King Kenny is Sir Kenny- the Scottish knight of the realm.

King Kenny is Sir Kenny- the Scottish knight of the realm.


Arise King Kenny! Arise Sir Kenny! Let the bagpipes swirl melodiously. Bring forward the Hogmanay celebrations forward to this day rather than at the beginning of a new year. High up in those Grampian hills, across the lochs, over the gorse covered hills of Bonny Scotland, they'll be raising a glass or several to King Kenny Dalglish or perhaps that should be Sir Kenny Dalglish.

Today Her Majesty the Queen once again got it absolutely right as she always does. Because that legendary, magnificent centre forward and exemplary footballer Kenny Dalglish was made a knight of the realm. All over the Scottish glens and whisky distilleries, the wee crofters cottages and the kilt making factories, they'll be drinking another tot to celebrate the ultimate recognition of one of Britain's greatest strikers of all time. There will surely never be another like Dalglish in the history of football although some have touched the stars without quite reaching the very pinnacle.

Kenny Dalglish became Sir Kenny Dalglish because his remarkable achievements as a player, ruthless goal scorer, scorer of hundreds of goals from all angles and distances, may never ever be equalled or surpassed. But Dalglish wasn't just a natural goal scorer because deeply embedded in his soul was a generosity of spirit, a vastly charitable nature and an enduring awareness of his moral compass.

Recently, Dalglish spoke movingly and admirably on behalf of all the tragic families of the 96 people whose lives were so dreadfully cut short in the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. On that now long ago distant day, Dalglish must have been dumbstruck by the deeply distressing events that were unfolding in front of him. How he must have wondered could 96 football fans go to an FA Cup semi Final between his Liverpool and Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest and never return home again. The pain and hurt engendered by death in a football ground will perhaps always haunt Dalglish.

But today Dalglish, the dignified man and upright ambassador of everything good within the game, has been rightly rewarded for not only his services to football but his ability to detach himself modestly from the sadness and tearful carnage around him and still acknowledge that of course he cares and cares passionately and will always do so. He speaks eloquently on the game of football but also offers wise counsel on everything connected to the game.

And so it is that we pay glowing homage to Sir Kenny Dalglish. Dalglish began the most illustrious and resplendent of careers at Celtic where almost immediately the goals flowed like the sweetest of liquids, goals from all over the place, goals of the finest mint and quality. Dalglish of course was an instinctive striker, a man with an astonishing goal scoring premonition, knowing exactly where the goal was and then rifling the ball into the net with the air of a lethal assassin.

When Dalglish walked into Parkhead manager Jock Stein must have known that here he had something special on his hands. Dalglish proceeded to settle into the green and white hoops of the Celtic shirt with the air of a prosperous shopkeeper presiding over his empire. Dalglish spent most of his career turning his markers as if they were invisible, running into acres of space, shuffling, scheming and burrowing his way forward into his opponents penalty area as if this was just another day at the office.

After serving his apprenticeship at Celtic, Dalglish was lured into English football and the old First Division. Bob Paisley, Liverpool's gentle managerial giant, knew what Dalglish could do and offered him a king's ransom. The rest, as they say is history. Dalglish was anointed as the darling of the Anfield Kop, scoring goals freely, plentifully and consistently. Dalglish scored goals for Liverpool with, seemingly his eyes closed, that energetic red shirt pulling defenders out of position and then striking the ball with vicious and venomous intent.

By the end of the 1978 season Dalglish had already entered the Liverpool Hall of Fame. Goals were frequent often defying belief in their flawless and stainless execution. Liverpool began to prepare for their second consecutive European Cup Final against Bruges at Wembley. Bruges of course could only look on with all consuming envy at this terrifying bundle of Scottish goal scoring dynamite.

A year before Kevin Keegan had mercilessly tormented Bertie Vogts in Liverpool's conclusive 3-1 victory against Borussia Monchengladbach and now Dalglish had done much the same against a weak and limp Bruges defence at Wembley. You can still see the bright red face of Dalglish lit up with joy as he struck Liverpool's all important winning goal against Bruges for Liverpool. Dalglish had added the European Cup to the old First Division Championship with Liverpool. Success came naturally to the Scotsman.

After scaling the dizzy heights of his playing career Dalglish decided to turn his hand to what seemed the daunting impossibility of football management. Climbing unsteadily into Liverpool's Anfield managerial dug out, Dalglish enjoyed moderate degrees of good times and bad. But it was at Blackburn Rovers in the mid 1990s where Dalglish enjoyed that gold embossed hour where everything turned up roses for him.

In Blackburn's last game of the season Dalglish could hardly have wished for more unsuitable opposition. Blackburn had been paired up with Dalglish's old colleagues at Liverpool. This couldn't be happening and yet it was. While Blackburn's immediate challengers to the Premier League title Manchester United could only manage a 1-1 draw, Dalglish's Blackburn were about to clinch the Premier League title at Anfield. Oh please get him out of here or so Dalglish must have been thinking. And yet it was true, undeniably true. What exactly was going through his mind that afternoon? There seemed no way of telling.

Many years after the end of both Dalglish's playing and managerial career there was a sense that Dalglish still had something valuable to offer the game that had so taken him to its heart. But sadly King, Kind Hearted Kenny faded from view completely, concentrating on the game as seen through the eyes of the football fan.

There was a deeply thoughtful and yet forcefully opinionated side to Dalglish as the player and manager became the TV pundit and analyst. There was now a softness and mellowness about the man that would come to define this new chapter in his life. But there was still a bite and impish humour about the former Celtic and Liverpool man that couldn't be shifted. Dalglish was still crazy about the game and the observations were as measured as some of his through passes to fellow strikers.

But on this most royal of days it is time once again to honour one of football's most honourable of servants. Scotland might have thought they'd seen everything Denis Law once scored bumper crops of goals for both Scotland and Manchester United. The fact is of course that shortly Her Majesty the Queen will be dipping the sword at Buckingham Palace for one Kenneth Dalglish. Sir Kenny Dalglish will be treading that opulently red carpet and humbly accepting the knighthood.  For the hundreds of millions on Liverpool's Anfield Kop it was the perfect accolade. Arise again Sir Kenny.