Kenny Dalglish - Misplaced Pages

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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.

More recently, Dalglish has also enjoyed success as a club manager: he is one of only three people to have won the English League Championship as a manager with two different clubs. He was also the first man to win 100 caps for Scotland and won a total of 102 caps. With 30 goals, he holds the scoring record for his country jointly with Denis Law.

Playing career

Dalglish grew up supporting Rangers. Though born in Dalmarnock in the East End of Glasgow, he was brought up in the docklands of Govan, just a stone's throw from Ibrox.

He wanted to join his idols at Rangers, but the call never came. He had trials at Liverpool and West Ham, but they came to nothing. And so it was that Dalglish, the Protestant son of an engineer, found himself playing for the Catholic team Celtic, age-old fierce Old Firm rivals of Rangers.

His signing, on a provisional contract in July 1967, was not without amusement. Jock Stein, the legendary Celtic manager, had 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 posters on his wall, posters of his boyhood Rangers idols! Dalglish was farmed out to a Celtic nursery side, Cumbernauld United, and he also worked as an apprentice joiner. By the following year he had turned professional and was a regular member of a Celtic reserve team so good it was known as the Quality Street Gang.

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. Stein took a great interest in Dalglish, recognising his potentially outstanding talent. Eventually he gave him his chance in a benefit match. The result was Celtic 7 Kilmarnock 2. Dalglish scored six of the Celtic goals.

By 1972-73 Dalglish was Celtic's leading marksman with a seasonal tally of 41 goals in all competitions. And that Dalglish trademark of shielding the ball with his back to the goal had emerged. 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. Celtic failed to win a trophy for the first time in 12 years.

He had been a full Scotland international for six years, making his debut as a substitute in the 1-0 victory over Belgium in November 1971. He went to the

in West Germany, but did not play well. Scotland were eliminated at the group stage, even though they were undefeated. That spring of 1977 he had scored in Scotland's 2-1 victory over England at Wembley.

He moved to Liverpool in 1977, for a then-record £440,000 transfer fee, to replace Kevin Keegan, who left to play for Hamburg in Germany. In his first season, Dalglish scored the winning goal in the European Cup final, against the Belgian side Club Brugge. 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 in a period stretching to the mid-1980s.

He went on to play in both the

in Argentina, scoring against the Netherlands, and the

in Spain, scoring against New Zealand. In total he played 102 times for Scotland (a national record) and scored 30 goals (also a national record, shared with Denis Law).

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 victory 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.

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, his last act being a confidence vote in future homegrown talents like Steve McManaman and his last signing, youngster Jamie Redknapp. Dalglish departed with his side still ranked as Champions, and as the dominating force of the English game for the past two decades- time Dalglish was very much at the fore of all that the club was achieving right. Dalglish's parting gift to the club was the legacy he had left behind.

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.

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. Since leaving Celtic, despite occasional rumours that he might return to management, he has not done so.

Playing record

1969-1977 Celtic 324 games, 167 goals
1977-1990 Liverpool 511 games, 172 goals (player-manager from 1985-1990)

Honours

4 Scottish Championships 1971/72, 1972/73, 1973/74, 1976/77

4 Scottish Cups 1971/72, 1973/74, 1974/75, 1976/77

1 Scottish League Cup 1974/75

7 English Championships 1978/79, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1985/86, 1987/88

1 FA Cup 1986 (as player/manager)

4 English League Cups 1980/81, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84

3 European Cups 1977/78, 1980/81, 1983/1984

1 European Super Cup 1977

Awards

PFA Players' Player of the Year 1983

Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year 1979, 1983

Inaugural Inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame, 2002

Scotland: 30 goals in 102 international caps (both national records)

Member of the Scotland Football Hall of Fame

Member of the FIFA 100

Freedom of the City of Glasgow 1986.

Managerial record

Liverpool 1985-1991
Blackburn Rovers 1991-1996
Newcastle United 1997-1998
Celtic (caretaker manager) Feb-May 2000

English First Division Championship/Premiership 1985/86, 1987/88, 1989/90, 1994/95

FA Cup 1986, 1989

Promotion to the Premiership in 1991/92 (defeated Leicester City 1-0 in play-off)

Scottish League Cup 2000

External links

Preceded byKenny Burns	Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year 1979	Succeeded byTerry McDermott
Preceded bySteve Perryman	Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year 1983	Succeeded byIan Rush
Preceded byKevin Keegan	PFA Players' Player of the Year 1983	Succeeded byIan Rush
Preceded byDon Mackay	Blackburn Rovers F.C. Manager 1991-1996	Succeeded byRay Harford
Preceded byTerry McDermott(caretaker)	Newcastle United F.C. Manager 1997-1998	Succeeded byRuud Gullit

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