Frankly, Mr Shankly

There are few figures from football history who are universally popular and able to transcend club loyalties. Bill Shankly is an exception, and with good reason.

- Adam Powley Shankly

The founding father of Liverpool’s rise, Shankly endures as one of the great managers and, over 30 years since his death, he has taken on near-mythical status across the wider sports world. He is now seen as a visionary whose ambition – to create an “invincible” footballing force via honest hard work and a fierce will to win – became an all-conquering reality.

Shankly: Nature’s Fire does a fine job of showing how he did it. Not simply with the familiar run through of on-pitch action, but in the archive words of the man himself and a host of engaging contributors. Barbara Alexander, Shankly’s niece, takes viewers through the desolate and now extinct Ayrshire mining village of Glenbuck, to explain how this remarkable community that produced over 50 professional players instilled in Shankly a love of the game and a core faith in the absolute importance of a team ethic.