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Former Liverpool FC player and manager Kenny Dalglish has given evidence at the Hillsborough inquests.

Wearing a suit with a red and white striped tie and a ‘96’ badge, Mr Dalglish told the inquests there was no way he would have objected to a request to delay the kick off and went on to describe the “mayhem” he witnessed, with “stories coming from every angle”.

Mr Dalglish was the manager of Liverpool FC in 1989 and was asked, along with Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough, to make an announcement calling for calm as the disaster unfolded.

During questioning by Christina Lambert, counsel to the inquests, the jury heard that Mr Dalglish arrived with his team at 1.30pm on the day and went straight to the dressing room where he remained until just before kick off.

Live - Kenny Dalglish gives evidence at Hillsborough inquests

A couple of moments before the team went out, he took up his position in the dugout.

Asked by Ms Lambert about the six minutes between kick-off and the referee stopping play, Mr Dalglish said: “The focus obviously was on the game. We were watching what we were doing during the game and making sure that we were organised and we were doing our job properly.”

He said he didn't notice anything unusual at the Leppings Lane end and most of the focus was on the other end of the pitch as they were attacking that end and had "started quite well".

In his statement made after the disaster, he said the first indication he had that anything was wrong was when he noticed a few people standing behind the Liverpool goal.

“They just seemed to be standing there and then the referee blew the whistle and signalled the players to go off the pitch,” he said.

He told Ms Lambert: “We went back into our dressing room and waited for the report from the referee.”

He said when they came off the pitch he didn’t think anyone knew what was happening or what had happened.

Mr Dalglish said he thinks he went onto the pitch once after that, to check if his son was ok. “My son was at the game so obviously I went on because I was concerned about him.”

He later told Ms Lambert: “Fortunately he was."

He said at some point he was told either by the referee or the police, that there were fatalities.

“We weren't told what the cause was. But we knew that it wasn't people fighting or hooliganism, so, as I say that's all we knew. There was speculation about, that people had died,” he said.

“The place was just mayhem. Nobody really knows what's going on. So there's stories coming from every angle,” he added.

IN PICTURES - HOW THE HILLSBOROUGH DISASTER UNFOLDED:

The jury heard that just before 4pm, Mr Dalglish and Mr Clough were asked if they would make an announcement to the crowd. Both agreed.

He said they went to the police room but the microphone wasn't working.

“Brian Clough then left and I went downstairs and went in, I think it was the DJ's place and his microphone was working and I just made a brief statement, that there had been people injured and hurt, but please assist the police as much as you possibly can,” he said.

Asked what the point of his announcement was, he said: "To call for calm really, amongst the supporters and just to make them realise that it wasn't two groups of fans fighting each other.

"The reaction from the people who were on the pitch was they started to applaud, so obviously they'd heard the message.”

Mr Dalglish then returned to the dressing room area where he was told the game had been cancelled. He then went to the players lounge and met his wife and daughter.

"We then went from there on the team bus and home and I don't think there was, there was hardly a word spoken amongst anybody,” he said.

Mr Dalglish said in his original statement that normally if there were grounds to consider delaying the kick off, the referee would speak to team managers.

He said: “There's no way that you would object to that. There's no way that you've got any right to object to it. That's the way it is and that's the way everybody understood it to be."

(Proceedings continue)

Watch: Hillsborough families thank Kenny Dalglish after former Liverpool FC boss gives evidence at inquests

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More Hillsborough reports, including our daily updated timeline of evidence from the inquests, in our dedicated channel here