Born: Dalmarnock, Glasgow, on 4 March.

International Caps     102 
International Goals     30 
Teams    Celtic, Liverpool 
Management     Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United, Celtic
Team Honours  
League Championship 1972, 73, 74, 77
Scottish Cup Winners    1972, 74, 75, 77
Scottish League Cup Winners    1975
European Cup Winners    1978, 81, 84
English League Champions     1979, 80, 82, 83, 84, 86
League Cup Winners    1981, 82, 83, 84
FA Cup Winners    1986 
Individual Honours      English Footballer of the Year 1979, 83
PFA  Player's    Player of the Year 1983   


Bill Shankly  rarely  made  mistakes. Yet  when  a  fair-haired, 15 - year-old  schoolboy  arrived  at Anfield for a trial, he let a player who later was to turn  Liverpool  into a double-winning team slip through his fingers.
It was August, 1966. The youngster played one game, for the  B team against  Southport  Reserves in the Lancashire League. Liverpool won 1-0, but the kid went home and heard nothing.
A few years later when  Shankly  saw  the lad  play  he was furious, blaming others at the club for the astonishing miss. It  was to be  11 years  after  that trial that the player joined Liverpool, but by then he was an  established international and he cost  Shankly's  successor, Bob Paisley, a British record of £440,000.
The boy was  KENNETH  MATHIESON  DALGLISH.
Dalglish grew up supporting Glasgow Rangers. Though  born  in  Dalmarnock  in  the  East  End of Glasgow on March 4, 1951.
He first made his mark at Milton Bank primary  school -  in goal! But by the time he was capped as an under-15 Scottish Schoolboy he had switched to right-half, scoring  twice  on  his debut in a 4-3 victory over Northern Ireland Schoolboys.
His next schoolboy  international  appearance  was  in  a  1-1  draw  against  England. The People newspaper covered the game, singling him out for praise as "a brilliant ball-player."
There  was  never  any  doubt  that  he  was  going  to  be  a  professional footballer. The question was for whom?
He wanted to join his idols at Rangers, but the call never came. He had another trial at West Ham, but that came to nothing, too. And so it was that Dalglish, the Protestant    son    of     an    engineer,   found   himself    playing    for    the   Catholic Glasgow Celtic.
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. It was three hours before Fallon emerged with Dalglish's signature.
It took  Dalglish three years to establish himself in the first team. At that time  Celtic  were not only top dogs in Glasgow, they had become the first  British  team  to  win  the  European Cup, beating the mighty Inter Milan. 
By 1972-73 Dalglish, now playing up front, 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.
Such  was  Dalglish's  skill  at  holding  on  to  the  ball  that, years  later, the  former Arsenal and Republic  of  Ireland  defender  David O'Leary  would  describe  trying  to  rob  him  of  possession as "impossible."
"He crouches  over the ball, legs spread and elbows poking out,"  said  O'Leary. " Whatever angle you come in from, you're liable to find his backside in your face."

Dalglish  was  made Celtic captain in  1975-76, but  it  was  a  miserable  year. Celtic  failed to win a trophy for the first time in 12 years.
Dalglish, however, had made up his mind to leave. 
"I had to know if I could make it somewhere else," he explained. "I did not want to go through the rest of my life wondering what might have been without putting myself to the test."
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 1974 World Cup in West Germany, but did not play well. Scotland  were  eliminated  at the group stage, even though they were undefeated.

Dalglish  had  enjoyed  an  enviable  run  at  Celtic.  Five  Scottish  Championships,  four  Scottish Cup-winners'  medals, one  Scottish League  Cup-winners'  medal and  a  tally of  167 goals. But it wasn't enough for him. He was ambitious and needed a new challenge.

