DALGLISH GETS A KNIGHTHOOD
Football legend’s knighthood
SIR KENNY: He was known as King Kenny for his exploits for Celtic and Liverpool. Now former footballer Kenny Dalglish, manager of Liverpool at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, is to be knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL great Kenny Dalglish has told of his pride at being knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, following his steadfast support for the Hillsborough families in their lengthy quest for justice.
The former player, manager and tireless charity campaigner has been a vocal supporter of the battle by relatives to establish the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans in the tragedy 19 years ago.
The Liverpool supporters died during a crush in the crowd at a semi-final match in the FA Cup at Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium.
Sir Kenny, who managed Liverpool at the time of the Hillsborough disaster, claimed he was “hugely proud to have accepted the accolade” for services to football, charity and the City of Liverpool.
The 67-year-old Glaswegian and his wife Marina have also helped raise millions of pounds for cancer treatment through the Marina Dalglish Appeal after she successfully battled breast cancer.
Joking that he thought the letter informing him of the knighthood had been from the taxman, he added of the achievement: “We only set out to do the best we possibly could, even through all the other stuff – the charity or Hillsborough – it was to help people because somebody helped us.”
The 96 football fans died in the crush at Hillsborough stadium on April 15, 1989, as the FA Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest began.
Six people, including match commander and former chief superintendent David Duckenfield, are already facing charges related to the disaster and its aftermath.
Sir Kenny’s footballing career saw him play for Celtic, Liverpool and Scotland – becoming his national team’s most capped player with 102 appearances. He won the Ballon d’Or Silver Award in 1983 and the PFA Players’ Player of the Year in the same year. His managerial career saw him take charge at Liverpool, Celtic, Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers. In 2009,
FourFourTwo magazine named Sir Kenny as the greatest striker in post-war British football.
Sporting stars are well represented among the recipients in the honours, with Premier League and England striker Jermain Defoe describing himself as “blessed and humbled” to be recognised with an OBE for his services to the charitable foundation set up in his name.
Defoe said he felt “mixed emotions”, with the award coming almost a year after the death of sixyear-old football mascot Bradley Lowery, with whom the player struck up a strong friendship as the young boy battled a rare childhood cancer.
World heavyweight champion boxer Anthony Joshua is made an OBE for services to sport, while 20-year-old alpine skier Menna Fitzpatrick, Britain’s most successful winter paralympian, is the youngest on this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list, picking up an MBE for services to Paralympic winter Olympic sport.
We only set out to do the best we possibly could. Former footballer and manager Kenny Dalglish.
ON A day of celebration for the local heroes recognised in the Queen’s Birthday’s Honours, the long-overdue knighthood awarded to footballing legend Sir Kenny Dalglish deserves top billing. A phenomenal player, his great deeds on the pitch have been matched by his tireless work off the field of play in aid of cancer charities and unflinching support for the Hillsborough families.
Manager of Liverpool Football Club when 96 fans were killed at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final, he was a tower of strength to grieving families – he and his wife Marina attended many of the funerals – before supporting campaigners throughout their battle for justice. A typically modest Sir Kenny is playing down his achievements, saying he and his family set out “to help people because somebody helped us”, but all those who have benefited from his quiet dignity, leadership, compassion and benevolence, and continue to do so, will maintain that this accolade is the most deserved of all.