KING KENNY TO HAND OVER TROPHY IN KOP CEREMONY
SIR KENNY DALGLISH will present the Premier League trophy to Liverpool next week in a special ceremony that will be staged on the Kop. An occasion that was always going be hugely special will carry added significance as Dalglish was the last Liverpool manager to oversee a title-winning campaign in 1990. Not only that, Dalglish signed Liverpool’s captain Jordan Henderson — who will receive the trophy after the Chelsea game on Wednesday — in June 2011 during his second stint in charge. Dalglish will be joined at the ceremony — during which medals will be presented to Jurgen Klopp’s squad — by Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive.
This will be a different kind of ceremony to the ones that usually take place at the end of a campaign, when presentations tend to be on the pitch. Only Manchester United, in 1993, did something different when they received their prize after walking up steps behind the dugout at Old Trafford into the stand. Liverpool have started the preparations for the occasion by removing a huge section of seats towards the front of the Kop and the event will have strict health and safety protocols in place. Nobody envisaged Liverpool would be crowned champions inside an empty stadium but the club are working to ensure that fans can be involved interactively.
‘The supporters have always been there, right beside the club,’ Dalglish said recently. ‘It’s fantastic and they thoroughly deserve it. Everyone who is there appreciates what each other is doing. They will enjoy this and when you enjoy something you want to do it again.’