Liverpool had just won the Euro Cup, beating  Borussia Moenchengladbach  3-1 in Rome. But their biggest star, Kevin Keegan, was leaving to play for Hamburg.
Dalglish was chosen to replace him, Bob Paisley  making good that  Anfield mistake of losing him as a boy. But the Kop  wasn't  so sure. To them, Keegan  was  a  God. What's  more, Dalglish  was handed the No.7 shirt - Keegan's strip.
Dalglish immediately silenced the doubters, scoring after just  seven  minutes on his league debut away at Middlesbrough.For good measure, he also scored on his Anfield debut against Newcastle.
And when  Liverpool  met  Hamburg  in the  European  Super  Cup, Dalglish  totally exorcised the ghost of his predecessor, running  the  game as Keegan and his  new team-mates were tormented with a 6-0 defeat.
That  first  season  was  a  triumph  for  Dalglish. He scored 30 goals, including the only goal of the game as Liverpool retained the Euro Cup against Bruges at Wembley.

What Dalglish understood better than most was space. He could hold the ball, sometimes  so  long that it seemed the moment had gone, then he would see that  something  was  on  and deliver the inch-perfect pass.
Later, as his role developed from  goalscorer  to  goalmaker, he was to form an almost  telepathic understanding with Ian Rush. The Welshman, who holds both the FA Cup and League Cup scoring records, said of his team-mate: "I just made the runs knowing the ball would come to me."

No-one, least of all Dalglish, has  sufficiently  explained  why he failed to make more of an impact in international football. That he had the talent is beyond  question, but  his  failure meant that he was never rated as highly abroad as he was in Britain.
Liverpool,  however,  saw  the  best  of  him.  After  that   World  Cup  shambles   of  1978, he  was inspirational  as  the  Reds  regained their League title with a record number of points  68, under the  old  two-for-a-win  system. They  were  undefeated at  home and  at  the  end  of  a 42-match programme had conceded just 16 goals.
Dalglish scored 25 goals that season and was voted Footballer of the Year.
These were the glory days at Anfield. Liverpool  retained  the  Championship  in  1979-80, won the League Cup  four  years  in a row between  1980-81  and  1983-84 and  then  topped  everything by winning a hat-trick  of  Championships in  1981-82, 1982-83  and  1983-84. They  also won two more European Cups. Only the coveted League and FA Cup double eluded them.
Dalglish was at the heart of it all and became Footballer of the Year again in 1983.
The 1983-84 season was the most  astonishing -  the  Championship, the  League Cup  and the European Cup.Yet within 12 months,tragedy would turn Liverpool's world upside down.

Paisley had retired and his boot-room  assistant  Joe Fagan had taken over as manager. Dalglish's international  career  was  drawing  to a close. He  had  been  named  in Scotland  manager Alex Ferguson's squad for the 1984 World Cup in Mexico, but had withdrawn through injury.
He  was  to  make  his  final  appearance  in  the  blue  jersey  in  a  3-0 win  over  Luxembourg in November 1986, claiming  a  record  102  caps  and  sharing  the  Scotland  goalscoring  record  of 30 with Denis Law.

But  in   1985  he  still  had  the   European  Cup  in  which  to  parade  his  skills.  And  despite  his shortcomings at international level, he had no such problems in Europe, scoring 19 goals in   EFA club competitions, a British record.
Liverpool  again  reached  the  final  where they faced Juventus at the Heysel stadium in Brussels. On  the eve of the match, Dalglish  was  told  by  club  chairman  John Smith  that  he  was  to  be Liverpool's  next  manager. Fagan  was  retiring  and  Dalglish  was  to take over the day after the European final.
During the next 24 hours, the club was to be convulsed by turmoil. There was crowd trouble at the match, a wall collapsed under the strain of rioting fans and 39 Juventus supporters died.
Liverpool lost 1-0, but what did that matter? Their  fans  were  held responsible for the deaths, the distaste  of  the  football  world  was  turned  against  Anfield and English clubs were banned from Europe. Welcome to management, Mr Dalglish.

