Bob Paisley averaged 2.1 trophies per season at Liverpool... 20 years after his death, Merseyside remembers a genius
PUBLISHED: 22:36, 12 February 2016 | UPDATED: 07:43, 13 February 2016
Just 25 seconds into an evening at Southport’s Atkinson Theatre on Thursday night and the point is made.
‘Bob Paisley averaged 2.1 trophies per season during his time at Liverpool,’ said the compere. ‘That eclipses even Sir Alex Ferguson who, at Manchester United, averaged 1.4.’
Cue wild applause. As a means of getting an audience onside straight away, it was a free header from six yards duly dispatched.
This week’s gathering in Southport, though, in the presence of four Paisley players, was not about competition or one-upmanship.
It was merely about freshening memories, about recognition for a manager sometimes missed off the list when reference is made to the modern game’s great forefathers.
Maybe it was because his reign followed that of Bill Shankly, the ‘father’ of Liverpool Football Club, that Paisley’s name is not always on the legends roll call.
Maybe it’s because he lacked the personality of Brian Clough, the clear gravitas of Jock Stein or because he inhabited a less colourful world than Ferguson.
Nevertheless, those who matter have long since paid their dues, albeit in different ways.
Ferguson came across Paisley only once professionally, his Aberdeen team humbled 5-0 over two legs in the 1980 European Cup.
Subsequently the great United manager revealed that to be the night he learned the true value of keeping the ball.
Clough, meanwhile, was a little more direct, arriving on the threshold of Paisley’s Anfield office one late afternoon in 1978.
‘I am here to talk about football with you,’ said Clough. ‘That’s a shame,’ replied Paisley. ‘Because I am going home for my tea.’
On Sunday, it will be 20 years since Paisley died in a Merseyside nursing home at the age of 77.
Remarkably, 44 years of his life had been spent serving his football club as player — he was a stout left half — assistant manager and physio, first-team manager and, last of all, director.
His nine seasons in sole charge yielded 19 trophies — he declared his first Charity Shield to be Shankly’s — which was some haul for a man who openly admitted he never wanted the job when his great friend and ally shocked football by standing down in the summer of 1974.
LIVERPOOL'S INCREDIBLE TROPHY HAUL UNDER BOB PAISLEY
1974-75
FA Community Shield*
1975-76
Football League First Division, UEFA Cup
1976-77
Football League First Division, European Cup, FA Community Shield
1977-78
European Cup, European Super Cup, FA Community Shield
1978-79
Footbal League First Division
1979-80
Football League First Division, FA Community Shield
1980-81
European Cup, League Cup, FA Community Shield
1981-82
Football League First Division, League Cup
1982-83
Football League First Division, League Cup, FA Community Shield
*Paisley claimed his first trophy belonged to predecessor Bill Shankly
Former Liverpool captain Emlyn Hughes once recalled: ‘Bob said to us, “I am in this job under sufferance and I won’t be here long”.’
Centre forward Kevin Keegan was to describe Paisley in John Keith’s detailed 2014 biography as ‘the only man in football I ever met without an ego’ and perhaps that underpinned his unwillingness to step into the limelight.
By that time, Paisley had already been on the coaching staff 20 years, having developed a reputation for diagnosing injuries that spread so far a lady once arrived at the reception at Anfield with a greyhound nursing a sore paw.
‘Tell her I don’t do dogs,’ was the message from the rather bemused Liverpool trainer.
Paisley was 55 when he became a manager for the first time. To place that in context, Ferguson took his first job at the age of 32, Clough was 30 while Shankly himself was 35 when he started at Carlisle United.
Outwardly at least, Paisley did not look the part either, shuffling around the club in his slippers and a cardigan with his winnings from his latest wager on the horses wrapped in an elastic band in his front pocket.
‘If you were short of a few bob he would reach in there and help you out,’ said midfielder Jimmy Case at Thursday’s show.
Paisley’s rambling North-East patter certainly played to the image of him being avuncular. His players used to take the mickey out of him back then and still do now, speaking to each other in ‘Paisley-isms’ on the telephone and at reunion dinners.
Team meetings would be short-lived affairs, with Paisley unable to remember the names of opposition players.
Before his very first league game in charge against Luton Town, for example, Paisley got himself in such a muddle that he abandoned his tactical address, saying: ‘Oh b******s, just go out there and beat them’ which, of course, Liverpool did.
Former left-half Paisley led Liverpool to three European Cup triumphs in 1977, 1978 and 1981
Paisley and his Liverpool team parade the 1978 European Cup after their final victory over Club Brugges.
Soon after, Paisley was to offer his resignation, further evidence that, in the early days at least, the cloak of management was one that really did not seem to fit this miner’s son from Hetton-le-Hole near Sunderland.
In the depths of his own humility, though, was ultimately to be found the kernel of Paisley’s genius.
