Sir Kenny Dalglish turns 70 today.
It is a milestone birthday for one of the most iconic names in the history of British football.
As a player, the proud Scotsman lit up Celtic Park under Jock Stein before Bob Paisley brought him to Liverpool in 1977. His awe-inspiring brilliance saw him christened “King Kenny” by the Kop as he helped the club win five league titles and three European Cups before taking over as player-manager in 1985.
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In his first season at the helm, Dalglish led Liverpool to a historic league and cup double. Two further league titles and another FA Cup followed. Managing the club in the aftermath of Hillsborough took its toll and he stepped down in 1991. He returned to football at Blackburn Rovers, where he realised Jack Walker’s dream to win the Premier League title.
There were also spells in charge of Newcastle United and Celtic before he answered Liverpool’s SOS call in 2011. During his second reign, he ended the club’s six-year wait for silverware with a League Cup triumph at Wembley.
In 2017, he was given the honour of Anfield’s Centenary Stand being renamed after him and he was knighted by the Queen soon after.
His impact on people’s lives goes way beyond his achievements in football. We spoke to those who know him best about Kenny the father, the player, the manager, the rock, and a legacy that continues to influence Liverpool to this day.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson tells The Athletic about his debt of gratitude to Dalglish and reveals how the sight of him watching on is still a source of inspiration for the current crop. Jurgen Klopp also pays a glowing tribute to the man he calls “Mr Liverpool”.
Former team-mate Mark Lawrenson talks about the “genius” of Dalglish with a ball at his feet and why he believes he should be regarded as the greatest player in the club’s history. Ray Houghton speaks about the qualities that enabled Dalglish to mastermind a trophy-laden spell as manager.
Hillsborough campaigner Margaret Aspinall salutes “an incredibly caring and compassionate human being”, who has always been a pillar of support for the families of the 96.
And then there’s Kelly Cates on what it was like growing up with an icon for a dad, how he’s “mellowed” in later years and become a doting grandfather.
Kenny the inspiration
Jordan Henderson, Liverpool’s Premier League-winning captain who was signed by then-manager Dalglish in 2011
What does Sir Kenny Dalglish mean to me? He’s the person who helped me fulfil many of my dreams.
There are a lot of people in my life who I’m grateful towards and thankful for the part they have played in my career, but Sir Kenny is right at the top of that list.
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It applies to most people but it’s absolutely critical as a professional footballer. To have any chance at all, you need opportunity. And to get an opportunity, you first need individuals to have faith and belief in you, and who are prepared to take a chance on you.
Sir Kenny, along with Damien Comolli, was the reason I had the chance to become a Liverpool player. Without that chance, all the other experiences and special moments I’ve had here wouldn’t have happened.
I still remember the first time I met him. I was so nervous. I know “legend” might be overused these days but actually, it isn’t a big enough word to describe his status in football and at Liverpool… he’s an icon.
I was only 20 at the time, so I didn’t know what to expect. But he was so welcoming, so warm and so down to earth. I remember thinking this is one of the greatest figures in the game and he’s just so normal and welcoming. He was brilliant towards my family as well and that speaks volumes about him. He’s very committed to family.
I learned so much from him during the season he was my gaffer. Between him and Stevie (Gerrard), I don’t think I could have wished for a better education about what’s required of you at this level.
When he left as manager, his support didn’t stop and that’s why he’ll always be so special to me. Sir Kenny is there to offer advice and guidance when times are tough and things aren’t going your way, be it as an individual or as a team. He never has an agenda other than wanting to help. He cares about the club so much.
To know he’s in the directors’ box on match days — or to walk onto a plane to come home after an away game and see him there — it genuinely gives us all a lift. A big part of me still wants to impress him when he’s watching, which I know he probably won’t like. But it’s because of his presence and how he conducts himself. He never expects or demands respect or recognition, despite all he’s achieved. That humility is a big part of why we all look up to him so much.
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When we’ve been successful in the past few seasons and won trophies, it always hits me how genuinely delighted Sir Kenny has been for all of us. Despite all he’s achieved and all he gave to the game and this club, he still finds joy and appreciation in what we do. That says everything about him.
The club always comes first for Sir Kenny and anything he can do to help, big or small, it’s never too much trouble. For him to hand over the Premier League trophy to us is a moment I’ll never forget. It was so fitting. I will be forever grateful to him.
