Sir Kenny Dalglish has been crowned Scotland’s greatest international by Scotland fans.

Thousands of supporters have had their say over the past three weeks, with our all-time appearance record holder featuring in over 50% of the voters' top fives. The vote included all players across the men’s and women’s national teams who have played 20 or more times for their country.

Ally McCoist, Jim Baxter and James McFadden were all in the top five as the 50 greatest internationals were revealed this week. Denis Law, who is the joint top scorer for Scotland with Dalglish, came second.

 

King Kenny made his Scotland debut at Pittodrie, coming off the bench in a Euro 1972 Qualifier against Belgium, where Scotland won by a goal to nil.

It took a year before he found the back of the net in a Scotland shirt but it was a memorable moment for the Liverpool legend, who scored in a 1974 World Cup qualifier at Hampden. It was the first of many.

A successful run in the qualifiers saw Scotland travel to the 1974 World Cup finals in West Germany, with Dalglish starting in every match as we went undefeated in our group, but failed to progress.

Scotland’s greatest international continued to fire for club and country in the years that followed. In the blue of Scotland, the free-scoring forward put in memorable displays against England – scoring in a 2-1 win at Hampden in 1976 before doing the same a year later at Wembley in another 2-1 victory.

That year, Dalglish broke the British transfer record when he swapped Celtic Park for Anfield, after scoring 167 goals in 322 games for the Glasgow club. That was also his best year in a Scotland shirt, scoring seven goals in ten games.

Success followed him south of the border after his move to Liverpool. The striker scored 31 goals in his debut campaign for the Reds, including strikes on his league debut, home debut and a memorable winner in the European Cup final.

That summer, Dalglish joined back up with the national team for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. He scored his first World Cup goal in a famous 3-2 win over the Netherlands – but it was not enough for Scotland to progress from the group.

Four years later, King Kenny played a key role in World Cup qualification for Scotland again. His winning strike against Israel delivered crucial points on the road to the finals in Spain in 1982 and his second World Cup goal arrived in a 5-2 win over New Zealand.

Dalglish soon made history for his country when Spain travelled to Hampden for a 1984 World Cup qualifier. That day, Dalglish scored his 30th international goal in a 3-1 win equalling a goalscoring record he shares with Denis Law to this day.

Recognition off the pitch arrived a year later in 1985, when Dalglish was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1985 New Year Honours for his services to football.

His 15 year international career came to an end on 12 November, 1986. That day, he made his 102nd and final appearance for the national team, signing out with a 3-0 win and a long-standing appearance record.

In 2018, the boy from Glasgow was knighted for his services to football, charity and the City of Liverpool.

The Top 50

View the full list here.