I think Shanks was speaking with tongue in cheek there. He did take the game seriously, but he was playing up to that image of himself when he said that.
interesting to note i suppose with the same interview that he put everything he could into the game to the point his family life suffered and he admitted he regretted that
here
Shankly later said words to a similar effect in a Granada TV Studio show with prime minister Harold Wilson in April 1981 that ensured the "Life and Death"- quote's longevity. The host was Shelley Rodhe.
RODHE: What have you got out of football all these years?
SHANKLY: Everything I've got I owe to football. You only get out of the game what you put into it, Shelley. So I put in all my heart and soul, to the extent that my family suffered.
RODHE: Do you regret that at at all?
SHANKLY: I regret it very much. Somebody said: 'Football's a matter of life and death to you. I said, 'Listen it's more important than that.' And my family's suffered. They've been neglected.
RODHE: How would you do it now, if you had your time again?
SHANKLY : I don't know really. If I had the same thoughts, I'd possibly do the same again.
RODHE : So what are the qualities of a good footballer?
SHANKLY: Ability and dedication to the game. And giving people their money's worth. The players have got an obligation to the public to do that.
RODHE: You sound as if it's more of an entertainment?
SHANKLY: Well, entertainment comes second for me. Entertainment you can laugh at. I don't laugh at football.
WILSON: It's a religion too, isn't it?
SHANKLY: I think so, yes.
WILSON: A way of life.
SHANKLY: That's a good expression, Sir Harold. It is a way of life. And it's so serious that it's unbelievable. And I wonder what all the rest of the world does.