The Merseyside Rivalry in the Words of Bill Shankly, OBE

When Bill Shankly took over as Liverpool manager in 1959 the Reds were in the Second Division. He led the team to the Second Division Championship to gain promotion to the top-tier which was then called First Division in 1962. Liverpool went on to win three First Division Championships, two FA Cups, four Charity Shields and one UEFA Cup under Shankly. To everyone’s surprise, Shankly announced his retirement as Liverpool manager in 1974 after 15 years at the helm.

Below, a few of his famous quotes on our Merseyside blue neighbours which are still, eerily relevant.

When I’ve nothing better to do, I look down the league table to see how Everton are getting along.

Everton are currently in 10^th place on the Premier League table, looking up at Liverpool in 4^th place.

If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I’d pull the curtains.

A solid thumping delivered by the mighty Redmen on Sunday could help them further down the PL table to relegation and who knows? They could very well find themselves playing in a garden somewhere, someday.

Sickness would not have kept me away from this one. If I’d been dead, I would have had them bring the casket to the ground, prop it up in the stands, and cut a hole in the lid. (After Liverpool beat Everton in the 1971 FA Cup semi-final)

As history has shown, Everton truly enjoy losing to Liverpool, especially at Anfield. In case anyone may have forgotten, they last recorded a win away to LFC in September 1999.

We get the opportunity to ruin Everton’s New Year’s resolution of beating us at Anfield nice and early next year! Our FA Cup third round match will take place on Friday, 5 January 2018.

Shankly would be proud. Bring on the Derby!