Kenny Dalglish

Kenneth Mathieson “Kenny” Dalglish MBE (born 4 March 1951) is a former Scottish footballer and now he is the 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 League side 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 most capped 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 Paisley paid £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 Shepherd at 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.

Career statistics

Club

Playing honours

Celtic

• Scottish First Division (4)
  • 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977
• Scottish Cup (4)
  • 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977
• Scottish League Cup (1)
  • 1975

Liverpool

• Football League First Division (6)
  • 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986
• FA Cup (1)
  • 1986
• League Cup (4)
  • 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
• Charity Shield (5)
  • 1980, 1981, 1983, (Shared): 1978, 1987
• European Cup (3)
  • 1978, 1981, 1984
• European Super Cup (1)
  • 1978

Managerial honours

Liverpool

• Football League First Division (3)
  • 1986, 1988, 1990
• FA Cup (2)
  • 1986, 1989
• Charity Shield (2)
  • 1988, 1989

Blackburn Rovers

• FA Premier League (1)
  • 1995
• Football League Second Division Play Off (1)
  • 1992

Celtic

• Scottish League Cup (1)
  • Winner: 2000

Awards and achievements

• Scotland: 30 goals in 102 international caps (both national records)
• PFA Player of the Year: 1983
• FWA Footballer of the Year: 1979, 1983
• Scottish Premier Division top goalscorer: 1975/76
• Manager of the Year award: 1985/86, 1987/88, 1989/90, 1994/95
• 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 poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop: 2006

Managerial statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Liverpool		30 May 1985	22 February 1991	&0000000000000297000000297	&0000000000000180000000180	&000000000000007600000076	&000000000000004100000041	&000000000000006060999960.61
Blackburn Rovers		12 October 1991	25 June 1995	&0000000000000195000000195	&0000000000000102000000102	&000000000000004600000046	&000000000000004700000047	&000000000000005231000052.31
Newcastle United		14 January 1997	27 August 1998	&000000000000007800000078	&000000000000003000000030	&000000000000002200000022	&000000000000002600000026	&000000000000003846000038.46
Celtic		10 February 2000	1 June 2000	&000000000000001800000018	&000000000000001000000010	&00000000000000040000004	&00000000000000040000004	&000000000000005556000055.56
Liverpool		8 January 2011	present	&00000000000000000000000	&00000000000000000000000	&00000000000000000000000	&00000000000000000000000	!—
Total				&0000000000000588000000588	&0000000000000322000000322	&0000000000000148000000148	&0000000000000118000000118	&000000000000005475999954.76