The Boot Room: The Shankly Years

Article by Ben Taylor – @bensgtaylorThe legendary boot room was a place in which the Liverpool managerial team, during the 60s, 70s and 80s, would have meetings and converse about tactics and pass on their expertise to new generations of managers for the future of Liverpool. ‘The Boot Room’ may have just been a small room in the stands of Anfield, but it meant so much more to the future of Liverpool Football Club and their conquest of Europe.When, in December of 1959, Bill Shankly was pronounced as manager of Liverpool he already had a team of backroom staff most of which were well respected men within the club. These men were; Reuben Bennett- a man who had previously managed Dundee to two League Cup triumphs and was rumoured to be getting the top job before the Shankly was appointed, Bob Paisley- a Liverpool veteran after playing for the reds in pre-war days and Joe Fagan- an ex-City player who managed to make 168 appearances for the blue side of Manchester before the War then becoming a trainer for Rochdale.Shankly came into power on Merseyside and shortly after that was when the ‘Boot Room’ began, with Fagan using some upturned beer crates as the seats, donated by Guinness, Liverpool’s golden years were just about to begin…The ‘Boot Room’ was originally a place where the managerial team would drink a few beers and sometimes after the game they would invite the oppositions manager in for a drink to discuss the game. It gradually became an almost HQ for the assistant managers, a safe haven in which they would talk tactics and reflect on previous games.After every game they would document a detailed review on the match with facts and figures, every key point from training sessions would also be put into a log book allowing them to compare players and pick the correct Starting XI for every game. This was fronted by Joe Fagan as he would train the players so would be the closest to them when off the pitch. He wrote everything inside the log, every fine detail you could think of; small knocks the players may be carrying, the weather players play better in.This log would help the boot room members in the future when it comes to small eventualities that could happen. For example, if a player had injured themselves, they would consult “the books” to see how they had dealt with it in the past, it was this was the attention to detail that won this team of managers 4 European Cups in 7 years.

When Shankly had arrived on Merseyside the club captain was, Ronnie Moran, player of 10 years, who had been playing since 1949. Just as the ‘Boot Room’ started to get into full flow, he was well past his glory days and at the age of 32 he was invited to be the new member of the ‘Boot Room’ and was put into Shankly’s back room staff in 1966. Moran continued to play for the reds until 1968 where he stayed after as part of the ‘Boot Room’. Moran would take up Joe Fagan’s job of maintaining the books.

 

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Another player that Shankly brought back to help the managerial team was ex-centre half Geoff Twentyman, he was a Liverpool player from 1953-59 and went on to manage such teams as Morecambe and Hartlepool’s United before re-joining the reds at Anfield as chief scout. The boot room was starting to fill now with Paisley, Fagan, Twentyman, Moran and Bennett all prepared to power Liverpool Football Club to European dominance.The main purpose of the boot room was that they would bring in new homegrown talent through the ranks and then get rid of players who were nearing the end of their prime days. With Geoff Twentyman leading the line on the scouting side of things the system was in full swing, new signings were coming in fast with the likes of Ian St. John, Tommy Smith and Ray Clemence coming in through this system in the early years.The ‘Boot Room’s’ first piece of silverware (and Shankly’s) was the Second Division title in 1962 then they only had to wait 2 more seasons for the next one in which they would win the First Division after 2 seasons in the top flight. Shankly would then go on to lead the reds onto winning 2 more First Division titles, 2 FA Cups and a UEFA Cup (Europa League) in his penultimate season of 1973.However, before all of these trophy winning seasons, the boot room had another reshuffle with a few important managers at the club moving on meaning that there was a new face on the block, Roy Evans. He was brought in as Joe Fagan had moved up from his position as reserve manager to first team trainer, Evans became the manager of the reserves. The golden era of the ‘Boot Room’ was about to begin.In what proved to be Shankly’s final season with Liverpool we were in the European Cup in which we were knocked out by Red Star Belgrade over 2 legs in the second round losing 2-1 home and away. The reds also lost the league to Leeds by 5 points therefore leaving us with only FA Cup Final as a shot at silverware that season.The game was against Newcastle United who started a young Left-Back named Alan Kennedy and also Terry McDermott, a scouser, that day. The first-half was a dull affair with Liverpool piling on the pressure yet no goals were scored leaving 45 minutes and the possibility of penalties between Shankly and the FA Cup. Liverpool’s Left-Back breaks free of the Newcastle defence and slots it home but the flag goes up leaving the game tied, then the ball falls to Keegan on the edge of the box and he finishes it giving the reds the lead. The game goes on to finish 3-0 with Keegan scoring a wonderfully worked second and Heighway also finding the net. Shankly’s final game as manager had ended in silverware.On 12th July 1974 Liverpool FC called a press conference in which John Smith (chairman at the time) announced Bill Shankly’s retirement from the club. Prior to this Shankly had said that retirement is “the most stupid word I’ve ever heard in all my life. It should be stricken from the record. You retire when they put the coffin lid down with your name on top. Until then nobody can retire.”. He left the club on a high after the FA Cup victory and he said he left to see more of his wife and his grandkids.Shankly had joined the club in 1959, a side in the second division of English football with very limited training facilities and small ground space. He had then left the club in 1974 after adding 10 trophies to their list, 3 of which being first division titles, and completely changing Melwood and Anfield for the better of the club.Article by Ben Taylor – @bensgtaylor