FeatureBill Shankly's final season: 1973-74 ends with silverware at Wembley

Since last August, we have been marking the 50th anniversary of the legendary Scot’s swansong with the Reds via month-by-month recaps.

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

The FA Cup had not always been kind to Liverpool.

They had twice lost in the final – in 1914 and 1950 – before belatedly ending a desperate wait to lift the trophy by beating Leeds United after extra-time in 1965, under Shankly.

And they were on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline in the showpiece as recently as 1971, when it was Arsenal who got their hands on the silverware at the Reds’ expense.

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

Liverpool clearly needed no added motivation, but Magpies striker Malcolm MacDonald still offered them some with his pre-match insistences to the press of the damage he was confident of inflicting upon them.

“We never had a team-talk,” Reds star Kevin Keegan later explained. “He [Shankly] just came up and said, ‘Boys, read that.’”

In front of a crowd of around 100,000, the first 45 minutes passed by without a goal. The next 45 minutes certainly did not.

Alec Lindsay had already seen an emphatic half-volley disallowed for a debatable offside before Shankly’s men moved through the gears majestically at Wembley.

Keegan got the first just prior to the hour mark, his strike from just inside the box – after Brian Hall had dummied Tommy Smith’s ball across the pitch – squirming through the hands of Iam McFaul in the Newcastle net.

Steve Heighway then beat McFaul with a classy low 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 absolutely stripped naked!” bellowed TV commentator David Coleman after the third goal. “Keegan two, Heighway one, Liverpool three, Newcastle none.”

Emlyn Hughes ascended the steps to collect the cup as the sixth major honour of Shankly’s Liverpool tenure was secured. As we’d soon discover, it was also the last.

“Liverpool’s cohesion, spirit, fitness. Everything. You name it,” purred the boss of the key factors behind the result. “We’ve got fantastic players here, they should win something every season.”

A final game remained on their already-academic league programme, the Reds playing out a 1-1 draw away at Tottenham Hotspur four days later.

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

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

There was one more appointment for the club in 1973-74.

Ron Yeats’ testimonial at Anfield on May 13 toasted the former captain, the ‘colossus’ of Shankly’s first great Reds team, who himself had lifted the FA Cup nine years earlier.

The occasion pitted a Liverpool side featuring a number of returning heroes – including Roger Hunt and Ian St John – against Scottish champions Celtic, who ran out 4-1 winners with none other than Bobby Charlton guesting in their team. And scoring.

Thoughts could now turn to 1974-75 and the relentless pursuit of more success.

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