Football News: Former Liverpool Managers Part 12 - The King Of The Kop

Former Liverpool Managers - Part 12 - The King Of The Kop

Kenny Dalglish 30th May 1985 - 21st February 1991 & 8th January 2011 - 16th May 2012

It was on the 4th March 1951 in Dalmarnock, in the east end of Glasgow, that arguably Liverpool's greatest ever was born. He was initially brought up in the Milton area, to the north of the city, where he began playing as a goalkeeper while attending Miltonbank Primary School. Dalglish moved up to High Possil Senior Secondary School, where he won the inter-schools five-a-side and inter-year five-a-side competitions, and represented both Glasgow Schools and Glasgow Schoolboys. as well as being called up for Scotland Schoolboys. He was part of the team that went undefeated in a Home Nations Victory Shield tournament. He played as a right-half when making his debut at under-15 level for Scotland Schoolboys, scoring twice on his debut in a 4-3 win over Northern Ireland. His second game for them was against England, where he was referred to by The People newspaper as "a brilliant ball-player" in a 1-1 draw.

His family moved into a newly built tower block in Ibrox, overlooking Rangers ground, the team young Kenny had grown up supporting, in 1965. The following year he travelled down south for unsuccessful trials with two English clubs. The first was West Ham United where, according to Harry Redknapp, a session with the first team players saw them all stop and applaud him: "One of the lads laid a ball to him and it was like fast-forwarding through the next 20 years of British football - he took it perfectly, dropped a shoulder, turned and curled it into the far corner of the net. Our reserves didn't know what had hit them. Both sets of players just stopped and applauded."

The second of those trials was with Liverpool in August which ended after the young Dalglish turned down the chance to extend his trial period, telling the Reds that he had another trial lined up. He had played just one B team match against Southport Reserves in the Lancashire League, which Liverpool won 1-0. The truth was that the 15-year-old just wanted to get home in time to watch the Old Firm match that night!

It was less than a year later that Celtic assistant manager Sean Fallon visited Kenny and his parents at their home, which was decorated with Rangers-related pictures on the walls. It took him 3 hours to persuade the Dalglish family that the young Kenny should sign with Celtic, which did not please his wife Myra, who had been left outside in the car with their 3 kids while he just 'popped in' to get Kenny's signature on a playing contract. She was particularly annoyed as it was the couple's wedding anniversary!

Dalglish was sent off to Celtic nursery side Cumbernauld United for a season on loan. He scored 37 goals that season, also working as an apprentice joiner. Celtic's legendary manager Jock Stein wanted Kenny to spend a second season with Cumbernauld, but the youngster was determined to turn professional. It was Stein who backed down and the youngster joined Celtic's reserve team, which was nicknamed the Quality Street Gang due to all the highly rated players in it. A number of them, including Dalglish, Danny McGrain and Lou Macari, would go on to become Scottish internationals in time.

Early that season he made his competitive first-team debut for Celtic, coming on as a substitute in the second half of a 4-2 Scottish League Cup win over Hamilton Academical in September. The rest of the season he spent playing for the reserves but managed just 4 goals in 17 games. Dalglish was moved into midfield for the 1969-70 season with great success. The reserves won their league and cup double, with Kenny notching 19 goals in 31 games. He also managed to get 4 more first team appearances over the course of the season, but failed to get on the scoresheet, even when he made his first start in a 7-1 win over Raith Rovers in October 1969.

The following season he was in the stands during the January 1971 Old Firm match at Ibrox, witnessing the Ibrox disaster at first hand as 66 Rangers fans sadly lost their life. It did not stop him continuing to impress in the reserves, scoring 23 that season, as well as scoring in both legs of the Reserve Cup final against his boyhood club Rangers, as Celtic won it. The season did have a high point for him personally though as he played in a testimonial against Kilmarnock for long serving Killie midfielder Frank Beattie. Celtic won the game 7-2 and Dalglish scored 6 of the goals.

It was the 1971-72 season that Kenny broke into the first team properly, playing 53 games and scoring 29 goals as Celtic won the league for the 7th successive season. The first of his goals, and the first competitive first team goal for Celtic that Dalglish was to score, was at Ibrox Stadium against Rangers in August 1971. It was a penalty to complete the scoring in Celtic's 2-0 win. November brought him the first of his Scotland caps, as Tommy Docherty introduced him as a sub against Belgium in a 1-0 win in the qualifiers for the 1972 European Championships.

