Bill Shankly lives on at Anfield

To paraphrase that other great Liverpool institution The Beatles, "It was 50 years ago today, that Mr Shankly taught the Reds to play."

He did more than that though. When Bill Shankly walked into the front door of Anfield, following his announcement as manager on December 1, 1959, he described what he saw as a "toilet". In his 15 years at the club, he turned that toilet into a cathedral, and - famously - a "bastion of invincibility".

As John Toshack, who played in the second great Shankly team, constructed in the early 70s, explained, the Scots manager ". . . invented Liverpool as a great club, the magic, the mystique. He invented Liverpool as the club they are now."

When he arrived from Huddersfield Town as the 1960s dawned, Liverpool were not even the best team in the city, never mind Europe. They were languishing in the depths of the second division, their post-war title triumph a distant, fading memory, a mere blip in decades of mediocrity.

The stadium was dilapidated, the training ground had such poor facilities that the players couldn't even shower there, and the team was a decrepit as the venues that housed them. Within two years, they were on their way into the first division, and were champions by 1964.

But it wasn't the trophies that made Shankly the legend he is, that makes him important 50 years on from his arrival, and - according to Toshack - will make him equally important in 50 years' time to the Merseyside club. Shankly created a dynasty.

After he retired, he admitted that he should have won more given that he was a "the best manager in the game", and on the surface, four league titles, two FA Cups, a UEFA Cup and second division crown don't do his legend justice.

Yet they tell only part of the story. Those who knew him explain that he was far more than just a manager, he was a permanent performance. He created the legend of Shankly as a necessary tool in building the legend of Liverpool . . . and it is that which has endured around the world to this day.

Recently, a senior football figure told me that there are only two clubs in England who enjoy true global appeal, who transcend national boundaries, and they are Manchester United and Liverpool. Shankly is responsible for creating that mythical status.

Bob Paisley, of course, extended the dynasty and won the trophies that fleshed out the legend, that made Liverpool ever more marketable and famous. But it was the work of his predecessor which allowed it to happen.

In the end, Shankly left Liverpool a slightly bitter man, dismayed by what he saw as the betrayal of the boardroom members who got rich on the back of his efforts, and never rewarded them. As another of his protegees, Kevin Keegan, recently said, "a set of gates and a statue is nowhere near enough to remember him, and the club knows it".

He would be dismayed now, too, at what he sees on and off the pitch at Anfield. Millionaire footballers with no pride in the club, and a stadium that has become painfully outdated, with no investment in replacing it. Indeed, there are echoes of when he first took over 50 years ago.

But Liverpool will endure, because of Shankly. As Toshack said yesterday, and countless other former players repeated, "Shankly is the most important thing in the history of Liverpool and he will still be the most important 50 years from now."

Classic images of the great man from our fantastic football archive.

10@10: The wit and wisdom of Bill Shankly - 10 quotes from the Liverpool legend