Celtic hero Kenny Dalglish lifted the lid on what went wrong upon his return to Celtic Park as Director of Football in 1999, speaking exclusively on The Warm-Up, presented by William Hill.
The Parkhead legend’s comeback overseen the ill-fated tenure of John Barnes as manager, with Dalglish quick to remember that his fellow Liverpool icon enjoyed a successful start to life in Glasgow.
However, the 74-year-old revealed that he was apprehensive in showing Barnes support to avoid undermining him.
Speaking to The Warm-Up, Dalglish said: “They asked me to make recommendations, and that [appointing Barnes] was one I made.
“He had the second best start of any Celtic manager, at that time. They went to Aberdeen first game of the season and won 5-0.
“Really, I didn’t know when to help him. I could maybe have helped him, and maybe I should’ve helped him, then I’m saying I don’t want to show up in front of the boys. I didn’t want to try and feel like I was trying to do that [undermining] because I never.
“So I suppose that was my mistake.”
Dalglish would step in as interim manager until the end of the season following Barnes dismissal after an infamous home 3-1 defeat to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and pulled no punches on how he felt about the players he inherited.
“They were disgraceful. Well there’s an example, the last game of the season, there was eight or nine boys making their debut.
“I didn’t regret going back. I regretted not helping maybe more than I could have, but I was trying to do it in John’s best interests.
“When he left, I think they knew in that dressing room what they’d done. And if they never they got told anyway.”
‘King’ Kenny’s first role in management came as player/manager at Liverpool in 1985. Replacing Joe Fagan after the Heysel Stadium disaster, Dalglish took the reins at Anfield despite having three years left of a four-year playing deal, to the disbelief of himself and his wife Marina.
“They [chairman and chief executive] said “we want to offer you the manager’s job” and I put the phone down.
“And I said to Marina, they’ve just been on the phone there, they want to offer me the manager’s job.
“She went ‘why?’. I says I don’t know, I was doing alright as well in the games!
“I still don’t know why [they offered him the job]. I said yes, but if I’m garbage I’m going back to being a player, that was the first thing I said to them.”
His first season ended with the club’s first double, pipping city rivals Everton to the league title by two points, in a season which seen Dalglish select himself and score the winner on the final day, before making the Toffees runners-up again in the F.A Cup final.
As a player, he is revered at club and international level, amassing 102 caps and scoring 30 goals for Scotland, both of which are still national records. With current Scottish captain Andrew Robertson hot on the heels of his record with 90 current caps, Dalglish has some friendly advice for another Liverpool legend.
“I think he should retire from international football!
“It would be nice if we would [break the caps record], wouldn’t it?
“I’ll let him have it!”
Dalglish talks on the above and much more on the full episode of The Warm-Up, brought to you by William Hill, including breaking through after the Lisbon Lions at Celtic under Jock Stein, as well as a hilarious story with host Chris Sutton fancying himself at centre-half during Dalglish’s time as Blackburn Rovers boss.
Kenny Dalglish features on The Warm-Up, the William Hill SPFL’s weekly preview show. Check out the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/@
