Kenny Dalglish has contributed to football in a number of ways, which is why he has been recognised with a knighthood this week. As both a player and a manager, Dalglish has been a champion of England, a FA Cup winner and has lifted European trophies. His career spanned decades.
For many, Dalglish’s contribution to the sport in terms of success is superseded by his response to the Hillsborough disaster, when, as manager of the club, he witnessed the deaths of 96 supporters in an FA Cup tie.
Dalglish attended every funeral and has supported the justice campaign to ensure that the guilty parties were held accountable for their actions that day.
Yet there is still an elephant in the room when it comes to analysing Dalglish’s career, a moment, or several moments, that Sir Alex Ferguson believed cost the Liverpool manager his job during his second stint in charge of the club.
Luis Suarez was found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra by an independent panel commissioned by the FA. Suarez admitted to calling the United left-back a “negro” during an argument in a game between Liverpool and Manchester United. South American language experts determined that, while the term may not necessarily be racially motivated when used between friends, it was clearly racist abuse when used in the context Suarez admitted.
Dalglish wasn’t the first manager to employ siege mentality when one of his players was under attack but there are some actions that should not be condoned or defended. To suggest that Suarez was the victim in this instance and that the footballing authorities were out to get him, or the club, was misguided and only further fuelled the supporters in behaving in an unacceptable way.