Kenny Dalglish: Positioning the Legend

“DALGLISH. Oh Dalglish. It’s still difficult to pronounce that word without my face lighting up and melting into a mask of defiant elation.”

So said Brian Reade, in his superb book “44 Years with the Same Bird” (the Liver Bird, of course). He later went on to write that it’s always a mistake for football fans to get too close to their heroes, as they are only human and will invariably disappoint.

During Kenny’s first managerial spell Reade was a football journalist, and felt the sharp end of the great man’s tongue too often for comfort. Sports journalists are not Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish’s favourite people.

Kenny’s always been a man who prefers deeds to words. Many of us know the story of how he had a goal ruled offside in a schoolboy match; several years later the young Celtic star was walking through Glasgow, and the referee from that match spotted him and went to introduce himself. He did so, and received the reply: “Wisnae!” “I beg your pardon?” “Wisnae offside!”. He reminds one of P. G. Wodehouse’s assertion that “it is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine”.

A great player, and a great human being; but hardly a great communicator, and that may have been at the root of our recent lack of consistent success. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been thinking that there’s not that much wrong with our current squad of players; just that somehow we don’t seem to be getting the best out of them. Ideally there should be a direct, almost visible, connection between the manager’s brain and the players’ legs, and sometimes that connection’s been wonkier than a mobile phone signal in the middle of Dartmoor.

I suppose we’re all feeling as if the stuffing’s kicked out of us during the current time of transition at LFC. A real curate’s egg of a season, the disappointing departure of a club legend, and now a time of real uncertainty as the game of Managerial Musical Chairs begins again. But there are consolations.

It could have been a great deal worse. At least Dalglish’s departure was handled with a fair degree of mutual respect. From first to last he held to the position that he’d been called up by the club to play a role in time of need, and he remained at the club’s disposal if arrangements needed to be changed. That meant the blessed absence of any serious bad blood between Fenway Sports Group and the Kop, and, better still, leaves his place in LFC hearts where it should be. It was an awful feeling every time the idea crossed one’s mind “maybe King Kenny is getting this wrong”; to anyone who was around in the Eighties that sounds like blasphemy.
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A man shouldn’t have such a burden of expectation laid upon him. Kenny tried to bear more than his share of the tremendous load of sorrow caused by Hillsborough, and it almost broke him; he’s done his bit for Liverpool Football Club, and then some. Being Kenny Dalglish is more than is given to most of us; we could hardly expect him to be Bill Shankly as well.

My son and I found ourselves coming to exactly the same conclusion; we were Dalglish loyalists to the end, but once the end had come we were strangely comfortable with it, recognising that it might have been the right move after all; fortunately we didn’t have to take the decision. Liverpool’s strength is our consciousness of our history and our loyalty to it; but that is very closely related to our weakness, which is sentimentality. We have to learn to let go.

So let’s see Kenny taking his rightful place in club history; 118 goals, the flawless runs and positioning, that colossal ball-shielding arse, the equally enormous heart (with the Liver Bird etched into it) and the dignity with which he’s represented the club. A really steady and grounded character, of the sort that derives much of its strength from a harmonious family life; heaven only knows what we owe to the behind-the-scenes work of the magnificent Marina. May he enjoy the happy times with her, the kids and Grandkids, that he richly deserves. And let’s see him back at Anfield, hopefully before too long, celebrating winning the Premiership and the Champions League with the lads.

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