Football's greatest managers knew how much the sport owed to socialism. The very language is socialist – solidarity, unite, goal, come together. In short, football is a socialist sport.
Matt Busby, Bill Shankly and Brian Clough were the embodiment's of the golden age of the socialist manager. The founding principle of their management style was a socialist one, in so much that they vehemently believed that the players as individuals had to defer to the needs of the collective to succeed.
Their teams were socialist in nature, they played for each other, and individual brilliance was subservient to the common good. Most importantly they all achieved incredible success as a result of these guiding principles - both for their respective teams, the supporters, and the communities they served.
Bill Shankly was the man who transformed Liverpool FC from a Second Division team to the winners of three First Division Championships, two FA Cups, four Charity Shields and one UEFA Cup. The most famous figure in the club’s history, Shankly is a Liverpool legend.
In his own inimitable words:
“Above all, I would like to be remembered as a man who was selfless, who strove and worried so that others could share the glory, and who built up a family of people who could hold their heads up high and say 'We're Liverpool'.
"The socialism I believe in is everybody working for the same goal and everybody having a share in the rewards. That's how I see football, that's how I see life."
Definition:
The wisdom of the crowd is the collective opinion of a group of individuals rather than that of a single expert. It is an idea that suggests that large groups of people are collectively smarter than even individual experts when it comes to problem solving, decision making, innovating and predicting. The wisdom of crowds shows how large groups have made superior decisions in pop culture, psychology, biology, behavioural economics and other fields.
Brought to you in partnership with the Football Supporters’ Federation.
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