Kenny will be torn apart by how this has ended: Alan Hansen
Although he won the Premier League as Blackburn manager in 1995 and also managed Newcastle and Celtic, he only ever really wanted to be at Liverpool and he waited so long to go back there.
Even when he was at Liverpool in his role as ambassador, prior to replacing Roy Hodgson as manager last year, he would pour his heart and soul into the club and spend more time there than anybody else.
Whenever I would call him on a Sunday, I would ask him where he was and he would be down at the Academy. He was non-stop.
So as his friend, I am really upset for Kenny because I know just what it meant for him to be back at Anfield.
He will be torn apart by the way it has ended and the reality that he will no longer be able to go back and mix with the players.
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It was the only job he wanted so, knowing him as I do, I don’t think there is any chance whatsoever of him managing again at another club.
I don’t know whether there was the possibility of Kenny remaining at Liverpool in his old ambassadorial role, but there is the chance that such a situation could have made it difficult for whoever replaces him as manager.
Let’s face it, Kenny might be too big a figure for the owners and the new manager to have around the club because, whoever comes in, they are never going to be bigger than Kenny Dalglish in the eyes of most people with an affiliation to the club.
Everybody in football understands that time is a precious commodity, but I think many believed that Kenny had earned another year at least to get it right at Anfield.
When he took charge again in January last year, the club were on their knees in many respects and he was delighted to be back involved.
The revival the team enjoyed in the second half of the season saw them just miss out on qualification for Europe and, although the target was to challenge for the Champions League places this season, it was hugely important for the club to end their six-year trophy drought by winning the Carling Cup.
Kenny knew how critical it was to get Liverpool back in the Champions League again, but he also believed that winning a trophy would be significant in terms of moving the club forward.
When you win silverware, it can be a springboard to greater success and I cannot believe that the owners would have parted company with Kenny had he also guided the team to the FA Cup.
How can you get rid of a manager who wins you two trophies? Had Andy Carroll’s goal stood in the FA Cup final against Chelsea, Liverpool may have ended the season having won two of the three competitions that they entered, so there would have grounds for optimism in the build-up to next season.
But the fact that the owners would not answer questions about Kenny’s future in the aftermath of the Wembley defeat by Chelsea suggested that there were problems ahead.
Until the last couple of days, though, I do not think anyone saw this coming because there was a feeling that Kenny had done enough to earn another year.
If the owners had backed him and allowed him to bring in a couple of players in, then Kenny would have been confident in being able to progress the team.
But my concern is that Liverpool will face a problem in keeping hold of their best players now that Kenny has gone. In my opinion, the likes of Luis Suárez, Pepe Reina, Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger would be more likely to stay at the club under Kenny Dalglish than anybody else.
Throughout last season, it was clear that the players were 100 per cent behind Kenny and, when a manager goes, it always leads to uncertainty and confusion.
But the owners now have to quickly find a new man and go about identifying new players and keeping those already there because the new season is only 10 weeks away.
In making the change, Liverpool’s owners have set the bar high for whoever comes in by making it clear that they are determined to get the club back into the Champions League.
Kenny has a trophy this season and finished eighth, so what will happen in 12 months’ time if the new man finishes seventh and wins nothing?
Liverpool are now looking for their fourth manager in two years, with Kenny following Roy Hodgson and Rafael Benítez in leaving the club, so they have to be careful.
If you are looking for stability, then you cannot find that by changing key personnel on a regular basis.
Kenny will regret not getting the club back into the Champions League, but when he reflects on his second spell as manager, he will look back on a time when he steadied the ship and brought success back by ending their long wait for a trophy.
To be honest, I am sad to see Kenny leave as well even though I'm very disappointed with how he insisted to keep his own players such as Hendo, Downing or Adam when they had been playing badly. That eventually costs him the job and I wouldn't disagree with the owners. Sometimes I just couldn't be bothered to read what those "pundits" wrote or spoke, especially those from BBC. Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrensen are ex-Liverpool players and Kenny was the one who brought Alan Shearer to Blackburn. These people have good personal relationship with Kenny and of course they will always on Kenny's side. I guess we have to read both sides and find a balance ourselves..
May 15 2012, 12:56 AM
We might see Kenny going into management team instead of coaching. We'll see though, the media might probably have made a big deal out of it anyway. 
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