|

Man of the People (a poem for Bill Shankly)

Mike Bartram

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 You dragged our club out of the doldrums, those barren years in
Division Two.
And every success we’ve ever had since then, we owe it all to you.
You rightly once called Anfield ‘a toilet’, but you turned it into a shrine.
You made the players feel invincible once they crossed that Anfield
white line.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Our football club changed forever the day that you answered our call.
You famously got Liverpool to wear all red that made them look 7 foot tall.
You wanted only winners in your team; you would not accept the word defeat.
Some fans even called you ‘the messiah’ and threw themselves at your feet!

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Shankly unleashed the talent of St John, of Yeats, Keegan and ‘Crazy Horse’
He turned our club around from nothing into a feared, major European force.
He was always ready with his famous ‘one liners’, always on hand with a laugh and a joke.
But he was never short of respect and grace, and the whole world listened when he spoke.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 They called him a man of the people, and he took the Spion Kop to his heart.
He stood on that famous terrace once, just a regular Kopite playing his part.
I now sadly live in the days when true football heroes are few and far between.
But Bill will always be remembered as one of the biggest legends that football has ever seen.

Notes

For the great man on his birthday

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/man-of-the-people-a-poem-for-bill-shankly/