Peter Scott
Frankly, Mr Shankly
Until this year’s Champions League semifinal, Barcelona looked to have the system cracked. Press high, keep possession, pass, pass, pass. At times, it seemed, no one could touch them. Then better tactics, better players, better luck and even, perhaps, more desire, drove Bayern Munich to victory this May, as they beat Barcelona and went on to win the tournament. There is nothing like success to guarantee failure, but while the Spanish club swept all before them, it was easy to believe that we were seeing something genuinely new: a style of football based on repetition and replicability; one which rendered Plan B irrelevant because, with the players and the execution in place, Plan A was invincible. But of course, it wasn’t invincible; it never is. Even when Barcelona were at their best they got beaten from time to time. A system is not enough.
Bill Shankly, manager of Liverpool for 15 years until his retirement in 1974, knew all about systems. And David Peace, Shankly’s fictionaliser in Red or Dead, admires him for it. For Shankly, according to Peace, detail, practice and repetition were key, whether it was washing dishes or running pre-season drills
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
‘We know that Ballard was many things – novelist, fabulist, one-time assistant editor of “British Baker”, seer of Shepperton, poet laureate of airports. But, it seems, he was not a fan of Mrs Dalloway.’
Joanna Kavenna - Unlimited Dream Company
Joanna Kavenna: Unlimited Dream Company - Selected Nonfiction, 1962-2007 by J G Ballard (Edited by Mark Blacklock)
literaryreview.co.uk
“Remember when being Bono was uncool?” I’m back in my favourite lit mag @Lit_Review for their Christmas special, writing about Lou Reed and his new biography: https://literaryreview.co.uk/walks-on-the-wild-side
'Lord of the Flies meets The 120 Days of Sodom.' Some thoughts on the decline and fall of India’s Princely States for @Lit_Review: