Kenny Dalglish

Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE (born 4 March 1951) is a former Scottish footballer and current manager of Liverpool. Throughout his 20-year career, he played for just two teams, Scottish Premier League club Celtic for eight years and English Premier Leagueside Liverpool for twelve years. Dalglish is known for his successes at both teams; most notably winning the European Cup with Liverpool on 3 occasions, in 1978, 1981 and 1984. In 2009, he was named by FourFourTwo football magazine as the greatest post-war British striker,and he was placed first in Liverpool's list of "100 Players Who Shook the Kop". Having made 102 appearances, Dalglish is the mostcapped player in the history of the Scottish national team. He and Denis Law also share the record for most goals for Scotland, with 30 strikes each.

Dalglish began his career as a youth player at Celtic and broke into the first team in 1971, becoming a prolific striker for the club. He was made the team captain in 1975 and between 1971 and 1977 he won four Scottish First Division titles, four Scottish Cups and one Scottish League Cup. His performances led to call-ups for the national team; he was part of the undefeated 1974 FIFA World Cup Scotland team which was knocked out in the first round of the world cup, and scored to bring victory over rivals England in both 1976 and 1977. Bob Paisleypaid £440,000 to bring Dalglish to Liverpool in 1977, a British record at the time.

His years at Liverpool marked one of the club's most successful periods: he won seven league titles, three European Cups and five domestic cups. He also played for Scotland in the 1978 and 1982 World Cups. By the time his career had wound down in the late 1980s, Dalglish had set Scottish records for international appearances and goals, and become one of the most successful strikers in Liverpool's history. Dalglish became player-manager of Liverpool in 1985 following the Heysel Stadium Disaster and brought the team a league and FA Cup double in his first year, beating Merseyside rivals Everton in the process. During his six-year tenure, Liverpool always finished either first or second in the league. He guided them to three league wins and two FA Cups from 1985–1991.

He joined Blackburn Rovers in 1991 and, through Jack Walker's patronage, he turned the Second Division side to Premier League winners, breaking transfer fee records along the way. His move to Newcastle United in 1997 was less successful. Although he finished as Premier League runner-up in 1996–97, the team's league performance the following season was lacklustre and he was sacked by Freddie Shepherdat the start of the 1998–99 season. He was appointed Director of Football at Celtic in 1999 but a brief stint as caretaker manager ended in an acrimonious departure the following year. There followed a period of ten years during which he kept away from football management and instead focused on charitable concerns, founding The Marina Dalglish Appeal with his wife to raise money for cancer care. However, on 8 January 2011, Dalglish became Liverpool's manager, after the departure of Roy Hodgson.

Playing Career

Early career

Dalglish, the son of an engineer, grew up supporting Rangers. Though born in Dalmarnock in the East End of Glasgow, he was brought up in Milton in the north of Glasgow and moved to the docklands of Govan, near Ibrox, home of Rangers, when he was 15.

Dalglish attended Milton Bank Primary School in Milton and started out as a goalkeeper. Frank McAvennie, another well known footballer, also grew up in the same area and attended the same school. He was attending High Possil Senior Secondary School where he won the inter schools 5-a-side and the inter year 5-a-side competitions when he appeared for the Scotland under-15s in a fixture against their Northern Irish counterparts, playing outfield as a right-half, scoring twice. Dalglish played for Glasgow Schoolboys and Glasgow Schools (winning the Scottish Cup), and was then selected for the Scottish schoolboys team, where they enjoyed an undefeated run to win the home nations Victory Shield tournament.

He had trials at West Ham (twice) and notably at Liverpool, but they came to nothing. Dalglish instead signed for Celtic, age-old Old Firm rivals of his childhood club, Rangers.

Celtic

His signing, on a provisional contract in May 1967, was not without amusement. Jock Stein, the legendary Celtic manager, sent his assistant Sean Fallon to see Dalglish and his parents at their home. Hearing that Fallon was at the door, Dalglish raced to his bedroom and frantically tore down the Rangers posters on his bedroom walls. In his first season Dalglish was farmed out to a Celtic nursery side, Cumbernauld United for whom he scored 37 goals during the 1967–68 season. He also worked as an apprentice joiner.

