Legends of club football – Kenny Dalglish

“I suppose above everything else when you try to assess Kenny’s importance you must talk about his attitude to the game. He just wanted to play football. He had tremendous skill and the ability to set the pace of the game for the other players around him. When I had to sell Kevin Keegan to Hamburg – and we didn’t have any choice because Kevin wanted to go to Europe – I didn’t think it would be possible to replace him. Yet we did it so easily by buying Kenny from Celtic. In many ways he was a better player for Liverpool than Kevin was. Kenny is a model professional and was the best buy we ever made – it’s as simple as that.”

- Words used by legendary Liverpool manager Bob Paisley for Kenny Dalglish. Paisley brought Dalglish to Liverpool from Celtic for a British transfer record of £440,000 to replace Kevin Keegan.

Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish was born on March 4, 1951 in Dalmarnock, in east of Glasgow, at a short distance from Celtic’s Parkhead. But his family soon moved to Milton, which was near Rangers training ground. He grew up supporting Rangers.

Dalglish’s football talent first came to the fore when he started playing for the YMCA boys’ team. He was selected for Scotland’s under-15 team and scored two goals in his debut game against Northern Ireland.

In 1966, eleven years before they ultimately signed him on a record transfer, Liverpool took 15-year-old Dalglish on a week-long trial. He played a game with the B-team against Southport.

Dalglish later described his experience and his immaturity back then, saying: “Liverpool wanted me to stay on a couple of days, but I told them that I needed a couple of days at home because I was going to West Ham for a trial at the weekend. The real reason was that Rangers were playing Celtic at Ibrox that night. I caught the train back up from Lime Street and went straight to the match.”

The highlight of the trial for Kenny was being given a lift back to hostel by then-Liverpool manager Bill Shankly. The youngster was in total awe of the legendary manager and felt too embarrassed to strike a conversation with him.

A few years later, when Dalglish began tearing up defences at Celtic, a furious Shankly ordered an inquest to find out why the player had been allowed to slip from the club’s grasp after being handed to them on a platter. After watching Dalglish play for Scotland Under-23s against their English counterparts in 1972, when asked to describe his performance, Shankly groaned “Don’t talk to me about Dalglish. The only man on the pitch. Christ, what a player!”

It was only after five years, in 1977, when Liverpool finally got the player. By then, Shankly had moved on, and Paisley had taken charge at the club. Dalglish arrived at Liverpool with a strong reputation at Celtic.

Dalglish wanted to join Rangers, the club he supported but he accepted an offer from Celtic, who had recently become the first British team to lift the European Cup, to join them in July 1967. He wanted to play for the first-team right away, but manager Jock Stein sent him on loan to Cumbernauld United for experience.

He played his first senior game for Celtic on September 25, 1968, as a substitute in a 4-2 win over Hamilton Academical in the Scottish League Cup.

Playing in the midfield, he was put in the first team in the game against Raith Rovers on October 4, 1969. Dalglish remembers being nervous before the game: “Bobby Murdoch sat down next to me while I was getting ready. He asked me whether I was nervous. ‘No’, I said, ‘I am all right, Bobby, thanks.’ ‘Well,’ he replied, ‘you are putting your boots on the wrong feet.’ I looked down and it was true. I had been tugging my right boot on my left foot. I sorted myself out and we won 7-1.”

Dalglish established himself in the Celtic first-team in the 1971-72 season. On August 14, 1971, in the Old Firm derby at Ibrox, he scored his first senior goal for Celtic. The team had been awarded a penalty, and Dalglish stepped ahead to take the responsibility to take the kick. He delayed his run-up to retie his shoe laces, with the crowd chanting against him, before calmly slotting the ball into the back of the net. This was the first of the 167 goals that he would go on and score for Celtic in 322 games.

He made his debut for the Scottish national side in a 1-0 win over Belgium on November 10, 1971 in a European Championship qualifier. He was a hero for the Celtic fans but preferred to keep a low profile while away from the game. He preferred the company of his girlfriend (and later wife) Marina to his teammates, and continued to stay with his parents.

Topping the goal-scoring charts at the club consistently, he was appointed as the Celtic captain in 1975-76 season. In 1977, when Liverpool moved to sign him, it wasn’t a surprise for his teammates, who expected him to test new pastures and evolve as a player.