Training did not change in the wake of Shankly’s departure. It was not broken so Paisley did not attempt to fix it. It continued to revolve around basic fitness work and endless five-a-side matches.
‘We would play apprentices versus staff at the end and Bob would play in goal,’ recalled striker David Fairclough.
On the field, meanwhile, Paisley’s understanding of the game, and of players, was fundamental to his startling progress and success.
Paisley and ex-Reds defender Alan Kennedy pose with the 1981 European Cup after the win over Real Madrid.
Former Liverpool defender Tommy Smith — scorer of his team’s second goal in their seismic European Cup triumph in Rome in 1977 — said: ‘Bob possessed an incredible knowledge of the game and players and was more tactically astute than Shanks.’
Another central defender of note, Phil Thompson, said: ‘They called him Uncle Bob but he was as ruthless as they come and had a genius for creating teams.’
Certainly, the grasp of the team ethic was one Paisley trait he shared with other great managers. Sensing complacency once, he muttered: ‘They are getting carried away with their own music.’
The small things mattered, too. He switched centre forward Ray Kennedy to outside left on the advice of the England player’s former schoolteacher, kept a daily diary that included weather reports, took ‘food tasters’ on European trips and, on realising goalkeeper Ray Clemence was developing a complex about taking kicks into the wind at Anfield, he had the flags taken down from the top of the Main Stand.
On top of that, Paisley was ruthless, cunning and, in common with most great managers, occasionally economical with the truth.
On leaving ‘supersub’ Fairclough out of a big game, for example, Paisley blamed the directors for picking the team, an untruth based on the fact he himself had once been left out of the 1950 FA Cup final in an era when the Liverpool side actually was chosen by the men in the boardroom.
Paisley’s critics, and there are some, say he was too loyal to big-name players and that he shunned direct confrontation.
If some of Paisley’s greatness was unquantifiable, however, his trophy haul was not. Six league titles, three European Cups, three League Cups.
Among the highlights were the 1977 European Cup success which featured a pre-match team talk about how the last time he had visited the Eternal City had been on a tank in the Second World War, and a 1978-79 league championship triumph that saw his team concede just 16 goals in 42 games.
A bricklayer by trade, Paisley once took it upon himself to rebuild the dugout at Anfield. It remains to this day. So, too, do the memories of a unique football man, on Merseyside at least.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...erseyside-remembers-genius.html#ixzz408J0t7DU
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- Sunday will mark the 20th anniversary of Bob Paisley's death
- The former Liverpool player and manager is a legend of the game
- In charge of the Reds' first-team, he averaged 2.1 trophies per season
- Paisley is remembered fondly for his charming humility
PUBLISHED: 22:36, 12 February 2016 | UPDATED: 07:43, 13 February 2016
Just 25 seconds into an evening at Southport’s Atkinson Theatre on Thursday night and the point is made.
‘Bob Paisley averaged 2.1 trophies per season during his time at Liverpool,’ said the compere. ‘That eclipses even Sir Alex Ferguson who, at Manchester United, averaged 1.4.’
Cue wild applause. As a means of getting an audience onside straight away, it was a free header from six yards duly dispatched.
This week’s gathering in Southport, though, in the presence of four Paisley players, was not about competition or one-upmanship.
It was merely about freshening memories, about recognition for a manager sometimes missed off the list when reference is made to the modern game’s great forefathers.
Maybe it was because his reign followed that of Bill Shankly, the ‘father’ of Liverpool Football Club, that Paisley’s name is not always on the legends roll call.
Maybe it’s because he lacked the personality of Brian Clough, the clear gravitas of Jock Stein or because he inhabited a less colourful world than Ferguson.
Nevertheless, those who matter have long since paid their dues, albeit in different ways.
Ferguson came across Paisley only once professionally, his Aberdeen team humbled 5-0 over two legs in the 1980 European Cup.
Subsequently the great United manager revealed that to be the night he learned the true value of keeping the ball.
Clough, meanwhile, was a little more direct, arriving on the threshold of Paisley’s Anfield office one late afternoon in 1978.
‘I am here to talk about football with you,’ said Clough. ‘That’s a shame,’ replied Paisley. ‘Because I am going home for my tea.’
On Sunday, it will be 20 years since Paisley died in a Merseyside nursing home at the age of 77.
Remarkably, 44 years of his life had been spent serving his football club as player — he was a stout left half — assistant manager and physio, first-team manager and, last of all, director.
His nine seasons in sole charge yielded 19 trophies — he declared his first Charity Shield to be Shankly’s — which was some haul for a man who openly admitted he never wanted the job when his great friend and ally shocked football by standing down in the summer of 1974.
