still referring to Mr Shankly as the boss so it was a bit funny really.”

Despite the difficult end to his association with Liverpool Football Club, Callaghan still holds an abiding memory of Shankly as being a second father to him throughout his career.

He added: “I think he became like a father figure. When he met my mum and dad he promised to look after me and he did.

“For all the time until he resigned really I never had a cross word with him. I never asked for a pay rise, he would always approach me and offer me a rise so he was like a father figure to me in a big way.”

50 Years of Shankly – Chris Lawler

On a cold Monday morning in mid-December 1959, a gruff-voiced Scot arrived on Merseyside and set out his plans for a footballing revolution.

Within days of his arrival, new Liverpool manager Bill Shankly encountered a young member of the ground staff at the club’s Melwood training ground and had 16-year-old Chris Lawler training with the senior squad.

“I was there six months before Shankly came,” the defender recalls.

“I joined the ground staff with the idea that I would train with the pros at night and work during the day but it was more like slave labour!

“In his first week I bumped into the boss and he started asking me what my routine would be and in the end he knew my name.

“I told him that I trained two nights a week with the amateurs and worked all day so he said ‘Tomorrow morning you’re training with the professionals. I’ll have a word with the groundsman.' So as soon as he came it was a big change for me."

It was also a big change for the club as the visionary Scot rang the changes and brought standards up to scratch at the dilapidated Second Division club.

“The ground at Anfield was in a mess,” Lawler admits.

“The training ground was even worse but I could gradually see him changing things; from Anfield to Melwood, even to the players’ training kit because that was a mess as well so he set about putting that right.”

Despite famously remarking that he would never cheat anyone, Lawler remembers that Shankly ripped up the rule book during legendary five-a-side matches at Melwood.

“I used to play in the five-a-side games with him when we’d finished training. The youth team would play against the staff like Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan and all the pros would go back to Anfield. They would play the game until they won it by cheating all the time!”

After his chance encounter with Shanks, Lawler signed professional forms on his 17th birthday and made 549 appearances for the club and became a first-team regular between 1965 and 1973 during his 15-year stay at Anfield.

Known affectionately by Kopites as ‘The Silent Knight’ for his quiet, unassuming behaviour both on and off the pitch Lawler, now 66, was a key part of the Reds side that won the 1965 FA Cup and played in a back four alongside the injured Gerry Byrne, who ruptured his collarbone just four minutes into the match.

“In those days there was no substitutes so the normal thing if somebody was injured was to put them on the wing to stop them making a nuisance of themselves.

“We knew Gerry was injured but we didn’t know he was that badly injured so it was all pretty low-key. The Leeds players didn’t know even though we stopped him taking the throw ins because you can’t do them one-handed.”

With the cup won, attention turned to Inter Milan in the first leg of the European Cup semi final but for Lawler there were more pressing matters beforehand which interfered with Shankly’s plans for the visit of the World Club Champions to Anfield.

“Before the season started I had arranged to get married. I’d had a look at the fixture list. The FA Cup was the last game in the English season. I had arranged to get married on the Monday after the final.

“We were going so well in the European Cup that we were drawn against Inter Milan in the semi final. We were playing them in the first leg at Anfield on the Tuesday after the final.

“I was getting married the day before so with a week to go before the final, Shankly called me into his office and told me that when it came to the Inter Milan game I’d have to go away with the players so on my wedding night I’d be away with the lads.”

Lawler’s lasting memory of Shankly, half a century on from their first meeting, is that of a man who was a pioneer for the club and the city of Liverpool.

He added: “He changed things for me right from the beginning, from that very first day when I met him. There were other episodes in my career when he helped me like when he changed me from a centre half to a right back so he was been a big influence to me.”

FLIM 2009 - Part 2

Today on FLIM 2009, we look at a biopic about a man who split the opinion of the footballing nation.

Whilst the supporter aspect of football culture has been a key theme in the majority of footy flicks, players and managers are overlooked somewhat.

In April, the BBC broadcast 'Best: His Mother's Son' which gave a harrowing insight into the alcoholism of his mother Anne. Prior to this there had not been any other film documenting the life and times of a player or manager, until now.

Brian Clough was a manager a lot of football fans loved to hate. Liverpool fans have few kind words to say about 'Old Big Head' following his comments about the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.

Indeed, very few had a good word to say about Mr Clough and his smarmy persona which was perfected to a tee by Michael Sheen in The Damned United.

The film goes back and forth between Clough's ill-fated 44 days in charge of Leeds United in 1974 and happier times as manager of Derby County in the late 1960s. In the early stages, then Derby manager Clough (Sheen) is celebrating drawing First Division heavyweights Leeds in the FA Cup. He goes above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that the Baseball Ground is as spick and span as a home to a Second Division club at the time could be.

However Clough takes measures on the border of sycophantism until Leeds manager Don Revie - then regarded as one of the best in the top flight - snubs him at every turn before, during and after the game. This sends the Derby boss into a single-handed crusade to create a team to challenge Leeds and replace them at the top of the First Division. In 1972 he achieved this and, despite unintentionally resigning at Derby, went on to join Leeds two years later via a very brief stint at Brighton.

The Damned United shows Clough up as a man hellbent on gaining revenge after Revie's snub to the point where he alienated the only true friend he had - Peter Taylor, who was his deputy at both Derby and Nottingham Forest. With this in mind, the closing titles that branded Clough as 'the greatest manager England never had' is baffling having portrayed him as a little upstart who wanted to create his own legacy that would have Leeds fans asking "Don who?" Fortunately, it never happened.

FLIM09 rating: 7/10