Topic: #SHANKLY100 Why Did Shankly Have Our Players Wear Red?

[SMD]

As for the colour red - The Delphic Oracle in my house tells me that red is the first colour the eye sees due to it having the longest wavelength - can anyone verify?

Close. It's the colour you can see from the longest distance and while I suppose that means that technically the eye does see it 'first', when the difference in speeds is minute, the human eye can't really tell.
Also the most intense colour, because of its visibility.

[BoltonRed]

I did wonder when that statement ('i' before 'e') would be challenged, dnkw! 

Incidentally, the new '300' is on it's first day of general release today, it would be interesting to see people's responses to it.

Btw, a funny clip from Craig Ferguson,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSLcnZ0USz4


The first Red men in history! 

30th March '07 is the UK release date, we won't see it till then.

[dnkw]

Close. It's the colour you can see from the longest distance and while I suppose that means that technically the eye does see it 'first', when the difference in speeds is minute, the human eye can't really tell.
Also the most intense colour, because of its visibility.

Thanks 

[Socratease]

Cheers BoltonRed, it's confusing sometimes as quite a few people have already seen it! 

[Socratease]

The Odyssey begins.....with confidence,


My old grandad passed away 42 years ago on this day. He was very influential upon me as child, and subsequently as an adult. In fact he was the key factor in pointing out the tricky Reds to me as a child, my father was never a footy fan, and this ticked him off!


Homer (not Simpson ) had a point back in 800/850 BC, heroes are borne in the dealing with circumstance and overcoming overwhelming odds. When it comes to facing the challenge, are you confident?

Even if you are not sure of the outcome of your aspirations, you try your darnest to achieve them, after every step of travail - whether it be in daily home life, or work - our mortality is reinforced by our history. In effect, remembering knowledge that was previously unaccessable due to our placement in time by previous contributors, to our experiences. This is achieved by learning, and enquiry. These experiences/memories are what give us our continuity - our identity from one generation to the next.

I feel so very lucky that fate construed to make me a Red man. Looking back it is'nt surprizing, as every ferry across the Mersey from Woodside gave me the spectacular view of the Liver buildings and the Liver bird at the pier head. As a young kid, my mother took me up passed that amazing water front towards James St. station to go up the hill into Liverpool's city centre - and she stopped. She said, 'Look back, up there!' pointing to the Liver building - it was the other Liver bird looking towards the city! She said,'The one at the front looks out to sea, this one looks in to the city.'

'Wow!', I said, 'Grandad said we are going to buy some school shoes for me, will he come with us next time?' Her face, not her voice, went quiet, 'I hope so luv.' At such a young age I did'nt know what that meant. As we got to the Liverpool city centre it was magical, loads of people in Red & White, scarves swinging in the air and rosettes on their coats, singing and waving huge big wooden rattle noise makers and singing amazing songs - all at once! I was'nt interested in my school shoes in the first place, this was a whopping great funfair and merry-go-round! It was like being on the wurlitzer! One bloke, he was as old as my grandad, came upto me and put a Red & White scarf around my neck and said, 'Liverpool are the greatest,lad!', I said, 'That's what my grandad said!' He winked, and he rejoined the throng. My mother laughed, she was happy to see her young lad so enthralled! I kept that scarf for another one whole year more, until my grandad departed, with my most favourite possession given to him on his passing.

It was later on that I found out that he gave my mother the money for the fare for the ferry, and the money for those school shoes, did he know or forsee that day for me as a child, or my mother as a daughter? Or both?

I still wear those troublesome new school shoes, from that 'posh shop' (in those days) Clarks.

New shoes, they always will be, to the next generation, as well as to the previous. They will always feel new, even though previously worn in one guise or another, by a previous generation. There is a natural proclivity to pass the passion on, to sustain the knowledge of this great club for the future up and coming generations.

Never lose sight of the possibilities, and question yourself - always.



Confident?



 

[Socratease]

Why Did Shankly Have Our Players Wear Red?

[Socratease]

The Red men that are legends at this venerable Club are renowned for what they achieved with their feet, talent and sheer skill!

