The footballer known to his adoring fans as King Kenny has become Sir Kenny in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Kenny Dalglish, now 67, was arguably Scotland’s greatest ever player and has regularly been named as one of the best players in the UK.

He is among more than 100 “exceptional” Scots to receive honours, including Prof James Hough, for his work on detecting gravitational waves, the horse trainer Lucinda Russell, and the oil industry tycoon Sir Iain Wood.

Dalglish, a native Glaswegian and adopted Scouser, moved from Celtic to Liverpool in 1977 for what was then a record fee between British clubs of £440,000. It was probably the club’s best ever bargain.

After his four titles, four Scottish Cups and a League Cup with Celtic, King Kenny went on to win three European Cups, six titles, one FA Cup and four League Cups with Liverpool.

He scored the winner in his first European Cup final, a 1-0 defeat of Bruges at Wembley, in 1978, won 102 Scotland caps, scoring 30 goals, and remains his country’s most-capped player.