Quiet Genius

by Ian Herbert

  It was Paisley’s modification of the team for Europe which Carragher finds most tactically interesting. He ‘narrowed’ the team, removing the wingers and populating central areas with midfielders who could be relied on to get the job done in distant corners of Europe. It sounds like the most incidental of changes but the results it began delivering were seismic and almost instantaneous. The success that followed in the 1980s has almost obscured how many trophies Paisley actually won in his first five years. ‘I remember first looking at what they did between 1976 and 1978,’ says Carragher. ‘The league and UEFA Cup in ’76; the league and the European Cup in ’77; and the European Cup in ’78 – three European trophies and two league titles in three years. It takes some beating, that . . .’

  Paisley had certainly built a side to flourish beyond his time at the helm and would surely have reattained the giddy heights of 1977 had he heeded Peter Robinson’s plea and stayed on for another year. The team, managed by Joe Fagan, which won a fourth European Cup against Roma on their Italian home soil in May 1984 was entirely of Paisley’s making and, with the exception of Michael Robinson’s addition to the goal-scoring ranks, it was entirely Paisley’s team that won the league that season, too. With the system so engrained, it felt like Liverpool could go on for another generation.

  It was telling what Fagan struggled with most: how to deal with disgruntled players, knocking on his door to ask why they had not been picked. The strategy Paisley had adopted – ignore them and they will hopefully go away – might not have been popular but it allowed him to sleep at night.

  But the seamless process of replacing a manager from within could not go on forever. Kenny Dalglish continued the tradition, even as the collectivist principles were beginning to fray. The demolition of the Boot Room during Graeme Souness’s reign was more symbolic than significant, but by seeking to impose more continental methods, Souness alienated players and supporters. Roy Evans was brought in to provide a link back to the past, yet he did not have what Paisley had. Carragher feels it was impossible for Evans to change the image he had among the older professionals as a ‘nice guy’. ‘Between 1994 and 1998, Liverpool were respected and “nice” to watch, but they didn’t have the steel needed to take the step to a higher level. The philosophy that had made the club so strong and proud took a pounding. A new wave of ‘‘celebrity’’ footballers plagued the club, threatening the most important bond of all – the respect between players and fans.’

  Some of the ideas the Frenchman Gérard Houllier brought in 1998 – massages; meals at Anfield after the game to nurture a sense of togetherness – created an element of scepticism among the old guard, though the Houllier culture was not so different, especially when it came to playing in Europe. ‘Togetherness, being difficult to beat, playing when we had to. A lot of the things that were always said were then being said in a different voice,’ says Carragher.

  Fundamental change was inevitable, though. The salaries were becoming huge, the squads international – populated with continental players who trained differently and simply could not be fed the old diet of British working-class football socialism. ‘It’s like everything in life: it comes to a certain point where you have to move on and that’s what Liverpool had to do, really,’ says Carragher.

  It was Paisley’s attention to small detail which struck Rick Parry, who arrived at the club as chief executive in 1998, by which time Manchester United had established a financial advantage over the club and won four Premier League titles. ‘It was all about doing the little things well, while splashing out the odd million here or there, with the financial differential between Liverpool and the rest being comparatively minuscule,’ Parry says. ‘Paisley saw the need to empower people and how, if you’ve got great players, there’s a lot to be said for letting them get on with it and keeping it simple.’

  Relatively few managers appear to have seen this light. Parry cites Claudio Ranieri’s accession to the Leicester City management seat, where the Italian was comfortable enough in his own skin to make relatively few changes, and Vicente del Bosque, whose Spanish side ascended to a 2010 World Cup and 2012 European Championship with a light touch. Carlo Ancelotti – the only manager to have clinched three European Cups as Paisley has – is another. ‘Football is the most important of the less important things,’ he has said. ‘It’s important that the manager sometimes doesn’t speak about certain things and isn’t responsible for every detail.’

