THE inscription in 18-carat gold letters em-bossed upon a 3ft by 4ft black granite plaque on a desolate spot on the south-east Ayrshire moors reads: ''Seldom in the history of sport can a village the size of Glenbuck have produced so many who reached the pinnacle of achievement in their chosen sport.''

Glenbuck, once a thri-ving mining village on the outskirts of Muir-kirk, now a pile of old stones on the perimeter of a vast open-cast mining site, earned itself a place in the hearts of all Liverpool FC fans at 1.15pm yesterday as the plaque - a memorial to Glenbuck's famous son Bill Shankly - was un-veiled at an emotional ceremony commemorating the legend and his footballing contemporaries of the ''Glenbuck Cherrypickers''.

Five hundred Liverpool supporters swelled the ranks of those who came to honour Shankly, who died aged 67 in 1981.

They came bedecked in the red of Anfield to pay tribute to the most successful team manager English football has ever known. Under Shankly's guidance Liverpool dominated the English game during the 60s and 70s, and went on to win European Cup success with the great man's successor, Bob Paisley.

Many tributes have been paid to ''the Shanks'', freeman of Liverpool. Yesterday's, however, was special, bringing together his nieces and nephews, who sobbed as the Anfield red army sang You'll Never Walk Alone and his favourite hymn Amazing Grace to the accompaniment of a lone piper.

Tributes and testimonials were delivered by former Liverpool greats Ron Yeats, Billy Stevenson, and Brian Hall, while South-east Ayrshire Council's provost, Bobby Stirling, spoke of the pride all Ayrshire and Scotland had in Shankly's achievements at Liverpool.

The council, Scottish Coal, and Liverpool Away Supporters Club had joined forces to commission and dedicate the Glenbuck Shankly plinth. They also gathered yesterday to pay tribute to Shankly's contemporaries.

Of 56 young village footballers in Shankly's days, seven went on to win caps for Scotland, with Shankly himself honoured by his country on 13 occasions.

Niece Barbara Alex-ander said she had mixed emotions about the day. ''On one hand I'm sad that the wee village has long gone, but I'm rightly proud of Uncle Willie's achievement with Liverpool.''

Ron Yeats said he was ''proud and honoured to be along paying tribute to the greatest man I've ever known'', while Liverpool Away Supporters Club president Jimmy Flowers commented: ''Bill Shankly and Glenbuck are in the hearts of everyone from Liverpool. We have a strong bond - a feeling of togetherness with this wee spot on a Scottish moor.''

As they filed away following the ceremony to watch Muirkirk Boys' Brigade play the Reds' supporters for the Bill Shankly Memorial Cup, some fans began lifting sections of the moorland turf.

''I'm taking this back to Bootle where it'll have pride of place in my rockery made of terracing from the old Kop,'' said Pat Poland.

The Shankly plaque will be housed in Muir-kirk for the next two to three years when, following landscaping and environmental renewal of outworked open-cast operations by Scottish Coal, it will return to take pride of place in a new greenfield site.