\u201cThe proper thing to do at that time was to step away because the club didn\u2019t deserve that,\u201d Dalglish tells The Athletic. \u201cIf you\u2019re the manager, then you have got to be there to make decisions. That\u2019s what you\u2019re employed for. If you\u2019re not making them, then it\u2019s not fair on anyone to stay, especially after what Liverpool Football Club had done for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Kenny Dalglish at the press conference where his resignation was announced in 1991 (PA Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Sat alongside Dalglish, now 74, is Kelly Cates, the eldest of his four children and one of the UK\u2019s most prominent football TV broadcasters. She was 15 when her father stepped down as manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe night before the news came out, my mum called me back from my friend\u2019s house across the road to tell me,\u201d she says. \u201cI can\u2019t remember exactly what she said, but the next minute you came back and walked into the house with a little box of stuff from your office. I ran up the stairs in tears. It was horrible. That was how I found out. It was a quick decision, wasn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I decided on the Thursday and it was announced on the Friday,\u201d Dalglish replies.<\/p>\n
The outpouring of emotion triggered by Dalglish\u2019s exit opened his daughter\u2019s eyes to the depth of adoration for her father, who had been a pillar of support for the city in the aftermath of Hillsborough. Dalglish and his wife Marina attended dozens of funerals and stood shoulder to shoulder with the families in the fight for truth and justice after the cruel lies pedalled by the authorities that the fans were to blame for the tragedy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you left Liverpool, I realised for the first time that it was about more than just being a player or a manager,\u201d Cates says. \u201cI remember my friend called me in tears. She had walked home from school and her mum was crying when she opened the door: \u2018Oh my God, mum, what\u2019s happened?\u2019. She said, \u2018Kenny has gone\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cRevisiting that time around Hillsborough as an adult, you do see things differently. I was only 13 in 1989. Now I see what dad and mum did with a different perspective. At 13, you take what your parents do for granted and don\u2019t read too much into it. Going back to it as an adult, you see it and respect it in a completely different way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kids got a trip to Disney World out of me resigning,\u201d Dalglish responds dryly. \u201cWe all went to the Magic Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eight months later, Dalglish was refreshed and back in management at Blackburn Rovers. He got them promoted to the top flight and then led them to Premier League title glory in 1994-95. There were also spells at Newcastle United and Celtic before he returned to Liverpool in January 2011, winning the League Cup a year later.<\/p>\n
Legendary status was initially bestowed on Dalglish in recognition of his wizardry with a ball at his feet. After winning four league titles with Celtic, he moved to Liverpool in 1977 for a British record fee of \u00a3440,000 ($720,000 at the time) as a replacement for Kevin Keegan, who had left to join German side Hamburg.<\/p>\n
Dalglish went on to score 172 goals in 515 appearances and is widely regarded as the greatest player in the club\u2019s history<\/a>. Appointed as Joe Fagan\u2019s successor following the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, which claimed the lives of 39 fans, he won the league and cup double as player-manager in 1985-86.<\/p>\n Cates: \u201cMy kids first realised he was a famous player when they had access to YouTube. They came to show me and were like: \u2018Did you know granddad is on YouTube?\u2019. That was the highest praise they could give him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was a kid, it wasn\u2019t something we really thought about. We knew when we went to games at Anfield that he would get a lot of attention, but when we were at home or out and about, it wasn\u2019t really a thing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went to watch Rod Stewart at Ibrox when I was about nine. Seeing Dad get stopped walking around the perimeter of the ground was a bit strange. It made sense to me when it happened at Anfield, but I didn\u2019t understand it happening anywhere else. I was like: \u2018Oh, so other people are also interested in him\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Dalglish: \u201cKelly and my son Paul used to enjoy going to the football because Marina used to sit next to a woman who had bags of sweets.\u201d<\/p>\n Cates: \u201cMrs Prince! She used to bring each of us a Wispa chocolate bar.\u201d<\/p>\n Dalglish: \u201cMrs Prince was a bigger attraction for the kids than the actual game. There were a lot of kids around the same age, so they used to go and play on the pitch after a game at Anfield.