Kenny Dalglish

Kenny Dalglish
Personal information
Full name Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish
Date of birth 4 March 1951 (1951-03-04) (age 58)
Place of birth    Glasgow, Scotland
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position Deep-lying forward (retired)
Club information
Current club Retired
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1969–1977
1977–1990		 Celtic
Liverpool		 204 (112)
515 (172)   
National team
1971–1986 Scotland 102 0(30)
Teams managed
1985–1991
1991–1995
1997–1998
2000		 Liverpool
Blackburn Rovers
Newcastle United
Celtic

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Kenneth Mathieson 'Kenny' Dalglish MBE (born 4 March 1951 in Dalmarnock, Glasgow) 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. A prolific goalscorer, he was the first to score 100 league goals in both the English and Scottish leagues. He placed at #1 in Liverpool's list of 100 Players Who Shook The Kop.[1]

Dalglish has also enjoyed success as a club manager: he is one of only three people to have won the Top Flight of the English League (Old Division one pre 1993, and the current FA Premier League) as a manager with two different clubs. He was also the first man to win 100 caps for Scotland (102 in total). With 30 goals, he holds the scoring record for his country jointly with Denis Law.

Contents

Playing career

Early career

Dalglish 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. He was a neighbour of Alex Ferguson - the current manager of Manchester United.

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 he was playing outfield as a right-half, scoring twice. He caught the eye of a journalist reporting for Sunday paper The People during his next game for the under-15s' game against England, the reporter was so impressed he wrote of Dalglish, "a brilliant ball player."

He had trials at West Ham (twice) and notably at Liverpool, but they came to nothing.[2] Dalglish, the son of an engineer, instead signed for Celtic, age-old Old Firm rivals of his childhood favourites, 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.[3] 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.[4]

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, 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 Celtic 7 Kilmarnock 2. Dalglish scored 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 over Belgium 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 '74 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 record £440,000 transfer fee. He was bought as a replacement for Kevin Keegan who had left the club to play for Hamburg in Germany.

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.[5]

Liverpool

The Liverpool support had reservations about Dalglish's ability to replace Keegan, but they did not need to worry as Dalglish quickly settled in at his new club. Dalglish made his debut, wearing Keegan's famous No.7 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 7th minute goal earning the Reds a 1 -1 draw. He also scored on his Anfield debut 3 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.

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 in a period stretching to the late-1980s.

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. Both times, the Scots failed to get past the group stage. In total he played 102 times for Scotland (a national record) and scored 30 goals (also a national record, shared with Denis Law).

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 the a goal a minute from the end of extra time.

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

Managerial career

Liverpool

After the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 in which 39 Juventus supporters died when rioting fans caused a wall to collapse (the second tragedy witnessed by Dalglish), 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 2 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 trophyless 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 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 exciting winger John Barnes from Watford and Oxford United midfielder Ray Houghton to the likes of Alan Hansen, Ronnie Whelan, Steve McMahon, Mark Lawrenson and Steve Nicol. They went on a run that saw them go 37 matches (29 in the league, 22 wins & 7 draws) unbeaten in all competitions from the beginning of the season. The run began on the 15 August 1987 and was ended by old foes Everton who beat them by a single goal at Goodison Park on 21 February 1988. They were eventually crowned champions with four games to play, having suffered just two defeats from 40 games, but were denied a unique second double by a shock defeat at the hands of Wimbledon in the FA Cup final.

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 the final 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 being the same.

1989-90 saw Liverpool win their third league title in 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 climbed 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 (purportedly 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. Dalglish departed with Liverpool still defending their title and still in contention for both the league title and the FA Cup.

Dalglish's Liverpool record reads: 515 appearances, 172 goals, 307 games in charge of the Reds, 8 League Championships, 2 FA Cup wins, 3 European Cup wins, 4 League Cup wins, 1 European Super Cup win, 5 Charity Shield wins, 1 Football Writers` Footballer of the Year award, 1 PFA player of the year award, and 3 Manager of the Year awards.

