 Plaque to Paisley at the Anfield gateway named in his honour | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Robert Paisley | ||
| Date of birth | 23 January 1919 | ||
| Place of birth | Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham, England | ||
| Date of death | 14 February 1996 (aged 77) | ||
| Place of death | Liverpool, England | ||
| Position(s) | Left-half | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1937–1939 | Bishop Auckland | ||
| 1939–1954 | Liverpool | 253 | (10) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1959–1973 | Liverpool (assistant manager) | ||
| 1974–1983 | Liverpool | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Robert Paisley OBE (23 January 1919 – 14 February 1996) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.[1][2][3] Reluctantly taking the job in 1974, he built on the foundations laid by his predecessor Bill Shankly.[4] Paisley is the first of four managers to have won the European Cup three times.[5] He is also one of five managers to have won the English top-flight championship as both a player and manager at the same club.[6]
Paisley came from a small County Durham mining community and, in his youth, played for Bishop Auckland, before he signed for Liverpool in 1939. During the Second World War he served in the British Army, and could not make his Liverpool debut until 1946. In the 1946–47 season, he was a member of the Liverpool team that won the First Division title for the first time in 24 years. He was made club captain in 1951, and remained with Liverpool until he retired from playing in 1954.
He stayed with the club, and took on the two roles of reserve team coach and club physiotherapist. By this time, Liverpool had been relegated to the Second Division and its facilities were in decline. Shankly was appointed Liverpool manager in December 1959, and he promoted Paisley to work alongside him as his assistant in a management/coaching team that included Joe Fagan and Reuben Bennett. Under their leadership, the fortunes of Liverpool turned around dramatically and, in the 1961–62 season, the team gained promotion back to the First Division. Paisley filled an important role as tactician under Shankly's leadership, and the team won numerous honours during the next twelve seasons.[7]
In 1974, Shankly retired as manager and, despite Paisley's own initial reluctance, he was appointed as Shankly's successor. He went on to lead Liverpool through a period of domestic and European dominance, winning twenty honours in nine seasons: six League Championships, three League Cups, six Charity Shields, three European Cups, one UEFA Cup and one UEFA Super Cup. He won honours at a rate of 2.2 per season, a rate surpassed only by Pep Guardiola.[8] At the time of his retirement he had won the Manager of the Year Award a record six times.[9][10] He retired from management in 1983 and was succeeded by Joe Fagan. He died in 1996, aged 77, after having Alzheimer's disease for several years.
- ^ Katwala, Sunder; Wilcox, Greg (12 August 2001). "Who is the greatest club manager of all time?". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ "Ranked! The 100 best football managers of all time". FourFourTwo. 26 September 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
- ^ "The 50 greatest football managers of all time". 90min. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
- ^ Corkhill, Barney (2 April 2009). "Greatest Ever: Football: Top 10 Managers of All Time". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ Haslam, Andrew (14 February 2016). "Paisley's European Cup legacy at Liverpool". UEFA. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ Dart, James; Smyth, Rob (20 April 2005). "Top-flight champions as both player and manager". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ Keith, John (5 January 2000). Bob Paisley: Manager of the Millennium. Robson. ISBN 978-1-86105-371-8.
- ^ Stoddart, Russell (17 August 2014). "Bob Paisley: How Liverpool's reluctant hero began a revolution". BBC Sport.
- ^ "THE MANAGERS – BOB PAISLEY". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "He remained an ordinary man amid extraordinary achievements". Archived from the original on 20 January 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2015.