Why Shankly still draws so much interest
Shankly arrived at Anfield in 1959 with the club in the Second Division and left in 1974 having won league titles, the FA Cup and a European trophy. For many Liverpool supporters he is less a former manager than the founder of the modern club, and his sayings are still quoted on banners at every home game. That emotional pull keeps demand for his signature steady among fans who were never old enough to see his teams play.
Demand from people buying for sentimental reasons, rather than as seasoned collectors, is precisely the audience a forger targets. Knowing a little about how Shankly signed, and what he signed, is the best defence.
What Shankly actually put his name to
Shankly was famously generous with supporters and answered a great deal of fan mail. Surviving signatures therefore turn up most often on album pages, letters, match programmes, team sheets and small photographs from the 1960s and 1970s. Those are the natural homes for his autograph.
Be far more careful with modern objects. A replica shirt manufactured in the last twenty years, a glossy large-format print or a recently made football cannot carry a real Shankly signature applied directly, because he was not alive to sign them. When a genuine signature appears alongside modern material, it is usually an older signed piece mounted within a newer display, and the listing should say so plainly.
- Programmes, album pages and letters from his lifetime are the usual sources
- Modern shirts or balls cannot have been signed by him directly
- In a montage, only the named signed element carries his ink
- Printed facsimiles were common on club souvenirs of the period
Printed and secretarial signatures
Football clubs of Shankly's era regularly issued team photographs and postcards with the manager's and players' names printed on. These souvenirs are collectable in their own right, but they are not hand signed. Under a magnifier, printed signatures break into a dot or line pattern, and there is no indentation or build-up of ink at the start and end of strokes.
At a club as busy as Liverpool, some replies to fan mail may also have been signed on the manager's behalf by staff. Our guide to secretarial signatures explains how these arise and why a clean, confident signature on a reply card is not automatically the man himself.
Questions to ask before buying
Ask where the piece was obtained, by whom, and whether anything in writing supports that story: an envelope, a covering letter, a dated programme or a named original owner. Ask whether the seller will stand behind the item after the sale, and for how long. A certificate is only as strong as the person who signs it.
Anything we sell comes with the WDW Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Derek Warwick, and that guarantee stays in force for as long as the piece is yours.
Our Bill Shankly signed montage is listed with clear photographs, so you can see exactly which part carries the signature before you decide.
Displaying a Shankly piece
Because every genuine Shankly signature is now old, fading is a real risk. Keep the piece out of direct sunlight, behind glazing that filters ultraviolet light, and away from damp walls and radiators. Paper and card signed in the 1960s are more fragile than a modern shirt, so resist taking a framed item apart to look at the back.
Need a straight answer on a specific piece?
Send photographs and we'll give you an honest opinion — whether you're buying, selling or simply curious. You can also visit us at 87 Princes Street, Southend-on-Sea, Tuesday to Saturday, 10am–4pm.