Liverpool FC

Good to have you back Fonz. It must have been a long 3 months for you beneath that rock you crawled under after Barcelona made a show of the mancs

The rest of the banter has been moved, it starts here.

Brilliant to see Suarez back in lads

34 years ago today a 26 year old Scotland international striker called Kenny Dalglish signed for Liverpool FC.

On 10 August 1977, after 269 appearances and 167 goals for Celtic, Kenny Dalglish moved to Liverpool for a British record £440,000 transfer fee. Dalglish's departure was extremely unpopular with the Celtic fans, and when he returned in August 1978 to play in Stein's testimonial, he was booed by a large element of the Celtic supporters.

The Liverpool support initially had reservations about Dalglish's ability to replace Kevin Keegan, but Dalglish settled in quickly. He made his debut, wearing Keegan's famous number seven shirt, in the season opener at Wembley, on 13 August 1977 in the Charity Shield against Manchester United, which ended in a draw. He scored his first goal in his league debut a week later on 20 August, against Middlesbrough. Dalglish also scored on his Anfield debut three days later in a 2–0 victory over Newcastle United, and he scored Liverpool's sixth goal when they beat Keegan's Hamburg 6–0 in the second leg of the 1977 UEFA Super Cup final. At the end of his first season, Dalglish had played 62 times, scoring 31 goals, including the winning goal in the 1978 European Cup Final final at Wembley against Bruges.

In April 1980, Liverpool paid £300,000 for Ian Rush, an 18-year-old Chester striker. After he had made the breakthrough into the first team, Rush thrived alongside Dalglish. The pair's goals helped the Anfield club win the League championship and a 3–1 League Cup final win over Tottenham Hotspur, in which Rush scored the winning goal. A year earlier, Dalglish had himself scored in the 1981 Football League Cup Final.

Dalglish was an ever present in his first three league campaigns at Liverpool, his second campaign (1978–79) being his personal best at the club with 21 league goals. He did not miss a league game for Liverpool until the 1980–81 season, when he appeared in 34 out of 42 league games and scored just eight goals as Liverpool finished fifth in the league but still managed to win the European Cup and Football League Cup. He recovered his goalscoring form the following season and was ever-present once again, scoring 13 goals as Liverpool became league champions for the 13th time, and the third time since Dalglish's arrival. Dalglish was voted PFA Player of the Year for the 1982–83 season, during which he scored 18 league goals as Liverpool retained their title however, after this season his goalscoring record became less prolific, though he remained a regular player.

After becoming player-manager on the retirement of Joe Fagan in the 1985 close season, Dalglish selected himself for just 21 First Division games in 1985–86 as Liverpool won the double, but he started the FA Cup final win over Everton. On the final day of the league season, his goal in a 1–0 away win over Chelsea gave Liverpool their 16th league title.

Dalglish had a personally better campaign in the 1986–87 season, this time scoring six goals from just 18 league appearances, but he was now firmly committed to giving younger players priority for a first team place.

With the sale of Ian Rush to Juventus in the 1987 close season, Dalglish chose to form a new striker partnership of new signings John Aldridge and Peter Beardsley for the 1987–88, during which he played just twice in a league campaign which saw Liverpool seal their 17th title. He did not participate as a player in their 1988–89 league campaign, and made his final league appearance on 5 May 1990 when he came on as a substitute against Derby County F.C.. At 39, he was one of the oldest players ever to play for Liverpool. His final goal had come three years earlier, in a 3–0 home league win over Nottingham Forest on 18 April 1987.

After the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 and Joe Fagan's subsequent resignation as manager, Dalglish became player-manager of Liverpool and guided them to their first "double" in his first season in charge in 1985–86. Liverpool achieved this historic feat by winning the League Championship by two points over Everton (Dalglish scored the winner in a 1–0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to secure the title on the final day of the season) and the FA Cup, again beating Everton 3–1 in the final.

The following season was trophy-less, but Liverpool topped the league for almost the whole season in 1987–88, although Dalglish's appearances were becoming increasingly rare after he signed Peter Beardsley from Newcastle. Alongside Beardsley, he signed John Aldridge from Oxford United as a replacement for the outgoing Ian Rush, winger John Barnes from Watford and Oxford United midfielder Ray Houghton The Liverpool side had a successful run of 37 matches unbeaten in all competitions from the beginning of the season (29 in the league, 22 wins and 7 draws). The run began on the 15 August 1987 and was ended by Everton on 21 February 1988. Liverpool were crowned champions with four games left to play, having suffered just two defeats from 40 games. However, despite being favourites in the 1988 FA Cup Final, they were denied a second double by underdogs Wimbledon.

Dalglish guided Liverpool to victory over Everton in the second all-Merseyside F.A. Cup final in 1989, but lost the chance to win a second double in the last minute of the final game of the season.

In the 1989–90 season Liverpool won their third league title of their first five seasons under Dalglish's management. It came after a late surge by Aston Villa had knocked them off the top of the table in April, but a strong run during the final weeks of the season saw Dalglish's side win the title by nine points. 1989–90 was also the season that saw the 38-year-old Dalglish play the final game of his career, when he came on as a 71st minute sub for Jan Mølby in Liverpool's final home game of the season against Derby County on 1 May 1990. Dalglish also received his third Manager of the Year award.

Dalglish was in charge of the club at the time of the Hillsborough disaster on 15 April 1989 at the beginning of the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest. The tragedy claimed 94 lives on the day, with the final death toll reaching 96. Dalglish won many admirers for his dignity during this tragedy. He attended many of the funerals as did the other Liverpool players. He is still well regarded by Liverpool supporters for this reason, as well as for his on-field successes. He resigned as manager of Liverpool (on health grounds) on 22 February 1991, just two days after a 4–4 draw with rivals Everton in which Liverpool were pegged back four times. Stating he wished to retire from football, Dalglish left Liverpool FC in 1991, with the club defending their title and still in contention for both the league title and the FA Cup


Liverpool, 1977–1990 355 Goals in 118
Football League First Division
Winner: 1978/79, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1985/86
FA Cup
Winner: 1985/86
League Cup
Winner: 1980/81, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84
Charity Shield
Winner: 1977 (Shared), 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986 (Shared)
European Cup
Winner: 1977/78, 1980/81, 1983/84
European Super Cup
Winner: 1977

When Roy Hodgson left Liverpool on 8 January 2011 & with the club facing it's darkest hour since 15 April 1989 Kenny Dalglish was asked to return as manager for a second time.... The legend lives on & the story continues.

That's how it's done Mitchell!! Great post mate.

^^^^Thats one heck of a post there mitchell I never got to see him play a I wasn't born until the late 80's but the stuff that I see on TV in his prime, he was unbelievably talented! You can see he is one highly repected man, even if you don't like LFC you have to repect what this guy has accomplished

He is The King....end of.

(10-08-2011 00:14 )mitchell Wrote:  On 10 August 1977, after 269 appearances and 167 goals for Celtic, Kenny Dalglish moved to Liverpool for a British record £440,000 transfer fee.......

against Derby County on 1 May 1990. Dalglish also received his third Manager of the Year award.

Nah still don't like him, mitchell.

Excellent, passionate post though.

(10-08-2011 20:33 )Captain Vimes Wrote:  Nah still don't like him, mitchell.
Excellent, passionate post though.

The simple answer for you both is, don't click, don't read & don't post!!!

Liverpool FC confirmed today that they have agreed a fee with Newcastle United for the transfer of Jose Enrique.


About time think everyone has been waiting ages for this to finally get confirmed complete this deal then i feel we just need a Back up striker an a Center back then that will be our summer dealings done.