Psychological Strategy

Here is the statue of the man Bill Shankly. Any avid fan of Liverpool FC will know how important this man was and is to the club. My endeavour here is not to detail at length his achievements let alone his biographical details. During our recent visit to the museum and stadium at Anfield ('our' refers to me and the lovely wife), I came across a very wonderful weapon employed by the late Shankly to visiting club players. It is in every football lover's intellectual capacity to know that both teams have to walk toward the field from their respective changing rooms. In doing so, they have to pass through the tunnel pictured below, with the poster saying in bold letters 'this is Anfield'.When Shankly put up the poster, he had two thoughts running in his mind; one, to weaken the opposing team, and two, to encourage the home team, obviously. Shankly knew that in approaching the field (with the loud cheering of the fans outside echoed in the tunnel), this poster would remind the opponents where they were playing. It was to shake as much confidence from them as possible. In the meanwhile it was to forecefully tell the home teams that 'this is where they belonged, where they are in control, that Anfield was theirs'. Imagine the opposing players, probably the newly signed and the young players, coming to play here, with the crowds awaiting to jeer, had to look at this before reaching the grounds, it will never be the best feeling... exactly what Shankly had in mind.