Kenny the father
Kelly Cates, the oldest of Kenny Dalglish’s four children and a broadcaster for Sky Sports and BBC Radio Five Live
It’s probably fair to say he was a typical Glaswegian dad. It was a traditional household growing up with Dad going out to work and Mum running the house and looking after us kids.
When they moved down to Liverpool in 1977, they were still so young themselves. Paul was only about six months old and I was a toddler. They didn’t have a babysitter so Mum used to take the two of us along to games and we’d be sat there on her lap watching.
We’d go in the players’ lounge before and after and play with the kids of the other players in the team. Every dad did the same — they all played for Liverpool — so growing up as a kid in that environment it didn’t seem like a big deal.
It was different when he became manager. I was older then, so I noticed things more. Sometimes he would be in a mood even if Liverpool had won! He wouldn’t be happy with how the team had played. It wasn’t really a results thing, it was more what the performance had been like. I’d be like, “But you won, Dad?” and he’d say, “Ah, but they didn’t do this or this”.
Football was his world. Home was my mum’s world. With my mum and three daughters around, it was a really female dynamic he was coming home to each evening. If he tried to get involved, it would usually result in chaos. He’d come back and us kids would be arguing over what we wanted for dinner, one saying sausages, another saying fish fingers. He’d say to Mum, “Why don’t you just give them all what they want?”. And she’d say, “Because I’m not making four different bloody dinners!”
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Early on in his dealings with the media, I think that was Dad being shy rather than difficult. He wasn’t comfortable with it. Later on, that definitely turned into suspicion! The degree to which you hide things to avoid being stitched up. He was keeping his guard up.
He’s definitely mellowed as he’s got older. He’s gained more perspective from spending time away from football. It’s been really good for him to see things differently after being in that world for so long.
In fact, as he’s got older and with the grandchildren coming along, he’s gone completely soft. He’s got six grandkids and he loves spending time with them. He’ll be like, “Look at them eating with a spoon!”. Mum will be like, ‘Yes, having four kids ourselves Kenny, they did go through these phases too’. He’s amazed with every phase they go through.
It’s been really nice for him. He missed a lot of that with his own kids when we were growing up because he was working so hard. I love the fact he’s been able to experience it as a grandfather.
Sometimes Dad will be sitting and watching a game at home or listening to the radio and he’ll ring me to vent about stuff and tell me what’s been annoying him. He’ll phone and say, “Why was that given? Did you see that decision? Explain it to me”. I’ll tell him I’ve just done an hour-and-a-half show on this, “Can I just send you the link?”. It’s funny. At the age of 45, it makes me feel like a grown-up when he does that.
It’s only when milestones like this come along that you start to reminisce and talk to people about his achievements, whether that’s in terms of trophies or what happened after Hillsborough.
It’s been a hell of a life already. It’s impressive but with the way he is, it’s quietly impressive. He just gets on with it, no drama, no fuss, he’s a very modest man. I’m sure he’ll go to the game against Chelsea on his birthday. Everyone he sees will be wishing him happy birthday and secretly he will love it.
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We would have had a big family party but with the pandemic, that just isn’t possible at the moment. We’ll do it when it’s safe. For the time being, we’ll have to settle for a family gathering over Zoom. Mum has been in charge of the logistics, sorting out timings is tricky with Paul and his family living in Miami.
Dad isn’t easy to buy presents for. The better the present, the longer he keeps it before using it. You ask him why he’s not worn a jumper you bought him and he’ll say it’s so nice he doesn’t want to waste it, he’s saving it for when he’s wearing “his best”. More than anything, I know he can’t wait for the day when he’s surrounded by his family again.
Kenny the player
Mark Lawrenson, the former Liverpool defender played 356 times for the club between 1981 and 1988
There’s a word for Kenny. It’s got six letters, it starts with a “g” and ends with an “s”. Genius. Players of his ilk only come along once in a generation. We played a lot of games together. I always teased him over the fact that he couldn’t run, he couldn’t head it and he had a big fat backside. Kenny would admit it’s probably all true but what a player.
It was like Kenny had radar. His partnership with Ian Rush was extraordinary. They knew exactly where the other one wanted it. Kenny seemed to know where Rushie was even when he couldn’t see him and delivered the perfect pass.
He was great for Rushie. As soon as he realised Kenny was on the ball, Rushie was off. With his pace, he scored so many goals from Kenny playing it around the back of people. I remember one unbelievable pass Kenny played for Rushie to score against Watford at Anfield in 1982 when we won 3-1.