By the following year he had turned fully professional and was a regular member of a Celtic reserve team so highly rated it was known as the Quality Street Gang, due to its unparalleled production of future Scottish internationals: the legendary Danny McGrain, George Connelly, Lou Macari, David Hay and, of course, Dalglish himself.

Dalglish made his first team competitive debut coming on from the bench for Charlie Gallagher in Scottish League Cup quarter-final tie at Hamilton Academical at Douglas Park on 25 September 1968; he helped Celtic to a 4–2 victory.

It took Dalglish three years to establish himself in the first team. At that time Celtic were not only the best team in Scotland, they had become the first British team to win the European Cup after beating Inter Milan 2–1 at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon. Stein took a great interest in Dalglish, recognising his potentially outstanding talent. Eventually he gave him his chance in a benefit match for Kilmarnock defender Frank Beattie at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock on 14 May 1971. The result was 7–2 to Celtic, with Dalglish scoring six of the Celtic goals in a superlative performance.

The 1971–72 season saw Dalglish score his first goal for Celtic. It came via the penalty spot in the 2–0 Scottish League Cup tie win over Rangers at Ibrox on 14 August 1971. He went on to amass 23 league and cup goals in just 49 appearances by the end of the season.

By 1972–73, Dalglish was Celtic's leading marksman with a seasonal tally of 41 goals in all competitions. Dalglish was made Celtic captain in 1975–76, but it was a miserable year. Stein was badly hurt in a car crash and missed most of the season, and Celtic failed to win a trophy for the first time in 12 years.

He had been a full Scotland international for six years by the time he decided to leave Celtic. Tommy Docherty gave him his debut as a substitute in the 1–0 Euro '72 qualifier victory overBelgium on the 10 November 1971 at Pittodrie. He scored his first goal for the Scots a year later on the 15 November 1972 in the 2–0 World Cup qualifier win over Denmark at Hampden Park. Scotland eventually qualified and he went to the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany. Scotland were eliminated at the end of group stages, even though they were undefeated.

In 1976 he scored the winning goal for Scotland at Hampden Park against England when he put the ball through Ray Clemence's legs. A year later he scored against the same opponents and goalkeeper at Wembley in another 2–1 win.

On 10 August 1977, after 269 appearances and 167 goals, an average of a goal every 1.6 games, for the Hoops, Dalglish moved to Bob Paisley's Liverpool for a British record £440,000 transfer fee. He was bought as a replacement for Kevin Keegan who had left the club to play for Hamburg.

His departure was a huge blow for Celtic and was extremely unpopular with the fans. It also highlighted the widening financial gap between Scottish and English clubs. When Dalglish returned in August 1978 to play in Stein's testimonial, he was greeted as a traitor and booed by a large element of the Celtic supporters.

Liverpool

The Liverpool support had reservations about Dalglish's ability to replace Keegan, but they had no need to worry as Dalglish quickly settled in at his new club. Dalglish made his debut, wearing Keegan's famous number seven shirt, in the season opener at Wembley, the Charity Shield, on 13 August 1977 against Manchester United. The sides shared the shield as the game finished as a draw. He scored his first goal in his league debut a week later on 20 August, when Liverpool went to Ayresome Park to face Middlesbrough with Dalglish's seventh minute goal earning the Reds a 1–1 draw. He also scored on his Anfield debut three days later on 23 August. With the half-time score at 0–0, Dalglish scored in the first minute of the second period to set the Reds up for a 2–0 victory over Newcastle United. He also scored Liverpool's sixth goal when they crushed Kevin Keegan's Hamburg 6–0 in the second leg of the1977 UEFA Super Cup final.

At the end of his first season, Dalglish had played 62 times, scoring 31 goals. These included the winning goal in the 1978 European Cup final at Wembley against Belgian side Bruges, when he latched onto a through ball by fellow Scot Graeme Souness and calmly chipped the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper. He went on to become arguably the most influential member of the most successful club team in English football history, winning further League Championships and European Cups for Liverpool during a period (stretching to the mid-1980s) when the club dominated both domestic and European football.