In the 1972-73 season Dalglish was Celtic's top scorer with 39 goals in all competitions. Celtic made it 8 league titles in a row. He also notched his first international goal in a 2-0 World Cup qualifier win over Denmark at Hampden Park. It was 9-in-a-row in the 1973-74 season, with Celtic also winning the cup to make it a double. The team also reached the semi-finals of the European Cup where they faced Atletico Madrid in games that have gone down in football folklore for Atleti's brutality. In the first leg in Glasgow, the Spanish side had 3 sent off and Dalglish later said of it that it was "without doubt the worst game I have ever played in as far as violence is concerned."

The summer was spent in West Germany playing in the 1974 World Cup for Scotland, but he did not give a good account of himself as the Scots were sent packing at the group stage, even though they remained undefeated. The year did improve for him personally as he married Marina in November. The football season ended without the elusive 10th league title in a row, something Celtic have still not managed to do to this day, but they did lift the Scottish Cup once more.

Dalglish was handed the club captaincy for the 1975-76 season, but it was not a successful one for the club under his leadership. That is not down to him though, as the manager, Jock Stein, was badly injured in a car crash and missed most of the season recuperating. Stein was back for the next season and the Celtic fans witnessed another league and cup double with Kenny scoring 27 goals in all competitions. It was to be his last in the hoops as he had decided it was time to move on: "I had to know if I could make it somewhere else," he explained. "I did not want to go through the rest of my life wondering what might have been without putting myself to the test."

That was music to the ears of Liverpool manager Bob Paisley, who had been chasing Dalglish's signature for a while to be the partner to Kevin Keegan. Unfortunately, Keegan was also moving on to SV Hamburg and Dalglish became his replacement rather than his partner, for a record transfer fee for the time of £440,000. He moved to Anfield with 320 appearances for Celtic and 167 goals, plus 5 Scottish league titles, 4 Scottish Cup wins and a Scottish League Cup in his trophy cabinet. Bill Shankly, who had failed to sign Dalglish after his trial, said: "It's the most unbelievable thing I've ever known, I would rather have quit and got out of the game altogether than sold a player of his brilliance."

His impact was almost immediate, as Dalglish scored on his league debut at Middlesbrough on 20th August 1977, just 10 days after he signed. Three days later, on his Anfield debut, Kenny made a big step towards replacing former hero Keegan in the hearts of minds of Liverpool fans as he scored again in a 2-0 win over Newcastle United. Later that season he did completely overtake Keegan when Liverpool faced Hamburg in the European Super Cup and Dalglish ran the game as Liverpool thrashed Hamburg, with Keegan, 6-0. In total, Kenny played 62 times that season and scored 31 goals, including the winner in the European Cup final at Wembley against Bruges.

Once again the national team brought him back down to earth with a bump as he travelled to Argentina with the 1978 World Cup team. It was a disaster for Scotland, who lost the opener 3-1 to Peru and winger Willie Johnston was sent home after failing a drugs test. A 1-1 draw with a very weak Iran side followed. They did finally get a win, a complete shock win, against Holland, with Dalglish scoring at last in a 3-2 win. The manager Ally McLeod was sacked after the tournament and Jock Stein was brought in to replace him. One of Stein's first acts as national team manager was to appoint Dalglish as captain. However, just 4 games later, three of which were defeats, Archie Gemmill was appointed team captain in his place.

Dalglish returned to Celtic Park that August, to play in a testimonial match for Jock Stein, but he was not received warmly at all, in fact he was soundly booed by the home fans, who were unhappy that he chose to leave. It did not seem to affect him too badly though, as he went on to score 21 league goals and win the FWA Footballer of the Year award for the 1978-79 season.

The Scotsman was an ever present in the Liverpool side until the 1980-81 season, when he missed his first league game since joining the club. He played in 34 of the 42 league games, but he only managed 8 goals as Liverpool surprisingly finished just 5th in the old Division 1. They did make up for it to a degree by winning the European Cup and Football League Cup that season. The 1981/82 season was back to normal, with Dalglish an ever-present as Liverpool won their 13th English league title, Dalglish's third. Dalglish had developed a deadly link up with Welsh striker Ian Rush, becoming more of a provider than a goalscorer, as he dropped deeper to take advantage of the space in behind Rush.

Scotland brought him more disappointment that summer in the World Cup, this time in Spain. Despite scoring in a 5-2 opening match win over New Zealand, his performance was so bad, by his own admission, that he was dropped to the bench for the second group match against Brazil. By the time he was brought on, Scotland were already 3-1 down. The final game was a 2-2 draw with the Soviet Union, but he never even made it on to the pitch.

