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Idol returns Dalglish returns to Celtic as director of football
Posted: Friday June 11, 1999 01:39 AM
GLASGOW (Reuters) --Kenny Dalglish returned to Celtic after a gap of 22 years on Thursday to be appointed the Scottish club's new director of football. The former Liverpool manager was unveiled at a press conference along with ex-England international John Barnes, who is taking over as Celtic's head coach from Jozef Venglos. More than 1,000 fans gathered outside Celtic Park to cheer Dalglish, 48, who has been brought in by the Celtic board to wrest power back from city rivals Rangers who made a clean sweep of Scotland's trophies this season. Dalglish has remained an idol with Celtic fans despite being transferred in 1977 to Liverpool, who he helped to three European Cup triumphs as a player, before guiding them to three English league titles -- and the famed double in 1986 -- as manager. Dalglish has chosen the star of that Anfield squad, Barnes, now 35, to take control of the team from veteran Venglos, who is being retained by Celtic but in an advisory capacity. "The place has changed a lot since I left," said Dalglish, "but I was born in Glasgow and this is like coming home in a way. "I want what the supporters want, which is a little bit more success than they had last season and re-establishing the club as a major force in European football again." Although Dalglish -- who also won the English title in 1995 with Blackburn Rovers but was sacked by Newcastle United 10 months ago -- will not be in charge of the first team, his appointment has given a major boost to the Scottish side. Celtic have won only one league title in the last 11 years and desperately need to match the efforts off the pitch which have seen the club transform itself from near-bankruptcy in 1994 into a big business operation which needs to fill its 60,000-seat stadium for every home game. Frank O'Callaghan, chairman of Celtic PLC, said: "The new structure of Celtic's football operation is one which the directors are confident will add value for the shareholders and produce success by returning Celtic to prominence in Europe." Dalglish will oversee transfers and the creation of Celtic's new youth academy. The man who became Scotland's most-capped player with 102 appearances was himself a graduate of legendary manager Jock Stein's youth system, signing as a teenager months after their 1967 European Cup triumph. Barnes, who played for Watford, Liverpool, Newcastle and has just been released by Charlton, becomes Celtic's fifth coach in as many years. He has a three-year contract but insisted he is not afraid of taking such a huge task as his first coaching job, saying: "This is a massive club, but I have Kenny here to help me and I would be stupid not to use his experience and knowledge. "I saw Celtic against Rangers last season and I have a fair idea of the players here. There is a fine line between success and failure and although finishing second in the league and losing the Scottish Cup final [both to Rangers] is not what fans wanted, I am confident we can change [that]." Former Czechoslovakia manager Venglos -- who took over from Wim Jansen only 11 months ago - becomes technical adviser, but the 63-year-old is expected to move back to his native Slovakia once the pre-season training is finished.
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