Kenny Dalglish spoke of his desire to 'bring back the happy memories' for the Liverpool fans who today welcomed his return with rapture.
Chants of 'Dalglish' could be heard throughout our 1-0 FA Cup third round defeat to Manchester United - and the man himself admitted he was overcome with emotion to be back after 20 years away from the Liverpool dugout.
"The reception of the fans was unbelievable," said Dalglish. "It crossed my mind to do a Mourinho or a Gary Neville and run down the line to their corner but I never made it!
"But the fans have always held a special place for me and my family and thankfully they've got a long memory of those happy times. I hope we can bring them back. Their support for me today was superb.
"I cannot see into the future. All I can do is promise the same as when I signed in 1977 - 100 per cent commitment from Kenny Dalglish.
"The next six months will be fantastic for me. If we put as much effort and commitment to the cause as we have today then we should be alright.
"It's my responsibility to encourage the players and improve them, and hopefully we'll get better."
Asked what his old adversary Alex Ferguson said to him before kick-off, Dalglish replied: "He said 'Welcome back'. I thought he'd be up here first to warm you up before I came in to be honest!"
Liverpool lost 1-0 following a controversially awarded penalty after less than a minute of play, Daniel Agger making the slightest contact with Dimitar Berbatov.
Ryan Giggs duly converted, and though the Reds initially looked good for an equaliser, their task was made all the more difficult by the straight red card flashed by referee Howard Webb to Steven Gerrard for a strong challenge on Michael Carrick.
Dalglish added: "Obviously I'm not going to be pleased to lose a match but the most important thing for us is what we got out of it - that we had a great deal of effort and commitment from the players. Their endeavour and enthusiasm and commitment to the cause was matched by the supporters and if we get everyone pulling in the same direction we'll have a good chance to improve things going forward.
"I don't think any one of our players could be faulted for effort and commitment. Yes, they might pass it better or finish it better but this is a hard place to come.
"To concede a penalty in the first minute and get a man sent off was always going to make it difficult for us but the boys stuck to the task. Up until they hit the post late in the second half they had the penalty shot and very little else. If we can restrict the top teams to that then it bodes well for us."
Dalglish substituted Fernando Torres with 14 minutes remaining.
Quizzed on the striker's form, he said: "We couldn't have got any more from Fernando in terms of effort and commitment. He ran himself into the ground. It's a great sign he's determined to get himself back and silence any critics he's got. He did everything that was expected of him on the day.
"When you look at the lads, it doesn't matter how good a player you are - you've still got to have a bit of confidence. And we've got to get that confidence back in him.
"We've got to get the players confident and believing in themselves. Once we get that then we'll move forward."
The Reds had to do without Glen Johnson, whose wife fell into labour.
"The lads were thrown into a wee bit of turmoil yesterday with Glen Johnson's wife going to have a baby and it's 100 per cent proper that he wants to be with her," said Dalglish.
"Young Martin Kelly comes in and he's as good as anyone on the pitch. That's great encouragement for Martin and for all the young boys out there. Jonjo Shelvey came on and was a wee bit ambitious with his free-kick, but at least he's looked up and noticed something."
Dalglish was asked if he would appoint any new coaches to help him turn Liverpool's season around.
He replied: "I don't know - I've only just turned up. If there are people who have left positions then obviously they'll have to be filled."
Regarding possible new signings, The King added: "If somebody had said to me, this is your squad of players, would you take the job? I'd have said yes with the squad of players we've got. I've got no pre-conceived ideas of players I have in mind to bring in. Whether there are other targets there that the club had in mind before I came in, I don't know. And I shouldn't know because I wasn't in a privileged enough position to know."
Reporters wanted to know more about how Dalglish's return came about.
He told them: "I was on a boat, I was happy! Then I got a phone call from John Henry and he said 'Do you want to come and look after the team until the end of the season?'
"Being a professional athlete I was at the bar!
"It's brilliant. It's amazing how quickly the memory comes back to you. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was in the dressing room.
"It's a club that means a great deal to me and my family."
Author: Jimmy Rice at Old Trafford
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