Ian Holloway hopes Kenny Dalglish won't ruin Liverpool legacy

Holloway is a self-confessed Dalglish fan (GETTY IMAGES)

Blackpool manager Ian Holloway hopes that Kenny Dalglish does not tarnish his Liverpool legacy after returning to the club as manager.

The pair go head-to-head tonight, in Dalglish's first Premier League game in over 12 years following his return to Anfield on Saturday.

The Scot enjoyed a trophy-laden spell as a player and manager with the Reds in the 1970s and 80s, but arrives back at a club that has lost its top-four spot and has not won the league for two decades.

And Holloway hopes that his reputation does not suffer as a result.

He said: "I don't want the fans to ever turn on Kenny. He doesn't deserve that. What Kenny can't do is carry the can for all this.

"If he was young enough to play he would make a difference, but when you're on the line, sometimes no matter what you say, it doesn't always have the same effect.

"Look at Alan Shearer at Newcastle. That's the best example. Luckily the fans still like him."

Holloway also believes that Roy Hodgson, who Dalglish replaced following an unsuccessful six-month stint in charge, was always on the back foot because of Dalglish's presence as an ambassador for the Reds.

He added: "The whole thing about Liverpool was that Kenny was given the job of finding someone, then said he wanted it himself.

"I'm not sure that it was a good job for anyone else to take after that. Maybe Jose Mourinho could have dealt with it, but I'm not sure about anyone else.

"Has Kenny ever really left? If ever there was a skeleton in the closet, it's Kenny."