Dalglish Named Ireland Striker When Revealing Difficult Liverpool Moment

While it has been a less common occurrence in recent years, Liverpool boast a long history of having Ireland internationals at the club.

It is something that is currently lacking, with Caoimhín Kelleher's exit last summer ensuring that Northern Ireland defender Conor Bradley is the only player from this island in the first team at Anfield as things stand.

That is something that is quite the contrast with the 80s and 90s, when the Liverpool team was littered with Irishmen. As it turns out, selling one of those players was one of the most difficult decisions one club legend was forced to make.

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Kenny Dalglish Named Ireland Man When Asked About Difficult Liverpool Moment

Kenny Dalglish had a remarkable career as both a player and manager at Liverpool, coaching some of the finest players in the world in that latter role.

Appearing on Stick To Football this week, the Scot was asked what was the hardest thing he had to do as a manager. As it turns out, he said that being forced to sell Ireland striker John Aldridge was a moment that stood out to him.

When Aldo came back, we had a great team.

Then Ian Rush was coming back and I went 'f*****g jesus, Aldo has been brilliant for us'. But I felt that if Rushy is coming back (to England), he's better with us than against us. We had a decision like that.

I think Aldo's last game, it was against Crystal Palace. We get a penalty and Aldo was on the bench. I said 'get your boots on and go and take the penalty'.

We were winning easy. He was fighting to get his boots on, I was shouting 'wait'. He ran on in front of the Kop and he slotted it. The whole place went up.

I felt bad about doing that because I know what the club meant to him, as it did a lot of people. Maybe it was a wee bit more special for him because he was a local boy.

To give him the opportunity to say bye bye like that was only right. People might say that it doesn't matter and he's not who takes the penalties, but we were five or six up, we're not going to lose are we?

John Aldridge was a boyhood Liverpool fan, working his way up from the lower leagues to eventually sign for the club.

He would have two hugely successful seasons at Anfield after being signed to replace Ian Rush after he joined Juventus. However, the Welshman's return to the club after just one season in Italy meant it was difficult to accommodate both players in the squad.

Aldridge would sign for Real Sociedad, becoming the first non-Basque player to feature for the Spanish side. It was certainly a harsh decision on the Ireland striker, one that Dalglish clearly struggled to make.

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