Liverpool are known for playing in their all-red home ensemble, but have they always worn the same coloured strip?
Liverpool have not always played in their signature all-red home kit.
In fact, they only started wearing their all-red number since 1964, well after their formation in 1892, when iconic former manager Bill Shankly decided to change their strip in a view to pose as more of a threat to opposition teams.
One of Liverpool’s first-ever strips involved a blue shirt with navy shorts, before it was changed four years later to the red shirt and white socks ensemble that was synonymous in the pre-Shankly years.
“We used to play in white shorts with red stripes, white stockings with red tops and white piping on the jerseys,” Shankly said of the uniform change in 1964.
“But we switched to all red and it was fantastic. The introduction of the all-red strip had a huge psychological effect.”
Shankly made the choice to switch to the all-red on November 24, 1964, the evening before the Reds – as they are now known – were set to face off against Anderlecht in a European Cup second-round first-tie leg at Anfield.
Former player Ian St John said: “Shankly thought the colour scheme would carry psychological impact – red for danger, red for power.
“He came into the dressing room one day and threw a pair of red shorts to Ronnie Yeats. ‘Get into those shorts and let’s see how you look,’ he said. ‘Christ, Ronnie, you look awesome, terrifying. You look 7 feet tall.'”
“We’d just finished training and I was on the way home when Shanks called me back,” recalled then-Liverpool captain Yeats.
“My initial reaction was that I’d done something wrong. Either that or I was getting a pay rise! Anyway, it was neither. ‘I want you to try on this all-red strip,’ he asked. So I went into the dressing room and put it on.”
The switch paid off, with St John netting the opener after just 10 minutes with the game ending in a 3-0 home victory for the Reds.
“I went home that night,” said Yeats, “I said to my wife Ness: ‘You know something… tonight I went out onto Anfield and for the first time there was a glow like a fire was burning.’
“Our game against Anderlecht was a night of milestones. We wore the all-red strip for the first time. Christ, the players looked like giants. And we played like giants.”
From that point onwards, history was made. Shankly was responsible for creating the image of modern-day Liverpool, and enjoyed immense success as manager of the Reds, three League Championships and the European Cup.
He then paved the way for his successors in Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan, who were responsible for some of Liverpool’s most successful, trophy-laden periods.
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