Bill Shankly is widely acknowledged to have been
one of the finest managers to grace British football
and arguably Liverpool FC's greatest manager
Willie Shankly, as he was known in Glenbuck, was the son of John Shankey, a tailor. The 1920 Valuation Roll (when Willie would have been about 7 years old) shows John being the tenant of 3 Auchinstilloch Row in Glenbuck Village, the property being owned by South Ayrshire Colleries Ltd 19 Waterloo Street, Glasgow.
John Shankley in the 1920 Valuation Roll for Glenbuck
Willie Shankly was one of ten children and one of five brothers who played football professionally. He was capped twelve times for Scotland, including seven wartime internationals. He spent one season at Carlisle United before spending the rest of his playing career at Preston North End, including when they won the English FA Cup in 1938. His career was interrupted by his service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
He retired from playing in 1949, going on to manage Carlisle United, Grimsby Town, Workington and Huddersfield Town, before accepting the job as team manager of Liverpool in December 1959.
Shankly took charge of Liverpool when they were in the Second Division and rebuilt the team into a major force in English football. He led Liverpool to the Second Division Championship to gain promotion to the top-flight First Division in 1962, before going on to win three First Division Championships, two FA Cups, four Charity Shields and one UEFA Cup.
Shankly announced his retirement from football a few weeks after Liverpool won the 1974 FA Cup Final, having managed the club for fifteen years. He died seven years later at the age of 68.
The Bill Shankly Memorial at Glenbuck
Glenbuck's Bill Shankly
featured on 2013 postage stamp
Glenbuck born Bill Shankley OBE featured on a postal stamp issued on 16th April 2013 by the British Post Office.
Bill was included as part of the special set of first class stamps entitled 'Great Britons', which celebrate individuals across sport, journalism, music, politics and the arts whose anniversaries of birth fell in 2013 (Bill was born in September 1913). The stamps were available at Post Offices and online at http://shop.royalmail.com/great-britons/great-britons-stamp-set/invt/sku30000001/
