Bill Shankly’s final season: 1973-74 ends with silverware at Wembley

Since last August, we’ve been marking the 50th anniversary of the Scot’s legendary swan song with tomatoes through monthly recaps.

The story ends in May 1974, when Shankly’s side had to bounce back quickly from the disappointment of missing out on the league title, with a trip to Wembley on their calendar…

The FA Cup has not always been kind to Liverpool.

They lost twice in the final – in 1914 and 1950 – before putting a late end to their desperate wait to lift the trophy by beating Leeds United after extra time in 1965 under Shankly.

And they were on the wrong side of a 2-1 showpiece as far back as 1971 when it was Arsenal who grabbed the silverware at the expense of the Reds.

Chance No.5 was scheduled for May 4. Standing in their way are Newcastle United.

Liverpool needed no further motivation, but Magpies forward Malcolm MacDonald still gave them something with his pre-match insistence to the press about the damage he thought he would cause.

“We never had a team talk,” Reds star Kevin Keegan later explained. “He (Shankly) just came over and said, ‘Guys, read this.'”

In front of a crowd of around 100,000, the first 45 minutes went goalless. The next 45 minutes certainly did not.

Alec Lindsay had already seen an emphatic half-volley disallowed for a questionable offside before Shankly’s men cruised majestically to Wembley.

Keegan got the first just before the hour mark, his shot from just inside the box – after Brian Hall faked Tommy Smith’s ball up the pitch – wriggling through the hands of Iam McFaul into the Newcastle net.

Steve Heighway then beat McFaul with a classy finish across goal and Keegan’s second of the day, from another Smith cross following a flowing Reds move, wrapped it up.

“Newcastle were undressed… they were completely undressed!” shouted TV commentator David Coleman after the third goal. “Keegan two, Heighway one, Liverpool three, Newcastle none.”

Emlyn Hughes ran up the steps to collect the trophy as the sixth major honor of Shankly’s tenure at Liverpool was secured. As I soon discovered, it was also the last.

“The cohesion, the spirit, the fitness of Liverpool. All. You name it,” poured the boss of the key factors behind the result. “We have fantastic players here, they should win something every season.”

One final game remained in their already academic schedule, with the Reds playing out a 1-1 draw away to Tottenham Hotspur four days later.

Chris McGrath and Heighway traded goals during a four-minute spell in the second half, cementing Liverpool’s purgatory in second place: five points behind champions Leeds, nine ahead of third-placed Derby County.

The White Hart Lane encounter did, however, have at least one memorable element. Aged 17 years and 129 days, Max Thompson became the club’s youngest senior player – a record that would stand for 36 years.

There was another meeting for the club in 1973-74.

Ron Yeats’ testimony at Anfield on May 13 roasted the former captain, the “colossus” of Shankly’s first great Reds team, who himself lifted the FA Cup nine years earlier.

The occasion pitted a Liverpool side with a number of returning heroes – including Roger Hunt and Ian St John – against Scottish champions Celtic, who won 4-1 with none other than Bobby Charlton invited into their squad. And score.

Thoughts may now turn to 1974-75 and the relentless pursuit of greater success.

But the Reds would have to do it without the man who led the revolution that got them there.