Sir Kenny Dalglish to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at SPOTY

Sir Kenny Dalglish will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2023.

Dalglish, who scored 167 times in 320 appearances, lifting nine trophies for Celtic before he moved to Liverpool for a British record transfer fee at the time of £440,000, will be handed the award on Tuesday.

Dalglish would go on to become a Liverpool great and helped the club retain the European Cup against Club Brugge at Wembley in 1978 by scoring the only goal of the game.

Regarded by many at Anfield as ‘King Kenny’ and Liverpool’s greatest ever footballer, he remains the only player to score more than 100 league goals in both Scotland and England.

Dalglish insisted he would not have received this award without the help of those around him during his playing and coaching days, including players and fans.

He said: “Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award is truly an honour.

“I have always believed in the importance of team success and I wouldn’t be where I am today without all of the players I’ve played with, the people I’ve worked for and the supporters that stood by me – so this is for them.

“My accolades would be the players I played with, the supporters that stood by me and the supporters that gave me the support and the confidence to go and play.

“For every club side and national team I’ve been involved with, I’ve always said how important it is to have the support of the fans. And the fans who support you, they’re a vital, vital part of any success.

“With all the teams, I experienced that and I can tell you it is true, they do help us.

“When we are struggling, they’re still there and they’re willing you on, trying to get a result, a positive result.”

Dalglish spent six years as manager of Liverpool from 1985 and returned to Anfield over 20 years later to replace the sacked Roy Hodgson, while he also spent time in charge of Blackburn, Newcastle and Celtic.

“To go from the dressing room to the manager’s office, I wasn’t always the most comfortable, but I had fantastic support from senior people at Liverpool,” he added.

“The most comfortable place for me as a player was in the dressing room. I missed the dressing room, but you’ve got to move on in your life and that is what destiny was telling me, move on.”

Director of BBC Sport, Barbara Slater, said: “Kenny has dedicated so much of his life to football, both on the pitch and as a manager.

“He’s broken records for club and country and always shown himself as a true leader, especially through the tragedy of Hillsborough in 1989 and the years to follow.

“Kenny is a true inspiration and a deserved winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.”