Bill Shankly Football Quotations

If you are first you are first. If you are second, you are nothing.

Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple.

Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor.

What a great day for football, all we need is some green grass and a ball.

Football (soccer) is a matter of life and death, except more important.

Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.

The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they do not know the game.

Liverpool was made for me and I was made for Liverpool.

Of course I didn't take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present. It was her birthday and would I have got married during the football season? Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves.

Football is a simple game made complicated by people who should know better.

Its great grass at Anfield, professional grass.

I was in the game for the love of football - and I wanted to bring back happiness to the people of Liverpool.

It's to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing against. (on the 'This Anfield' plaque)

If he isn't named footballer of the year, football should be stopped and the men who picked any other player should be sent to Kremlin. (on Tommy Smith)

I’ve been a slave to football. It follows you home, it follows you everywhere, and eats into your family life. But every working man misses out on some things because of his job.

If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain an advantage, then he should be.

Laddie, that man scored 200 goals in 270 matches - an incredible record - and he has won cup after cup as a manager. When he talks, pin back your ears.

At a football club, there's a holy trinity - the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don't come into it. They are only there to sign the checks.

The socialism I believe in isn't really politics. It is a way of living. It is humanity. I believe the only way to live and to be truly successful is by collective effort, with everyone working for each other, everyone helping each other, and everyone having a share of the rewards at the end of the day. That might be asking a lot, but it's the way I see football and the way I see life.

A football team is like a piano. You need eight men to carry it and three who can play the damn thing.

The socialism I believe in is everybody working for the same goal and everybody having a share in the rewards. That’s how I see football, that’s how I see life.

In my time at Anfield we always said we had the best two teams on Merseyside - Liverpool and Liverpool reserves.

I was only in the game for the love of football -- and I wanted to bring back happiness to the people of Liverpool.

Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that