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By 1985, Kenny Dalglish had already established himself as an all-time Liverpool great.
But after eight years as being the Reds’ talismanic force on the pitch, Dalglish was handed the opportunity to play an even bigger role at the club, when he was asked to succeed manager Joe Fagan.
While Dalglish would excel in his new dual player-manager position, it was not a role he had expected to take on, but he admits he was unable to refuse the offer.
Dalglish on taking over in the Anfield dugout
“I don’t know why the club asked me to become player-manager in 1985,” the Scot tells FourFourTwo.
“But they did, so I said, ‘OK, no problem for me. If that’s what you want, I’ll have a go.’”
For Dalglish, it was the structure and culture of the club that made what would be a daunting transition more manageable.
“The people around me were important – there was a vast experience in that dressing room, with the coaching staff, and Bob Paisley came back to help,” he continues.
“He was fantastic. The people upstairs, the chief executive, they’d do all the negotiations for wages and transfers, I didn’t want to be involved in money. It was really well organised.”
This backing from everyone in the club allowed Dalglish to focus on the on-pitch matters.
“They said, ‘All you can do is be your best’ – to come out of the dressing room and sit in the manager’s office, those were my team-mates and it was tough at times, but it wasn’t something that you could turn down,” he adds.
And Dalglish’s best would prove to be more than good enough, as he would win the first of three league titles as manager of Liverpool in that very first season in his new role.