  To the end Jessie was Paisley’s greatest and most indefatigable enthusiast. She maintained her chronicle of his achievements, compiling six scrapbooks containing ‘Memories of Bob’. A brochure published for the Liverpool shareholders’ annual general meeting in 1996, the year Paisley died, included a list of the club’s honours. Jessie underlined and marked those which her husband had delivered and annotated it: ‘Bob’s achievements marked with a tick.’ The Independent’s obituary that month included a typographical error and the suggestion that Paisley had been afflicted with Parkinson’s disease, not Alzheimer’s. She amended both mistakes in ink.

  Some of Paisley’s players tried their hand at management but more struggled than succeeded. Phil Neal, convinced he would succeed Fagan in 1985 and devastated when he didn’t, had a shot with Bolton Wanderers and Coventry City but it came to nothing. There were brief and unsuccessful spells at Oxford United and Peterborough United for Mark Lawrenson. Sammy Lee also had an unhappy time at Bolton. Souness did see Liverpool to the 1992 FA Cup, though it was at Blackburn Rovers, whom he restored to the First Division and brought a League Cup, where his management has been best remembered. Of Paisley’s players only Kenny Dalglish, keeper of the Liverpool managerial flame, and Kevin Keegan, a saviour at Newcastle, could be genuinely called a success.

  When Souness became manager, acceding to the role he first learned about from Paisley in Bob Rawcliffe’s garage back in the early 1980s, he stood at the frosted window in his office, in front of the radiator where they had always joked about their boss warming his balls. There was hardly a day when Paisley and his methods did not come back to mind and when he wondered how on earth the old man had done it. One day, in the depths of the losing battle Souness faced in rediscovering the success that Paisley had delivered, Tom Saunders wandered in.

  ‘Did Duggie ever realise what he had with that group of players of ours?’ Souness asked him.

  There was a moment’s thought before the answer came. ‘He was never happy,’ Saunders said. ‘He always wanted to improve on what was there.’ It seems significant that Souness – Paisley’s captain and sometime confidant – needed to search for an understanding of why he had so thrived. Paisley barely spoke of his methods, let alone shouted about them. He moved almost invisibly, absorbed by the only task that really mattered: picking a winning team.

  ‘Football is a simple game, messed up by managers and players,’ he once told his players, in a characteristically brief team meeting which his striker David Johnson always remembered vividly. ‘Get the ball. Pass the ball. Keep the ball. But if you overcomplicate it you are going to meet yourself coming back.’ At the end of it all, the secret of football’s quiet genius and his most extraordinary success was no more and no less than that.

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  Acknowledgements

  I am privileged to count three of the outstanding sportswriters of these times as friends and I thank them – Simon Hughes, Ian Ladyman and Michael Walker ‒ for their immense wisdom and patient counsel. Jamie Carragher’s help in providing historical perspective and tactical interpretation was more valuable than he may know. John Keith knew Bob like none other and his willingness to share his own vast knowledge has helped this book hugely along its way. It has been a privilege to have my former Independent colleague Phil Shaw, one of the very best football writers and historian, casting his steely eye over the proofs.

  Others from the same great community of reporters who dig, inquire, find out and do journalism’s hard yards have offered their insight freely. So, thank you, Jonathan Wilson, Oliver Kay, Daniel Taylor, Mark Platt, Rory Smith, Simon Hart, Miguel Delaney, Jonathan Northcroft, Patrick Barclay, Tim Rich, Paul Newman, Simon O’Hagan, Raphael Honigstein, Pete Jenson, Robin Scott-Elliot, Rob Harris, Mark Ogden and Chris Wathan. The reporters who covered Bob’s life and work knew him like none other ‒ John Roberts, Ian Ross, Mike Ellis, Nick Hilton have also shared their memories so generously and I am indebted to them all for that.

  It has been a privilege to come to know Bob Paisley’s wonderful family, without whom this book would be a shadow of its final form. Thank you, Graham, Christine, Robert and Ian, for your kindness, patience, steadfastness and generous hospitality.

