"It's not often that Liverpool fans go to Anfield and want the opposition to win, is it?" Sir Kenny Dalglish on the day Reds' supporters cheered against their side, much to Sir Alex Ferguson's disgust

Kenny Dalglish the manager of Blackburn Rovers celebrates with his staff of Ray Harford and Tony Parkes after winning the Premiership trophy during the FA Carling Premiership match against Liverpool played at Anfield in Liverpool, England. Harford the 58-year-old former Blackburn Manager died August 9, 2003 after a long fight against cancer
(Image credit: Getty Images)
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You couldn't have written it. On the final day of the 1994/95 Premier League season, Kenny Dalglish returned in front of the Anfield crowd that adored him and were cheering him on - but as manager of their opposition, Blackburn Rovers, who needed results to go their way to win the league.

The situation was this: if Blackburn lost, and Manchester United won away to West Ham, then Alex Ferguson's side would win the title at Rovers' expense. Indeed, Ferguson openly suggested that Liverpool may be less than up for the occasion.

But the now-Sir Kenny believes the now-Sir Alex was absolutely entitled to push that agenda - and that, in fact, he wouldn't have been doing his job properly if he hadn't.

As it happened, Blackburn did lose... but Man United could only draw at West Ham, thus handing the title to Blackburn. Sir Kenny recently told FourFourTwo: “In 1994-95, we were competing against Manchester United for the title, but there was no animosity between me and Alex Ferguson.

"As managers, you were in competition with everybody; what's wrong with that? He was going to speak up for his club, to put ideas into people's minds or dismiss other people's ideas, and I was the same.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MAY 14: Kenny Dalglish Manager of Blackburn Rovers and Tim Sherwood of Blackburn Rovers celebrate with Premier League Trophy after the Premier League match between Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers at Anfield on May 14, 1995 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Tony Bartholomew/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***Kenny Dalglish; Tim Sherwood

(Image credit: Getty Images)

"If you weren't supporting your club, the punters were going to be unhappy, so he had every right to do it. He was as good as gold.

"The last game of the season was at Anfield – it was always amazing to go back to Anfield, and the Liverpool punters wanted us to win that day.

"It's not often that they go to Anfield and want the opposition to win, is it?

"If you're not going to win the league at home, then for me, that was a fairy tale to win it at Anfield.

"The TV people wouldn't tell us what the score was from Manchester United's game at West Ham, but people were cheering when their game finished, and it came to pass that we were champions.

Jack Walker

"You think about where a lot of those boys were before, and we didn't have a great deal of experience of players winning trophies for previous teams.

"But it was just, ‘Get on with it, you are where you are because you deserve to be there, so just do your best.'

"When I saw Jack Walker after the game, he couldn't speak.

"He'd played a huge, huge part in the financial support, and he never, ever interfered.

"To see somebody of his business strength in tears, you'd think he'd done something wrong - but they were tears of joy

Steven Chicken

Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication, WeAreTerriers.com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023.

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