The feature remained at Anfield during Liverpool’s first two European Cup victories, in 1977 and 1978.
Budds said a groundsman proposed the original idea for the sign to club secretary Peter Robinson before Shankly suggested the amendment to “This Is Anfield”.
Shankly said the sign was intended to remind Liverpool players who they represented while acting as a form of intimidation for visiting teams as they walked out into the ground.
Former Reds player George Scott said Shankly wanted any opposition player passing beneath the sign to know they were “going into a cauldron and they weren’t going to come out with a win”.
The auction house said former player Roy Evans, who managed the club between 1994 and 1998, gave the sign to Wilson.
It was displayed in Wilson’s family’s Rutland Hotel in Douglas from 1979 until 2000 before passing to his children.
The sign was later displayed in his son’s office until his retirement in early 2026.
The identity of the new owner of the sign is not known.