Scottish Football legend Kenny Dalglish has been awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2018.
Whilst the list of football honours is lengthy,Kenny’s greatest achievement was his extraordinary response to the Hillsborough disaster which took place during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989.
96 football fans lost their lives following the disaster and Kenny attended many of the funerals.
His presence in the aftermath has been described as ‘colossal and heroic’ and many people have called for his conduct to be officially rewarded.
Remarkably Kenny was no stranger to tragedy having been present in the ‘Rangers’ end at the Ibrox disaster where 66 fans died and as a player in the European Cup final at Heysel where 39 Juventus fans lost their lives.
He is also know for his outstanding charity work and in 2004 Kenny and his wife Marina founded the Marina Dalglish Appeal to raise money to help treat cancer.
Kenny of course enjoyed a hugely successful playing career winning four league titles, four Scottish Cups and a League Cup with Celtic before moving to Liverpool in 1977.
His years at Liverpool coincided with the most successful period in the club’s history and he won six league titles, one FA Cup, four League Cups, five charity shields, three European Cups and one UEFA Super Cup.
On a personal note he won the Ballon d’Or Silver Award and the PFA Player of the Year and the FWA Player of the Year in 1983.
He has also been inducted into both the Scottish and English Halls of Fame.
Kenny won 102 caps for Scotland and scored 30 goals, matching Denis Law’s total.
As manager of Liverpool, Kenny guided the club to its first double, scoring the goal which sealed the title at Stamford Bridge. He won a further two titles and an FA Cup before leaving Merseyside.
After a break, Kenny returned to football as manager of Blackburn Rovers and led the club to the Premiership title.
He also managed Newcastle United and Celtic before returning to Liverpool for a spell in 2011 and the following year he led the club their first trophy in six years by winning the League Cup.
On 13 October 2017 Liverpool announced that the Anfield Centenary stand would be renamed the ‘Kenny Dalglish Stand’ in honour of ‘unique contribution’ to the club.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