Blackburn Rovers

Dalglish returned to management in October 1991, with Second Division Blackburn Rovers, whom he led into the English Premier League by beating Leicester City 1-0 in the Second Division Play-off final at Wembley, the first time Blackburn had been in the top flight of English football since 1966.

The club were owned by steel tycoon Jack Walker who made large sums available to Dalglish, allowing Blackburn Rovers 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 £3.3 million.[6] Shearer helped Dalglish's newly promoted Rovers to fourth position in the first year of the new Premier League.

The club finished two positions higher the following season, as runners-up to Manchester United. By this time, Dalglish had added England internationals Tim Flowers and David Batty to his growing squad.

1994-95 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 £27¾ 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 Upton Park. Dalglish celebrated even though Rovers went 2-1 down to a late Redknapp winner. The news that Manchester United had failed to get the result they needed had filtered through to him via the radios in the crowd.

The title meant that Dalglish had been part of 9 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 Premiership, Dalglish became Director of Football on 25 June 1995 with Ray Harford taking over as manager of Blackburn. As the team's fortunes began to slide particularly in the Champions' League, questions arose about the precise nature of Dalglish's contribution to the cause. Dalglish parted company with Blackburn, by 'mutual consent', the end of the following season almost immediately after the departure of Alan Shearer whom he advised to go to Newcastle. However Dalglish left a legacy at Blackburn, a talent-spotting system which focussed 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 1997-1998 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, whilst 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.

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 caretaker manager until the end of the season, 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 for Martin O'Neill to usher in a new period of Celtic dominance in Scottish football.

Since leaving Celtic Dalglish has been 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. Eight years after his departure from Celtic, Dalglish has yet to make a return to management.

Family

Dalglish is married to Marina, who is a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed in March 2003 and has recovered well from the disease. The couple have four children: Kelly, Paul, also a professional footballer, Lynsey and Lauren.

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 in order to raise funds for the appeal. [1] Dalglish participated in a Santa Claus Dash which raised money for a cancer centre. Aintree and the 1986 FA Cup Final Replay also raised money for the Appeal.[2]

Dalglish and his wife Marina are friends with golfing great Gary Player and participate regularly in his Gary Player Invitational charity golf event to help raise money for childrens causes around the world.

Career statistics

Club

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Scotland League Scottish Cup Scottish League Cup Europe Total
1968-69 Celtic Division One 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
1969-70 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 4 0
1970-71 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 0
1971-72 31 17 4 1 8 5 7 0 50 23
1972-73 32 23 6 5 11 10 4 3 53 41
1973-74 33 18 6 1 10 3 7 2 56 24
1974-75 33 16 5 2 8 3 2 0 48 21
1975-76 Premier Division 35 24 1 1 10 4 5 3 51 32
1976-77 35 14 7 1 10 10 2 1 54 26
England League FA Cup Football League Cup Europe Total
1977-78 Liverpool First Division 42 20 1 1 9 6 9 4 61 31
1978-79 42 21 7 4 1 0 4 0 54 25
1979-80 42 16 8 2 7 4 2 0 59 22
1980-81 34 8 2 2 8 7 9 1 53 18
1981-82 42 13 2 2 10 5 6 2 60 22
1982-83 42 18 3 1 7 0 5 1 57 20
1983-84 33 7 0 0 8 2 9 3 50 12
1984-85 36 6 7 0 1 0 7 0 51 6
1985-86 21 3 6 1 2 1 - 29 5
1986-87 18 6 0 0 5 2 - 23 8
1987-88 2 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 0
1988-89 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 0
1989-90 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 0
Total Scotland 204 112 30 11 60 35 28 9 322 167
England 355 118 36 13 59 27 51 11 501 169
Career Total 559 230 66 24 119 62 79 20 823 336

