Complex sentence: The club was promoted from the Second Division as champions in 1962 under the management of Bill Shankly, having spent spent eight years in the second tier and coming close to promotion on occasion under both Shankly and previous manager Phil Taylor.
Split into simpler sentences: The club was still in the Second Division in those days but were promoted as champions in 1962 under the management of Bill Shankly. Liverpool had spent eight years in the second tier and had come close to promotion on quite a few occasions under both Shankly and previous manager Phil Taylor.