David Peace interview - Red Or Dead novel about former Liverpool FC manager Bill Shankly

[@JoePoland]

And yet, reading the book, the picture that Peace paints of the man isn't particularly complimentary. He draws an absolute obsessed, consumed and contradictory fellow. A bloke who used people and felt no guilt in discarding them without ceremony. Who talked about Liverpool as owing nothing to individuals - and yet was apparently heartbroken to be treated in much the same way that he treated his players after he'd retired. The jealousy he felt regarding Bob Paisleys success. It made him seem bitter. Which may be true - but it doesn't seem like a book written by a fan.

[@TheGiantKillers]

Not read the book so don't know if it mentions the bitterness he felt towards Liverpool after he left. Amazingly he actually put his name forward for the Everton job in 1977.

[@FingersKungfu]

To compare Shankly to a modern figure, one might be tempted to compare him with people like Steve Job. These are men who were more than what they were hired for; men with visions that were greater than their jobs. You wanted a manager and a CEO, but you hired a prophet - that is the closest thing with which you could compare Shanks and Job. Football is about entertainment but Shankly saw beyond entertainment and made it into something close to religious institution. Job was appointed as a CEO of a completely American commercial company and turned it into something more, something that actually can be trusted and respected. You can always find an excellent manager/CEO who could deliver results and churn out profits. But it's more difficult to replace people like Shanks or Job. When they are gone, an institution dies with them. A football club goes back to be just a football club, and a company just a company.