Celtic and Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish collected the Lifetime Achievement Award at Tuesday’s Sports Personality of the Year Awards. The striker-turned-manager gave a humble thanks to the BBC, as well as all of those that helped him along the way.
A man of greatness on the pitch and a man of class off of it, Kenny recognised those 97 Liverpool fans that tragically lost their lives at Hillsborough.
In his Celtic days, Kenny scored a remarkable 167 goals in 320 appearances – winning four leagues, four Scottish Cups and one Scottish League Cup before departing for the then-European Champions.
Dalglish led Liverpool to domestic and European success in the ’80s, achieving multiple league titles and an unforgettable European Cup victory. His tenure at Blackburn Rovers also secured the Premier League title in 1995 as well a spell at Newcastle.
There was a homecoming of sorts for King Kenny in 1999 when he was announced as Director of Football Operations at Celtic with John Barnes taking the Head Coach role. In 2000, Dalglish was named as Caretaker Manager after Barnes was sacked.
In this brief tenure, Dalglish (assisted by Tommy Burns) won the League Cup before he was replaced with Martin O’Neill, which kickstarted Celtic’s dominance in the 2000s.
Dalglish would return to the dugout once more, in similar circumstances, leading Liverpool after Roy Hodgson was dismissed in January 2011. Unlike at Celtic, Dalglish’s position was made permanent in the summer and he would help Liverpool to the League Cup (their first silverware in six years) as well as an FA Cup Final. League form suffered and the Reds finished eighth, resulting in Dalglish’s departure and subsequent appointment of Brendan Rodgers.
Since that final foray into management, Dalglish has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Liverpool and the club have named a stand after him.
Congratulations Kenny.
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