He went on to play in both the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, scoring against the Netherlands in the famous 3–2 win, and the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain, scoring against New Zealand. On both occasions Scotland failed to get past the group stage. In total, Dalglish played 102 times for Scotland (a national record) and scored 30 goals (also a national record, shared with Denis Law despite Law having only 55 caps).

In April 1980, Liverpool paid £300,000 for Ian Rush, an 18-year-old Chester striker. After he had made the breakthrough into the first team, Rush thrived alongside Dalglish. The pair's goals helped the Anfield club win the League championship and a 3–1 League Cup final win over Tottenham Hotspur in which Rush scored a goal a minute from the end of extra time. A year earlier, Dalglish had himself scored in the 1981 Football League Cup Final.

Dalglish was voted PFA Player of the Year for the 1982–83 season.

Dalglish was an ever present in his first three league campaigns at Liverpool, his second campaign (1978-79) being his personal best at the club with 21 league goals. He did not miss a league game for Liverpool until the 1980-81 season, when he appeared in 34 out of 42 league games and scored just eight goals as Liverpool finished fifth in the league but still managed to win the European Cup and Football League Cup. He recovered his goalscoring touch the following season and was an ever present once again, scoring 13 goals as Liverpool were league champions for the 13th time - and the third time since Dalglish's arrival. 18 league goals came from Dalglish in 1982-83 as Liverpool retained their title, but after this stage his goalscoring record became less prolific as Ian Rush became Liverpool's practically uncontested top goalscorer. However, Dalglish did remain a regular player, despite the arrival of youngLuton Town striker Paul Walsh at the start of the 1984-85 season.

After becoming player-manager on the retirement of Joe Fagan in the 1985 close season, Dalglish selected himself for just 21 First Division games in 1985-86 as Liverpool won the double, but he started the FA Cup final win over Everton wearing the famous number 7 shirt ahead of Walsh, who did not even make the substitute's bench.

On the final day of the league season, his goal for the Reds in a 1-0 away win over Chelsea gave them their 16th top division title.

He had a personally better campaign in the 1986-87 season, this time scoring six goals from just 18 league appearances, but he was now firmly committed to giving younger players priority for a first team place. With the sale of Ian Rush to Juventus in the 1987 close season, Dalglish chose to form a new striker partnership of new signings John Aldridge and Peter Beardsley for the 1987-88, during which he played just twice in a league campaign which saw Liverpool seal their 17th title. He did not participate as a player in their 1988-89 league campaign, but made his first league appearance in two years on 5 May 1990 when, two months into his 40th year, he came on as a substitute against Derby County F.C., after which he finally retired from playing.

Manager Career

Liverpool

After the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 in which 39 Juventus supporters died when a wall collapsed, and in the wake of the resignation of manager Joe Fagan, Dalglish became player-manager of the Anfield club and guided them to the club's first ever "double" by the end of his first season in charge, 1985–86. Liverpool achieved the historic feat by winning the League Championship by two points over Merseyside rivals Everton (Dalglish actually scored the winner in a 1–0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to secure the title on the final day of the season) and the FA Cup, beating derby rivals Everton 3–1 in the first ever all-Merseyside FA Cup Final.

The following season was trophy-less as Liverpool lost their league title to Everton, lost to Arsenal in the League Cup final and were knocked out of the FA Cup by underdogs Luton Town. Over a 15 year period, it was only the third time the Reds had ended the season without winning either the league title or one of the domestic or European cups.

