As a teenager David Fairclough idolised Bill Shankly. Here he remembers the day the Scot signed him.

He made the modern Liverpool. That may sound a bit over the top but I don't think Liverpool were going anywhere before Shankly arrived at Anfield.

He set the foundations for all the years of success and domination. He put rules in place and methods and I think up to not so long ago most of those ways were still very much ingrained in the club.
 
His influence on me was massive in some ways. I met him on the day I signed apprentice forms for Liverpool and I remember signing professional forms and he had his hand on my shoulder.
 
It's something I have been lucky enough to get a film of. Whilst you have your memories of meeting Shankly and talking to him, to actually have one or two images of him with me was very important.

I remember growing up as a fan and he was everything. He was very much the boss. You think of Liverpool and you think instinctively Bill Shankly. It wasn't so much the 11 players but how he ran the club and he was the main man. There was absolutely no doubt about that.
 
In this day and age where players tend to take the limelight and spotlight of managers' in those days Bill Shankly was the number one. I remember going to Anfield on many days collecting autographs and Shanks appeared and everybody got excited and would rush to him. Just to hear him talk, he was never shy to offer a few words to anybody who would listen.
 
It's obviously very difficult to know whether or not Shanks would have survived in this day and age but I think he would have done. People would raise a question mark or two but I think his passion, enthusiasm for the game, his way of treating people and his appreciation of people and supporters - Shanks had everything. He wouldn't be playing second fiddle to anybody.
 
I think he picked up straight away what the Liverpool people wanted and how they reacted. They were a mixed group, almost cosmopolitan in those days and a great mix of cultures and nationalities. We were a special breed and I think Shanks picked up on that very quickly. I think he relished the job of dragging Liverpool out of where they were and delivering something to the public.
 
In return they just knew that he was the type of man with the required passion and determination. He made everyone give everything for the supporters and once that was ingrained in the team then the mix was absolutely perfect and Shankly just played to the crowd.

There are one or two images of Shanks down the years and there are a couple in particular, with his arms out acknowledging the support and taking the applause. There were others that required silence and very few people could have the control of a Liverpool crowd like him.
 
I remember the day after the 1974 FA Cup final when we came back and he got silence when he talked to the crowd on St George's plateau. It was absolutely awesome and in his own way he was very much the leader of Liverpool.
 
I don't think you will ever see anyone like him again, you won't get two Bill Shanklys. He was a very special man. When he spoke to you the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end - you listened. He just wanted to talk to people and he was enthusiastic.
 
He had a great outlook on life and you could never have anyone equal to Shankly. I know there have been great football managers down the years and they all had their way of doing things, but I'm sure a number of them have taken one or two of the lessons that Shankly put out and learned from him.