Bob Paisley rides again

Thursday, May 19 – 1977
This time he is leading a red army into battle
Bob Paisley, manager of League champions Liverpool rode into Rome more than thirty years ago on board a tank, a member of a liberating army. In a way it is a similar rumbling, unstoppable, menacing vehicle which has carried him there again for the European Cup Final on May 25 – Liverpool’s football team. But that analogy won’t appeal to Paisley.

One thing calculated to upset this placid, homespun Geordie is any suggestion that there is something machine-like and manufactured about the way his team plays the game for the club that has been his life.

Anyone who says so to him will see the grin disappear from a face which is kindly described as craggy. Eyes that flash and twinkle with mischief become narrowed and cold. He bitterly and rightly resents criticism that Liverpool…