After retiring in 1954, Paisley joined the Liverpool back room staff as a self-taught physiotherapist and was said to have the knack of being able to diagnose a player's injury just by looking at them. He later became the reserve team coach and then, in August 1959 when Albert Shelley retired, first team trainer. The arrival of Bill Shankly as manager in December 1959 transformed the fortunes of the club and Paisley recalled that "from the moment he arrived, we got on like a house on fire". On his first day in charge, Shankly held a meeting with the coaching staff which consisted of Paisley, Reuben Bennett and Joe Fagan to tell them that he was not bringing in his own coaches. He wanted to work with them and so guaranteed them their jobs. Shankly pointed out that he would decide the training strategy and they must all work together with absolutely loyalty to each other and to the club. Under Phil Taylor, training had been the traditional slog of physical exercise and road running. Shankly insisted on training which was "based on speed and using the ball". Five-a-side games were introduced as a key part of the strategy. Paisley had always been keen on training with the ball and was, like Fagan and Bennett, delighted to implement Shankly's methods. Fagan is credited with converting a storage area at Anfield into a "common room" for the coaches and it became the now-legendary Boot Room. Shankly began a Liverpool tradition, later upheld by Paisley and Fagan, of holding daily meetings in there to discuss strategy, tactics, training and players.