Sir Kenny Dalglish is one of the most talented footballers of my career.

I interviewed him many times for ITV, both as a wonderful player for Liverpool and as a Championship-winning manager at both Liverpool and Blackburn, plus for European matches when he was in charge of Newcastle United.

Now his talented daughter Kelly Cates has been signed by the BBC to be one of the three presenters of Match Of The Day next season in succession to Gary Lineker.

Kelly, among the best in the business, is currently one of Sky Sports’ live football hosts. She will be difficult to replace.

Kenny was not always the easiest to interview, but was always accommodating and has been friendly for the whole time I have known him.

He also used to ring me between jobs for punditry spots on the ITV network and we were always pleased to have him on board.

He is still a valued ambassador at Anfield and attends their home matches.

While he was in charge of Liverpool, the tragic Hillsborough disaster happened on April 15, 1989. Liverpool were at the Sheffield Wednesday ground to play an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.

Ninety-seven Liverpool fans died after a fatal crush at the Leppings Lane end. They were men, women and children. The match was halted after just six minutes.

Dalglish attended all the funerals of the victims, including four funerals in one day.

His presence in the aftermath of this terrible disaster has been described as ‘‘colossal and heroic’’.

The trauma........

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