\u201d<\/p>\n Cates: \u201cThe boys did. We weren\u2019t allowed. The reason was that to get there, you had to go past the dressing rooms. The girls weren\u2019t allowed past a certain point down the corridor.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Kenny Dalglish with his wife Marina and Kelly at a memorial service for the victims at Hillsborough in 1989 (John Giles \u2013 PA Images via Getty Images)<\/p>\n How did family life change when Kenny made the move from playing to management?<\/p>\n Cates: \u201cYou were much moodier! I remember being in the car coming back from a game and you\u2019d won, but you were in such a bad mood because you didn\u2019t like something about how they had played. Mum was like: \u2018God, if you\u2019re like this when they win\u2026\u2019. You were grumpier but not necessarily about the result.\u201d<\/p>\n Dalglish: \u201cThat only lasted overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n What was Kelly like growing up?<\/p>\n Dalglish: \u201cVery difficult. I passed her on to Marina. That was her responsibility!<\/p>\n \u201cMarina and I are immensely proud of them all and what they have done in their lives. Probably the greatest contribution they have made to the family is the grandkids, who are absolutely brilliant. Lauren hasn\u2019t had any children yet but she does a huge amount of work for Marina\u2019s charity.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have all done brilliantly and they have done it themselves. The surname is sometimes a disadvantage for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Cates: \u201cYou can\u2019t ask about one of us without mentioning all of us, otherwise everybody will fall out! We\u2019ve got to keep it all balanced.\u201d<\/p>\n Dalglish: \u201cThey have all played their part. And then there\u2019s Marina. I might have been the manager of a football club but I wasn\u2019t the manager indoors.\u201d<\/p>\n Cates was in the middle of a maths degree at the University of Glasgow when she accepted a job offer at Sky Sports News following the channel\u2019s launch in 1998. She has become one of the most respected sports presenters in the country. At the start of this season, she became one of the three new co-hosts for the BBC\u2019s flagship Premier League highlights show, Match of the Day<\/a>, alongside Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman.<\/p>\n Cates: \u201cI\u2019m a 50-year-old nepo baby! I didn\u2019t really have a plan about what I wanted to do when I was studying. I was thinking something vaguely in the city. But I wasn\u2019t loving it. I kept hoping something would come up that I was interested in.<\/p>\n \u201cThe family name opens doors and it\u2019s stupid not to acknowledge that and acknowledge the help you get at an early stage. It\u2019s a difficult and weird industry to get into. I just hope that, nearly 30 years in, you get a bit of your own credit.<\/p>\n \n Dalglish at his investiture at Buckingham Palace with (left-right) daughters Lauren, Kelly and Lynsey, wife Marina and son Paul (Jonathan Brady \u2013 WPA Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cIt was similar for me and Gabby (whose father, Terry Yorath, was a Wales international<\/a>) when we started out. There was a sort of belief that, \u2018I don\u2019t know whether women know anything about football, but if their dad did, then maybe they picked something up along the way\u2019. It was almost that kind of assumption.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very male-dominated world. But when I started out at Sky Sports News, it was pretty much 50-50 in terms of male-female. There were female producers and directors, and a lot of women in the gallery as well as presenting.<\/p>\n \u201cDoing Match of the Day has been amazing. I was so delighted to be asked. It\u2019s one of the things that everyone has grown up with. It still has that status at a time when so much of everything is digital.\u201d<\/p>\n Dalglish: \u201cIt\u2019s on too late for me! I probably see it more often when it\u2019s repeated on a Sunday morning.\u201d<\/p>\n Cates: \u201cIf something is annoying him during a game, then he sends me a text. If I don\u2019t answer it quickly enough, I get a call on the way home from the studio. He likes to be part of the chat!\u201d<\/p>\n The pair rarely get the opportunity to sit and watch a game together, which is why Liverpool\u2019s 5-1 triumph over Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield last April, wrapping up the Premier League title for Arne Slot\u2019s side<\/a>, meant so much.<\/p>\n Cates: \u201cThat was such a lovely day. We haven\u2019t been together for a game since. Normally, if Dad is at a game, then I\u2019m working. The highlight of his day against Tottenham was meeting (British actress) Millie Bobby Brown. He\u2019s a big Stranger Things fan.<\/p>\n Dalglish: \u201cIs that the name of the group?\u201d<\/p>\n Cates: \u201cIt\u2019s the TV show! We were all there as a family. I very rarely get to go and watch a game for fun. And that day was a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-830162578-e1771523273588.jpg\")
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