He left Celtic after winning 4 League titles, 4 Scottish Cups and a League Cup. Celtic star Bobby Lennox continued to follow Dalglish’s career closely even after he left the club: “At the peak of his powers with Liverpool, Kenny was the best player in the world. Zico was around then and he was outstanding, but Kenny had everything. Kenny played every game of football as if it was his last.”

Liverpool had just won the European Cup that year, but needed to sign a player to replace Kevin Keegan, who had left to join Hamburg. Manchester United were also interested in signing Dalglish and offered more money.

Dalglish preferred to join Liverpool as there was no doubt in his mind that Anfield was where he wanted to be: “Bob told John Smith he wanted me. Old Bob would just pick the players he wanted to bring to Anfield and John Smith and Peter Robinson would sort out the deals. They were brilliant at deals. So I walked into the boardroom to meet my next employers. Bob was there as well because new players like to talk to the person who is going to be looking after them. They informed me that the two clubs had agreed a fee. We talked for a couple of minutes. After two years of wanting a move, it was all happening in minutes.”

Bill Shankly, who had been contacting Celtic every year to negotiate a transfer for Dalglish, was delighted to know that the purchase had finally been made and expressed surprise that Celtic had decided to sell him saying, “I understand that like Kevin Keegan, Dalglish wants to get on but I would have moved heaven and earth to keep him. I would rather have quit and got out of the game altogether than sold a player of his brilliance.”

On August 13, 1977, Dalglish played his first game for Liverpool in the Charity Shield against Manchester United. He made his League debut for the team against Middlesbrough.

Liverpool Echo described his performance in the game as: “The first goal of the game came appropriately enough from the £440,000 feet of Kenny Dalglish, what a start for Liverpool’s record buy. It stemmed from a lovely down the middle move as Case controlled the ball just inside the Boro half, flicked it through to McDermott who turned into the path of Dalglish. Boro looked for an offside decision which wasn’t there and Dalglish strode smoothly on to beat Platt comfortably as the goalkeeper came out. It was a perfectly finished shot to a fine move and the Liverpool players enveloped Dalglish in their congratulations for his opener.”

Dalglish made his Anfield debut against Newcastle three days later, and vividly remembers the game: “My Anfield debut came against Newcastle, who counted Tommy Craig, amongst their number. I had grown up with Wee Tam, playing Glasgow Schools, Scottish Schools and Scottish Youth with him. Before kick-off, I found Tam looking up at the sign that declares “This Is Anfield.” ‘How are you?,’ he asked. ‘I’m all right, I think,’ I told Tam, ‘but you see that sign there?’ ‘It’s supposed to frighten the opposition. I’m terrified by it and it’s my home ground.’”

Fortunately for him, he settled his nerves by scoring the first goal of the game. “The goal was at the Kop end and I nearly finished up in amongst them. Their appreciation was magnificent. It really touched me. That was the start of the relationship between the Kop and me. It was a special relationship, hard to articulate how strong the bond was.”

Dalglish seamlessly became a part of the all-conquering Liverpool side and ended his first season at the club as the top-scorer with 31 goals. The most memorable of the goals was the delicate chip over the goalkeeper to the secure the win over FC Bruges in the 1978 European Cup final.

Bob Paisley’s judgement to sign the player was reaping rewards already: “I’d seen Kenny playing for Scotland, watched him on television, and the more I saw of him the more I became convinced that he was what I called a Liverpool-type player. It was his attitude to the game. He wasn’t flashy. He did the simple things and he was consistent too. He was rarely out through injury either. His timing was immaculate and his head ruled his feet.”

With 56 goals in 116 games in his first two seasons at Liverpool, Dalglish became a media favourite, who voted him the Player of the Year in 1979. With the arrival of Ian Rush to Liverpool, Kenny found a very capable partner-in-crime and the duo formed a potent attack-force.

Along with scoring the goals, Dalglish also provided plenty of assists, and his performances won him the PFA Player of the Year award in 1983. Rush paid tribute to strike partner saying, “Kenny is Liverpool’s greatest ever player simply I played with him and he made a lot of my goals. He gave me the confidence that I needed. Whenever Kenny had the ball I always knew it was going to come to me.”