Liverpool topped the league for almost the whole season in 1987–88, although Dalglish's appearances were becoming increasingly rare after he signed Peter Beardsley from Newcastle. Alongside Beardsley, he signed John Aldridge from Oxford United, who replaced the Juventus-bound Rush. He also added winger John Barnes from Watford and Oxford United midfielderRay Houghton to the likes of Alan Hansen, Ronnie Whelan, Steve McMahon, Mark Lawrenson and Steve Nicol. They had a successful run of 37 matches unbeaten in all competitions from the beginning of the season (29 in the league, 22 wins and 7 draws). The run began on the 15 August 1987 and was ended by Merseyside rivals Everton, who beat them by a single goal at Goodison Park on 21 February 1988. They were crowned champions with four games left to play, having suffered just two defeats from 40 games. However, despite being favourites in the 1988 FA Cup Final, they were denied a second double by an unfancied Wimbledon side.

Dalglish guided Liverpool to victory over Everton in the second all-Merseyside F.A Cup final in 1989, but they squandered the chance of a second double in literally the last minute of thefinal game of the season. A shot by future Liverpool player Michael Thomas gave Arsenal the 2–0 victory they needed at Anfield and the league title went to the north Londoners on the basis that Arsenal had scored more goals, with the goal difference and number of points being the same. Dalglish's son Paul had been Liverpool's mascot for the game.

In the 1989–90 season Liverpool won their third league title of their first five seasons under Dalglish's management. It came after a late surge by Aston Villa had knocked them off the top of the table in April, but a strong run during the final weeks of the season saw Dalglish's men win the title by nine points. 1989-90 was also the season that saw the 38-year-old Dalglish play the final game of his career, when he came on as a 71st minute sub for Jan Mølby in Liverpool's final home game of the season against Derby County on 1 May 1990. Dalglish also received his third Manager of the year award.

Dalglish was in charge of the club at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, on 15 April 1989 at the beginning of the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest. The tragedy claimed 94 lives on the day, with the final death toll reaching 96. Dalglish won many admirers for his dignity during this tragedy. He attended many of the funerals as did the other Liverpool players. He is still well-regarded by Liverpool supporters for this reason, as well as for his on-field successes. He resigned as manager of Liverpool (on health grounds) on 22 February 1991, his last act being a confidence vote in future homegrown talents Steve McManaman, Mike Marsh, and his last signing, youngster Jamie Redknapp. Stating he wished to retire from football, Dalglish left Liverpool FC in 1991, with the club defending their title and still in contention for both the league title and the FA Cup.

Dalglish's Liverpool record ended with: 515 appearances, 172 goals, 307 as manager, 8 League Championships, 2 FA Cup wins, 3 European Cup wins, 4 League Cup wins, 1 European Super Cup win, and 5 Charity Shield wins. He also won a Football Writers` Footballer of the Year award, a PFA player of the year award, and three Manager of the Year awards.

Blackburn Rovers

After stating that he was taking an extended break from football, Dalglish surprised fans by returning to management eight months after leaving Liverpool, in October 1991, with Second Division Blackburn Rovers, who he led into the Premier League by beating Leicester City 1–0 in the Second Division Play-off final at Wembley. The resulting promotion meant that Blackburn were back in the top flight of English football for the first time since 1966.

When Sheffield Wednesday manager Ron Atkinson departed to Aston Villa in June 1991, Dalglish was offered the job to manage Sheffield Wednesday but rejected it as he felt unable to work at Hillsborough after witnessing the tragedy there two years earlier. [10]

The club were owned by steel tycoon Jack Walker who paid Dalglish very well, and also made large sums available to him, thus allowing Blackburn to compete financially with the wealthiest and biggest teams in England, such as Arsenal and Manchester United. In 1992, Dalglish signed Southampton's Alan Shearer for a British record fee of £3.5 million. Shearer helped Dalglish's newly promoted Rovers to fourth position in the first year of the new Premier League. Despite Blackburn's wealth, Dalglish often found it hard to attract big name players to the club, leading to great frustration on his part. The failure to sign Roy Keane was one example: Dalglish and Keane had a verbal agreement but Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson convinced him to join his team instead. Keane recalled that Dalglish was furious at him for the decision, and even threatened to sue.

The club finished two positions higher the following season, as runners-up to Manchester United. United had peaked with a 16-point lead over their nearest rivals by the new year, but Blackburn had drawn level on points with United by early April after the leaders had dropped points in several crucial games in early spring. However, Blackburn then began to drop points as United recovered their form and United finished champions by a seven-point margin, delaying Blackburn's title dream for another season.

