PAUL DALGLISH is stepping out of the shadows of his famous father Kenny – with the help of a familiar face – as he takes the next major step in his blossoming coaching career in North America.
Now 39 and having enhanced his reputation over the past five years with expansion side Austin Aztex and MLS sides Real Salt Lake and Houston Dynamo, Dalglish has been appointed head coach of Ottawa Fury in the North American Soccer League, charged with taking them one better than losing finalists last year.
Fatefully there is an old friend there to help him as Bruce Grobbelaar, who shared and starred in so many glories with Dalglish's father Kenny at Liverpool in the 1980s, was already at the club as goalkeeping coach.
Some 30 years on from baby-sitting Paul, the colourful Zimbabwean is now his trusted lieutenant as they prepare for a new adventure in the second tier of football across the Atlantic, a league brimming with former international superstars.
Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta are running Miami FC, Brazil legend Ronaldo is part of the group that owns the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and Euro 2008 winner Marcos Senna and Real Madrid legend Raul won the title with New York Cosmos last season.
There is also a Scottish contingent, with former Rangers and Hamilton defender Colin Miller running FC Edmonton and ex-Leicester and Bristol Rovers winger Stuart Campbell in charge at Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Dalglish, who played for Hibs, Livingston and Kilmarnock, said: “It’s a thriving league. If you look at some of the names, it’s pretty impressive for what is effectively the second division in North America.
“But it’s not just the NASL, football in North America in general is just exploding. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
“It’s pretty cool that people like Maldini, Nesta and Ronaldo are all involved and we’ve got Bruce here.
“Bruce was a hero of mine, so it’s amazing that he’s working with me. To be learning from someone like him who won so much in the game, it’s fantastic.
“It’s a privilege to be working with him. He is still very enthusiastic and I’m delighted with what he is contributing.
“There is more and more money being spent. It’s not a case of ‘when is soccer going to take off?’, it’s a case of ‘how big is it going to get?’
“People ask me if I ever feel like coming back and managing back home but it’s not something I have thought about or considered at any stage.
“I’m quite happy to be part of the boom in North America rather than coming back to England because a lot of teams outside of the Premier League are hurting financially.
“It’s the same in the Scottish League where clubs are really struggling now.”
Dalglish, stunningly alike his father, has never felt the pressure to live up Kenny’s legacy.
He said: “He was the last person to win a trophy for Liverpool, so even recently he has been successful. He has always found a way to win.
“That style of play that I watched as a kid at Liverpool has obviously rubbed off on me and that’s the way I want my team to play.
“With my dad’s background, I would be stupid not to take as much advice as I can from him and I do.
“I talk to him most days but it can be difficult because of the time difference. It’s not always about football either.
“Other people seem to make more of it. I don’t know any different He’s my dad and I don’t look any deeper into it than that.”
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