After the retirement of Joe Fagan in 1985 after the Heysel disaster, Dalglish became the first player-manager in England. He had agreed to take on the role on the condition that Paisley would assist him for the first two years. He secured the League and FA Cup double in his first season at the helm. He reduced his appearances on the field, preferring to give more chances to younger players.

Teammate Gary Gillespie quoted: “Kenny’s transition to manager was so smooth. He was amazing because he combined being your mate and being your boss at the same time. Not many more managers could pull that off and it was tricky sometimes because you didn’t know if he was talking to you as a mate or a boss.”

When Rush left to join Juventus, Dalglish rebuilt the Liverpool strike-force by signing John Aldridge, Peter Beardsley and John Barnes. The team enjoyed an excellent season and secured the league title with four games remaining.

The 1988-89 season saw the return of Ian Rush to Anfield, losing the league to Arsenal in the last game, but more significantly, the Hillsborough tragedy. Football lost its significance in comparison to loss of 96 lives in the disaster. Dalglish gave personal support to the families of the victims, and proactively took part in the “Justice for the 96” campaign that followed.

Liverpool regrouped to win the league in 1989-90, which would ultimately turn to be their last league triumph till date. After starting the 1990-91 season strongly, they lead the league at the turn of the year. On February 20, 1991, in the FA Cup game against Everton, Liverpool took the lead four times, only for the rivals to equalize each time. The game ended 4-4. The next day Dalglish informed the Liverpool board that he was quitting.

His famous words while announcing his resignation were: “This is the first time since I came to the club that I take the interest of Kenny Dalglish over Liverpool Football Club. This is not a sudden decision. The worst I could have done was not to decide. One could argue that this decision hadn’t come at a good time but there is no good time in cases like this. The main problem is the pressure I put on myself because of my strong desire to succeed.”

“The stress that comes right before and after games has got the better of me. Some might have difficulty understanding my decision but this decision stands. I would be betraying everyone if I wouldn’t let them know there is something wrong. I have been involved with football since I was 17. Twenty years with the two most successful teams in Britain, Celtic and Liverpool. I’ve been at the front all these years and it is time to end it.”

Dalglish wasn’t away from the game for long, and returned to manage Blackburn Rovers. He signed Alan Shearer for a British transfer record fee and guided the team to Premier League glory in the 1994-95 season. He went on to have managerial stints at Newcastle United and later at Celtic, both none as successful as his days at Liverpool.

In 2004, Kenny and his wife Marina founded “The Marina Dalglish Appeal” for raising money for cancer care. The initiative, along with Dalglish’s work for the Hillsborough justice campaign has got him a lot of appreciation.

In 2009, Rafael Benitez invited Dalglish to accept a role at Liverpool’s academy, and Dalglish was also announced as the club’s ambassador. Following the dismissal of Roy Hodgson as Liverpool manager, Dalglish stepped in to take the role of caretaking manager of the team.

On May 12, 2011, Dalglish was appointed the Liverpool manager on a 3-year contract. He spent heavily to develop a new-look team, however most of his big-money signings like Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing failed to impress, which lead to Dalglish getting a lot of flak for his purchases.

Liverpool won the League Cup that season, and also finished as runners-up in FA Cup. But the club owners felt that after the disappointing expensive signings and a disappointing league campaign, along with poor handling of the Luis Suarez racism saga, Dalglish’s position as Liverpool manager had become untenable and he was sacked on May 16, 2012.

The club supporters were disappointed to see their idol leave, but understood the need for change at the helm. Dalglish still actively follows the progress of Liverpool and can be often seen attending the games at Anfield.

Loved by the club fans and the players, Dalglish is also respected by his opponents. His arch-rival Sir Alex Ferguson has said of him: “Kenny had unbelievable vision and strength as a player. He was really aware of people around him. He had great balance and was a good finisher, courageous too. People often forget that the one quality great players need is courage. Kenny is as brave as a lion. He would take a kick from anyone and come back for more. Kenny is a man I shall always respect.”

Kenny’s tryst with the Kop could have begun as early as in 1966, but for every at Anfield, the 11 years gap, until 1977 when he finally joined the club and began his lifelong association, were well worth the wait.