Shankly! Shankly! Shankly! Shankly! Shankly …
Matt Busby smiled again. And Matt Busby said, They have taken you to their hearts, Bill. To their very hearts.
Shankly! Shankly! Shankly! Shankly …
Aye, said Bill Shankly. They have, Matt. And I have taken them to mine. To my own heart, too …
Shankly! Shankly! Shankly …
But now they’ll never let you go, Bill. You know that? Now they’ll never let you leave, Bill. I hope you know that?
Shankly! Shankly …
Aye, Matt. I do know that. But I would never leave them, Matt. I would never go. Not now, Matt. Not now. Because I could never leave them, Matt. I could never let them go …
SHANK-LEE!
…
On Tuesday 14 April, 1964, Liverpool Football Club travelled to Turf Moor, Burnley. And that evening, the Spion Kop travelled to Turf Moor, too. Thousands and thousands of them, twenty thousand of them. A Red Convoy. On buses, on trains. A Red Line. In cars, on foot. A Red Army. On the march, the march to victory. In the twentieth minute, Alf Arrowsmith scored. In the fifty-second minute, Ian St John scored. And in the fifty-ninth minute, Arrowsmith scored again. And Liverpool Football Club beat Burnley Football Club three — nil. Away from home, away from Anfield. That night, Liverpool Football Club were still first in the First Division. Liverpool Football Club now had fifty-four points. Liverpool Football Club now needed only one more point. Only one more point from their last four games. Only one more point to be Champions. The Champions of England –
On Saturday 18 April, 1964, Arsenal Football Club came to Anfield, Liverpool. Again in the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. Forty-eight thousand, six hundred and twenty-three folk came, too. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. Forty-eight thousand, six hundred and twenty-three folk locked inside Anfield, Liverpool. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. Ten thousand, twenty thousand, locked out of Anfield, Liverpool. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. Red balloons floated in the sky. Over Anfield, across Liverpool. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. Red balloons bounced on the ground. Outside Anfield, inside Anfield. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. The Anfield crowd sang, the Spion Kop sang. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. With flair and with wit. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. The crowd sang, the Kop sang. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. The crowd swayed, the Kop swayed. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. They sang in rhythm, they swayed in rhythm. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. They sang and they swayed. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. They sang as one, they swayed as one. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. They sang and they swayed, they swayed and they waited. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. They waited and they prayed. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. For LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. For LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, Liverpool Football Club. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. At home, at Anfield, Liverpool, LI–VER-POOL,
LI–VER-POOL –
Before the whistle, the first whistle. In the dressing room, the home dressing room. On the benches. In their kits and in their boots. Tommy Lawrence, Gerry Byrne, Ronnie Moran, Gordon Milne, Ron Yeats, Willie Stevenson, Ian Callaghan, Roger Hunt, Ian St John, Alf Arrowsmith and Peter Thompson looked up at Bill Shankly. Bill Shankly standing in the middle of the dressing room, Bill Shankly pointing his finger into the air –
The top of the mountain is in sight, said Bill Shankly. The very summit of the mountain, boys. And today you will reach that summit. You will stand on the very top of the mountain, boys. But you will not be standing there alone, no. You will be standing there with the tens of thousands here today. Inside Anfield. And the tens of thousands outside here. Outside Anfield today. You will stand there with them, boys. And you will stand there as one. So go out there now, boys. Go out there now and reach that summit. Go out there now and stand on the very top of the mountain, boys. And give these people what they deserve, give these people what they want. Go out there now and make these people happy, boys …
In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. After just seven minutes, Ian St John scored for LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL. But Arsenal Football Club did not capitulate, Arsenal Football Club did not surrender. And in the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. The players of Liverpool Football Club began to feel anxious. And the players of Arsenal Football Club sensed that anxiety. The players of Liverpool Football Club began to make errors. And the players of Arsenal Football Club exploited those errors. Baxter missed by inches. Again. Baxter missed by inches. Gerry Byrne cleared off the Liverpool goal line. And Arsenal won a penalty. Eastham stepped up. Eastham struck the ball. Lawrence dived. Lawrence reached the ball. Lawrence pushed the ball around the upright. Tommy Lawrence had saved the penalty for LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL. Now there would be no more anxiety, now there would be no more errors. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. Lawrence, Byrne, Moran, Milne, Yeats, Stevenson, Callaghan, Hunt, St John, Arrowsmith and Thompson shone. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. They shone like diamonds. And they cut like diamonds. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. LI–VER-POOL, LI–VERPOOL, LI–VER-POOL cut Arsenal Football Club to pieces. And in the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. In the thirty-eighth minute, Peter Thompson turned Arsenal inside and out, this way and that. And Thompson sent a perfect centre to the post. St John rose to head square for Arrowsmith. For Alf Arrowsmith to nod home. Into the Arsenal goal. London Bridge is falling down. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. In the fifty-second minute, Thompson beat Magill. Inside and out. Both ways. In a single, surging movement. Thompson unleashed a shot. From the edge of the penalty area. Into the Arsenal goal. Falling down. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. Five minutes later, Thompson repeated the dose. From an inside-right position. London Bridge is falling down. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. In the sixtieth minute, Gordon Milne passed to Thompson. Thompson flicked on to Hunt. Roger Hunt shot. A thundering shot. Into the back of the net. POOR, OLD LONDON! In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, Liverpool Football Club beat Arsenal Football Club five — nil. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, Liverpool Football Club were the Champions. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL Liverpool Football Club were the Champions of England –
LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL …
WE LOVE YOU, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH …
LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL, LI–VER-POOL …
WE LOVE YOU, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH …
And in the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. The new Champions of England ran around the pitch. The Anfield pitch. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. The new Champions of England ran a lap of honour around the ground. The Anfield ground. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. Ron Yeats carried the trophy around the stadium. The Anfield stadium. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. Not the real Football League Championship trophy. Not the Lady. The Football League had refused to let Everton Football Club courier the trophy across the park. But in the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. No one cared. In the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. Ron Yeats carried a papier-mâché trophy around the pitch. The Anfield pitch. A red papier-mâché trophy around the ground. The Anfield ground. And in the sunshine. The lovely, spring sunshine. The Kop sang, the Spion Kop sang. And everybody sang, everyone sang, WE’VE WON THE LEAGUE! WE’VE WON THE LEAGUE …