For this we are truly blessed! To name just two ~

Rush has become an outstanding onomatopoeia, his name is synomonous with pace!

Dalglish has become a metaphor for all round brilliance!

Goalkeeper? Ray Clemence comes to mind. He set the record for clean sheets for Liverpool FC, and he was capped to play for his country! I have so many memories of this superb goalkeeper who was often under used by the national team in favour of Peter Shilton, maybe it was a regional thing?! In all honesty, I still am trying to figure it out.

Then we had Bruce Grobbelaar, Brad Friedel, David James, Sander Westerveld, Pegguy Arphexad (wow! He got a lot of medals just being on the bench!), Jerzy Dudek (26 clean sheets for Liverpool FC), Chris Kirkland, Scott Carson and now Pepe Reina.

Pepe Reina now has a thirst for glory, he as well as the rest of Us wants Ol'Big Ears again! He has heard many a reminiscence of Istanbul, now he wants Us to do it again with him in Ancient Greece - in Athens!

We now have Reina with us biting at the bit! 

Dudek was rightly a hero on that night in Istanbul, but notwithstanding this I believe that Pepe is a better keeper - in fact one of, if not THE best, goalkeepers in the Premiership!

I don't know how others feel, but when I see the name of Pepe Reina on the Team sheet I feel quietly assured. He is, especially for his young age, a consummate professional which he has proven by his athletic prowess and situational awareness. If he keeps up the clean sheet record that he has achieved in the Premiership into the Champions League (which he is already starting to do) this young man is going to be recognised as world class professional.

Jose Manuel Reina has come a long way already for Liverpool FC, he has even beat Ray Clemence's record already, with keeping 30 clean sheets!!!

To my mind, Pepe Reina should have the number 1 on his back, and thence pass the number 25 to a new recruit. Who knows, maybe he (the new recruit) too will be similarly inspired by number 25, the magic number currently held by, in my opinion, the best darned goalkeeper in the Premiership!

All to often, the goalkeeper is overlooked.

He is a quiet hero, with safe hands......

.

[axb96m]

He is a quiet hero, with safe hands......

Who tends to wear orange..

[Socratease]

@Andy the English Spaniard convert! 


 

[Socratease]

Well StevieG did it again for us tonight with those two great goals! After the boost of the first goal it was all too evident that our Team worked very hard!   

Without doubt StevieG is a very important asset to this great Club of Ours, and he is also a natural asset to the English national team too!


Indulge me just this once,


To the tune of '#Pin Ball Wizard#' by the Who:


StevieG FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS


Ever since he was young boy,
He has played with the silver football.
A young kid at Melwood, first full debut at Celta Vigo,
And since he's played them all...

But I ain't seen nothing like him
In any arena of football.....
That blinding young Scouse kid
Sure plays a mean football !

He stands like a statue,
Becomes part of the Team.
Dodging all the tackles
Always playing clean.
He plays by intuition,
The defenders try and fall.
That blinding young Scouse kid
Sure plays a mean football !

He's a football wizard
There has got to be twist.
A football wizard,
By his boot the ball is kissed!

'How do you think he does it? I don't know!
What makes him so good?'

He ain't got no distractions
Can't hear those cusses and yells,
Don't see the foodlights flashin'
Plays by sense of smell.
Always has a replay,
'n' never faults at all.....
That blinding young Scouse kid
Sure plays a mean football!

{John Terry}
I thought I was
The football king.
But I just handed
My football crown to him.

Even on my usual playground
He can beat me at my best.
His Team mates lead him in
And he just does the rest.
He's got crazy drive and speed
Never seen him fail.....
That blinding young Scouse kid
Sure plays a mean football !



 



Next match, please!   

[Socratease]

Pedigree.

The first Red men in history were the Spartans. It is clearly evident that the Red men of the history of today are the Scousers, yet again!

The Scousers arrive soon to view Athens in all it's glory - to win on the field of competition!

The tricky Reds trounced Chelsea tonight! 

Clear evidence that the twelfth man DOES make a difference! 

