Liverpool 1986–91
After the
Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 and
Joe Fagan's subsequent resignation as manager, Dalglish became
player-manager of Liverpool and guided them to their first "
double" in his first season in charge in
1985–86. Liverpool achieved this historic feat by winning the League Championship by two points over
Everton (Dalglish 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, again beating Everton 3–1 in the final.
The following season was trophy-less, but 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 as a replacement for the outgoing Ian Rush, winger
John Barnes from
Watford and
Oxford United midfielder
Ray Houghton The Liverpool side had a successful run of 37 matches unbeaten in all competitions from the beginning of the season (29 in the league, 22 wins and 7 draws). The run began on the 15 August 1987 and was ended by Everton on 21 February 1988. Liverpool were crowned champions with four games left to play, having suffered just two defeats from 40 games. However, despite being favourites in the
1988 FA Cup Final, they were denied a second double by underdogs
Wimbledon.
Dalglish guided Liverpool to victory over Everton in the second all-Merseyside F.A. Cup final in 1989, but lost the chance to win a second double in the
last minute of the
final game of the season.
In the
1989–90 season Liverpool won their third league title of 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 side 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 claimed 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 (on health grounds
[citation needed]) on 22 February 1991, just two days after a 4-4 draw with rivals Everton in which Liverpool were pegged back four times. Stating he wished to retire from football, Dalglish left Liverpool FC in 1991, with the club defending their title and still in contention for both the league title and the FA Cup
.
Dalglish's Liverpool record ended with: 515 appearances, 172 goals, 307 as manager, 8 League Championships, 2 FA Cup wins, 3 European Cup wins, 4 League Cup wins, 1 European Super Cup win, and 5 Charity Shield wins. He also won a
Football Writers` Footballer of the Year award, a
PFA player of the year award, and three Manager of the Year awards.
Blackburn Rovers 1991–95
Dalglish stated that he was taking an extended break from football. When
Sheffield Wednesday manager
Ron Atkinson departed to
Aston Villa in June 1991, Dalglish was offered the job to manage Sheffield Wednesday but rejected it as he felt unable to work at Hillsborough after witnessing the tragedy there two years earlier.
Dalglish surprised fans by returning to management in October 1991, with
Second Division Blackburn Rovers, who he led into the
Premier League by beating
Leicester City 1–0 in the
Second Division Play-off final at Wembley. The resulting promotion meant that Blackburn were back in the top flight of English football for the first time since 1966.
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The club were owned by steel tycoon
Jack Walker who paid Dalglish very well, and also made large sums available to him, thus allowing Blackburn 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 £3.5 million.
Shearer helped Dalglish's newly promoted Rovers to fourth position in the first year of the new
Premier League. Despite Blackburn's wealth, Dalglish often found it hard to attract big name players to the club, leading to great frustration on his part. The failure to sign Roy Keane was one example: Dalglish and Keane had a verbal agreement but Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson convinced him to join his team instead. Keane recalled that Dalglish was furious at him for the decision, and even threatened to sue.
The club finished two positions higher the following season, as runners-up to Manchester United. United had peaked with a 16-point lead over their nearest rivals by the new year, but Blackburn had drawn level on points with United by early April after the leaders had dropped points in several crucial games in early spring. However, Blackburn then began to drop points as United recovered their form and United finished champions by a seven-point margin.
By this time, Dalglish had added
England internationals
Tim Flowers and
David Batty to his growing squad.
The
1994–95 season 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 over £27 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
Boleyn Ground. At the final whistle, Dalglish was able to celebrate: even though Blackburn had lost the game 2–1, news that Manchester United had failed to get the result they needed had filtered through to him via radios in the crowd.
The title meant that Dalglish had been part of nine 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 top flight league championships, after
Herbert Chapman and
Brian Clough.
After winning the Premier League, Dalglish became Director of Football on 25 June 1995, with
Ray Harford taking over as Blackburn's manager. As the team's fortunes began to slide – Blackburn could only finish 7th in the Premier League and were knocked out of the Champions League in the first round – questions arose about the precise nature of Dalglish's involvement with the club. He parted company with Blackburn, by mutual consent, at the end of the following season.
