Rafa inspired by Shankly

Reds boss admires approach of legendary manager

Last updated: 1st December 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Rafa inspired by Shankly

Benitez: Admires Shankly way

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Rafa Benitez has stressed that Liverpool must always strive to do things as they were done under Bill Shankly.

It is 50 years since the great Scot was officially appointed as manager of the club and Benitez is fully aware of what an important figure he is in Anfield history.

Benitez himself has been at the helm since 2004 and understands that in a changing world Liverpool still have a duty to approach football in the right way.

The Spaniard admits the appointment of playing legend Sammy Lee as assistant manager was partly designed to rediscover the spirit of Shankly.

"When we decided to bring in Sammy we had someone who knew the philosophy and the ideas of the club," Benitez said.

"Everything has changed in football and everything is different in society nowadays.

"Life is different. Everyone has iPods or Wiis and is in a hurry to do things. But still we try to have the same ideas as Shankly.

"When people talk about the 'Liverpool Way', it was always to win. We try to do this and that is our priority if possible. We try to do things properly, like Shankly did.

Passion

Benitez added: "One of the things we did after Sammy came was to change a little bit of decoration at Melwood. We now have a lot of photographs of former players, the legends and the managers and quotes from different people.

"We have been trying to bring this spirit. It is much better now. When people come to training now, they can look around and it is an inspiration to them. It would have been an honour to have met him, 100 per cent.

"Now all we can do is our best to make sure the mentality and the passion is always the same. That is the key to making sure the club stays at a good level, the level Bill Shankly wanted it to be at."

Benitez concedes he knew little about Shankly when he first arrived in English football but he made sure that changed quickly.

He explained: "I didn't really know much about him before I came but I started reading books about him and made sure that I spoke with a lot of people. I kept reading all those little phrases and sentences.

"But I also listened to an old radio interview he did, over and over again when I was at home or when I was in my car. I struggled at first with the accent but once it all became clear, I was really impressed with his ideas.

"He was so ahead of his time. He was talking about training sessions and if it had been raining and the players were wet, he would tell them to careful and he would look after them, make sure they recovered properly and ate the right food."