My tuppence ha'penny.
Over the years I've heard a lot of shit spouted about Kenny's bona fides as a manager. "I could have won the double with that squad!", people say. "Blackburn bought the title!", others say. The implication always being that Dalglish was lucky. In the right place, at the right time, with the right players. Anyone could have done it. He's never really been tested.
This, in my humble opinion, is bollocks. Anyone lucky enough to live through the last period when Kenny was manager of this club will tell you that, as a manager, he was shrewd, intelligent, focused, inspirational. All of the qualities he'd had as a player, he managed to bring with him into this new life. And then? Well, we all know (or think we know) the circumstances of his departure - following unimaginable horror.
I've often thought all this robbed the game of someone who could have (who really knows?) gone on to be an all-time great as a manager. Despite the crap regularly spouted about his inability to "cut it" in the hot-seat he had, I reckon, all the gifts and credentials necessary to become a managerial legend. Are they still there? Can he still summon them? Can he translate them to the here and the now?
We shall see. But, for today at least, let's welcome the return of the classiest act ever to wear a red shirt. And one of the classiest managers the club has ever seen.
Welcome back.