  There has been no greater inspiration in this past year than times spent with my dear friends Nick and Helen Harris. They are a source of strength to me every day.

  So many of Bob’s players and colleagues have given their time, too ‒ raking through the memories and putting up with obscure questions about events half a lifetime ago. An afternoon discussing those times in the company of Peter Robinson, a kind, shrewd and gracious man, was a most precious experience. Thanks to so many players: Graeme Souness, Owen Brown, John Toshack, Roy Evans, David Fairclough, Steve Heighway, Phil Thompson, Phil Neal, Howard Gayle, Joey Jones, David Johnson, Alan Kennedy, Ian St John, Jimmy Case, Ian Callaghan, Mark Lawrenson, Peter Cormack, David Hodgson, Chris Lawler, Steve Ogrizovic, Paul Jewell, Trevor Birch, as well as Nottingham Forest’s Ian Bowyer and Garry Birtles. And so many others: Alan Brown, Professor Phil Scraton, Steve Hothersall, Ron Atkinson, Lawrie McMenemy, Jimmy Armfield, Professor Rogan Taylor, Ian St John Jr, Cameron Toshack, Steve Shakeshaft, Alastair Machray, Chris Eakin, John Toker, Stephen Done, Tony Pastor, Stephen Feber, Charles Hughes, Alf Bennett and Clive Tyldesley.

  To have spent most of a journalistic lifetime on the Independent is a privilege I did not dream of when I started out, and I have my colleagues to thank for allowing me to disappear to write this book. Thanks to Matt Gatward, my superb Sports Editor, and Dan Gledhill, whose own football affinities perhaps provided an ulterior motive. I could mention so many of the colleagues I have worked with on our great paper, but nearly ten years ago Matt Tench gave me a chance to write about sport, for which I will always be grateful. His river of ideas remains an inspiration. Thanks, too, Neil Robinson, for some great times. The changing world for the publication which we have all loved has made some of these working relationships far too brief.

  Thank you to David Luxton ‒ agent, friend, patient guide ‒ for the phone call which elicited the hour or so of talk, which elicited the book. Thank you to Bloomsbury, who have opened my eyes to their
world of energy, creativity, innovation and grace ‒ especially my wonderful editor, Charlotte Atyeo, who with wisdom, patience and great tact helped me to bring to life my depiction of Bob when it was not always there. I am indebted to Ian Preece, the most superb copy-editor, and Holly Jarrald, managing editor and another great member of Bloomsbury’s team.

  The books, newspapers and magazines consumed during the journey have seemed infinite but the Liverpool Football Club statistical website www.lfchistory.net has been more valuable than any and is a treasure trove of information. Thank you, Arnie Baldursson and Gudmundur Magnusson for building and maintaining this wonderful structure. Thank you to the staff of the British Library and Liverpool Central Library for always being so willing to help. The National Football Museum’s Collection Officer, Alex Jackson, was a mine of information as always, navigating me through the museum’s archive at Preston.

  Last, but obviously not least, thanks go to my family: my brother Pete, with whom I’ve shared all the football adventures worth having, and my mum and dad, Colin and Jean, for furnishing us both with all the chances to enjoy them. Thanks to Ben for your encouragement and for the inspiration your own superb journalism brings me. To Emily and George for your jokes, tea and brilliant company. And to Alice, for your critical eye, your sense, your love and your unending tolerance.

  Styal, Cheshire. November 2016

  Plates

  © PAISLEY FAMILY

  Paisley (front row, second from left) was team captain at Eppleton Senior Mixed school. They won five trophies in 1931 alone.

  © PAISLEY FAMILY

  Paisley in April 1941, during his Second World War service with the Eighth Army which delayed the start of his Liverpool career until 1946.

  © PAISLEY FAMILY

  Home thoughts: an entry from the diary Paisley kept during Liverpool’s 1946 USA tour – a rare insight into his interior mind.