Throughout the week players and figures from the past have been paying tribute to the great Bill Shankly on the 50th anniversary of his Anfield arrival. Here Gerry Marsden explains what the Scot meant to him.

The first time I met Bill Shankly was during a game at Anfield. 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was being sung at this period of time and I was invited downstairs to the players' dressing room to meet all the boys.
 
Shanks walked in and you would have thought God had just entered the room. All the boys were saying 'Hello, boss' and I said 'Hello, Mr Shankly', to which he replied, 'Gerry, my son, call me Bill'. I was delighted. I could call the boss Bill.
 
To me, Shankly is one of the greatest manager's in the world. He was fantastic, a lovely guy. He loved football, he lived for football. He never told lies about it and he was great after a match telling people what had happened.

Bill was a load of fun and I loved him a great deal. He would come to my home with his charming wife Nessie for parties. He once said to me a sentence that I will never forget. I brought the team on the Ed Sullivan Show to sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and afterwards he said, 'Gerry, my son, I've given you a football team and you've given us a song'. I miss Bill, god bless him.
 
Bill loved 'You'll Never Walk Alone' it really got him going and when the Kop would sing it before the games he would get excited and ready to go: 'There's the song lads!'
 
For me he was the greatest Liverpool manager of all time. We've had some great manager's don't get me wrong, but Shanks brought us up from the Second Division into the First and made Liverpool what it is now. He was the heart of the team and made sides all over the world frightened to play Liverpool.
 
That was Shanks - the greatest ever.