Author Topic: An Astonishing Statistic Which Means Nothing - and Everything  (Read 1221 times)

Offline teine

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There wasn't much between us in the sixties. We won the League in 64, then United won it in 65. We won it in 66, they followed in 67.

They won the FA Cup in 63, we won it in 65. We almost won the European Cup, they went all the way.

It was pretty much neck and neck between Sir Matt and Sir Bill.

But by another measure, we were miles apart.

Towards the end of every calendar year, the magazine France Football asked journalists from all over Europe to vote for the best players of the last 12 months. It's now known as the Ballon D'Or, but then it was called the 'European Footballer of the Year' award.

There were three British winners in that decade - Denis Law in 1964, Bobby Charlton in 1966 and George Best in 1968. Yes -  the award went to Old Trafford three times. It didn't once come to Anfield. They won that battle comfortably.

All that is fairly well known. But behind those facts is a different, quite astonishing statistic.

With each journalist voting for their top five, quite a wide spred of players ended up in the final list. There were usually between twenty and thirty players who received votes every year. Many of those names would now bring a bemused 'Who??' from even the most obsessive connoisseur of European football history.

Players like Ezio Pascutti, Manfred Kaiser and Ole Madsen. I could list dozens of others - but you get the idea.

So which Liverpool players received votes in the 1960s?

The answer is - none of them did. Not a single one. Just like Kevin Phillips Bong in the Monty Python Election Special, we polled no votes at all.

To spell it out even more starkly, this is the head to head for the whole decade:

Manchester United   436
Liverpool                    0

Players from Everton, West Ham, Leeds, Chelsea, Man City and Tottenham received at least a few votes. As did players from Leicester City, Sunderland, Burnley, Cardiff City and Fulham.

But Liverpool, absolutely nothing.

So Busby's and Shankly's teams were almost inseparable in terms of success on the field, but for individual recognition there is this utterly bizarre disparity.

What would Shanks have made of that statistic, had he been aware of it? (Who knows, maybe he was aware of it). Would he have felt a sense of anger? A sense of injustice?

Actually, I suspect he'd have felt a sense of pride. He would have embraced that big, fat zero. He would have seen it as a validation of the principles he brought to the club. The club where, every day in training, it was hammered into the players by Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett and Ronnie Moran. There are no stars here. Just everybody working for each other. That was Shankly's ideal for football. That was his ideal for life.

The European Footballer of the Year Award simply wasn't a sophisticated enough measure of what's really important.

There was another list of names that came much closer to the truth. That was the one on the birth certificate of this beautiful baby in 1966:



That's Paula St John Lawrence Lawler Byrne Strong Yeats Stevenson Callaghan Hunt Milne Smith Thompson Shankly Bennett Paisley O’Sullivan.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2024, 08:33:01 pm by teine »

Offline redtel

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Re: An Astonishing Statistic Which Means Nothing - and Everything
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2024, 03:06:54 pm »
Shocked me that stat but on reflection it doesn’t.

It’s journalists who vote and many European ones will vote for players in their own country with the odd foreigner thrown in. The English journos were either from London or Manchester and never enjoyed seeing us beat their teams and win things. The Munich air disaster had a huge effect on how everyone viewed Man Utd and what was the Busby Babes, including this city. They had to rebuild the whole team with the exception of Harry Gregg, Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes. (who lived in Huyton near me)

They obviously had some great players winning everything including the European Cup as you said but I think there was a lot of sentiment in voting for a Man U player so soon after Munich. Still a crime that we didn’t get 1 vote but as I said they were based in Manchester as well. A double whammy. They would give a vote to any player from any team it seems except Liverpool.

Their FA Cup win in 1963 sticks in my memory. Most of my family travelled over to Hillsborough for our semi-final against Leicester who had a decent team with Banks in goal. We were hot favourites as the same 11 each week was mowing down all comers. Somehow we lost 1-0 after a string of saves by Banks that will never be forgotten by all present. I got a ticket for the final from the amateur club I played for as many clubs did then.

I had a slight preference for Man U in the final mainly because Leicester beat us as they often did. I wasn’t disappointed that they won but how things have changed! Now I wouldn’t even go, although it was a chance to see my first FA Cup Final live. The hatred wasn’t there, and certainly not between Shanks and Busby.


I wonder what happened to Paula who would be late 50s now?
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Offline Mister Flip Flop

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Re: An Astonishing Statistic Which Means Nothing - and Everything
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2024, 03:09:29 pm »
Not astonished by this stat at all.

Remember though anyone who thinks there is a bias against the club and city is paranoid.
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Offline G Richards

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Re: An Astonishing Statistic Which Means Nothing - and Everything
« Reply #3 on: March 22, 2024, 07:14:49 pm »
Lovely post, thank you.

It is a very strange anomaly. Even though we championed the collective, we obviously had some smashing players, and it beggars belief that we got 0 votes when all sorts of middling clubs would have got at least a smattering.

I agree, Shanks would have made a thing of the 0 and worn it as a badge of honor, doubling down on the team is the star approach.

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Re: An Astonishing Statistic Which Means Nothing - and Everything
« Reply #4 on: March 22, 2024, 08:07:31 pm »
While you expect some level of bias, for some of those players not to garner a single vote across those years is incredible really.

Really interesting stuff again teine and great to hear your recollections too Terry
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