That disappointment was quickly forgotten as Dalglish once again excelled for Liverpool in the 1982-83 season, as he helped the team to retain the league title with 18 league goals. He was once again named FWA Footballer of the Year and also chosen as the PFA Players' Player of the Year and won the Ballon d'Or Silver Award.

Joe Fagan replaced Paisley as Liverpool manager in 1983, but he was not to last long, telling the players on the eve of their European Cup final against Juventus in 1985 that he was retiring after the game. The Liverpool board had already chosen Dalglish to be his successor as a player-manager at the age of 34 years old. Unfortunately, the changeover took place after a tragedy in the Heysels Stadium, the second Dalglish had witnessed at a football match. Fighting broke out between the fans in a dilapidated stadium and as Juventus fans tried to flee a charge from Liverpool fans, a wall collapsed. 39 people died and 600 were injured. Despite the events, UEFA forced both teams to play the game, which Juve won 1-0, but it was a result that mattered nothing at that moment.

Dalglish's first signing was one that had eluded Bob Paisley previously, former Everton captain and Everton fan Steve McMahon from Aston Villa. Paisley had offered to double whatever Villa offered McMahon when he left Everton but he felt it would not be good to move straight across Stanley Park, despite leaving because of his anger at his treatment by the Toffees. McMahon became just the second man to ever captain both Everton and Liverpool, the first being Andrew Hannah way back in the 19th century.

Liverpool went on to win the league by 2 points from Everton, despite Dalglish picking himself just 21 times in the league. He did play in the final day away win over Chelsea and scored the only goal to win the league. He also started himself in the FA Cup final, when they once again beat Everton to win the club's first ever double. According to Mark Lawrenson, Dalglish "was still undeniably our best player".

In the 1986-87 season, he also made just 21 appearances, but looked to transition the team over to younger players. That season he played his final game for Scotland in November, a 3-0 win over Luxembourg in qualifying for Euro 88. Another last came in April, as he scored his last ever goal for Liverpool in a 3-0 home win over Nottingham Forest. Despite the late season arrival of John Aldridge, brought in to replace Ian Rush, who was heading off to Juventus in the summer, Liverpool finished the season without a trophy, losing the League Cup final to Arsenal 2-1.

Despite the loss of Rush, Dalglish put together a fear-inspiring attack for the 1987-88 season, as Peter Beardsley arrived from Newcastle United and John Barnes from Watford, to join Aldridge and Ray Houghton also came in early in the season from Oxford United. It was a completely new-style for Liverpool, no longer was it about possession and grinding down the opposition, this team had flair and were entertaining. It pretty much ran away with the league title from day one, going unbeaten in their first 37 matches in all competitions and lifted the trophy with 4 games still to play, Dalglish featuring just twice. It was not all good though as they suffered the biggest shock defeat in FA Cup final history to Wimbledon.

According to Paul Gascoigne, that summer Dalglish tried to sign him from Newcastle: "I was sitting with my dad and the the phone went and it was Kenny Dalglish first. He said, 'hi, it's Kenny Dalglish' and I looked at my dad, I went, 'dad, it's Kenny Dalglish!' He said, 'I want you to play for Liverpool,' so I spoke to him for half an hour and I put the phone down. And my dad said, 'what did he say?' and I went, 'dad, to be honest, I did not understand a word that he said!' My dad called me an 'f-ing idiot!'"

While Gascoigne may not have understood Dalglish, journalists understood him well enough (though failed to spot his tongue firmly in his cheek) to quote him that Ian Rush had said being in Italy was like living in a foreign country as the Welsh striker returned to Liverpool. It has become a quote that still dogs Rush to this day, despite him never actually saying it.

The 1988-89 season was one that will live forever in the minds and hearts of Liverpool fans, for all the wrong reasons sadly, with even a Wembley win over Everton in the FA Cup final being largely forgotten. This season will forever be remembered for two things, one a real world disaster as the Hillsborough disaster took 97 Liverpool fans from us during the FA Cup semi-final match against Nottingham Forest. That left the club shut down in mourning and all games postponed as it tried to come to terms with what had happened. When they were ready to restart playing, the postponed matches had to be shoehorned into a very short space of time, leaving the players with no chance for rest and recovery. Even so, no one could have expected or predicted the final day against Arsenal at Anfield, with Liverpool just needing to avoid losing by 2 or more goals to lift the title and make it another double for Dalglish. An emotionally and physically drained Liverpool were just unable to hold on and a last gasp Michael Thomas goal made it 2-0 to Arsenal to give George Graham's Gunners the title.

