Red or dead

David Pearce, Faber & Faber, 736 pages, hardback, £20

David Pearce’s previous novels have vividly melded fact and fiction from some of the most contentious episodes of British history. Pearce uses the same approach in Red or dead to explore the life and politics of Bill Shankly, regarded as one of football’s greatest managers.

In 1959, Liverpool Football Club was in the second division and had never won the FA Cup. Fifteen seasons later, they had won three League titles, two FA Cups and the UEFA Cup. They became the most consistently successful team in England — and the most passionately supported club. 

Their manager was Bill Shankly, a former miner from a small Ayrshire mining community who went on to be capped 12 times for Scotland, eventually becoming Liverpool manager in 1959.

Shankly’s life was football and his football was a form of socialism. 

He said: “I fear that young people have no idea what socialism is and there are no examples of how to live a different way of life today.”

In 1974, Liverpool Football Club and Bill Shankly stood on the verge of even greater success in England and in Europe. But that year, Shankly shocked Liverpool and football by retiring.

Red or dead is the story of the rise of Liverpool Football Club and of Shankly and his retirement. A man of two halves. Home and away. Red or dead.

Reviews contributed by the Bookmarks socialist bookshop. Order online at www.bookmarksbookshop.co.uk