Sir Bill Shankly or Sir Bob Paisley? Never was...

[LID24]

Why wasnt the 2 Gods of Liverpool FC ever given the "sir" title? For all what they both did for English football! As Matt Busby & Alex Ferguson were given the "sir" title, and yet Bill Shankly & Bob Paisley wasn't. What is the logic? Mind due Bill Shankly & Bob Paisley ain't sirs, they r GODS!!

[liverbird04]

Its a mystery mate it really is ,british honours system are a joke .To be honest though Shanks and paisley don't need some toff title off the establishment to validate them, they were men of the people ,they will always be 'sir' to me.

'Shankly He Made The People Happy' and you can't get better than that.

[Samarkand]

There are a number of reasons; primarily back when, the only people who received knighthoods were business types, military types and well-connected political types.

Arts and sports didn't get much of a look in for knighthoods, lesser honours, yes, but knighthoods remained primarily the purvue of the business, military and political classes.

Even under Thatcher this was still largely the case, though things loosened up somewhat under Major, especially as the Tories tried to prove they were 'of the people.' As a result there was a higher incidence of popular types - sports, music, film, actors, TV, etc., - being seen to get knighthoods.

The business, military and politicos, needless to say, continued unabated. These policies, unofficial as they were, were continued under Blair. I mean, they had to be, Tony being most definitely a lad 'n' all, no?

So that goes a long way to explaining why Ol' Whiskey Nose did and why Shanks or Paisley didn't. Bill and Bob were just out of time.

There is also another story I heard, but never heard confirmed. Paisley was put forward for a knighthood but was suffering rather definitely from Alzheimer's. He wasn't completely gone, but gone far enough. After discussions with the family and the Club, it was decided that the strain, stress, etc. would be too much, so it was gently allowed to slide.

[el_urchinio]

There is also the issue of Shankly's political views to consider. He was never bashful about his left-wing views, and back in the day, declared and even suspected communists weren't high on the list of people up for honours. Not to mention that considering his views, there is absolutely no way to know if Shankly would even accept a knighthood.

[Carragher23]

Shanks and Paisley never needed a title to tell them how important they are, their names are forged in the logs of Liverpool history, they both made this club the best in England, Europe and the World. In our eyes they are better than Sir's, they are legends and I'm sure that meant far more to them than a pointless knighthood.