AS the hunt for Park Avenue's new manager continues, it seems like the perfect time to unravel this moment lost in history that could have changed the landscape of football.

Bradford's footballing history could have been very different if Bill Shankly had taken the reins at Park Avenue.

Thanks to Tim Clapham, Avenue’s club historian a newspaper cutting shows, that the great Bill Shankly was interested in the managerial role at Bradford Park Avenue in 1953, just three years before his legendry period at Liverpool.

After Vic Buckingham left the club by ‘mutual consent’ in 1953, having been in the role 18 months, the cutting says Shankly reached out to the T&A, suggesting he was keen to make a bid for the role.

He was directed to contact the Avenue Chairman, Mr Stanley Waddilove, and made the ‘shortlist of two’.

Shanks was called to the Victoria Hotel, in Bradford to meet with directors, and after the meeting, he was the odd man out.

The job was given to Norman Kirkman, who played in the Football League for Rochdale, Chesterfield, and Leicester.

He took on the role in 1953 after a brief stint as player-manager for Exeter City in 1952.

He was sacked by Avenue after being in the job for less than two years.

To think the man considered the greatest manager of all time could have been part of Avenue’s history and potentially changed its course forever.