By this time, Dalglish had added England internationals Tim Flowers and David Batty to his growing squad.

The 1994–95 season saw Dalglish again break the transfer record, paying Norwich City £5 million for Chris Sutton who along with Shearer formed a formidable striking partnership. He had now spent over £27 million putting together a squad that could make a serious challenge for the Premier League Championship. The challenge came and by the last game of the season both Blackburn and Manchester United were pushing for the title. Blackburn had to go to Dalglish's former club, Liverpool, with United having to go to East London to face West Ham United at Boleyn Ground. At the final whistle, Dalglish was able to celebrate: even though Blackburn had lost the game 2–1, news that Manchester United had failed to get the result they needed had filtered through to him via radios in the crowd.

The title meant that Dalglish had been part of nine championship winning sides and the title win also sent Dalglish into the record books once again, being only the third manager in the history of the game to lead two different clubs to league championships, Herbert Chapman (Arsenal and Huddersfield Town) and Brian Clough (Derby County and Nottingham Forest) being the others.

After winning the Premier League, Dalglish became Director of Football on 25 June 1995, with Ray Harford taking over as Blackburn's manager. As the team's fortunes began to slide – particularly in the Champions' League – questions arose about the precise nature of Dalglish's involvement with the club. He parted company with Blackburn, by 'mutual consent', at the end of the following season, almost immediately after the departure of Alan Shearer, whom he had advised to go to Newcastle. However, Dalglish left a legacy at Blackburn – a talent-spotting system which focused on young and talented Irish footballers who were brought to the Brockhall training ground, one of the best in England, for training and development.

Newcastle United

On 14 January 1997, Dalglish was appointed manager of Newcastle United, on a three and a half year contract, inheriting a squad of players reputed, by previous manager Kevin Keegan, to be the best the club had ever had. From a starting point of fourth place in the Premier League on the exit of Keegan, Dalglish guided the club to a runner-up finish come May and a place in the new format of the following season's UEFA Champions League. However, the 1997–98 campaign only saw the team end up in 13th place. Many have claimed that the players Dalglish signed in the pre-season did not live up to those that he inherited from Keegan, while others reflect upon the long term injury of Alan Shearer to be the biggest woe he faced. But for all the domestic woes, 1997–98 brought Dalglish some of his finest moments as manager of Newcastle United, including the famous 3–2 Matchday 1 UEFA Champions League win over Barcelona, and the defeat of Sheffield United by one goal to nil at the semi-final stage of the FA Cup. However, Newcastle could only manage a 2-0 loss to Arsenal in the Final. Dalglish was sacked by Freddie Shepherd, who had only hired him twenty months previously, after two draws in the opening two games of the subsequent 1998-1999 season (namely, against Charlton and with one goal apiece in an away fixture to Chelsea, respectively), in favour of former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit.

Dalglish expressed his enforced departure as his only regret of his time on Tyneside, having hitherto rebuilt the reserve side scrapped by predecessor Keegan and signed a number of players, including Nolberto Solano, Gary Speed and Shay Given, who would remain fixtures of the team into the 2000s. However, Dalglish also made less successful signings such asStephane Guivarc’h.

Celtic

In June 1999 he was appointed Director of Football at Celtic, with his former Liverpool signing John Barnes appointed as head coach. Barnes was sacked in February 2000 and Dalglish was appointed manager, and he guided them to the Scottish League Cup final where they beat Aberdeen 2–0 at Hampden Park. He left the club shortly after, paving the way forMartin O'Neill to usher in a new period of Celtic dominance in Scottish football.

Dalglish was unhappy with the departure and Celtic's termination of his contract. He had recommended previous manager Barnes to the club and offered himself as a replacement manager should the young Barnes not succeed in the role. In spite of the termination of his contract, Dalglish vowed to stay on as Director of football. After a brief legal battle, Dalgish accepted Celtic's settlement offer of £600,000.

