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Hillsborough families request knighthood for Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish

The families of the 96 Liverpool supporters who died in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster want a knighthood for Kenny Dalglish, the club’s manager both then and now.

Kenny Dalglish - Hillsborough families request knighthood for Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish
In rememberance: Kenny Dalglish at the memorial service at Anfield on Friday Credit: Photo: ACTION IMAGES

Steve Rotheram MP, the Labour Member for Walton, revealed at Friday’s memorial service at Anfield commemorating the 22nd anniversary of the disaster, that he had been asked to table an early-day motion in the House of Commons asking the Queen to confer the honour on the 60-year-old Scot.

In his speech, the former Lord Mayor of Liverpool said it would be “on all our behalf that the King of the Kop can become ‘Sir Kenny’.

“The families think it would be nice for Kenny to receive some recognition,” said Rotheram after the service. “People are commemorated for their services to national sport, Sir Bobby Robson, for instance, for charitable causes, and Kenny and [his wife] Marina have had a very successful charity – and there is all the support he has given to the families from day one. He has done all three.”

He added: “It would definitely be of benefit to the Hillsborough families. While it is recognition for Kenny Dalglish, the families are quite clear that any individual award to him would reflect on the 96 as well and the work he has done on their behalf.”

More than 12,000 supporters attended the service, as well as the club’s players and staff, while the former manager, Rafael Benítez, was given a standing ovation after he was thanked by Margaret Aspinall, of the Hillsborough Families Support Group, to whom the Spaniard made a donation of £96,000 last year.