Jose Manuel Reina, take a bow! 


Liverpool FC - outstanding! 

[kavah]

Get in there you mighty reds, our heros worthy of a greek epic eh Socratease.

 

[Socratease]

Indeed Kavah!

What is a trophy?

[Socratease]

Fixtures to come,

05 May, 2007 Fulham Barclays Premiership A 15:00

13 May, 2007 Charlton Athletic Barclays Premiership H
15:00

23 May, 2007 AC Milan European Championship Final A

- Stipulated time irrelevant!

It will be a very warm and balmy evening as the tricky Red men set up their defence at Athens against a previous foe that we defeated in 2005, but, just as Darius was rebuffed in 490BC by the Athenians, and the successive invasion by his son King Xerxes in 480BC was held for time for the Greeks by the very first Red men in recorded history - the Lacedaemons - the Spartans, we will hold out with delaying actions and outflank at sea and gain the Victory!

For Rafa, 'read' Themistocles!     

[Socratease]

Rafael Benítez's half-time team talk in Istanbul.

By the man himself...

"It was difficult, really difficult. We had a plan. We started the game, conceded the first goal and Harry Kewell was injured. OK, we needed to change the plan. Then we conceded the second goal and I was thinking about half-time, how to change the game. Right away we conceded the third. And now, I was thinking I needed to change my notes!

"I walked to the changing room, hearing all the fans, and I said to the players, 'We need to work hard for these people. If we score a goal, maybe things will change.' Then I decided to change the system. I said, 'Traore, get showered. And Didi [Hamann], get ready. We will play 3-4-2-1. This is the idea, OK? Come on, boys [claps]. Let's start working.'

"Then I turned and Steve Finnan was on the treatment table. And [physio] Dave Galley said we'd have to change Finnan in the second half. I thought, we've made one change, Smicer for Kewell in the first half. Now, Hamann for Traore and we need to change Finnan maybe in 20 minutes. So I said, 'Traore, you're back on. Finnan, get to the shower.' Finnan was disappointed, but Traore was ready.

"I went to the blackboard and I was thinking, OK, I've got Smicer as a right winger, but he's not the best getting back to defend and we've lost Finnan. So I said, 'We will use Cissé in attack, on the left.' But they said, 'Hang on, boss, we've got 12 players on the pitch.' Forget Cissé! I already had Luis García as a second striker, so I switched Gerrard to right-back.

“Then the physio said, 'We've got one minute to change things.' So we changed the players, but the system was the same: 3-4-2-1. We had good luck because we scored early. If we scored again soon, they would go down. We did and then we scored again. Shevchenko had that chance and we had a bit of good luck...but we had worked to get it. I always knew winning the Champions League would be difficult. But my idea is to think about games, not trophies."


Well, we got the Trophy, Ol'Big Ears itself!

The airspeed Trophy of the 1920's and 1930's was the Schnieder Cup, if one country won the airspeed record three years in row then that country could keep it.

Thanks to R.J. Mitchell we did.

From this came the Spitfire.


It also followed that if we won the Champion's League 5 times, not 3, the Cup, Ol' Big Ears, was ours to keep!


Well we did it!


Well it is pretty obvious that AC Milan see the European Champions League final in Athens as a revenge motivated match. The trouble for them is that Athens is not a predictable replay of Istanbul.


I had a giggle at this from the Fiver,

"It's Athens I feel sorry for. Just imagine the scene: loads of Scousers running around the Acropolis shouting 'Call that history?!'"

 
(Has anyone got a pic from the Echo of the Acropolis covered in Red Banners?) 

 
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_headline=40-000-pack-their-bags-for-athens-showdown%26method=full%26objectid=19039094%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

[Socratease]

 

[Socratease]

 

[Socratease]

PEPE COULD MAKE EURO HISTORY

Jimmy Rice 16 May 2007
 
Pepe Reina will make a little bit of football history if he plays in next week's Champions League final. 
The Spaniard would join a select band of European Cup finalists whose father also once played in the final.
 
