William Shankly (May 10, 1913 – March 29, 1981) was a Scottish footballer and manager.
He held the record for the most league games managed in the top four tiers of English football for more than thirty years, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most successful managers. Shankly also achieved success as a player: he played for and managed Liverpool for his entire career. He made 517 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions. He became the first Englishman to captain the side; his later captain was Kenny Dalglish
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His nickname was "The Shankly Gates" after Bill Shankly's Bar (now demolished) on Walton Breck Road.
Shankly led Liverpool to three League Championships and two FA Cups during his tenure as the club's manager. He is considered one of Liverpool's greatest managers; he was voted as such by fans in a poll organised by Match of the Day magazine and The Times newspaper in 2006.
He holds a unique place in English football history: only United's Sir Matt Busby and Arsenal's George Allison have won more trophies than Shankly with their current clubs. He was knighted for his services to football in 1977, just months before his death from cancer, at 51.
Shankly was born on May 10, 1913, at 44 Broughton Street, Partick, Glasgow.
William was the son of James Shankly (born 1881) and Elizabeth Jane (born 1882). James worked as a boilermaker at Bells Foundry before becoming a docker at the age of 11 years old. He started playing football for Queen's Park F.C., joining them when they were formed in 1884.
James played as a goalkeeper, but switched to left-half after being spotted playing for Queen's Park by Clyde F.C., who were looking to strengthen their team after seeing inside-right Billy Milne score 10 goals against them during a friendly match played on New Year's Day 1906. In 1908, James moved from Clyde to Motherwell F.C., where he played alongside his son Will from 1909–12, though James returned to Clyde in 1912 due to World War I restrictions on movement between England and Scotland which prevented Will from following him to Fir Park that year..
James died six weeks after Will's birth on January 23rd 1914, when he suffered an attack whilst walking home from work at Bells Foundry during heavy snowfall which resulted in his being knocked over by a l
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