by azriahmad » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:25 am
Big Nail, Fagan of course deserves more respect than he actually received but the 1983/84 team was entirely inherited from Paisley. The biggest change was the omission of Phil Thompson. Fagan never really came to terms with the departure of Graeme Souness after 1983/84 and did not continue after the tragic European Cup final at Heysel to prove that he can truly create his own winning team, so we'll never know how great he is.
Paisley took Shanks' team, made his own changes like converting Ray Kennedy to a midfield player. Then in 1977/78, almost completely rebuilt the remnants of Shanks' era with players he bought (the jocks Hansen, Dalglish and Souness) and took the club to a much higher level. Yet again, by 1981/82 he again rebuilt his team (in Grobbelaar, Lawrenson, Rush, Whelan) and sustained the success. A truly great yet humble manager.