Editing Len Shackleton (section)

==Style of play==
Journalist Malcolm Hartley, wrote of Shackleton: "Apart from the adhesive ball control and breathtaking body swerve, Shack could hit a ball. His slender legs could crack the ball like a [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|Bofors gun]]." One of his contemporaries remarked: "Once in possession, and few can match his dexterity at bringing the ball under control, the ball becomes his slave. All the skills of inside forward play – dribbling, feinting, correct positioning and accurate passing are his to command."<ref name="LFS">{{cite book | last = Dykes | first = Garth | title = All the Lads | publisher = Sunderland AFC | year = 2000 | location = Great Britain | isbn = 1-899538-15-1 }}</ref>

A showman who liked to entertain the crowd, he was able to cut the ball with sufficient spin that it would roll towards an opponent only to stop and then return to him as though on a string.<ref name="page 45">{{harvnb|Malam|2004|p=45}}</ref> He was also adept at back heeling penalty kicks into the goal.<ref>[http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/the-50-greatest-north-strikers-1400827 The 50 greatest North strikers] The Chronicle, 26 June 2011</ref> He would rarely track back and defend however, and antics were sometimes criticised as "unsportsman-like".<ref name="page 45"/> On one occasion, 2–1 up against Arsenal with 5 minutes to go, he dribbled the ball into The Gunners' penalty area before putting his foot on it, pretending to comb his hair while looking at his watch. Other examples include mocking opposition full-backs by playing one-twos with the corner flag, literally sitting on the ball to torment defenders who could not dispossess him, and teasing a beaten goalkeeper by putting his foot on the ball on the goal line.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> Sunderland teammate [[Trevor Ford]] wrote in his autobiography that: "where did it [Shackleton's antics] get us? Precisely nowhere. The result was that when he did make a move, the opposing defence was in position and the attack broke down. Time and again when I thought Shack was going to slip a goalscoring pass to me he would veer off".<ref>{{harvnb|Malam|2004|p=85}}</ref> However [[Billy Bingham]] defended Shackleton by noting that Ford had poor positional skills.<ref name="Malam 2004 87"/>