Title: Bill Shankly September 2nd 1913 - September 29th 1981
Post by: Maggie May on September 29, 2004, 12:42:28 pm
23 years ago today. And I remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday. We were on holiday in Scotland in a caravan. I know some older fans say they can remember where they were and what they were doing when Kennedy died - I can't - but all these years later I could point to the exact spot where we were when we heard the news that Bill had died.
Sure, he'd been ill all week, but he'd get over it wouldn't he?
Heart trouble? Shanks? No way. Superfit (even for his age), doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, led a clean life. Unthinkable.
You sometimes read about "a hammer blow", well that's what is was like, just as if you'd been struck. Stunned. Sick.
No way to continue the holiday. We had to get home. Damn all we could do of course, but there was only one place to be. We just wanted to be there, to be close.
St Mary's Church, West Derby. John Toshack, Ron Yeats, Emlyn Hughes and Ray Clemence carried him. Kevin Keegan, Ian Callaghan and Ian St John escorted the coffin. The quiet dignity of Nessie and her daughters and grandchildren. Hundreds of people and a river of tears.
Shanks was finally laid to rest when his ashes were scattered in the Kop end goal.
RIP Shanks. YNWA.
© Maggie May 2004
Bill Shankly born Glenbuck, September 2nd 1913. Died Liverpool, September 29th 1981.
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