Kenny Dalglish returned to Celtic yesterday, much in the manner of a general coming back from a long and dangerous campaign in distant foreign parts. If there was no ticker tape in Glasgow's London Road it was merely because there are no skyscrapers from which to throw it.
He walked into the wood-panelled boardroom to be confronted by seven television cameras, 22 microphones, a thousand flashlights and a crush of hacks in the kind of scrum last seen when the city's Press Bar ran a happy hour. The new director of football brought with him John Barnes as coach. "I suppose it is like coming home," Dalglish said. "I first came up to Celtic Park as an apprentice joiner even before I was a player here, and I am from Glasgow, so this is a bit of heritage for me." A salary of well over Stg£500,000 a year was not exactly a hindrance either.
Outside, a few hundred fans waited to greet Dalglish, about the same number there had been for the arrival in turn of David Hay, Billy McNeill, Liam Brady, Lou Macari, Tommy Burns, Wim Jansen and Jozef Venglos, all of whom found it too poisoned a chalice.
Dalglish was full of good sense and not averse to showing glimpses of a very dry humour. He could afford to take it in his stride because he possesses, after Alex Ferguson, the best CV in the game. As a Celtic player he won four championships, three Scottish Cups and a League Cup.
At Liverpool, as player, player-manager and manager, he racked up three European Cups, seven championships, two FA Cups and four League Cups.
His career produced 346 goals in 839 matches and there were a record 102 Scotland caps. When Celtic's chief executive Allan MacDonald said he thought the club had found the right man, he may never have said anything so blindingly obvious.
Dalglish will be responsible for overseeing the management and development of Celtic's football operation, covering selection, recruitment and youth development.
Barnes has no experience in this realm, but Dalglish countered the charge that the Englishman might struggle in the feverish world of the Old Firm. "It's his first stab at it, but Bob Paisley gave me my first stab at management and you have to start somewhere," he said.