Such  were  the  appalling  circumstances  under  which  he  began a new  phase of his career as player-manager. Nonetheless, Liverpool  retained  the Championship  in 1985 - 86. And though  he restricted his playing  appearances, who  was  there  chesting the ball down to score the goal that won the title at Chelsea? None other than Dalglish.
What's  more, Liverpool  won  the  FA  Cup, beating  Merseyside  rivals  Everton  3-1. That  elusive double, which had been beyond Shankly, Paisley and Fagan, was Dalglish's in his first year in the job. No wonder he was Manager of the Year.
But  just  as  others  have  found  before  him, winning  is  one  thing, repeating  it is  another. The following  season was a flop by  Anfield's  standards. True, they finished second in the league, but they won no trophies. It  was  made  worse  by  the  fact  that  Everton  won the title and Rush was leaving to join Juventus.
Dalglish  had  to  rebuild  and  he  did  it  by  buying  two  players. John Barnes  from Watford and Peter Beardsley  from  Newcastle. Everything clicked into place for that  1987-88 season. Liverpool equalled   Leeds  United's  record  of  29  games  without  defeat  ( eventually  coming  unstuck  at Everton!) and won back the title. They also made the FA Cup Final, only to lose 1-0 to Wimbledon.
But once again, misfortune was lying in wait - and this time it was to be cataclysmic.
Ninety-five people died in the Hillsborough tragedy on the day Liverpool met Nottingham Forest in the 1989 FA Cup semi-final. It was the worst sporting disaster in  British  history  and was to lead to the introduction of all-seater grounds.
But in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, Dalglish was a giant. He told his players:  " What is called  for  is  dignity. We  need to set an example. " It was Dalglish who provided leadership, not just to the club but to the whole of Liverpool.  
After a period  of  mourning  Liverpool  returned to football, winning the replayed semi-final. They met Everton at Wembley, forcing a 3-2 victory in extra time. Naturally, it was dedicated to the fans who had perished at Hillsborough.
They were also in the running for the double, but  this  time  there  was to be no fairytale. Meeting Arsenal at Anfield in the final match of the season - Liverpool's third game in six days - they could afford to lose by one goal and still be Champions.
They lost 2-0, Arsenal's Michael Thomas scoring the crucial goal in injury time. 
The  following  season  they  regained  the  title  and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup where Liverpool suffered one of their most amazing defeats. They  were  leading  twice, yet  contrived to lose 4-3 to Crystal Palace - a team they had beaten 9-0 earlier in the year.
By  now  Dalglish  had  hung  up  his  boots, and the season of  1990-91  saw him at the centre of a controversy over his habit of selecting Beardsley as a substitute.
On Wednesday, February  20, 1991, Liverpool  met  Everton  in  a replayed FA Cup Fifth Round tie. It was an extraordinary match, ending 4-4. The following morning, Dalglish had a routine meeting with the club chairman and chief executive. Twenty minutes into the conversation he told them, without warning, that he was quitting.

The  news  was  broken  to  a  stunned  football  world  the  next  day. Dalglish  was walking out on a club that were top of the league, chasing a cup and league double and in the middle of unfinished business with rivals Everton.
Dalglish described himself as "a person pushed to the limit." He said: "I was putting myself under enormous pressure to be successful." His health was suffering and he told Liverpool chairman Noel White that on match days he felt "as if my head was exploding.
But if his resignation was a shock, his decision to join  Blackburn Rovers  as  manager  just eight month later was a sensation. Dalglish won  them  promotion  from  the  old  Second  Division  in  his  first year. Within  three  years  they  were Premier League Champions.

The Dalglish  magic  was  still  working. It had cost former steel magnate  Jack Walker, the Blackburn president, £30 million in transfer fees, breaking the British record twice for  Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton. But  Rovers  had won their first senior title in  81 years and Dalglish had become only the third manager to lift the Championship with two different clubs.
And then he did it again. Just  as Blackburn reached the pinnacle, he sought a way out of the day-to-day pressures, asking to be made director of football and handing the team manager's job to Ray Harford.
After success the fall. Blackburn struggled and both Dalglish and Harford left the club.

Then  in  spring  of  1997, Kevin Keegan  quit  as  manager  of  Newcastle United. His  successor  was Dalglish, just as he had replaced Keegan as a player at Liverpool.
What  drives this man, who has quit twice at the top through pressure, to tread once again into the lion's den? Perhaps he wants to be the first manager to win the Championship at three different clubs.

