Page "Bill Shankly" Paragraph 54

Many of the new players came to Liverpool because of a new scouting system created by Shankly in 1967 and placed under the control of new chief scout Geoff Twentyman, who had played for Shankly at Carlisle and had then spent several seasons at Liverpool, retiring shortly before Shankly's appointment.

According to Stephen Kelly, hiring Twentyman as chief scout was " perhaps Shankly's finest signing ever ".

It was through Twentyman that Liverpool found the new players and, after Shankly retired, Twentyman gave sterling service to Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan by finding players like Phil Neal, Alan Hansen and Ian Rush.

As always, Shankly kept things simple and Twentyman was told to look for a prospect's basic qualities which were the abilities to pass the ball and move into position to receive a pass.

Shankly also wanted Twentyman to check the player's personality and ensure he had the right attitude for a professional footballer.

Above all, said Twentyman, " he wanted to know if the lad had the heart to play for Liverpool ".

Although Shankly sometimes paid large transfer fees he was loath to do so and Twentyman's brief was " getting them young so he ( Shankly ) could mould them into what he wanted ".