In December 1959, Liverpool FC were tenth in the Second Division. The directors, having finally accepted that something fundamental needed to change, advertised the manager's job. A Scotsman named Bill Shankly heard about it and took the train south from Huddersfield, where he had been quietly reinventing a struggling club. He would never quite leave Liverpool again.

Episode Three covers Shankly's first great era — the rebuilding from the Second Division, the signing of Ian St. John and Ron Yeats, the invention of the Boot Room, the all-red strip, and back-to-back titles in 1964 and 1966, with the first FA Cup in between. This is the story of what one man's absolute certainty can do to an institution that has forgotten how to believe in itself.

Player of the Era: Ian St. John — the Motherwell striker signed for £37,500 in 1961, who became the soul of Shankly's first great team and proved that resurrection was possible.

Research Sources

Dave Bowler, Shanks: The Authorised Biography of Bill Shankly (Orion, 1996) — the definitive account of Shankly's life and management; essential for the arrival at Liverpool, the early signings, and the character of the man

Ian St. John, The Saint: My Autobiography (Hodder & Stoughton, 2005) — St. John's own account of his time at Liverpool; vivid, funny, and specific about the culture Shankly created

John Williams, Red Men: Liverpool Football Club — The Biography — for the social and cultural context of the 1960s Anfield and the Kop's developing identity

Brian Pead, Liverpool: A Complete Record — season results, scorelines, and statistics throughout this period

Phil Thompson and others, various interviews and memoirs — for the atmosphere inside Anfield during the Shankly years; the Boot Room culture; the effect of Shankly on individual players