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It’s been quite a year for it, and there was yet another piece of sad news announced during the week when we heard of Ray Kennedy’s passing.
Ray was a team-mate at Liverpool, and one of the best strikers of a ball I had seen in a long, long time.
I also believe he was underrated, and opposition teams ignored him at their peril, often being punished for doing so.
I loved the way he would ghost in at the back post to score a goal.
Ray was fully appreciated by all of the lads at Liverpool, and also at Arsenal, where he played as a striker alongside John Radford and helped the Gunners win The Double in 1971.
That was one of the many successes he was involved in at Highbury, before he was bought by Liverpool in 1974.
He arrived on the day that Bill Shankly left, and Bob Paisley took over. So nobody ever really knew if it was Bill or Bob who
signed him!
But what an impact Ray made. He won three league titles and three European Cups with us, and he was a pleasure to play with.
He also moved on to play for Swansea City when John Toshack took him there.
Ray was capped 17 times by England, and I played against him for Scotland in 1976 and 1977. Needless to say, I was delighted to be on the winning side both times.
Sadly, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease not long after he retired from playing.
He helped raise awareness about the condition as he fought a long battle against the illness.
Ray was just 70 when he passed away. He was a lovely fella, as good as gold and I enjoyed his company.
The thoughts of everyone in the Dalglish household are with Ray’s family and friends at this sad time.