The legend and wit of Bill Shankly 50 years to the day after he quit as Liverpool manager

When he took over in December 1959, Liver-pool were languishing in the Second Division. But Bill Shankly would turn them into the pre-eminent force in English football.

The Reds won the Second Division in 1962 before going on to win First Division titles in 1964, 1966 and 1973, and the FA Cup in 1965 and 1974.

Football expert James Corbett wrote: "Bill Shankly was football's Muhammad Ali - a charismatic maverick whose

utterances had an unexpected, undeniable poetry. He led Liverpool like a revolutionary leader, casting his personnel not just as footballers, but soldiers to his cause, and became a folk hero to the fans."

Which is why his decision to quit came as such a shock to so many...and why it was one Shankly quickly regretted.

Bill Shankly, one of 10 children, was born in the Ayrshire coal mining village of Glenbuck in 1913. After leaving school at 14, he spent two years underground in the local pit. Football offered a way out.

He signed for Carlisle United in 1932, switching to Preston North End a year later where he made his name as a gritty right half. Shankly played for Scotland 12 times from 1938 to 1943 in five full and seven wartime internationals while serving in the RAF. In 1949, after retiring as a player at 36, he landed his first managerial job with a return to Carlisle.

He then moved to Grimsby and here I must declare a personal interest. He bought my father Jimmy from Bolton Wanderers and when I came along in 1953 Shankly became one of my godfathers.

Further stints at Workington and Huddersfield followed until in November 1959 Shankly was unveiled as Liver-pool's new gaffer.

The club's directors appeared content to let the club float in the lower echelons of the Second Division and were penny-pinching when it came to transfer fees. The Anfield stadium and the training ground at Melwood were dilapidated and average attendances had fallen alarmingly.

Shankly turned it around, winning promotion within a year and transforming the club through sheer force of personality.

He said: "My idea was to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility.

"Had Napoleon had that idea he would have conquered the bloody world."

Reporter Tony Evans wrote: "Shankly created the idea of Liverpool, transforming the club by emphasising the importance of the Kop and making the supporters feel like participants."

His change to a distinctive all red strip played an important part in that.

The First Division title was first won in 1964, just two years after promotion, and again in 1966. Liverpool won their first FA Cup in 1965, and three days later beat European champions Inter Milan.

After one packed-out parade, club secretary Peter Robinson said: "Bill's got such power of oratory that if he told them to march through the Mersey tunnel and pillage Birkenhead they'd do it".

Shankly may have won over fans who even likened him to Christ, but his tenure was peppered by boardroom battles with directors jealous of his success.

He recalled disputes with the board, usually over transfer fees and spending on facilities for the fans: "I used to fight and argue and fight and argue until I thought, is it worthwhile?" Shankly's supporters reckoned his predicament was an accumulation of mistakes by the board, that stemmed from a basic misunderstanding of football. One said: "They didn't realise that he was a god on Merseyside because they didn't mix with the fans. While Liverpool was an ego trip to them, for Shankly it was his life.

"They knew nothing about football. They were just businessmen."

When Liverpool won the 1974 FA Cup final, the 60-year-old Shankly went to the dressing room and told himself it was

time to retire. His wife Nessie had urged him to do so the previous year and he

had refused. But, worn out by boardroom sniping and the pressures of the job, he felt he could leave Liverpool with pride in a job well done.

Given Shankly had threatened such action before, at first Robinson and the board did not think he was serious.

They offered him numerous incentives to stay but this time Shankly was adamant.

The impact was astonishment and grief.

Distraught fans jammed the club's switchboard and factory workers threatened to go on strike unless their hero returned.

Ron Yeats, who captained Liverpool from 1961 to 1971, said: "I couldn't believe it when I heard. I don't think Bill gave the job up - I think the directors gave him up."

Shankly quickly regretted his decision and wanted to return as a director, but the board were still rankling from his widely-reported comment: "At a football club, there's a holy trinity - the players, the manager and the supporters.

"Directors don't come into it. They are only there to sign the cheques."

Robinson tried to build bridges, but Shankly was told he was no longer welcome at trainings sessions and was refused match day entrance to the directors' box.

In contrast, he was welcomed warmly to games at Liverpool's great rivals, Everton and Manchester United.

Kevin Keegan said: "It was the saddest thing that ever happened at Liverpool."

Shankly and Nessie still lived in a semi-detached house in West Derby, Liverpool.

In September 1981 Shankly died of a heart attack, at 68. The following August, Nessie opened the 15ft cast-iron Shankly Gates in front of the Anfield, inscribed "You'll Never Walk Alone."