It has become one of footballs' most famous quotes. Some might say it has become one of footballs' most infamous quotes.
During one of his wonderfully whimsical monologues Bill Shankly quipped 'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.'
Of course this quote now most often surfaces when something pretty damn awful happens in the world of football and it is generally used to emphasise just how trivial football is compared to more serious things, things like life and death for example.
The relative merits of football, life and death have been brought into the spotlight once again this week by Jose Mourinho.
After witnessing distressing injuries to both his goalkeepers at Reading last Saturday Mourinho has let us all know, in no uncertain terms, just where football stands in relation to life and death. His opinion is obviously not the same as Shankly's.
Of course Shankly's comments are now generally regarded as tongue in cheek. This view is probably voiced on his behalf by his staunchest supporters who think their heroes' reputation needs guarding against the unkind spin his words could be given in the light of events such as Heysel, Hillsborough and even the Madejski.
I'm not so sure Shankly would want his comment to be apologised for and I don't necessarily think it needs apologising for.
The basic point is that football might well have been more important to Shankly than life and death.
What would Shankly's life have been without football? It is likely he would have spent most of it down a pit mining coal. Even as a top footballer Shankly had to fight in a war.
Shankly knew how lucky he was to have escaped the life he was probably destined for because of football but even if he had not made it as a professional footballer, and therefore never been a manager either, football would have provided Shankly with his main purpose in life.
Shankly was a man who, till the very end, could not walk down a street or through a park where there were boys playing football without joining in.
He was a man who would watch if he could not play and if he could do neither would chew anyones ear off that he could get to listen.
Because he was an honest, funny, charming and wise man whose love of the game was so obvious and endearing there was never a shortage of people eager to listen, laugh and learn.
During one of his wonderfully whimsical monologues Bill Shankly quipped 'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.'
Of course this quote now most often surfaces when something pretty damn awful happens in the world of football and it is generally used to emphasise just how trivial football is compared to more serious things, things like life and death for example.
The relative merits of football, life and death have been brought into the spotlight once again this week by Jose Mourinho.
After witnessing distressing injuries to both his goalkeepers at Reading last Saturday Mourinho has let us all know, in no uncertain terms, just where football stands in relation to life and death. His opinion is obviously not the same as Shankly's.
Of course Shankly's comments are now generally regarded as tongue in cheek. This view is probably voiced on his behalf by his staunchest supporters who think their heroes' reputation needs guarding against the unkind spin his words could be given in the light of events such as Heysel, Hillsborough and even the Madejski.
I'm not so sure Shankly would want his comment to be apologised for and I don't necessarily think it needs apologising for.
The basic point is that football might well have been more important to Shankly than life and death.
What would Shankly's life have been without football? It is likely he would have spent most of it down a pit mining coal. Even as a top footballer Shankly had to fight in a war.
Shankly knew how lucky he was to have escaped the life he was probably destined for because of football but even if he had not made it as a professional footballer, and therefore never been a manager either, football would have provided Shankly with his main purpose in life.
Shankly was a man who, till the very end, could not walk down a street or through a park where there were boys playing football without joining in.
He was a man who would watch if he could not play and if he could do neither would chew anyones ear off that he could get to listen.
Because he was an honest, funny, charming and wise man whose love of the game was so obvious and endearing there was never a shortage of people eager to listen, laugh and learn.
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