The Boot Room

Lore & Background

The Boot Room was a small room near the changing rooms that stored the squad's football boots. Bill Shankly converted it into an informal coaches' meeting room. The original members were Shankly, Bob Paisley, Reuben Bennett, Tom Saunders, Joe Fagan and Ronnie Moran. Neither Bennett nor Saunders ever went on to manage the club, but Bennett remained at Anfield the longest.

Saunders was the only one to hold a full coaching certificate. Paisley was a tactician with an eye for transfer targets; Bennett was closest to Shankly; Fagan, in Roy Evans' words, was "the glue that held everything together." Fagan inadvertently founded the Boot Room in the sense that he was the first to store crates of Guinness there. They were joined in 1967 by Geoff Twentyman as chief scout.

Following Shankly's retirement in 1974, the tradition continued under managers Paisley, Fagan, and Dalglish. The Boot Room was eventually demolished to make way for a press room during Graeme Souness' reign as manager in 1993. Contrary to popular belief, the renovation was a requirement rather than a request by Souness. After Souness left, the Boot Room produced another manager in Roy Evans.

Reader's Guide

The Boot Room was used for training future Liverpool managers. It became known as "the Liverpool Way" to promote from within. Paisley, Fagan and Ronnie Moran were all trained in the Boot Room. Kenny Dalglish was not "educated" in the Boot Room but kept it during his tenure. Roy Evans took over after a long education that began under Shankly.