International goals

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 15 November 1972 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark 1-0 2-0 WCQG8
2 16 May 1973 Hampden Park, Glasgow Ulster banner.svg Northern Ireland 1-2 1-2 BHC
3 27 March 1974 Waldstadion, Frankfurt Flag of Germany.svg West Germany 1-2 1-2 Friendly
4 14 May 1974 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of Wales 2.svg Wales 1-0 2-0 BHC
5 6 June 1974 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Flag of Norway.svg Norway 2-1 2-1 Friendly
6 30 October 1974 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany 3-0 3-0 Friendly
7 20 May 1975 Hampden Park, Glasgow Ulster banner.svg Northern Ireland 2-0 3-0 BHC
8 29 October 1975 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark 1-1 3-1 ECQG4
9 8 May 1976 Hampden Park, Glasgow Ulster banner.svg Northern Ireland 3-0 3-0 BHC
10 15 May 1976 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of England.svg England 2-1 2-1 BHC
11 8 September 1976 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of Finland.svg Finland 3-0 6-0 Friendly
12 27 April 1977 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 2-1 3-1 Friendly
13 1 June 1977 Hampden Park, Glasgow Ulster banner.svg Northern Ireland 1-0 3-0 BHC
14 1 June 1977 Hampden Park, Glasgow Ulster banner.svg Northern Ireland 3-0 3-0 BHC
15 4 June 1977 Wembley Stadium, London Flag of England.svg England 2-0 2-1 BHC
16 15 June 1977 Estadio Nacional, Santiago Flag of Chile.svg Chile 1-0 4-2 Friendly
17 21 September 1977 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg Czechoslovakia 3-0 3-1 WCQG7
18 12 October 1977 Anfield Stadium, Liverpool Flag of Wales 2.svg Wales 2-0 2-0 WCQG7
19 11 June 1978 Estadio San Martin, Mendoza Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands 1-1 3-2 WCG4
20 25 October 1978 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of Norway.svg Norway 1-1 3-2 ECQG2
21 25 October 1978 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of Norway.svg Norway 2-2 3-2 ECQG2
22 7 June 1979 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo Flag of Norway.svg Norway 2-0 4-0 ECQG2
23 26 March 1980 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal 1-0 4-1 ECQG2
24 25 February 1981 Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan Flag of Israel.svg Israel 1-0 1-0 WCQG8
25 23 March 1982 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands 2-0 2-1 Friendly
26 15 June 1982 Estadio La Rosaleda, Málaga Flag of New Zealand.svg New Zealand 1-0 5-2 WCG6
27 15 December 1982 Heysel Stadion, Brussels Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium 1-0 2-3 ECQG1
28 15 December 1982 Heysel Stadion, Brussels Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium 2-1 2-3 ECQG1
29 12 September 1984 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of SFR Yugoslavia.svg Yugoslavia 3-1 6-1 Friendly
30 14 November 1984 Hampden Park, Glasgow Flag of Spain.svg Spain 3-1 3-1 WCQG7

Playing honours

Celtic

Liverpool

Managerial honours

Liverpool

Blackburn Rovers

Newcastle United

Celtic

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
Member of the Scotland Football Hall of Fame
Member of the FIFA 100
Freedom of the City of Glasgow 1986.
1st in the Liverpool Football Club pool 100 Players Who Shook The Kop 2006

Managerial statistics

Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
Liverpool Flag of England 30 May 1985 22 February 1991 297 180 41 76 60.60
Blackburn Rovers Flag of England 12 October 1991 25 June 1995 195 102 47 46 52.30
Newcastle United Flag of England 14 January 1997 27 August 1998 78 30 26 22 38.46
Celtic Flag of Scotland 10 February 2000 1 June 2000 18 10 4 4 55.55

Awards (4)

References

  1. ↑ "100 PWSTK - THE DEFINITIVE LIST". Liverpool F.C. (2006-10-08). Retrieved on 2008-11-28.
  2. ↑ http://www.ifhof.com/hof/dalglish.asp
  3. ↑ Dalglish. Kelly, Stephen.F.
  4. ↑ Jock Stein: The Definitive Biography. McPherson, Archie. p.224
  5. ↑ McPherson p.279
  6. ↑ http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/gym/9177/profile.html

External links