Bill Shankly shocked the football world when he retired in 1974, but did you know he actually stepped down six years earlier only for Liverpool to tell absolutely nobody?
Shankly wore his heart on his sleeve. While the comment may have been made slightly tongue in cheek, there was some truthful sentiment behind his words that ‘football meant more than life and death’.
Such was his passionate nature, he often threatened to resign between each season before coming to his senses. Journalist John Keith even revealed this would become known as ‘Shankly’s midsummer madness’.
On one occasion, the possibility almost turned into reality after a particularly frustrating Merseyside derby defeat in 1967.
Bill Shankly thought Liverpool were signing Howard Kendall
When Shankly ‘resigned’ in 1967, Liverpool were the champions, level on points with Man United at the top and had just signed Emlyn Hughes, who would go on to lift two European Cups as Liverpool captain.
However, knowing the threat of Man United, who would go on to win the title then the European Cup the following season, Shankly wanted defensive reinforcements.
Preston youngster Kendall was the manager’s target and Shankly thought he had his man. Even Kendall thought he was off to Anfield.
“He was boiling about Howard Kendall,” writer Keith recalled to This Is Anfield, having spoken with club secretary Peter Robinson about the events of March 1967.
“He thought the club had let him down because they told him they were going to sign Howard Kendall, but the thing was, John Moores’ money swung the deal and he went to Everton.”
Moores, founder of the Littlewoods football pools empire, was chairman of Everton at the time and a major shareholder.
This was bad timing for Liverpool. Everton had beaten them to the £85,000 signing and days later the Reds would play at Goodison Park in an enormous FA Cup fifth round tie.
Liverpool lose a massive Merseyside derby
This was a massive game. Liverpool had already been knocked out of the European Cup at the second round stage, having lost 7-3 on aggregate against an Ajax side featuring Johan Cruyff.
These were the last two winners of the FA Cup meeting with great players all over the pitch.
Liverpool had Roger Hunt, Ian St John and Peter Thompson in attack, while Everton boasted a midfield of Colin Harvey and Alan Ball, with Johnny Morrissey and Alex Young to cause problems on the flanks.
State-of-the-art giant projectors played the match on screens at a sold-out Anfield. where 40,000 fans watched the events broadcast live across Stanley Park.
Over at Goodison, it was a windy night and Everton ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a half-volley from Ball on the stroke of half time.
That was Saturday night. By the time club secretary Robinson had entered his office on Monday morning, Shankly was gone and left only a letter.
Bill Shankly resigns but Liverpool tell nobody
Writer Keith said: “This was a typed letter on his little portable done in his windowless office at Anfield.
“And when he discovered he got in touch with Syd Reakes, the chairman, and they rang Nessie (Bill’s wife).
“Nessie said, ‘I don’t know where he is except he’s somewhere in Scotland. He said, ‘I’m going to see the family and I’ll let you know’.
“Now, at that time in the 1960s, most of the family aren’t on the telephone anyway.
“They just said we don’t know what we’re going to do, but they decided they’d keep it in house and not tell anybody, not even Bob Paisley.”
Eventually, Paisley would go on to replace Shankly and take his work to a new level, turning Liverpool into the greatest team in Europe.
For now, though, Paisley was just an assistant.
“They just told Bob that he had flu and would you look after the team,” Keith added.
“Bob, without any knowledge of Bill quitting, looked after the team and this went for several days.”
Bill Shankly returns to Liverpool
So, for a few days, that’s what the team believed: the manager was simply off with the flu. Except this wasn’t true and nobody was quite sure where he had landed.
The mystery around that week became the subject of a fictional novel written by Keith, titled The Shankly Conspiracy.
Back in reality, Shankly returned to the training ground a couple of days before Liverpool’s game at Turf Moor.
Keith said: “What happened was he drove back into the car park one day, parked the car and as they saw him come in, I think his name was Bill the car park attendant, [he] raced up and told Peter, ‘The boss is back’.
“They didn’t know. They thought he was ill, ‘He must be OK again’.
“And Peter thought, ‘Oh, God. He’s back’.
“He rang the chairman and [Bill] never mentioned it. That is gospel.”
Sure enough, for many years the incident went undisclosed beyond the inner sanctums of Anfield. Perhaps the effects of Shankly’s mood change were felt on the pitch, though.
Liverpool’s season ended badly. Of their last 14 matches, they won just two and ultimately finished fifth.
Thankfully, Shankly was given time to rebuild which allowed him to cement his legacy as an all-time great, leading the Reds to a further league title, FA Cup and UEFA Cup.
When he resigned for real in 1974, the fear among fans was tangible, but the boss knew he had left Liverpool in an excellent position to go and dominate the continent under Paisley, the one area Shankly had just fallen short.