Paul Dalglish

Paul Dalglish

Personal information
Full name	Paul Kenneth Dalglish
Date of birth	(1977-02-18) 18 February 1977
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1995–1996	Celtic
1996–1997	Liverpool
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1997–1999	Newcastle United	11	(1)
1997–1998	→ Bury (loan)	12	(0)
1999	→ Norwich City (loan)	5	(0)
1999–2002	Norwich City	38	(2)
2001	→ Wigan Athletic (loan)	6	(0)
2001–2002	→ Wigan Athletic (loan)	29	(2)
2002–2003	Blackpool	27	(1)
2003	→ Scunthorpe United (loan)	8	(3)
2003	Linfield	10	(5)
2004–2006	Livingston	26	(3)
2006	Hibernian	13	(1)
2006–2007	Houston Dynamo	11	(2)
2008	Kilmarnock	6	(0)
Total		206	(22)
International career
1999–2000	Scotland U-21	5	(3)
Managerial career
2009	Houston Dynamo (assistant)
2010	Tampa Bay Rowdies
2011–	Austin Aztex
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul Kenneth Dalglish (born 18 February 1977 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.

Playing career

Paul Dalglish with the 2006 MLS Cup trophy

Dalglish, son of former Scotland international Kenny Dalglish, was born in Glasgow though spent his childhood in Liverpool where his father managed Liverpool F.C. As a child, he was the team mascot for Liverpool in their famous 1989 league title decider against Arsenal at Anfield. He started his career as a youth player with Celtic before joining Liverpool, but made no appearances for either of his father's former clubs.

Dalglish was then signed by his father for Newcastle United, he made 14 appearances, scoring two goals against Tranmere Rovers in the League Cup and Sheffield Wednesday in the league. After a successful loan spell, he permanently joined Norwich City in 1999 for £300,000, but failed to establish himself in three years at the club.

Dalglish went on to have spells with Blackpool (scoring two goals against Luton Town in the league and Barnsley in the FA Cup) and Linfield and loan periods with Scunthorpe and Wigan Athletic.

After this, Dalglish considered a media career, which resulted in finding himself a small part in the movie Goal and also an interview slot on Saturday-morning Sky Sports program Soccer AM, although this was short-lived due to the resurgence of his football career.

After retiring from football for 2 years, Dalglish was given a lifeline when newly-appointed Livingston manager Paul Lambert signed him and, despite struggling near the bottom of the Scottish Premier League, Dalglish impressed, scoring in a narrow 2-1 defeat to Celtic.

Dalglish's performances attracted the attention of Hibernian manager Tony Mowbray, and despite having originally sought a contract extension with Livingston on the final day of the January 2006 transfer window, he joined the Edinburgh club for an undisclosed fee. His first goal for Hibs was a late winner against Kilmarnock in April, and his second and final goal for the club was against Odense in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. After being sidelined with injuries, Dalglish left Hibs in August 2006 to play for Major League Soccer side Houston Dynamo. On 5 November 2006, the Dynamo defeated the Colorado Rapids 3-1 in the Western Conference final to earn a spot in its first MLS Cup as the Houston Dynamo. Dalglish scored twice and was named Man of the Match. However, he struggled with injuries and was released by Dynamo in the 2007 post-season.

He had talks with a few clubs in February 2008 including Scottish club Kilmarnock, with whom he signed a contract till the end of the season. His spell was plagued with injuries again and he retired at the end of the season.

Coaching career

Current USL PDL Coach of the year, Paul Dalglish is one of the most exciting young coaches in the US. He is a modern, forward thinking coach who is not only a student of the game, but also a student of how to teach the game. Many ex players know the game but Paul has spent a great deal of time studying how people learn and has fused that knowledge with his soccer philosophy to create his coaching style.

As a young, professional coach, he earned an impeccable reputation for the job he did building the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The Rowdies were an expansion team, who were expected to struggle in their 1st year. He, remarkably, had the team in a playoff position for the majority of the season.

Playing his attractive, attacking brand of soccer, the Rowdies became the most successful expansion team in US D2 soccer that year and the previous one too. The Rowdies earned more points than both Baltimore and St Louis in 2010 and more points than Austin the year before. Even more remarkable, the Rowdies were 3rd on the scoring charts in the 2010 season. Only Carolina and Austin managed to score more goals, an incredible achievement for an expansion team.

An equally impressive achievement was his recruitment and development of young players. Every single player was acquired free of charge, yet he managed to earn the Rowdies six figure sums for players. His natural ability to spot and develop young talent is a great asset for any organization. Three players developed by Dalglish during his time in Tampa have gone on to play in MLS. Jonny Steele, Aaron Wheeler and Long Tan. Pascal Millien has gone on to play in the UEFA Cup and Jeremy Christie played in the 2010 World Cup.

In 2012, Paul took charge of the USL PDL expansion team,  Austin Aztex. He had remarkable success, finishing in the final 8 (of 73 teams), only losing in the Southern Conference Finals, with a final record of 10-6-2. He guided the team to score the most goals in their division and conference, and concede the fewest goals in their division and conference.

Dalglish inspired Aztex players to perform at an exceptional level. Three players were named to the All-Conference team, the most of any team in the conference. Incredibly, of the first eleven picks in the 2013 MLS Superdraft, three were coached by Dalglish during the Aztex 2012 campaign. Kekuta Manneh, Blake Smith and Dillon Powers.

Once again, Paul managed to make the team he was coaching the most successful expansion team in the country at their level.

In 2013, Paul had his best ever season as a coach with the Austin Aztex, earning himself the USL PDL Coach of the Year Award, but more importantly, leading them to become champions of the Mid South Division, Southern Conference Champions and National Champions, with a final record of 15-1-2, an 83% win rate. Again, the Aztex scored the most goals in their division and conceded the fewest. Four players were named to the All-Conference team, the most of any team in the conference. One player was named to the All-League Team. Kris Tyrpak was named MVP of the PDL and Sito Seone was named MVP of the PDL Championship.

Honours

• Major League Soccer MLS Cup (2): 2006, 2007
• USL PDL Coach of the year and champions - Austin Aztex 2013

External links

• Paul Dalglish at Soccerbase