Kenny Dalglish Confirms Cancer Diagnosis | OneFootball

It has not been a good few days for news from Liverpool’s former superstars. Yesterday, Kevin Keegan confirmed that he had stage four cancer, after having announced he was suffering from the illness in January. Stage four, of course, is the worst form of cancer, meaning that it has spread to other parts of the body.

Today, Sir Kenny Dalglish revealed that he is also undergoing treatment for the disease, but the exact nature of the progress of the cancer for the Scotland great isn’t known. That is because Daglish didn’t intend to let anyone know about his own diagnosis, but reportedly did so accidentally using his phone incorrectly.

The King

For many, Kenny Dalglish will always be remembered as the King. The Scot arrived at Liverpool in 1977, ironically as a replacement for Kevin Keegan, making his debut on the 13th of August. He went on to win six First Division titles for the club as a player, with the last of those being as player-manager, then adding two more titles as manager after hanging up his boots. He also won four League Cups, three European Cups and an FA Cup, adding another FA Cup as manager before winning the League Cup in 2011-2012 after returning as manager to replace Roy Hodgson and delighting us all by coming back to save us.

Of course, there is no question that the biggest impact that Dalglish made was in the wake of the Hillsborough Disaster, when he had to carry the weight of the football club and its supporters on his shoulders. That was so stressful for him that he ended up walking away from the Liverpool job, later becoming manager of Blackburn Rovers and winning the Premier League title with them, too. His unwavering support for the families and victims of the disaster will mean that he will always be considered a ‘King’ by Liverpool fans, even if he hadn’t been such an incredible and successful player on the pitch.

The Diagnosis

Kenny Dalglish inadvertently posted something to social media telling his followers that he was undergoing treatment for cancer. In the wake of that, he posted again to Instagram, this time saying that he hadn’t meant to make it public and was asking for privacy for him and his family moving forward. In typically Kenny style, he made sure to add his thanks to the ‘wonderful medical staff’ who he said had shown ‘incredible care and discretion’. It was also quite typical of the Scot to point out that the care given out by the medical staff was for ‘many, many others’ as well as himself, saying that they are ‘a credit to themselves’.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Sir Kenny Dalglish (@sirkennethdalglish)

The only thing that he said about what is happening was that, unlike his mobile phone usage, his treatment is ‘going well’. The 75-year-old was soon on the receiving end of a deluge of support from supporters, former players and previous teammates alike. Alan Shearer wrote, “Everyone is with you, Kenny”, for example, whilst his son Paul wrote, “My dad, my best mate, my hero. You are shit on social media, but you are the strongest man I know. You got this. I love you.” He also received messages on Instagram from the likes of Robbie Fowler, Jordan Henderson and Andy Robertson, amongst a wealth of other people.

It isn’t the first time that the Dalglish family has been touched by the disease, with Kenny’s wife Marina going through treatment for breast cancer in the 2000s and subsequently raising huge sums of money to help fight against the disease.