Newcastle United 1997–98
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 in May and a place in the new format of the following season's
UEFA Champions League. However, the
1997–98 campaign only saw the team end up in 13th place, though Dalglish achieved some notable successes during the season, including a 3–2
UEFA Champions League win over
Barcelona, and an FA Cup final appearance against Arsenal. Dalglish was sacked by
Freddie Shepherd after two draws in the opening two games of the subsequent
1998–1999 season, and replaced by former Chelsea manager
Ruud Gullit.
Celtic 1999–2000
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 manager, and he guided them to the
Scottish League Cup final where they beat
Aberdeen 2–0 at Hampden Park, and he left the club shortly thereafter. Dalglish was unhappy with the departure and Celtic's termination of his contract. He had recommended previous manager Barnes to the club and offered himself as a replacement manager should the young Barnes not succeed in the role.
In spite of the termination of his contract, Dalglish vowed to stay on as Director of football. After a brief legal battle, Dalglish accepted Celtic's settlement offer of £600,000.
Return to Liverpool 2009–
Club ambassador 2009–2011
In April 2009 Liverpool manager
Rafael Benítez approached Dalglish about the possibility of returning to his former club, with a role in the club's youth academy. This appointment was confirmed on 3 July 2009,
and Dalglish was also made the club's ambassador.
When Benitez departed as manager on 3 June 2010, Dalglish was asked to help the club find his replacement. Dalglish was then himself heavily linked with the post, an idea that won strong support among former players and fans. Speculation linking him to the post ended on 1 July when
Fulham's Roy Hodgson was appointed manager.
However, a poor start to the
2010–11 season led to Liverpool fans chanting for the return of Dalglish as manager as early as 3 October 2010, when the Liverpool team suffered a 2–1 home defeat by newly-promoted
Blackpool, leaving them third from bottom in the Premier League after seven games.
With no real improvement in Liverpool's fortunes throughout the month (during which time the club was taken over by
New England Sports Ventures),
calls for Dalglish to return as manager gathered pace.
Caretaker manager 2011–
After a continued run of poor results, Hodgson left Liverpool on 8 January 2011, and Dalglish was appointed caretaker manager of the club until the end of the season.
Dalglish's first game in charge was on 9 January 2011 away at
Old Trafford against Manchester United in the
3rd round of the FA Cup. Liverpool lost the game 1–0 due to a controversial penalty decision.
Dalglish's first league game in charge was against
Blackpool on 12 January 2011 in which Liverpool lost 2–1.
After the game, Dalglish admitted that turning around the fortunes of the club would be a major challenge.
Shortly after his appointment, Dalglish indicated that he would like the job on a permanent basis if it was offered to him,
and on 19 January the Liverpool chairman
Tom Werner indicated that the club's owners would favour the idea of Dalglish taking the position full-time. Werner stated "He fits the criteria we are looking for. He has been everything we could have hoped for."
He's brought the club together as one. The players and the supporters are all together. It wasn't like that at the start of the season, unfortunately for Roy. But I think Kenny coming in has galvanised the support behind the team again and obviously his record as a manager in the past is fantastic. He's one of the top managers around. He's won four championships.
“
”
Jamie Carragher, speaking shortly after Dalglish's re-appointment as Liverpool manager
On 22 January 2011, Dalglish led Liverpool to their first competitive win since his return as manager, against
Wolves at
Molineux,
and on 26 January 2011 against Fulham he recorded his first home win since his return.
After signing
Andy Carroll from
Newcastle for a British record transfer fee of £35 million and
Luis Suárez from
Ajax for £22.8 million in the final few minutes of transfer deadline day on 31 January, in the wake of Fernando Torres's £50 million departure from the club, journalists began writing that Dalglish had already cast off the label of caretaker manager;
shortly afterwards, club owner John Henry seemed to confirm this by stating "It's still early but in retrospect you could not have made, in our case it was very fortunate, but we could not have made a better choice. I know he, for a long time now, has wanted to be in this position, so it's a great thing for the club, for Kenny and for us."
Following a dramatic 1–0 victory against Chelsea at
Stamford Bridge on 6 February 2011, described by
Alan Smith as "a quite brilliant display in terms of discipline and spirit",
a "defensive masterplan" by
David Pleat,
Henry Winter wrote: "Such is Liverpool's transformation under Dalglish, a reinvigorated team now sixth, it can only be a matter of time before he is confirmed as long-term manager".
On 18 March 2011 formal talks began between the club's owners and Dalglish about offering him the manager's position on a permanent basis.
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