Kenny Dalglish given three-year contract

Liverpool manager rewarded for taking the club from 12th in the Premier League standings to fifth after taking over from Roy Hodgson.

LONDON // Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, has been rewarded for reviving the team's fortunes with a three-year contract, the Premier League club said on Thursday.

Dalglish took over the job from Roy Hodgson in January in a caretaker capacity with Liverpool 12th in the standings, four points above the relegation zone.

They have climbed to fifth going into the final two games of the season and have a great chance of qualifying for the Europa League.

Steve Clarke, Dalglish's first appointment, has also agreed a three-year contract as first-team coach.

"It's a great reward for the work that's been done, not just by me but Steve [Clarke], Sammy [Lee], the players and the people on the terraces and everyone else inside the club, including the owners," Dalglish told the club's website.

"We said at the outset if we stick together and work together then it makes it easier to produce better results and I think that is the main reason why results have improved."

The club's director of football Damien Comolli said: "We didn't really look elsewhere because Kenny turned things around very quickly, with the help of Steve Clarke. For us, it was a no brainer.

"He hit the ground running from day one knowing what he wanted to do because he knew the boys anyway, especially the key players like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, and knew the young players in the Academy."