His dad, Miguel Reina Santos, played for Atletico Madrid against Bayern Munich in 1974. The game went into extra time, and though Atletico took the lead, Reina agonisingly let in a long-range shot with just seconds to go. His side lost the replay 4-0.
 
Just two other players have achieved the feat – one of whom could also step out on to the Olympic Stadium pitch next Wednesday.
 
Milan defender Paolo Maldini has played in seven finals, the first of which was way back in 1989. He followed in the footsteps of dad Cesare, who won the competition with Milan in 1963 after defeating Benfica at Wembley.
 
The only other member of this select group is Manuel Sanchis Hontiyuelo, a winning finalist with Real Madrid in both 1998 and 2000.
 
His dad Manuel Sanchis Martinez was part of the Real side which won the competition for the sixth time in 1966. 




Next week is a chance for Pepe to do his ol' Dad proud! 


The Quiet Hero, With Safe Hands!

[berrno3333]

I always like to think of the story why some british military units wore red.If they were fighting an invader, whilst in formation and one of them takes a bullet or a bayonet,the sight of blood would be less visible on his tunic,therefore not disturbing the fighting morale of the remaining troop.
Been justly so in our history.Dont know if this has any real relevence in history but id like to think its the reason after the displays of courage and unity our lads have shown when theyve been "backs against the wall".
It would stir my blood to hear a story like this in a dressing room before putting on the red jersey.I,d feel ten foot tall.

[Socratease]

I always like to think of the story why some british military units wore red.If they were fighting an invader, whilst in formation and one of them takes a bullet or a bayonet,the sight of blood would be less visible on his tunic,therefore not disturbing the fighting morale of the remaining troop.
Been justly so in our history.Dont know if this has any real relevence in history but id like to think its the reason after the displays of courage and unity our lads have shown when theyve been "backs against the wall".
It would stir my blood to hear a story like this in a dressing room before putting on the red jersey.I,d feel ten foot tall.

Well said, berno3333! 

[Socratease]

Pepe will not be able to be in every match between the sticks, our goal keeping section of our Team have to have back up, obviously(!), but it would be interesting to see who you think should be Our second and then third back-up to Pepe, as he will need rest and, god forbid, he may receive a minor injury! 

Seriously, though, Pepe Manuel Reina is our first choice keeper - who do you think is the first and then second ranking lieutenant to cover his position as a goalkeeper on a match day?

[Socratease]

No judgements, just your opinion - what do you think?

[Socratease]

This season has only just begun, we have started very well with confidence, and the newer players are showing a rather quick adaptability in gelling with their Team mates, a remarkable fact that reinforces Rafa's choices as being quite astute in who to recruit as the next generation of Red men!

 

[Socratease]

Are our Red men the ones this season to attain the Premiership title this season?

We have done it before, eighteen times if I am not mistaken, why not now in the upcoming campaign?

What are your thoughts?

[kavah]

What are your thoughts?

don't want to think about it to much. Que Sera Sera. We have a great team and a great manager, but so do some of them !         fingers croosed.

[Socratease]

The penalty was a short lived Pyrric victory, kavah, and I wouldn't have blamed Reina if he just sat down on the goal line in disgust with Stiles' goal, sorry penalty gift!   If he did that in reality though he would have been severely pressured and criticised, but Reina stuck to the job in hand, so much so that Lumplard was so nervous he nearly missed!

King Pyrrhus of Epirus was a superb Greek strategist who was the last line of defence to a large degree in keeping the Romans from conquering Greece. He won the battle but lost the best of his forces. A victory gained at too great a cost.

Plutarch wrote, 'Pyrrhus said, "One more such victory and we are lost." '

Well Chelsea didn't win.

The point is that Liverpool FC proudly wearing the Red shirt were the better team! A superb debut goal by Fernando Torres today at Anfield which was beautifully executed from a superb pass by Stevie G. Our Team as a whole showed real quality today, the better Team was robbed of victory by a silly Ref's decision.

On to the next game for the Reds....

[Socratease]

"The work rate of the team is so good, Kuyt did not score against Derby but his effort and running was fantastic. Torres, Voronin too, I was really pleased with them all.

