Bob Paisley

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Bob Paisley
Personal information
Full name Robert Paisley
Date of birth January 23, 1919
Place of birth    Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham, England
Date of death    February 14, 1996 (age 77)
Playing position Half-Back
Youth clubs
Bishop Auckland
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1939-54 Liverpool 252 (10)   
Teams managed
1974-83 Liverpool

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Bob Paisley OBE (born 23 January 1919, died 14 February 1996) was an English football player who became best known for being one of the most successful managers ever in English football whilst managing his only team Liverpool Football Club in the 1970s and 1980s.

Contents

Born Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham (now Tyne and Wear), England, Paisley joined Liverpool from non-League Bishop Auckland F.C. in May 1939. However, as with so many of his generation, the outbreak of World War ll delayed the start of Paisley's career. He eventually made his long overdue debut on the 5 January 1946 in Liverpool's first post-war competitive match, which was a FA Cup 3rd round 1st leg match at Sealand Road, Chester City. (Liverpool won 2-0). Paisley's first goal didn't come until the 1 May 1948 in a League game at Anfield, against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Paisley's 22nd-minute strike along with a Jack Balmer goal in the 80th were enough to help the Reds win 2-1.

In the first full season after the war, 1946-47, Bob helped Liverpool to their 1st league title in 24 years, making 34 appearances in the 42 match season. He remained a fixture in the side, appearing in 30+ matches in 1947/48 and 1948/49 and 28 in 1949/50. The 49/50 proved to a season of both high's and low's for Paisley, having scored the opening goal of a 2-0 FA Cup semi-final win over Merseyside rivals Everton only to be surprisingly dropped for the Final against Arsenal, the Reds first ever appearance at Wembley. Bob Actually said that the experience stood him in good stead when it came to telling players they were not going to play in big games, stating he could tell them he knew how they felt and they knew he did. Paisley became club captain the following season.

After retiring as a player in 1954 he joined the back room staff as self-taught Physiotherapist and had a knack of being able to diagnose a player's injury just by looking at them. He later became a coach for the reserves. The arrival of Bill Shankly as manager in December 1959 transformed the fortunes of the club. Paisley became Shankly's right hand man and the partnership blossomed, as the three league titles, two FA Cups and one UEFA Cup won over the next fifteen years would demonstrate.

In July 1974 the man who rebuilt Liverpool, Bill Shankly, rocked the very foundations of the club when, out of the blue, he announced his retirement. Like thousands of Koppites, the directors of Liverpool pondered on who to appoint as the great man's successor. Ultimately they turned to the unassuming Paisley who, reluctantly, took on the mountainous task of following Shankly.

His record would better that of Shankly: Paisley led the team for nine seasons, winning at least one trophy in eight of those. Disappointed by finishing second in his first season as manager, the team went one better the following year, winning the title. This was the start of Liverpool's dominance of the game in England - in Paisley's nine seasons in charge, Liverpool won six League titles and finished second twice, won 3 League Cups (the first time that Liverpool had won the trophy), 1 UEFA Cup, 1 European Super Cup, 5 Charity Shields and, most significantly, they won the club's first 3 European Cups. He remains the only man in history to coach 3 European Cup winning sides. His success was honoured with 6 Manager of the Year awards. Only the FA Cup eluded Paisley, although Liverpool would be runners-up in 1977 and beaten semi-finalists in 1979 and 1980.

Paisley retired in 1983 after spending 44 unbroken years at the club, be was replaced by Joe Fagan, another of the Boot Room old boys. He continued to serve Liverpool as a director, until he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in 1992. After his death in 1996, he was honoured by the club with the opening of the Paisley Gates at one of the entrances to Anfield, complementing the existing Shankly Gates.

Paisley was made an Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a manager.

  • "Mind you, I wasn't only here for the good years. One year, we came second."
  • "The sort of lad I'm looking for here is a kid who'll try to nutmeg Kevin Keegan in a training match... but then step aside for him in the corridor."
  • "One of the things I keep reminding players is that when you're lost in a fog, you must stick together. Then you don't get lost. If there's a secret about Liverpool, that's it."
  • "This is the second time I've beaten the Germans here... the first time was in 1944. I drove into Rome on a tank when the city was liberated." - Paisley after Liverpool won the European Cup in Rome in 1977

  • Liverpool F.C (1939 - 1954)†

Winner

† Bob's career was curtailed by 6 years due to the Second World War

Runners-up

  • FA Cup (1950)‡

‡ Bob was awarded a medal even though he didn't appear in the final.

  • Liverpool F.C (1974 - 1983)
Team From To Games Won Lost Drawn Win %
Liverpool 26-07-1974 23-05-1983 490 275 91 124 56.12

Paisley was made an Inaugural Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a manager.

A debate continues today as to whether Paisley should be awarded a posthumous Knighthood, in light of his managerial achievements with Liverpool - three European Cups, whilst Sir Alex Ferguson was awarded a Knighthood on winning his first European Cup. There was a petition on the 10 Downing Street website to gauge public opinion, it attracted 44,608 signatures [1]. The current argument is that whilst Sir Alex Ferguson was given his Knightgood for the unique achievement of winning the Treble, Paisley won 3 European Cups, which is also a unique achievement and arguably worthy of recognition. However, it is a moot point, as Knighthoods are not conferred posthumously.

  • 1975/76 Manager of the year award
  • 1976/77 Manager of the year award
  • 1978/79 Manager of the year award
  • 1979/80 Manager of the year award
  • 1981/82 Manager of the year award
  • 1982/83 Manager of the year award
  • 2002 Inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame

  1. ^ http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SirBobPaisley

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Preceded by
Bill Nicholson		 UEFA Cup Winning Coach
1975-76		 Succeeded by
Ernst Happel
Preceded by
Dettmar Cramer		 European Cup Winning Coach
1976-77 & 1977-78		 Succeeded by
Brian Clough
Preceded by
Brian Clough		 European Cup Winning Coach
1980-81		 Succeeded by
Tony Barton
Liverpool F.C. - Managers
Barclay and McKenna (1892-96) | Watson (1896-1915) | Ashworth (1920-23) | McQueen (1923-28) | Patterson (1928-36) | Kay (1936-51) | Welsh (1951-56) | Taylor (1956-59) | Shankly (1959-74) | Paisley (1974-83) | Fagan (1983-85) | Dalglish (1986-91) | Souness (1991-94) | Evans (1994-98) | Evans and Houllier (1998) | Houllier (1998-2004) | Benítez (2004-)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../b/o/b/Bob_Paisley_c614.html"
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