Centre-forward Shannon made his debut for Liverpool towards the end of the 1947/48 season when he replaced the injured Albert Stubbins for the home fixture with Manchester City in April, one of only two matches Stubbins missed during that league campaign. Shannon was selected for the first ten games of the following season when Stubbins was unavailable because he went on strike, but was then himself replaced by Cyril Done. Shannon's only goal for Liverpool was the first in the 2-1 win at Sheffield United on 30 August 1948. Two years after joining first division Burnley Shannon came into his own as a deep lying inside-forward and was a regular in the side playing 102 games and scoring 31 goals. Following the retirement of Reg Atwell in 1954 he was moved to half-back where he featured for four years until his retirement in September 1958. Shannon made in total 281 appearances and scored 44 goals at Burnley where he is fondly remembered.
“Shannon, a Liverpudlian of Irish ancestry and a joiner by original trade, is, of course, a more thoughtful and less galvanic wing-half than most and in consequence he is frequently a move ahead of his opponent where a more frenzied chase-the-ball player might be a yard behind. That is to say he is at least as much concerned with where the ball is likely to be next as to where it is at any precise moment. It is this deliberate attempt to think ahead, plus an uncanny instinct, which accounts for his highly – developed positional sense and enables him to pop up, as it were, from nowhere at the right place at the right time. It would be wrong, however, to classify Shannon either as an essentially defensive or an essentially attacking wing-half. He combines both duties well. In any situation he is a constructive rather than a purely destructive player and it is, I suppose, in his deft use of the ball for attacking purposes that his value to the Burnley scheme of things is most pronounced. He moves the ball forward with a fine accuracy; and he will move himself forward, too, when need be, with a sharpness which is quick to exploit any suddenly-exposed chink in the opposition defences. “
(Source: Nelson Leader: August 29, 1958)
Shannon joined Everton as youth coach in 1959 where he stayed three years before being appointed as Billy Wright's assistant manager at Arsenal, serving the Gunners until 1966. As manager of Bury (1966-69) he swung between the Third and Second Division and as Stan Mortensen's successor at Blackpool (1969-70) he guided 'Pool to the second division title, but was sacked early on in the following season. 1971 signalled the start of his Greek adventure where he managed four clubs: PAOK (1971-74), Iraklis (1974-76), Olympiacos (1976-77) and OFI Crete (1977-79) as well as (1982-84). He also managed Norwegian club Brann (1980-82) in between his two stints at OFI Crete. Shannon returned to Britain in 1985 and was part of Luton Town's backroom staff from 1986-2001. An interesting link is that Les is the father of Dave Shannon former Academy coach at Liverpool.
Shannon’s knowledge of football led to his working alongside Pelé in co-ordinating the football sequences of the 1981 war movie Escape to Victory.
