February 14 – Bob Paisley Passes Away

ROSES are red, violets areâ€¦bah, forget all that, you won’t find any soppy Valentine’s guff here at OTFD, as we’re today looking at one of English football’s greats, Liverpool’s Boot Room boy Bob Paisley who died today in 1996.

On today of all days, loyalty is an important thing and Paisley had it in droves. He first rolled into Liverpool in 1939 when the twenty-year old half-back joined from Bishop Auckland FC and didn’t leave until he retired in 1983. Eat your heart out Nicolas ‘mercenary’ Anelka. Like most footballers of that era Bob had to spend his early years down th’ pit before he got involved with the war effort. This delayed the start of his Liverpool career, but he would soon go on to become an integral part of the Liverpool side that won their first title in 24 years in 1947.

His playing career came to an end in 1954 when he moved into the back-room, as a physiotherapist. In those days you didn’t need fancy things like degrees to get those sort of jobs, as Paisley just had an uncanny knack of being able to diagnose injuries just from seeing how they were walking. When Bill Shankly arrived at the club in 1959 he chose Paisley as his right-hand man and the club transformed itself into one the greatest winning machines ever seen in football.

We’ve already told you about the day when Shanks rocked the red half of Liverpool and retired out of the blue, but as Sue Barker would say, what happened next? Panicking Koppites were worried that the glory days were over as they stressed over who would replace their legendary manager. It would’ve been a tough gig for anyone, just ask the Manchester United and Arsenal fans of today about how to replace one of the all-time greats, but Liverpool turned to their number two whose response to this challenge was to win more trophies that his predecessor.

Although he was initially reluctant to take on the mantle of Liverpool manager Paisley soon manned-up, and it didn’t take long for the medals to start flowing in. His nine years in the dug-out saw the Reds pick up a frankly silly 19 major honours, including Liverpool’s first three European Cups. When they won the big one in Rome against Borussia Moenchengladbach in 1977 Paisley showed a rare glimpse into his sense of humour, as he would say: “This is the second time I’ve beaten the Germans hereâ€¦ the first time was in 1944. I drove into Rome on a tank when the city was liberated.”

His record is one of the best ever seen and puts any other British manager to shame and unless Kevin Keegan achieves what the Geordie Nation expects him to, this won’t be beaten in a long time. Unlike other greats such as Shankly, Clough or Ferguson, Paisley was quiet and understated, refusing to self-promote himself as he just got on with what he was good at: being a top-notch manager. He retired in 1983 after 44 unbroken years at Liverpool and gave the reigns to another Boot Room old boy, Joe Fagan. When he died in 1996 the club were quick to honour the great man, opening up the Paisley Gates at Anfield. See what he meant to his former charges (and also some superb old-school commentary about one minute in) below and come back this way tomorrow for a man who’s personality was the polar opposite of Bob’s.