DALGLISH: I CALLED FOR FERGIE TO STAY

KENNY DALGLISH can scarcely believe Manchester United have won the title 13 times since the Liver bird last crowed from the summit.

And after sticking up for Sir Alex Ferguson when he was under pressure at Old Trafford 30 years ago – the pair’s rivalry goes back almost half a century to an Old Firm reserve game – Dalglish now jokes: “I should have kept my mouth shut.”

Fergie (right) knocked

Liverpool “off their perch” and delivered

26 major trophies to

United, leaving Dalglish to reflect ruefully on the power shift since May 1990 when he celebrated the title at Anfield with coaches

Ronnie Moran and Roy Evans

(above).

Now 66, and

Merseyside royalty for the last four decades, King Kenny said: “If you had told me in 1990, when I stepped away from the manager’s job, that Liverpool would still be waiting to win another title 27 years later, and Manchester United would win it 13 times in that period, I think you’d have been locked up.

“Certainly, it’s been a lot longer than most people would have anticipated but that will only make it all the more sweet when it comes – I just hope it comes sooner rather than later. Ultimately, you get what you deserve over 38 games. “When Fergie first came to United, you lot were all shouting for him to get the sack and I was saying he deserved more time.

“As a manager, he was hugely intent on being as successful as Liverpool had been for many years, and it didn’t matter who was in his way. He was successful all right – and I don’t think there’s a lot wrong with how he went about it, either.”