Kevin Gallacher life story part 3: Kenny told me to shut my eyes during a drive through Blackburn

When then Rovers boss Kenny Dalglish advised the Scottish striker to ‘ignore the Blackburn scenery’ on his way to talks in Southport in March 1993, Gallacher could easily have opted for one of the other ‘safer options’ still jostling for his signature.

Just a few minutes into listening to Dalglish and Jack Walker’s dream though and he was converted into another Ewood Park ‘disciple’ - although he admits their ‘five-year Premier League plan’ had every chance of being just ‘pie-in-the-sky’.

As it was, Gallacher and the rest of Dalglish’s expensive squad completed a fairytale story when they were crowned champions in 1995 and, despite just playing one game in that season, he knows his transfer from Coventry was a life-changing moment.

He said: “I remember Kenny said ‘when you are driving into Blackburn shut your eyes.

"It is no disrespect to Blackburn but see beyond it. This place is changing.’ How right he was, how right Jack was.

“It was Kenny Dalglish who sold the club to me. When I sat down after I signed I started having regrets because they were such an unknown quantity.

"I thought I could be joining a side going downhill soon.

“But obviously Jack had a dream and he explained that to me. I wanted to be part of that and had no second thoughts.

“I signed with Graeme Le Saux on the Tuesday night. It was the start of something incredible.

“There were plenty of sides who wanted me at the time. Sides with more a reputation than Rovers.

"But Dalglish and Walker were so persuasive and inspirational. It was certainly the right decision.”

Manchester City and Celtic were just two of a host of clubs chasing Gallacher’s signature from Coventry at the time as he looked to further enhance his growing reputation.

Maine Road was looking the likely next destination, with the Sky Blues seemingly treading water, but all that changed when his footballing idol made a surprise phone call.

A £1.5million deal, plus Roy Wegerle, was quickly agreed and when Gallacher scored on his debut, a 4-1 win against Liverpool, a new Ewood Park legend was born.

“I didn’t know where Blackburn was,” he said. We played them in the league a few weeks before and they beat us 2-1. I met Kenny that day, the first time I had spoke to him, and I was standing there with my jaw wide open. I never believed later in the season I would be joining him.

“But I had been told by Coventry I had to be sold. I had nine clubs in for me and Blackburn were not one of them. I was tapped up by Manchester City, a local journalist in Manchester gave me a call and said would you come to Manchester City? I said yes definitely.

“Then one day Bobby Gould said I needed his phone and on the other end was Dalglish. That was it. I spoke to my wife, said we needed to go up that night to speak to Kenny. We were so busy trying to sort out a babysitter for the dog so we could go to Southport to meet them.

“We sorted a deal and Kenny sold me the club and told me the future. But the reality was all hidden, it wasn’t there, I just had to believe what he said. To achieve what he wanted two years early was just out of this world.

“I know people said I came to Blackburn for 1.5m, having bought Shearer for over 3m, which worked well in my favour. But the reality was Roy Wegerle went to Coventry for £1m so really I went for £2.5m.

Gallacher had only arrived in England three years previous when he risked the wrath of his countrymen by turning his back on the Scottish Premier League and swapping Dundee United for Coventry City in a £1.1m transfer.

Eyebrows were also raised at his choice of club, with many regarding a move to the Midlands as more a sideways career step, with Coventry’s 1987 FA Cup triumph becoming a distant memory.

But, for Gallacher, it was all part of a grand plan as he was driven on by the desire to show Scottish footballers could make the grade in the English top division.

He said: “People asked me why have I not gone to Celtic. Everyone thought it would be celtic and it could have been. But Jim McLean would not sell me to Celtic. He said I had to go abroad.

“A lot of people thought I would be back at Celtic a year later. In England no one knew me and it was horrible. But I thought I am going to make a name for myself here.

“That was the carrot to push me on in England. All the way through to 1996 Celtic were wanting me but I had to keep it under wraps because let’s just say me being approached by third parties would not have gone down well.

“I had a challenge in England and I was fortunate I was part of a squad that won a league in England. There aren’t many players who can say that in my era or who have done so well from Scotland and stuck in the English league.”

Gallacher’s move south of the border set up a 12-year English career that spanned more than 300 appearances and saw him score approaching 100 goals.

He became renowned for his industrious style and was a firm fans favourite at Coventry, Blackburn and Newcastle, before finally announcing his retirement in 2002 - after a brief flurry in the lower leagues.

He said: “Going to England was massive. You are moving country and coming down with a Scottish tongue I had to slow my speech down. It was like going for sign language so people could understand me.

“I had got married six months before to Aileen and six months later we moved. We came down, house hunted and it was hard because we had no family there.

“Coventry were not as big but it was the challenge of moving to England. In Scotland you were playing teams four times, then in the cup – you could be playing teams eight times and you got to know each other.

“It became boring. I wanted a new challenge. On one hand, I wish I had done due diligence and waited for a bigger club to give me my chance- although I did love the club. For me it was a stepping stone in English football.

“Once I was in English football, I just never wanted to leave it. The Premier League was like this exciting carnival and it gave me memories that will last forever.”