It is little wonder the Liverpool team were emotionally drained as the aftermath of Hillsborough took a massive toll on them all, but none more than Kenny Dalglish, who tried to attend as many of the funerals as possible himself, one day he even managed to attend 4 different ones. He also organised the team to ensure every funeral had at least one player there to represent the club: "We made sure somebody with Liverpool connections was at every funeral and I think the families really respected that. The boys weren't obtrusive in any way, they sat back and let the families get on with the grieving but they were there, their presence was there." The disaster affected him deeply and he never even spoke publicly about it until March 2009, when he admitted his regret that the police and the FA had not considered delaying the kick-off to give fans time to get into the stadium in an orderly fashion.

"They supported Liverpool. Now it is the turn of Liverpool Football Club to support them." - Kenny Dalglish in the days after Hillsborough.

The following season it seemed, on the outside, that things were returning to normal as Liverpool won their third league title under Dalglish. There were some outstanding performances, such as the 9-0 demolition of Crystal Palace. Though the Eagles did get their revenge later that season by winning 4-3 in extra time of the FA Cup semi-final. Despite not appearing at all in the league in the previous season, Dalglish did sub himself on against Derby County on 5th May 1990 for his final ever Liverpool league appearance at the age of 39. As well as his 3rd league title, Kenny also won his third Manager of the Year award.

While outwardly all was fine, inwardly the stress of dealing with the third football tragedy he had been unfortunate enough to be in attendance at, was telling on Dalglish. It all got too much for the King of the Kop after seeing his LFC side lose the lead 4 times to Everton at Goodison Park to draw 4-4 in an FA Cup 5th round tie. Two days later, on 22nd February 1991 Dalglish quit. He had told the board he needed a break but they were reluctant to consider allowing him to have the rest he needed. Instead the board accepted Dalglish's resignation, something that set LFC back years. Liverpool were 3 points clear at the top of the league, as well as still being in the FA Cup, at the time Dalglish left.

Liverpool's loss was Blackburn Rovers gain as, after a few months off to recharge the batteries, Kenny missed football too much to stay away and he took charge of Rovers in October, who were then in the second tier. By the turn of the year, they were top of the table. They did suffer a dip in form, which saw them drop down the placings but they recovered to qualify for the play-offs and beat Leicester City in the final to return to the English top flight for the first time since 1966.

Their owner and benefactor, Jack Walker, who had brought Dalglish to the club, bankrolled a spending spree as Rovers broke the British record transfer fee with the £3.5m arrival of Alan Shearer from Southampton ahead of the 1992-93 season. Unfortunately, the new man suffered a serious injury that ruled him out for half of the season, but Rovers still managed to finish in 4th on their first season back in the big time. Dalglish looked to strengthen ahead of the next season, bringing in England international duo Tim Flowers and David Batty, but failing to get Roy Keane. Rovers finished the season in second behind Manchester United.

The transfer record was shattered again ahead of the following season as £5m was spent on Chris Sutton to create what became known as the SAS partnership up front. Going into the final game of the season, both Rovers and Man Utd could still lift the title, with Rovers set to travel to Dalglish's former home Anfield to face Liverpool, while the Red Devils were travelling down south to take on West Ham United. All thoughts of Liverpool doing their legend a favour went out the window as Rovers were beaten 2-1, but they still won the title as Man Utd failed to get the win they needed against the Hammers. Dalglish was just the 4th manager ever to win the English top flight with 2 different clubs, following on from another former Liverpool manager in Tom Watson, Herbert Chapman and Brian Clough.

That June, immediately after the euphoria around Rovers had settled down, Dalglish stepped down as manager and took up a role as director of football at the club. His assistant Ray Harford took charge in his place, but it was not a success and they both left soon after. Kenny then had a very brief spell as an international talent scout at his boyhood club Rangers, where is reported to have been instrumental in the signing of Chile international Sebastian Rozental.

January 1997, Dalglish was back in management, inheriting Newcastle United from Kevin Keegan, but under very different circumstances from the way Keegan had been able to operate. Gone were the days of big spending, which meant that the team he inherited in 4th place and led to finish second, had to be dismantled in the summer, despite qualifying for the Champions League. Forced to break up the team, which Keegan had walked out rather than do, Dalglish sold fan favourites such as Peter Beardsley, Lee Clark, Les Ferdinand and David Ginola and replaced them with a mixed bunch. The new players were either ageing (and cheap) veterans such as John Barnes, Ian Rush and Stuart Pearce or young with potential, such as Des Hamilton, Gary Speed and Shay Given. The Toon finished the season in 13th and then started the 1998-99 season with 2 draws, which was enough to put an end to Dalglish's reign there.

