Kenny Dalglish

Bluesky

It’s hard to overstate how much Sir Kenny Dalglish is revered by at least half of Merseyside. Dubbed “King Kenny” on the pitch for his ball skills at Anfield, he also found success with them at management level. It was, however, his commitment – along with that of his wife Marina – to the fans and wider community in the wake of the Hillsborough disaster that many will remember as his most important legacy. Asif Kapadia’s documentary focuses on his start in the game at Celtic through his career at Liverpool until he stepped down as manager in 1991. Sitting down to watch it with the Red in my life, he said: “I’ve got to warn you, I might cry.” Spoiler alert: he did.

Kapadia has a strong track record with documentary, having previously won acclaim with the likes of Amy, Senna, and on a similar footballing theme, Diego Maradona. The director’s love of a straightforward title is matched by a no-nonsense approach to the material, which in this case offers a dive into archive footage from the period. Fans will be familiar with most of what is presented here but it’s the voiceover from Dalglish and others that elevates this to a must-see for them.

The various interviews, which also include Marina, The Farm vocalist (and Liverpool fan) Peter Hooton, fellow players Alan Hansen, Graeme Souness and a host of others, are dovetailed with the footage with care by editor Matteo Bini so that a conversation of sorts is often created. Beyond talking about the tales of the pitch, there is also a smattering of personal stories, including Dalglish’s exceptionally cautious courtship of Marina and Souness talking about how their daughter, now-broadcaster Kelly Cates, became a sort of ‘wing-man’ when he would take her out in her pushchair.

The film touches on the psychological importance of football to many communities during the Thatcher years, when unemployment was high and working-class communities under the cosh. That psychological aspect is something that grows further as Dalglish talks about the tricky job of being a player manager and trying to juggle putting himself on the park or not. Most people will know what is coming, however, first Heysel and then Hillsborough. The treatment of the Heysel disaster is, like the whole film, matter-of-fact, making sure not only to catch the aggression between some of the Liverpool and Juventus fans but also the horror of many regular supporters about what had happened. It also allows us to see the signs that were already there regarding overcrowding problems at stadiums.

Then comes Hillsborough, which has been well documented down the years, but again it’s the personal testimony, along with strong archive footage that brings its impact home. It wasn’t just that 97 fans lost their lives but that what happened was twisted obscenely out of shape by The Sun newspaper, who blamed the fans under the outrageous headline “The Truth”. As circulation collapsed, then-editor Kelvin MacKenzie asked Dalglish what he could do to fix things, to be told, in the straight-talking way Dalglish always had, that he ought to run a front page titled, “We Lied”.

Kenny and Marina, along with many others from the club, were a rock for the community in the weeks that followed, with both attending funerals for the fans. He was sympathetic but stoic in what amounted to a sea of grief, as footage of the time shows him simply saying, “We never lost as much as some people”. Although noting what came next in intertitles, the film ends with Dalglish stepping down as manager, the shock and pressure of it all taking its toll. Celtic fans are decently served by Kapadia's approach, but Blackburn and his later career moves are treated as footnotes.

One slightly odd element is that we never see Dalglish in the present day, on screen, while that avoids the boredom of ‘talking heads’ and ensures the film is immersive, it seems strange not to glimpse him even once. What shines out is how remarkably untouched by fame he has remained and family-orientated, not just for his immediate clan but the wider Liverpool fan community.

The film is in cinemas on October 30 before coming to Amazon Prime on November 4

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