page_title: Bill Shankly
section_title: 1970 to 1974
hierarchical_section_title: Bill Shankly / Management career / Liverpool / 1970 to 1974
caption_attribution_description: English: "This is Anfield" sign at Anfield: note that this Commorant (liver bird) design is part of the city's coat of arms as early as 1901,[1] (hence in UK public domain by virtue of expiry of corporate copyrights and in US public domain by virtue of pre-1923 publication).
context_page_description: William Shankly OBE was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winning three League Championships and the UEFA Cup. He laid foundations on which his successors Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan were able to build by winning seven league titles and four European Cups in the ten seasons after Shankly retired in 1974. A charismatic, iconic figure at the club, his oratory stirred the emotions of the fanbase. In 2019, 60 years after Shankly arrived at Liverpool, Tony Evans of The Independent wrote, “Shankly created the idea of Liverpool, transforming the football club by emphasising the importance of the Kop and making supporters feel like participants.”
  Shankly came from a small Scottish mining community and was one of five brothers who played football professionally. He played as a ball-winning right-half and was capped twelve times for Scotland, including seven wartime internationals. He spent one season at Carlisle United before spending the rest of his career at Preston North End, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1938.
context_section_description: The new team began promisingly in 1970–71 by retaining fifth place in the league and reaching the semi-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup where they lost 0–1 to a very experienced Leeds United side. The highlight of Liverpool's European campaign that season was a 4–1 aggregate victory in the quarter-final over Bayern Munich. For the first time since winning the competition in 1965, Liverpool reached the FA Cup Final but, as in the Fairs Cup, experience was the major factor and Shankly's young team were beaten 2–1 by league champions Arsenal despite having taken the lead in extra time through a Steve Heighway goal. Watching from the sidelines was another new player whom Shankly had recently signed from Scunthorpe United for £35,000 on Twentyman's recommendation. This was Kevin Keegan and he was such an important addition to the new Liverpool team that Shankly devoted an entire chapter of his autobiography to him entitled A Boy Called Keegan. Shankly summarised Keegan as "the inspiration of the new team".
  In Keegan's first season, 1971–72, Liverpool missed out on winning the League Championship by a single point, the title going to Brian Clough's Derby County. Shankly maintained that Liverpool were denied a definite penalty in their crucial away match against Derby and then had a good goal disallowed towards the end of their final match against Arsenal. Both decisions cost the team a vital point which would have been enough to claim first place. Shankly took encouragement from the team's overall form, especially as they made a strong finish to the season, and he was confident of success in 1972–73.
  Shankly had always been noted for his use of psychology, both to encourage his own players and to raise doubt in the minds of opponents. One of his lasting innovations is the "THIS IS ANFIELD" plaque secured to the wall above the players' tunnel. Coupled with the roar of the crowd, it was designed to intimidate. Shankly stated the plaque “is to remind our lads who they’re playing for, and to remind the opposition who they’re playing against.” In the first match after it was erected, Liverpool defeated Newcastle United 5–0, despite an attempt by Malcolm Macdonald to joke about the sign. Shankly would try to boost the confidence of his own players by announcing that a key opponent was unfit. When Keegan was about to play against Bobby Moore for the first time, Shankly told him that Moore had been out at a night club and was hung over. Afterwards, Keegan having produced an outstanding performance against the equally outstanding Moore, Shankly told him that Moore had been brilliant that day and Keegan would never play against anyone better.
  In 1972–73, Liverpool won the club's eighth league title and their third under Shankly. On 30 December 1972 the team beat Crystal Palace at Anfield to make it 21 consecutive home wins in the league. This was the longest run in English top-flight history until it was surpassed by Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool who made it 22 consecutive home wins in March 2020. A massive bonus for the club was winning the 1973 UEFA Cup, the club's first European success. In the two-legged final they faced Borussia Mönchengladbach, whom Shankly rated the best team in Europe. The first leg at Anfield had to be played twice after an abandonment due to heavy rain which flooded the pitch. Shankly had left John Toshack out of the team but then, having studied the Borussia defence, recalled him for the rematch the following night. Toshack used his height and heading ability to great effect and created two goals for Keegan as Liverpool won 3–0. The second leg in Mönchengladbach was a different story as Borussia took an early 2–0 lead and Shankly admitted he thought the final was lost, but Liverpool held on to win the final by an aggregate score of 3–2. It was the first time an English club had won both the league title and a European trophy in the same season. 
  Liverpool were well beaten by Red Star Belgrade in the second round of the 1973–74 European Cup and lost out to Leeds in the League Championship, finishing second. In 
caption: The “THIS IS ANFIELD“ sign in the players’ tunnel was installed by Shankly in 1964 to instill fear into the opposition.
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