After leaving Celtic Dalglish was linked with a number of managerial vacancies, including those at Preston North End (March 2002), Liverpool (May 2004) and the Scottish national team (November 2004). In May 2007, he was linked with the managerial vacancy at Sheffield United following Neil Warnock's resignation, but the job went to Bryan Robson instead.

Return to Liverpool

In April 2009 Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez approached Dalglish about the possibility of a return to his former club, with discussion that he could return with a role in the club's youth academy. This appointment was confirmed on 3 July 2009, and he is also the club's ambassador.

When Benitez departed as manager on 3 June 2010, Dalglish was asked to help the club find his replacement. Dalglish was then heavily linked with the post himself, an idea that won strong support among former players and fans. Speculation linking him to the post was ended on 1 July when the job went to Fulham's Roy Hodgson.

However, a dismal start to the 2010-11 season led to Liverpool fans chanting for the return of Dalglish as manager on 3 October 2010, as the Reds fell to a 2-1 home defeat by newly-promoted Blackpool which left them third from bottom in the Premier League after seven games. With no real improvement in Liverpool's fortunes throughout the month (during which time the club has been taken over by New England Sports Ventures), calls for Dalglish's return as manager continued to be made. Notable individuals to have backed Dalglish to take over at Liverpool include legendary former Manchester United and Northern Ireland goalkeeper Harry Gregg, and former Liverpool defender Dominic Matteo.

With Liverpool entering 2011 still in the bottom half of the Premier League table on the back of a 1-0 home defeat by relegation threatened Wolverhampton Wanderers, support for Hodgson to be ousted and Dalglish to have a second spell as Liverpool manager has remained strong. It has also been rumoured that Dalglish could return as manager on a caretaker basis until the end of the season before receiving the job on a permanent basis or being succeeded by a new manager.

With a 3-1 defeat at Blackburn on 5 January 2011 leaving Liverpool 12th in the Premier League - a position which in the final table would give them their lowest finish since their current top flight spell began in 1962 - speculation about Hodgson's future as Liverpool manager continued to mount, as fans once more called for Hodgson to be sacked and replaced by Dalglish.

On 8 January 2011, Roy Hodgson and Liverpool parted ways via mutual consent, with Dalglish taking charge until the end of the season. His first game in charge will be against north west rivals Manchester United in the 3rd round of the FA cup on 9 January 2011, and his first league game in charge will be against Blackpool on 12 January 2011.

Personal Life

Dalglish is married to Marina. Dalglish's best man at his wedding is another ex professional footballer, Jim Donald of Queen of the South. The couple have four children: Kelly, Paul, Lynsey and Lauren. Kelly is now a correspondent for ESPN UK. Paul followed in his father's footsteps as a footballer, and managed FC Tampa Bay Rowdies until 23 September 2010, when he resigned with mutual consent after a 3-0 defeat against Montreal knocked them out of a playoff position.

Marina is a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed in March 2003 and has recovered well from the disease. In 2004, Kenny and Marina founded The Marina Dalglish Appeal to raise money for breast cancer funding. Paul and Lynsey both participated in the Liverpool 2004 run, Kenny participated in a Santa Claus Dash; while Aintree and the 1986 FA Cup FinalReplay also raised money. After three years' of fund-raising a new £2 million chemotherapy centre for Merseyside was opened at University Hospital Aintree. In recognition of her efforts, Marina Dalglish was awarded an MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list.

Dalglish often competes in the annual Gary Player Invitational tournament, a charity golfing event which raises money for children's causes around the world.

As part of the Paul Stretford Controversy, it was revealed that Dalglish was a shareholder of the Proactive agency and that people within his social circle had connections with criminals. He refused to make a statement to the police, or media, in response to claims he invited well known London gangster Sean 'Tommy' Adams to a business meeting in 2002.

Dalglish spoke on camera regarding the Hillsborough Disaster in March 2009, breaking a twenty-year silence on the event. Marking the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, he expressed regret that the police and the FA had not considered delaying the kick-off of the match; a move which could have averted the 96 deaths.