Alan Hansen and I used to fall out with Kenny on the field regularly. He expected you to deliver the ball to him from the back at a certain angle and at a certain speed and occasionally we got it wrong. We’d get such a blast! When he became player-manager, I thought it wouldn’t be as bad but it was. But you know what, it was never mentioned when you came off the field.
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More than anything, we appreciated Kenny for his fabulous ability. He won a lot of games for us on his own. He was a superstar but he always stayed humble. He would go and do interviews after games and tell them, ‘Write and say what you want about me but the fact is I’d be no good without the other 10 out there’. That’s the way he was and that’s the way he still is to this day.
We used to call him “Goldenballs”. When we went to Stamford Bridge in 1986 knowing that if we won the game the title was ours and we had the FA Cup final to come, there was only one person who was going to score the winner that day. Like all great players, Kenny never let the team down on the big occasions. I think about that wonderful dinked finish against Club Bruges in the European Cup final at Wembley. He was someone who operated at such a high level that when you watched him close up you just thought “wow”. His footballing brain was on another level. His work rate was immense and he always had this ‘all for one, one for all’ mentality.
Away from the pitch, Kenny would come out for a few drinks if we were wetting a baby’s head in either Southport or Wirral, but he rarely drank as a player. One exception was the day of the Grand National when we played in the morning and then we all went to Aintree with the wives after for the racing. We were royally entertained and Kenny was drinking something that smelt like perfume, I think it was Cinzano and lemonade. My house and Kenny’s house backed on to each other’s in Southport so afterwards we got a taxi back home together. I was first out and as the taxi stopped Kenny said he felt unwell and puked on my driveway. He looked up and said: “Lawro, it must have been something I ate!”.
People who didn’t really know Kenny thought he was dour but the complete opposite was the case. It was just with the media the shutters came down.
The debate over who’s the greatest player in Liverpool’s history will rumble on but for me, Kenny is No 1.
Am I biased? Yes. Steven Gerrard has a massive shout too because he was an unbelievable player. But Kenny edges it because he played in such a difficult position. Where Steven played in midfield, he saw everything, he had the game in front of him. Kenny played a lot with his back to goal. He seemed to be able to see what was happening behind him. He never wore shinpads. He always used to say that the day he didn’t see a challenge coming in was the day he would pack in. His legs used to be covered in bruises with the batterings he took from defenders but he was incredibly robust. He was very rarely injured. He was in a class of his own.
Kenny the manager
Ray Houghton, the former Liverpool midfielder whom Dalglish signed from Oxford United in 1987. He went on to play more than 200 games for the club and was part of two title-winning teams.
Kenny was top quality to play for. I think it helped that he had learned from the best from his time as a player under Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan but he was also his own man.
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He understood the “Liverpool Way”, he knew what the club was all about and had clear ideas about how he wanted his team to play. It must have been tough going from being such a revered player to becoming manager at such a huge club but for him, the transition was flawless. He won the double in his first season as a manager, which is just remarkable.
He signed me early on in the 1987-88 season. I had a lot of clubs interested in me as I’d been doing well for Oxford but once I’d spoken to Kenny, my mind was made up. He knew what made players tick. He was the kind of person you were instantly drawn to. In my case, it helped that I’d grown up as a big Celtic fan. I had massive respect for him as a player and I couldn’t wait to play for him.
He certainly lived up to expectations. He took the time to understand you as an individual because he wanted to know what you were all about. He cared. His man-management was a real strength — he knew what to say to get the best out of players.
Kenny would be the first to agree that he was surrounded by an excellent backroom staff. He had good people around him and that’s crucial for any manager if they’re going to be successful.
When I arrived, Kenny was still playing the occasional game. He would join in the training sessions with us. Ronnie Moran and Roy Evans would take the warm-up and then we’d play some small-sided matches. Kenny would always be a part of that. We didn’t really practise set plays.
He had this perfect belief in his players. He never over-complicated things or over-burdened you with information. It was always “you were brought here for a specific reason, we know what you can do so go and do it”. He had such confidence in the team he had assembled.
Everyone in football would be after an invite to come and watch training and they’d turn up at Melwood with a notepad and pen. After the session, they had barely made any notes. There were no big secrets.
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Kenny signed good players and knew how to help them realise their full potential. He was very good at fostering a real spirit and camaraderie. Having been there himself, he always knew when an arm around the shoulder or a few strong words were required.
I was a player for 20 years and in my first three years at Liverpool, I had a feeling that I never had at any other stage of my career. From 1987 to 1990, I didn’t go into games thinking about if we were going to win, I was only thinking about how many we were going to win by.
