Celtic – A to Z – D is for Kenny Dalglish

Kenny Dalglish was one of a number of young Celtic players who broke into the Hoops side under the management of Jock Stein in the early 1970s.

Alongside the likes of Danny McGrain, Davie Hay and Lou Macari, the youngsters took the place of the Lisbon Lions era Celtic side, who were starting to leave the club.

That would have been a big task for any group of young players, but the ‘quality street gang’ as they were called continued Celtic’s level of success at both home and abroad.

Dalglish was arguably the stand-out performer for that group of players, as he scored a number of goals for the Hoops in his six seasons as a first-team regular.

It is just a pity that Celtic were on the slight downswing in Europe when Dalglish was a Hoops mainstay, the team did manage to reach the European Cup semi-final twice but unfortunately a third final eluded the club.

Dalglish won nine major honours at Celtic, captaining the club to a league and Scottish Cup double in what would be his last season at the club.

Dalglish joined Liverpool in the summer of 1977, and if he was a legend at Celtic Park, he became an icon at Anfield.

He won six league titles and three European Cups, the last league title as a player/manager. After he retired from playing the game, he won two more titles as a manager, and also won the title as Blackburn manager in 1995.

Dalglish returned to Celtic as director of football operations in 1999, as John Barnes was appointed first-team manager.

The move to bring in Barnes didn’t work, and he lost his job after the infamous cup defeat to Inverness. Dalglish took over as caretaker manager until the end of the season, and with Tommy Burns as his assistant he won the League Cup for the Hoops. He left Celtic at the end of the season when Martin O’Neill was appointed manager.

YouTube: celtic 2 aberdeen 0 league cup final 2000

Dalglish had a brief spell as Liverpool manager before Jurgen Klopp arrived at the club, and he is currently a director of the former Premier League champions.

As a player Dalglish might have had more glory at Liverpool, but he turned into one of the best players in European football whilst he was at Celtic. That was down to the managerial genius of Jock Stein, who helped to shape Dalglish’s career as a player.

Dalglish also excelled at international level, and as it stands, he is the joint top goal scorer for Scotland with 30 goals, alongside Denis Law. He has also played more games for Scotland than any other player, with 102 caps.

Dalglish’s time as a player for Celtic might be forgotten about as it was 50 years ago when he started to become a regular for the Hoops, but what he achieved in the game in both England and Scotland will never be forgotten about, and that all started during his time at