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• Dalglish and coach Steve Clarke agree three-year deals
• John W Henry: ‘Kenny is a legendary Liverpool figure’

Kenny Dalglish has spoken of his desire to rebuild “something special” at Liverpool after finally being confirmed as the club’s new permanent manager.

The 60-year-old signed a three-year contract on Thursday , along with Steve Clarke, the first-team coach, having overseen a remarkable transformation since replacing Roy Hodgson in January. Liverpool have risen from 12th to fifth during Dalglish’s 16 Premier League games as temporary manager to make his appointment a formality and, with the club’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, prepared for an ambitious summer in the transfer market, the last man to win the league title at Anfield is targeting a repeat of his previous successful spell at the helm.

Dalglish said: “I said when I took the job on in January that I was just happy to help the club out for the remainder of the season. Now the owners have decided in their wisdom that they want me to stay a little longer and it’s fantastic news for both myself and Steve Clarke that we have signed these contracts.

“Both John [W Henry, principal owner] and Tom [Werner, chairman] have taken their time to assess what was best for the football club and bring in the people they wanted to take the club forward. They are both winners, but understand what the supporters want from a Liverpool side and the way that we should go about things. This is a unique football club and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to help build something special here again.”

Talks between Dalglish’s lawyers, Bermans, and FSG commenced early into his return as manager but the Scot insisted he had no issue over the timing of the announcement. “We always said there was no rush,” he added. “The club is more important than anyone else. Take your time, make your decisions.”

Damien Comolli, Liverpool’s director of football who was charged with overseeing the search for Hodgson’s permanent replacement in January, described the decision as a “no-brainer”. Comolli said: “We didn’t look around. Very early on we knew Kenny was the right person and, along with Steve, we had the right coaching staff behind him. I have been impressed by the way they turned it around: the quality of the football, the enthusiasm, the confidence of the players, the way Kenny managed to integrate very young players into the first team.

“I don’t think there is anyone better than Kenny who could say what the identity of the club is about. And the reason no one was linked with the job was because it was a ‘no-brainer’.”

Kenny DalglishLiverpoolAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

Fans, players and owners have all been impressed by the Anfield legend since he returned on a temporary basis

John W Henry, unlike others before him, knows it is not for those in suits to play to the crowd at Liverpool. “It is early days,” he said on Monday on the search for Roy Hodgson’s permanent replacement, although Kenny Dalglish auditioning for the job has become akin to an Oscar winner awaiting a part in the school play.

So much for the gamble; so much for the poisonous in-fighting. In the 30 days between being asked to leave a cruise for a listing ship and beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Dalglish has collected 13 points from a possible 18, elevated Liverpool from 12th to 6th in the Premier League and taken a club that was four points off the bottom to within six points of Champions League qualification. The transformation wrought is even more comprehensive.

he Scot galvanised a club tired of the politicking of Rafael Benítez and aghast at the folly of Hodgson’s appointment the moment he accepted Henry’s invitation. That was to be expected of a Liverpool legend immersed in the triumph and tragedy of the club and, conscious of his predecessors’ mistakes, he has proclaimed unity at every available opportunity. “It’s like having a 12th man on the line,” says Martin Kelly. It is on the pitch, however, where Dalglish has submitted the strongest application for a job he has craved for 20 years and the finest riposte to accusations of going stale on the golf course.

Within 24 hours of overseeing Liverpool’s FA

For £35m Andy Carroll will have to be John Toshack and Ian Rush rolled into one

Seventy-two minutes into his England career Andrew Thomas Carroll is a £35m striker who now walks the path of Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Kenny Dalglish, who broke the British transfer record for him to soften the blow of losing Fernando Torres for £50m to Chelsea. And they say January is the dullest month.

This outlandish episode shoots straight to No1 in the Premier League compendium of fantastical splurges. While Britain’s economy shrinks, football’s spending rages on. More than ever goal-scorers are the must-have gods with Edin Dzeko (£27m), Darren Bent (£18m-£24m) and Luis Suárez (£23m) now joined by Torres and Carroll on the winter roundabout.

Spot the odd one out. In a recession, these all are extravagant acts but only Carroll can be described as a punt. Anfield’s raid on Tyneside is a spectacular riposte to