There is, after all, something incredibly  single-minded  about  Dalglish. He  takes  the  business  of  football much more seriously than most, and is such a perfectionist that pursuit of success is an obsession.
He  has   14  Championships  to  his  name  as  a  player  and  manager  in   England  and  Scotland. That  combined  total  makes  his achievements virtually unrivaled in British football. Yet somehow it doesn't seem enough.

One simple story probably captures the essence of what makes him tick. It is told by Stephen F. Kelly in his book, Dalglish.

Kelly  writes  of  how, some  years  ago, a  Scottish  football  reporter, Ian Archer, was  strolling through Glasgow when Dalglish came up to him.
Dalglish  offered  a one-word  greeting: "Wisnae!"  "Wisnae whit?" asked the baffled journalist.  "Wisnae offside," replied Dalglish and walked off.
Archer was stumped. Then he remembered  that  four  weeks  previously  he  had  suggested in a match report that a Dalglish goal for Celtic might have been offside.
"It was," said the journalist, "the most piercing, informative and lengthy interview Dalglish ever gave to me."

It also speaks volumes about the self-conviction of Kenny Dalglish.
© 2005-2008. Barrie Spirit Soccer
Kenny  Dalglish
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Kenny Dalglish will go down as one of Liverpools greatest players ever as well as the only Liverpool manager to complete the League and FA Cup double as Liverpool Manager
1966
Played for Scotland schoolboys.
1967
Joined Celtic on provisional contract.
1968
Turned professional; loaned by Celtic to Cumbernauld United.
1969
First team debut for Celtic (324 games, 167 goals).
1971
Won first of 102 Scotland caps (8 as sub), scoring 30 goals.
1977
Transferred to Liverpool for record transfer fee of £440,000 on the 11th of August. During his career as player with Liverpool he played 354 league matches, 12 as sub, scoring 118 league goals.
1979
Footballer of the Year.
1983
Footballer of the Year and Players' Player of the Year.
1985
Appointed manager of Liverpool in wake of Heysel tragedy.
1986
Leads Liverpool to League and FA Cup double in his first season.
1988
Wins League title, but lose to Wimbledon in FA Cup final upset.
1989
Attends many of the funerals of the victims of the Hillsborough       disaster. Liverpool beat Everton 3-2 after extra time to win FA Cup, but lose title to Arsenal after dramatic final match at Anfield.
1990
Wins his third League title with Liverpool.
1991
Announces shock resignation in February, saying he cannot cope with the pressure. Appointed Blackburn manager in October.
1992
Wins division one play-off final to take Blackburn into the Premiership. Breaks British transfer record in July by paying £3.3million to Southamp. for Alan Shearer.
1994
Breaks transfer record for second time by paying £5million to Norwich for Chris Sutton in July.
1995
Steers Blackburn to first championship for 81 years. Becomes  Blackburn's director of football, with assistant Ray Harford taking over as   manager.
1996
Leaves Blackburn by mutual consent. In December, appointed as business development manager for Rangers, chairman David Murray's company Carnegie Sports International.
1997
Succeeds Kevin Keegan as manager of Newcastle in January.
1998
A most dissapointing season sees Newcastle end in a frustrating 13th place in the league. A good FA Cup run ends at Wembley when they lose to Arsenal.
1998
Sacked from Newcastle United after only 2 games played in the new season.
A strange time to change manager according to many.
"  King Kenny  "
   KENNY  DALGLISH
Dalglish & Liverpool

Debut :
13th August 1977 v Manchester United (N) Charity Shield: Drew 0-0

Games:
511 
Goals:
172 
Kenny Dalglish though will be remembered as a Liverpool player or otherwise as King Kenny. He is the only player in Scottish History to be capped over 100 times. 
He was recently crowned the Player Who Shook The Kop.ahead of Steven Gerrard (2nd), Ian Rush (3rd) ...

( 100 Players Who Shook The Kop is a list compiled by Liverpool Football Club in 2006. Over 110,000 Liverpool supporters nominated their personal Top 10 players in order of impact made ...