"We are better than before, we have more confidence and we are scoring more goals and winning games.

"Now we must keep winning and after a month or two, maybe we can then talk about whether we are at the beginning of a fantastic season." - Rafael Benitez

It is at least another fortnight before we take on Portsmouth, in the meantime international duties occupy many of our squadron members minds, but hopefully not their fitness levels due to potential injuries or knocks. The last paragraph above that quotes Rafa is a 'Hold your horses!' statement. In that that is early days yet and let Us see that this can be continued. Fair enough, let Us gain confidence even more - if we can  - by controlling the opposition on the field of competition. This is what matters!

A long wait to Our next match.

Confident?



 

[Socratease]

Indulge me just this one more time;


To the tune of '#Pin Ball Wizard#' by the Who:


StevieG FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS


Ever since he was young boy,
He has played with the silver football.
A young kid at Melwood, first full debut at Celta Vigo,
And since he's played them all...

But I ain't seen nothing like him
In any arena of football.....
That blinding young Scouse kid
Sure plays a mean football !

He stands like a statue,
Becomes part of the Team.
Dodging all the tackles
Always playing clean.
He plays by intuition,
The defenders try and fall.
That blinding young Scouse kid
Sure plays a mean football !

He's a football wizard
There has got to be twist.
A football wizard,
By his boot the ball is kissed!

'How do you think he does it? I don't know!
What makes him so good?'

He ain't got no distractions
Can't hear those cusses and yells,
Don't see the foodlights flashin'
Plays by sense of smell.
Always has a replay,
'n' never faults at all.....
That blinding young Scouse kid
Sure plays a mean football!

{John Terry}
I thought I was
The football king.
But I just handed
My football crown to him.

Even on my usual playground
He can beat me at my best.
His Team mates lead him in
And he just does the rest.
He's got crazy drive and speed
Never seen him fail.....
That blinding young Scouse kid
Sure plays a mean football !



 

[Socratease]

This is a post by 1935Red about how things started for him in supporting the tricky Reds :-

~


My start has been posted several times, suffice to say it was during ww2 and the blackout was still in force.

As kids we played "togger" in the mean streets.., a lot of them cobbled, played glaggies in the gutters and our footy was often a golf ball, tennis ball and even a tin can. The row we made was awesome. One goal post was a lampost, complete with a bike tyre to swing on, the other was the walls of the houses. Tell you what! if you could dribble a golf ball or tennis ball on cobbles you were very good. Very very few cars about then, the doctor had a morris cowely, the police had rovers with a bell on the front. The streets were our fields 

Coalman had horse, baker a horse and cart and so too the milkman, where we got fresh milk from a large can. The reds v blue debates were friendlier than they are now, and we read the "back entry diddlers" in the Echo.
Who remembers them.?

The police horses used to frighten me, huge things and with a six foot scuffer on its back they were Massive. When the queues strayed into the road, with a click of his tongue the horse would use its great rump to nudge us back on the pavement. When I go to Anfield now they just seem to stand about, my grandsons are fascinated by their size and They have taken pictures of them.

The old kop with the rib crushing oak barriers,when I was a nipper the powerful dockers reeking of woodbine smoke and ale would lift me up and hold my ankles on the wide barriers. What price health and safety then.

A word "wird" has just popped into my noddle that I have not heard for 60+ years. Amazing, we used to call the Reds "the Anfielders" not used now is it.


Rock on Reds YNWA




 

[mazlo123]

It was all Ian St. Johns Idea!
                []
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                 V

 

[Socratease]

SHANKLY NAMED OUR GREATEST EVER BOSS

Paul Eaton 31 July 2008

 
 
Bill Shankly has been confirmed as the greatest manager in the history of Liverpool Football Club.
 
In a straight head-to-head with Bob Paisley during a Great Debate on LFC TV, Shankly came out on top in our online vote as fans from all over the world logged on to try to answer this most difficult of questions.
 