That wasn’t arrogance, it was down to the calibre of the players and the mentality of the regime. That’s a testament to Kenny’s abilities as a manager. It was such a well-oiled machine.
The football we played in winning the league in 1987-88 is still talked about a lot today. I’d come in after the signings of John Aldridge, John Barnes and Peter Beardsley. It was a wonderful time.
The only regret is that we didn’t win even more trophies and dominate to a greater degree. We could have done the double in ‘88 but we lost to Wimbledon in the cup final. In ‘89 we won the FA Cup but lost the league to Arsenal in the final game in such a dramatic fashion. The season after, we won the title again but we were beaten by Crystal Palace in the semis of the cup.
Kenny is rightly regarded as one of Liverpool’s truly iconic managers. When I think about his first spell in charge, it’s the compassion he showed after Hillsborough that illustrates the type of man he is.
In the darkest of days, he was a rock. His love for the club, for the people who idolised him and for the city of Liverpool really shone through. That’s Kenny Dalglish.
Kenny the rock
Margaret Aspinall, the chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, who lost her 18-year-old son James in the 1989 disaster
How do you sum up Kenny? People will always talk about the success he had as a player and as a manager because he’s a Liverpool legend. But for me, more than anything, he’s an incredibly caring and compassionate human being.
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He’s been a great support for all the families of the 96 right from 1989 through to the current day. Every step of their way, he’s been there for us in the battle for truth and justice, and we can never thank him enough.
All of our lives changed on that April afternoon. Kenny included. One day, Kenny was a football manager, the next he was a social worker for all the families. He wasn’t trained for something like that.
It was something completely out of the blue. All those hospital visits, all those funerals he attended, all those phone calls offering help and support. He provided comfort to so many at a very distressing time. That must have been so difficult for Kenny and his family. But he never showed it to the families of the 96. I’ve often thought over the years, ‘Who supported Kenny?’. He took on so much. He’s just an incredible man.
I think about the times over the years when he’s picked up the phone and called just to ask how I’m doing. I remember he did it after giving evidence at the inquest a few years ago. After a stressful day in the court, his immediate thought was to check whether others were OK. That’s typical Kenny. So many times over the years he’s given us an uplift.
He’s always been there for us and it’s difficult to put into words how much he means to us. He’s such a kind and generous man. He’s got such a great personality with a brilliant sense of humour. That’s a side of him not many people see.
Liverpool Football Club hasn’t just benefited from his qualities as a footballer or as a manager over the years, but his qualities as a human being. He’s been a real role model, a great leader and a great ambassador for Merseyside. He might be from Glasgow but he’s an adopted Scouser and we’re keeping him.
Everyone was absolutely delighted for him when he got the knighthood as it was deserved recognition for everything he’s done in his life. It’s not just about Hillsborough or what he’s given Liverpool FC, it’s all the charity work he’s done with his wonderful wife, Marina. Together they have raised millions of pounds and helped thousands of people across Merseyside who have suffered from cancer. They have given so much to this city.
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There’s a photo of me hugging Kenny after Mohamed Salah scored that amazing goal against Chelsea at Anfield on the 30th anniversary of Hillsborough in 2019.
I got a bit over-excited. Kenny was in front of me so I just grabbed him. We still laugh about it now. I hope he has a great birthday. He means so much to all of us.
Kenny the lasting legacy
Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool manager since October 2015
For me, he’s Mr Liverpool. I’ve met Kenny multiple times and I watched the documentary about him. It feels like we could be friends if we could meet even more often. He’s always good company. Let me say it like this: he’s a really good guy who knows that life was nice to him and he’s nice to us. He’s always been very supportive. He’s a massive part of what we’ve achieved without always being around.
He was one of the best players in the world during his time, definitely. Then becoming a successful manager isn’t as easy as people would think. You need a completely different skill set. He’s obviously blessed with the full range of it. Being the player he was makes it very likely that you don’t understand the game because you don’t have to, really — you are just so skilled.
Give him the ball and he’s doing something special with it. It’s not that I saw 20 games live of Kenny Dalglish but I’ve seen a lot of… sorry, Kenny… old pictures and videos of him playing.
He was an incredibly smart player. He didn’t go past players because of his physicality, he had to be really smart. He then used that football knowledge in his coaching career. So yes, the full package of Kenny Dalglish is pretty impressive.
(Top image: Sam Richardson)