THE NUMBER 9,394 probably doesn’t hold any significance for most people. It certainly doesn’t appear to hold any for Kenny Dalglish, though it represents the exact number of days which have passed since he was first appointed as manager of Liverpool Football Club in 1985.
Dalglish’s apppointment to a job at which he would ultimately excel came in the most tragic of circumstances.
The day before he took the Anfield reins from Joe Fagan, Liverpool had played Juventus in the European Cup Final at Heysel stadium. 39 football fans, mostly Juventus supporters, were killed that night and English clubs were subsequently banned from participating in European competition for the following five seasons.
As the Scot prepares for his managerial return to European football against Sparta Prague in the Europa League this evening, it is clear that the events of that night are still very much on his mind.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the game yesterday, Dalglish spoke about the tragedy of that evening.
I just wish the ban had never happened because that would have meant Heysel had never happened and it would have been better for everyone if it never happened and it would have been the wishes of every single person.
Heysel was a terrible tragedy. For so many people to lose their lives at a football game was appalling and it was right that somebody was punished.
Happier Memories
Heysel aside, however, Europe has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for the Liverpool boss. As a player, he won three European Cup titles with Liverpool, bagging the only goal of the game in the Reds’ 1-0 triumph against FC Brugge in Wembley in 1978.
Even as a manager, “the King” has one or two fond European memories. The last time that he sat in a European dugout was as manager of Newcastle United who competed in the group stages of the Champions League in 1997-1998.
Though Newcastle were eliminated after finishing third in their group, the Toon Army’s European adventure got off to the best possible start, a Faustino Asprilla hat-trick giving Dalglish’s men a 3-2 win over Barcelona at St. James’ Park.
Respect
This evening, though, it seems that none of those previous successes matter to the Liverpool boss. At his press conference yesterday, he made it clear that he is treating the Europa League as he would any other competition, with victory the only thing on his mind.
It’s a great honour for me to be involved with Liverpool Football Club. I respect every competition. Being involved in Europe just gives us an extra little push.
It’s up to us now to carry on the work that was done by Roy and the players to get us this far. It’s a competition that we’re involved in and it only seems to be unimportant to those that aren’t involved in it. We’ll be doing our best to get the result that everybody wants here.
Injuries
If Liverpool are to win in Prague this evening, they will have to do so without influential captain Steven Gerrard and Danish centre-half Daniel Agger, both of whom are injured.
Agger’s fellow countryman Christian Poulsen has been excused from travelling with the squad to be with his wife who is in labour, while new signing Luis Suarez is ineligible for this evening’s game.
Sixteen-year-old Raheem Sterling has travelled with the squad after impressing Dalglish with his five-goal haul during Liverpool U18′s 9-0 victory over Southend United in the FA Youth Cup on Monday night. If he makes an appearance, he will become the club’s youngest ever player at just 16 years and 71 days.
Liverpool Squad (v. Sparta Prague): Reina, Jones, Gulacsi, Johnson, Flanagan, Aurelio, Robinson, Kyrgiakos, Wilson, Carragher, Kelly, Skrtel, Meireles, Cole, Maxi, Jovanovic, Lucas, Coady, Ince, Sterling, Pacheco, Kuyt, Ngog.
