Almost a decade on, Dalglish is aware the recipe for success remains as volatile as ever. The greatest asset the new man can bring is luck. "Whether they are experienced or inexperienced can be irrelevant but they do need to be aware of the massive size of Celtic," he said. "Jock Stein never had much experience, did he? He was a reserve-team coach at Easter Road when he came, but the job he did was unbelievable.
"In more recent times, John Barnes stood second only to Jock Stein by winning his first 11 games. Although it never worked out so well after that, it still proved you can do a certain amount. Probably the thing that cost him most was Henrik Larsson being out the game.
He broke his leg in the October against Lyon and never played again that year. The following season, he came back and scored 50 goals, so that shows a manager needs a bit of luck, too."
Jock Stein had already saved Dunfermline from Relegation & won the Scottish Cup with them (beating Celtic 2-0 in the final). He'd even had a bit of joy in Europe with them, putting Everton out of the Fair Cities Cup & only losing to Valencia in a 3rd game play off.
He won the Summer Cup (then a fairly well fought trophy) with Hibs, and was their manager not reserve coach.
Dalglish shows how much attention he paid to his job as Director of Football as part of the "Dream Team" with Barnes. We lost our second league game 2-1 to Dundee Utd, so I don't know why he claims Barnes won his first 11 games. The loss of Larsson DID badly affect Barnes' team, BUT as even Larsson was singing "if you hate John Barnes clap your hands" on a team night out in Albufeira during the winter break I think he was losing the squad whoever was fit.
To summarise, Kenny, STFU you clownshoe. You were a great player, but you've not helped your rep since.