Liverpool Legend

Kenny Dalglish began his management career in style with League Championship/F.A Cup double success in the 1985-86 season. The club finished top of the First Division ahead of neighbours Everton, and to round it all off Liverpool hammered Everton 3-1 in the F.A Cup final. Dalglish was still a top striker despite his advancing years, and his partnership with Ian Rush was the most prolific in the English league. Midfielders Craig Johnston and Ray Houghton were also putting on impressive performances. Liverpool's 1986 double success made history as they were only the fifth team in English football to achieve such a feat, and the first team to win the F.A Cup without fielding a single English player.

Liverpool ended the 1986-87 season trophyless as they lost the League Championship to Everton and the League Cup to Arsenal. Pundits were predicting further disappointment for the following season when star striker Ian Rush was off-loaded to Juventus. Dalglish responded by adding John Barnes and John Aldridge to Liverpool's forward line. Liverpool secured the First Division championship with a nine-point gap over runners-up Manchester United and just two league defeats all season. Barnes was voted Footballer of the Year despite having to suffer the humiliation of monkey chants in a game against Everton where the opposition's chairman, Phillip Carter, disowned his own supporters as 'scum'. The downside to Liverpool's season was a shocking 1-0 F.A Cup final defeat against Wimbledon, who had been in the Football League for just eleven seasons and had just completed only their second season of top division football.

Ian Rush returned to Liverpool for the 1988-89 season, after an unsuccessful spell at Juventus, and was crucial in getting the club to their third F.A Cup final in four years. They beat neighbours Everton 3-2 but the triumph was overshadowed by tragedy in the F.A Cup semi final against Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough.

Before the F.A Cup semi final could kick off, 94 Liverpool supporters were crushed to death and around 300 others injured after forcing their way onto terracing through gates which the police had unlocked in fear of their own safety. A 95th fan died a few days after the tragedy, and the death toll became 96 in March 1993 when Tony Bland died after being in a coma for nearly four years.

After the F.A Cup final victory, Liverpool played their final league game of the season - a home fixture against their nearest challengers Arsenal, who were three points behind them and had scored two less goals. Liverpool went 1-0 down but still looked set to win the league until the last minute of the game, when a goal from Arsenal midfielder Michael Thomas (who ironically joined Liverpool a few seasons later) deprived Liverpool of the chance to repeat the double for the second season running.

Kenny Dalglish guided Liverpool to their third league title in five seasons in 1989-90. Although the 5-year ban on English clubs in European competition was lifted for the following season, Liverpool had to serve an extra year and were unable to compete in the 1990-91 European Cup.

On February 22nd 1991, with Liverpool halfway through a two-horse race with Arsenal for the league title, Kenny Dalglish dropped a bombshell on the club by handing in his resignation as manager and claimed he could no longer cope with the pressure of managing the club. First-team coach Ronnie Moran took temporary charge of team affairs for several weeks before Graeme Souness was named the club's new manager. But by that stage, Liverpool were slipping behind in the title race and finished runners-up to Arsenal who completed the season with just one defeat from 38 games.