Separating arguably the two biggest legends in Anfield history was never going to be an easy task, but with studio guests Ian St John and Phil Neal making individual cases for the men who had such big influences on their glittering personal careers, and with contributions made by various guests during the course of the show, we provided the platform for an intriguing debate - but in the end the choice was yours.
 
You voted in your hundreds during the course of the two hour debate and in the end Shankly - the man who arrived at a club going nowhere in 1959 before transforming it into 'a bastion of invincibility' - took 57% of the vote compared to 43% for Paisley, a man whose record of 14 major trophies in just nine years would surely have seen him win any other contest.
 
Also on the Great Debate we asked you for your views on what you considered to be both managers greatest achievements during their time in the Anfield hot-seat - and the top three results for each man are as follows:
 
Shankly:
 
Introducing all-red kit: 27%
1964 title success: 23%
1965 FA Cup win: 22%
 
Paisley:
 
1977 European Cup win: 49%
Signing Kenny Dalglish: 35%
1978 European Cup win: 9%
 

(Courtesy of dot tv)


Well done to both Shankly and Paisely, as far as I am concerned they are both intrinsic to Liverpool FC's history!

 

 

[Socratease]

I believe that there is and will always be a bootroom at LFC. The bootroom, and the concept of it, is the core of the Liverpool Way.

Any knowledgeable supporter knows this, and this is what we recognize as the soul, not just the fleeting shimmering of a lustre on a shiny trophy, but the recognized achievement in gaining the Trophy through grit, determination and athletic skill for the Club, the Team and Us supporters!

The extacy of the moment in the gaining of a Trophy, that has been hard fought for, gives the generational and familial grasp of the achievement in the long hard slog of a football Marathon of a long and heavily contested season!

Of course there are losses as well as wins, it is due to overcoming the losses that makes the wins, and the Final Win, all the more sweeter! It is because of the lows that the highs are all the more intense - all the way to your soul!



There are many decisions to come,

When you encounter a crossroad, with one road leading to the left and one to the right, you are looking for a destination, which road do you drive down?

Get out of your car, and walk to the high ground and observe.


It is worth it for the view!


 

[Socratease]

The count down begins to yet another season, and I honestly - in my heart - think that Liverpool FC will wreak havoc upon the Premier League by December and then into January of 2009. Is this a prediction, or a statement of blind faith?

It is neither, it is a/the belief that we can actually do it this time!

What do you think?

?

[Socratease]

Will the tricky Reds conquer the Premiership this season/coming year?

I think we have one heck of a chance to do so!

What do you think?

[Pollywood]

With you Socs Dont know what it is but have a good feeling about this year.

[Socratease]

With you Socs Dont know what it is but have a good feeling about this year.

I think the game against Boro says quite a lot about Liverpool FC, Pollywood, Jamie Carragher's strike on goal was amazing, despite the deflection{!}, and Stevie Gerrard's goal was absolutely top notch!

To my mind, our two young Scousers set a standard of what it means to wear the Red shirt in our last game, and the subsequent asperations of Us as supporters, I Believe, have given rise to one heck of a battle in this upcoming/on-going season!

[irishred1991]

jesus, you can write!!!

[Hunts Cross]

Its true Shanks changed the kit to make his players appear taller, and he demonstrated this with his colossus, Ronnie Yeats.

This has possibly also contributed to our success... Teams wearing Red are more successful, particularly when playing at home. There must be some psychological effect.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_2286738,00.html

[Socratease]

Its true Shanks changed the kit to make his players appear taller, and he demonstrated this with his colossus, Ronnie Yeats.

This has possibly also contributed to our success... Teams wearing Red are more successful, particularly when playing at home. There must be some psychological effect.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_2286738,00.html

Fascinating, Hunts Cross! I genuinely have not seen this article before!

Good stuff mate!

 

[Fat Scouser]

We were shit.
He thought it gave us an edge.
It made his first great team look like invincible giants.
It's cool.
He's a socialist.
It says... Fuck you. We are Liverpool FC.
It looks so much better than red shirts, white shiorts, white socks with a red turn up.
Proven fact... red wins more then blue in footy.
And it's just proper and right.
So, more to the point... why would he have us wear any other colour?