19 December 2023 , 20:57
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Liverpool icon Kenny Dalglish was forced to choke back tears after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sports Personality of the Year Awards.
The former forward was bestowed with the honour during Tuesday's glizy ceremony that took place at MediaCityUK in Salford. He paid tribute to his former teammates and coaches in his speech having become the seventh footballer to receive the award since 1996.
Speaking on stage, he said: "I'm very grateful to the BBC, I don't know about their wisdom but they've chosen me to get this award and I'll treasure this dearly. It's really a thank you speech from me to the people involved. A couple of the lads have done us a real turn in the management game, you can work out for yourselves who that was. Some maybe not so good!
"All we did in the football was to try and make people happy and the best way to do that was to get results. Fortunately we managed to do that a few times and if they enjoyed us winning it's only a fraction of the enjoyment we got from playing for them.
"I'll always be eternally grateful to people who stood by me and gave me a job. Celtic, Liverpool, Blackburn, Newcastle was fantastic, maybe not the most successful but the family loved it there so when I got the sack I was in the bad books. For me it's not about taking part it's about winning and fortunately for myself we were able to do that.
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"Present day I've got a job at Liverpool, it's a non-executive director, I don't know what it means but I've got a job. I'm quite fortunate that when I went back we won a trophy.
Kenny Dalglish smiles alongside Graeme Souness and Alan Hansen (Getty Images)What was your Kenny Dalglish highlight at Liverpool? Share your thoughts in the comments below
"We've mentioned Hillsborough, everybody knows what went on there and the people at Hillsborough are more important than football. As they say, you'll never walk alone. I genuinely appreciate this."
Dalglish is a name synonymous with Liverpool. He was brought to Anfield by Bob Paisley and won countless honours including three European Cups.
The now 72-year-old also managed the Reds on 381 occasions over two stints, winning even more pieces of silverware including three league titles. Dalglish's achievements saw him knighted in 2018.
Away from Dalglish, the big award of the evening went to Manchester United and Lionesses goalkeeper Mary Earps. Pep Guardiola was named the Coach of the Year, while his Manchester City team were named the Team of the Year.