Kenny Dalglish

Kenneth "Kenny" Mathieson Dalglish MBE (born March 4, 1951, Dalmarnock, Glasgow, Scotland) is a former Scottish international football player. He was famous for his successes with Celtic in the 1970s and with the English club Liverpool in the 1970s and 1980s. He is widely-regarded as the greatest British player of his generation. A prolific goalscorer, he was the first to score 100 league goals in both the English and Scottish leagues.

Managerial career

After the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, in the wake of the resignation of manager Joe Fagan, Dalglish became player-manager of Liverpool. He coached them to their first-ever "double" — winning the League Championship (Dalglish actually scored the winner in a 1-0 vicory over Chelsea to secure the title on the final day of the season) and FA Cup in the same season — in his first season, 1985-86. He continued as manager when he retired as a player, winning the League again in 1987/88 and 1989/90, and the FA Cup in 1988/89.

Related Topics:
Heysel Stadium disaster - 1985 - Joe Fagan - Double - Chelsea - FA Cup

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dalglish was also in charge of the club at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, in the 1989 FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest. He won many admirers for his exemplary dignity during this tragedy, and is still well-regarded by Liverpool supporters for this reason as much as for his on-field successes; ultimately, though, the trauma took its toll on his health, and he resigned as manager of Liverpool in February 1991.

Related Topics:
Hillsborough disaster - Nottingham Forest

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dalglish returned to management in October 1991, with Blackburn Rovers, whom he led into the English Premiership in his first season. After winning the Premiership in 1995, Dalglish "moved upstairs" to become Director of Football at Blackburn; this was a largely-symbolic role that freed up his time for golf and TV punditry. He parted company with the club at the end of the following season.

Related Topics:
Blackburn Rovers - Premiership

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Spring 1997 he took control at a third top-flight English club, once again replacing the departing Kevin Keegan, this time as manager of Newcastle United. Despite an initially strong performance, Dalglish's dismantling of one of the most exciting footballing sides in the Premiership lost him the support of the fans, and he was sacked by Newcastle early in August 1998.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In June 1999 he was appointed as Director of Football at Celtic, with his former Liverpool player John Barnes appointed as Head Coach. The 'dream team' of Dalglish and Barnes turned into a nightmare which saw Celtic knocked out of the Scottish FA Cup by Inverness Caledonian Thistle and finish 21 points behind their arch-rivals Rangers in the Scottish Premier League. Barnes was sacked in February 2000 and Dalglish was appointed caretaker manager until the end of the season.

Related Topics:
Inverness Caledonian Thistle - Scottish Premier League

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~