Bill Shankly Quotes

Football is not a matter of life and death, it’s much more important than that.

I’m just an ordinary man who’s had an extraordinary love affair with Liverpool Football Club.

Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.

If you’re not blocking shots, what’s the point of playing defense?

A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are.

Liverpool Football Club exists to win trophies.

A football team is like a piano. You need all 88 keys, but it’s the tuning of the keys, the harmony between the keys, that creates beautiful music.

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.

I’ve been fortunate to win a lot of trophies, but the most important thing is winning the hearts and minds of the people.

Football is a game of mistakes. The team that makes the fewest mistakes wins.

Football is not a game for the faint-hearted. It is a game for the brave, the courageous, the determined, and the committed.

In football, everything is complicated by the presence of the opposition.

I’m not one of those managers who tells his players not to read the papers. I want them to know what’s being said about them so they can prove people wrong.

I want to build a team that’s invincible, so that they have to send a team from bloody Mars to beat us!

I don’t discriminate against anyone. As long as they’re good enough, it doesn’t matter if they’re black or white.

Bob Paisley, his idea of a good time was a bottle of Scotch and a good book. My idea of a good time is running up and down a football pitch.

I’m not a dictator. I’m a football manager.

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

Some people say they have a football in their hand, but it’s got a little bit of vulcanized rubber, a bladder, and some air in it. That’s not a football – it’s a balloon!

I’m not afraid of losing, I’m just afraid of not giving everything I have.

When you sign a player, you take a gamble. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But what’s important is that you stick by your decisions.

I’d give all the champagne I’ve ever drunk to be playing alongside a team of world-class players at Anfield again.

I don’t care if I’m the best manager in the world, I just want to be the best manager for Liverpool.

I’m just a normal person who happens to manage a football club.

You can train a dog to do tricks, but you can’t train a player to play football. It’s something they have inside them.

Football is like life – it requires perseverance, determination, hard work, sacrifice, teamwork, and respect for authority.

Winning is not a sometime thing, it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.

If you’re not on the ball, you’re off the ball.

The most important thing in life is family. Football is second. Winning is third.

You have to play with your heart, not just your boots.

You can’t do better than to play for a club called Liverpool.

I’ve seen better heads on a pint of Guinness, but they can still play football.

Football is not about the past, it’s about the future. It’s not about what you’ve done, it’s about what you’re going to do.

I don’t believe in miracles, I create them.

Football is a team sport. You win together, you lose together, and you celebrate together.

The boot room is the most important room at the football club. It’s where the real decisions are made.

If you’re not fit, you can’t win. If you can’t win, you can’t play.

You don’t have to be the best to be a winner, but you have to be a winner to be the best.

Football is not about the individuals, it’s about the team. It’s not about I, it’s about we.

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing.

Football is like chess, but without the fancy moves.

It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.

Football fans are the true owners of a football club. Without them, we are nothing.

The best football teams play with their heart, not just their feet.

Football is like a religion, the stadium is the church, and the fans are the congregation.

Football is a battle, but it’s a battle with a smile on your face.

Football is about perseverance. Every pass, every shot, every tackle, matters.

Everyone has the fire, but the champions know when to ignite the spark.

The beauty of football is that anything can happen. It’s not just a game of skill, it’s a game of heart and determination.

In football, as in life, you have to keep moving forward. You can’t dwell on the past, you have to focus on the present and the future.