When Charlie Adam lost his mum to cancer in December 2020, it came only a few months after he had moved back to Scotland to play for Dundee. Part of the reason he had come home was to be closer to her. She had been diagnosed with bowel and liver cancer, and Adam knew being back in Dundee would give him more time with his family while she was ill. Sadly, just three months after the diagnosis, she passed away. For Adam, it was another devastating loss. His dad had passed away eight years earlier. And in the weeks after losing his mum, while he was trying to deal with everything that came with it, his phone rang. He missed the call. Adam did not recognise the number. Then he found out who it was. Kenny Dalglish. “I hadn’t heard from Kenny in eight or nine years.” Adam had played under Dalglish at Liverpool in 2011. It had been Kenny who brought him to Anfield after his brilliant season with Blackpool. Adam had even gone round to Dalglish’s house for a cup of tea before signing. For a Scottish player whose dad had grown up idolising Kenny, it meant a lot. But their season together at Liverpool was nearly a decade in the past. “I’d seen him around on golf days.” “But I never spoke to him for any length of time.” There was no reason for Adam to expect Kenny Dalglish to know what was happening in his life. But Dalglish had heard about his mum. And he had picked up the phone. “I had a few troubles off the pitch with my mum passing away recently.” “And two weeks ago I had a missed call.” “It was Kenny.” That was the thing Adam always remembered about Dalglish. Not just the player he had been. Not the trophies. Not even the fact that he had once brought Adam to Liverpool. “It’s the little things with Kenny.” “The way he would phone you up out of the blue from time to time just for a chat.” “He’s a legend, simple as that.” #football