Paul Dalglish
Paul Dalglish
Paul Dalglish thought he had thrown his life away after Ruud Gullit resigned - just a few months after the banished forward left Newcastle United.
Although Kenny Dalglish brought his son to St James' Park, in 1997, it was his successor, Gullit, who handed him his debut. In fact, Dalglish made 13 appearances in just four months under the Dutchman.
However, Dalglish previously told ChronicleLive about the exchange that led to then 21-year-old suddenly being frozen out. Gullit claimed Dalglish's father had been 'unfair' by continuing to speak to players and staff at the club after leaving and the Newcastle boss warned 'if he's going to be unfair, I'm going to be unfair back'. Dalglish, remarkably, would never play for Newcastle again.
"Nothing to do with me," Dalglish recalled to the Times. "But I never trained with the first team again and Ruud seemed reluctant to sell me.
"Thanks to managers like Gareth Southgate, mental health in football is talked about now but back then it was all swept under the carpet. My world had been pulled from under my feet.
"I went on loan to Norwich, living on my own. Newcastle offered me a contract but it felt wrong with Gullit still there. Dad said, 'Well, you don’t know how long he’ll be in charge.' I didn’t listen and signed for Norwich instead. On the second game of the next season Gullit was sacked [sic].
"I was 21 and I felt like I’d thrown my life away. I’d go home after training at Norwich and cry myself to sleep. Stupidly, I never told anyone I was depressed."