LIVERPOOL'S INCREDIBLE TROPHY HAUL UNDER BOB PAISLEY
1974-75
FA Community Shield*
1975-76
Football League First Division, UEFA Cup
1976-77
Football League First Division, European Cup, FA Community Shield
1977-78
European Cup, European Super Cup, FA Community Shield
1978-79
Footbal League First Division
1979-80
Football League First Division, FA Community Shield
1980-81
European Cup, League Cup, FA Community Shield
1981-82
Football League First Division, League Cup
1982-83
Football League First Division, League Cup, FA Community Shield
*Paisley claimed his first trophy belonged to predecessor Bill Shankly
Former Liverpool captain Emlyn Hughes once recalled: ‘Bob said to us, “I am in this job under sufferance and I won’t be here long”.’
Centre forward Kevin Keegan was to describe Paisley in John Keith’s detailed 2014 biography as ‘the only man in football I ever met without an ego’ and perhaps that underpinned his unwillingness to step into the limelight.
By that time, Paisley had already been on the coaching staff 20 years, having developed a reputation for diagnosing injuries that spread so far a lady once arrived at the reception at Anfield with a greyhound nursing a sore paw.
‘Tell her I don’t do dogs,’ was the message from the rather bemused Liverpool trainer.
Paisley was 55 when he became a manager for the first time. To place that in context, Ferguson took his first job at the age of 32, Clough was 30 while Shankly himself was 35 when he started at Carlisle United.
Outwardly at least, Paisley did not look the part either, shuffling around the club in his slippers and a cardigan with his winnings from his latest wager on the horses wrapped in an elastic band in his front pocket.
‘If you were short of a few bob he would reach in there and help you out,’ said midfielder Jimmy Case at Thursday’s show.
Paisley’s rambling North-East patter certainly played to the image of him being avuncular. His players used to take the mickey out of him back then and still do now, speaking to each other in ‘Paisley-isms’ on the telephone and at reunion dinners.
Team meetings would be short-lived affairs, with Paisley unable to remember the names of opposition players.
Before his very first league game in charge against Luton Town, for example, Paisley got himself in such a muddle that he abandoned his tactical address, saying: ‘Oh b******s, just go out there and beat them’ which, of course, Liverpool did.
Former left-half Paisley led Liverpool to three European Cup triumphs in 1977, 1978 and 1981
Paisley and his Liverpool team parade the 1978 European Cup after their final victory over Club Brugges.
Soon after, Paisley was to offer his resignation, further evidence that, in the early days at least, the cloak of management was one that really did not seem to fit this miner’s son from Hetton-le-Hole near Sunderland.
In the depths of his own humility, though, was ultimately to be found the kernel of Paisley’s genius.
Training did not change in the wake of Shankly’s departure. It was not broken so Paisley did not attempt to fix it. It continued to revolve around basic fitness work and endless five-a-side matches.
‘We would play apprentices versus staff at the end and Bob would play in goal,’ recalled striker David Fairclough.
On the field, meanwhile, Paisley’s understanding of the game, and of players, was fundamental to his startling progress and success.
Paisley and ex-Reds defender Alan Kennedy pose with the 1981 European Cup after the win over Real Madrid.
Former Liverpool defender Tommy Smith — scorer of his team’s second goal in their seismic European Cup triumph in Rome in 1977 — said: ‘Bob possessed an incredible knowledge of the game and players and was more tactically astute than Shanks.’
Another central defender of note, Phil Thompson, said: ‘They called him Uncle Bob but he was as ruthless as they come and had a genius for creating teams.’
Certainly, the grasp of the team ethic was one Paisley trait he shared with other great managers. Sensing complacency once, he muttered: ‘They are getting carried away with their own music.’
The small things mattered, too. He switched centre forward Ray Kennedy to outside left on the advice of the England player’s former schoolteacher, kept a daily diary that included weather reports, took ‘food tasters’ on European trips and, on realising goalkeeper Ray Clemence was developing a complex about taking kicks into the wind at Anfield, he had the flags taken down from the top of the Main Stand.
On top of that, Paisley was ruthless, cunning and, in common with most great managers, occasionally economical with the truth.
On leaving ‘supersub’ Fairclough out of a big game, for example, Paisley blamed the directors for picking the team, an untruth based on the fact he himself had once been left out of the 1950 FA Cup final in an era when the Liverpool side actually was chosen by the men in the boardroom.
Paisley’s critics, and there are some, say he was too loyal to big-name players and that he shunned direct confrontation.
If some of Paisley’s greatness was unquantifiable, however, his trophy haul was not. Six league titles, three European Cups, three League Cups.
Among the highlights were the 1977 European Cup success which featured a pre-match team talk about how the last time he had visited the Eternal City had been on a tank in the Second World War, and a 1978-79 league championship triumph that saw his team concede just 16 goals in 42 games.
A bricklayer by trade, Paisley once took it upon himself to rebuild the dugout at Anfield. It remains to this day. So, too, do the memories of a unique football man, on Merseyside at least.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...erseyside-remembers-genius.html#ixzz408J0t7DU
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