Sir Kenny Dalglish (Image credit: Peter Byrne)
Sir Kenny Dalglish has held Scotland’s appearance record for 48 years – next month though, he could finally lose the honour.
Dalglish finished his international career with 30 goals, equalling Denis Law for a record that still stands today, but surpassed Law’s previous national record of 56 caps in 1978.
The Celtic and Liverpool great eventually ended his international career eight years later with a total of 102 caps, but Spurs defender Andy Robertson reached 101 earlier this month, and could move to 103 when Scotland take on North Macedonia and Switzerland in the Nations League in November.
Record-breaker
Sir Kenny Dalglish
For the new issue of FourFourTwo magazine, out this week, Dalglish sat down with us for a wide-ranging interview on his life and career. As part of it, he spoke about his days playing for the Scotland national team.
“To get one cap for your country was fantastic, and to score my first goal as well,” he said. “Denis Law was someone I looked up to as a boy, so to get to the number of goals he scored, I don’t mind sharing that record.”
Jan Molby in action for Liverpool against Genoa in March 1992. Andy Robertson (Image credit: Getty Images)
Andy Robertson (Image credit: Getty Images)
Asked to pick out his favourite games from his international career, Dalglish said: “The first one would be the most memorable one, but maybe also Spain at Hampden, we beat them 3-1, and any time we played against England and beat them…”
Dalglish won his 100th cap against Romania at Hampden Park in 1986, and was presented with it before kick-off by the legendary Franz Beckenbauer. “I don’t know why, I never had any affiliation with Beckenbauer!” he joked. “He was a great player – I don’t know how it came about that he presented it, but he was very magnanimous and said some kind words.”
As for his thoughts on his appearance record being broken in the coming weeks, Dalglish had a cheeky message for Robertson, who he got to know well during the full-back’s days as a Liverpool player.
“He’s a good guy, and it’s not a problem if he does it,” Dalglish said. “But I think he should retire, and I’ve told him that!”
A certain vintage
Sir Kenny Dalglish (Image credit: Unknown)
During the hour-long interview for FourFourTwo, Dalglish also picked out five of the most significant years of his life, as part of Gordon & MacPhail’s Vintage Moments series.
Harry Kane with his 2026 World Cup bronze medal
In partnership with the legend, the whisky specialists have created 15 box sets of five ultra-rare single malt Scotch whiskies, distilled in years that correspond to Dalglish’s key life milestones – the year of his birth (1951), the year he joined Celtic and the club won the European Cup (1967), the year he married his wife Marina (1974), the year he joined Liverpool (1977) and the year he managed Blackburn to the Premier League title (1995).
The limited edition box set of Sir Kenny Dalglish’s Vintage Moments, by Gordon & MacPhail
“I got a phone call and was asked if there was any interest,” explains Dalglish, who had a personal tasting session earlier this year. “I thought, ‘Well, it’s always nice to be remembered, isn’t it?’ For me, the important thing was what it was all about – dates that are synonymous with the life that you’ve led. They weren’t looking for any scandal, just your thoughts on what has happened. What did you enjoy?”
Dalglish won a staggering 29 major trophies during his time in football, and lifted at least one in 19 different years, so narrowing the most significant years of his life to just five was challenging.
“It was difficult to leave some of them out,” he admitted. “There are a lot of things you don’t realise until you start talking about it, then you go, ‘Hold on a minute, what about this year? What about that one?’”
Gordon & MacPhail are curators of the oldest, rarest single malt Scotch whiskies, and the only company in the world to possess single malts of every vintage from 1948 to the present day.
The limited edition box sets of Sir Kenny Dalglish’s Vintage Moments by Gordon & MacPhail are available for £100,000, which includes the opportunity to meet Dalglish in November. For more info, see gordonandmacphail.com or email vintagemoments@gordonandmacphail.com.
You can read the full wide-ranging interview with Dalglish about his life and career in football in the new issue of FourFourTwo magazine, out this week.