With a bit of time on his hands now, Dalglish headed over to Darlington to help out his old teammate David Hodgson by doing a bit of coaching for him. Then Darlo goalkeeper David Preece said afterwards that, even though he was 47 years old, he was still a class above his teammates! In fact, Hodgson at one point had to take the players aside to tell them that they could not be expected to be able to use shadows to judge opposition player's positions to give them an edge, like Dalglish was trying to teach them to do. A few months later Preece got a move to Aberdeen and met Kenny, who was now working as director of football operations at Celtic, as he was going out to warm up. With a broad grin on his face, Dalglish said to him: "See Preecey, son. A couple of training sessions with me and you get a move. I'm not bad, am I?"

Dalglish's spell as director of football operations at Celtic was short-lived. John Barnes had been appointed head coach under him but was what can only be termed a disaster. In February 2000 he took over from Barnes as manager and went on to win the Scottish League Cup. Despite that, in June 2000, a year after his appointment as director, he was sacked as new manager Martin O'Neill did not want to work with a director of football. It led to a brief legal battle and Celtic ended up paying a £600,000 settlement to Kenny.

Once again his life was turned upside down in 2003, when Dalglish's wife Marina was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was treated and recovered, but the pair launched the Marina Dalglish Appeal in 2005 to raise money for cancer treatment equipment for UK hospitals. The charity has since gone on to raise millions and continues to do so to this day.

The king was finally back in his kingdom in April 2009 as Rafa Benitez invited him to take a role at the academy. The appointment was confirmed by the club in July and he was also given a role as club ambassador. It was to be Rafa's last season as manager and, when Benitez was sacked in June 2010, Dalglish is asked to advise the club in its search for a new manager. The very first name he puts forward is his own. He was not chosen, but was brought in as caretaker manager by new owners New England Sports Ventures (later to become Fenway Sports Group) after the chosen man Roy Hodgson was sacked in January 2011.

He began his spell as interim manager with a 1-0 defeat against bitter rivals Manchester United in the 3rd round of the FA Cup at Old Trafford. Liverpool, who had looked to be facing a relegation battle under Hodgson, lost their next game, a Premier League match against Blackpool. Despite the results, Dalglish publicly confirmed his desire to take on the role on a permanent basis once again. A week later, new Liverpool chairman Tom Werner stated that NESV were in favour of Kenny taking over on a permanent basis. Despite still being a caretaker, Dalglish was able to bring in Andy Carroll from Newcastle United and Luis Suarez from Ajax in a deadline day double deal, to replace star striker Fernando Torres, who had headed off to Chelsea.

After stabilising Liverpool in the league in the second half of the season, Dalglish was appointed permanent manager in May 2011. However, the 2011-12 season was clouded over by Luis Suarez's actions in October. The Uruguayan was accused of racially abusing Patrice Evra. After Suarez promised he had not done so, Dalglish and the squad stood behind Suarez, making the mistake of wearing t-shirts in support of him at the next match. Suarez then went on Uruguayan TV and told them he had abused Evra, admitting that he had responded to the French player using a racial slur against South Americans in Spanish by calling him the N word repeatedly. That led to embarrassment for Dalglish and Liverpool and Kenny was reprimanded for backing Suarez so publicly.

Liverpool did win their first trophy for 6 years, the League Cup, and reached the FA Cup final, but could only finish 8th in the league. Suarez had continued to be a problem, refusing to shake Evra's hand in the return Premier League fixture, despite having promised to do so. In the end, Dalglish's inability to control Suarez led to his dismissal as manager on 16th May 2012. He was not long away from the club, returning in October 2013 as a non-executive director.

Dalglish's influence still continues to be felt in football, as he, at least according to Andrea Radrizzani himself anyway, started Radrizzani on the path to buying Leeds United when the pair met at a social gathering ahead of a European Champions League quarter final between Man City and PSG: "It was a casual chat at lunch with friends, it was my first time meeting him," says Radrizzani. "We were talking about many things and for two minutes we talked about Leeds, the sleeping giant, the opportunity for someone coming here. He mentioned about the great opportunity if someone had a concrete project with a vision to bring back the passion. He also mentioned about how the city is passionate about the club and this is what I'm finding out."

To read Part 11 - Uncle Joe please click HERE

Written by Tris Burke July 20 2025 12:16:45