Sierra Games

Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match

Last updated: October 19, 2026

Overview

Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match is a side-scrolling football game built around a licence from Kenny Dalglish, then the manager of Liverpool.12 It was published by Impressions, the British company founded by David Lester, which Sierra On-Line bought in 1995.23 The game first appeared on the Amiga and Atari ST in 1989, followed by Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions in 1990.4567 A budget reissue titled simply Soccer Match came out under the Energize label in 1991.5

The game is often listed as the first entry in Impressions’ development catalogue,3 but it was not the company’s first Dalglish game. The Games Machine reminded readers that it had already reviewed Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager “on Impression’s Cognito label”, and Amiga Format introduced Soccer Match as “the second in the planned trilogy of Kenny games - the first was a management game”.89 MobyGames likewise calls Soccer Match Dalglish’s “second licensed game”.4 That management game was reviewed in 1989 as a release on the Cognito label, with Sinclair User giving its author as “In-house”.810 Spectrum Computing credits Derek Brewster of Impressions and records a 1991 budget reissue by Zeppelin Games.11 MobyGames lists Cognito, Impressions and Zeppelin Games among its publishers, while Wikipedia names Zeppelin Games as the developer.1213

Critics were harsh. Magazine scores for the 1989 to 1990 releases ranged from 5% to 60%, and the German magazine Power Play later named it the “Biggest Failure in 1990”.4148

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

Each match is played from a side-on, horizontally scrolling view. It pits a red team against a blue team, and the joystick moves whichever footballer is nearest the ball.45815 Amiga Format explained that passes and shots are made “by holding the fire button down while moving the joystick to one of nine positions once you’ve got possession”.9 The ball runs loose rather than sticking to a player’s feet, much as in the Kick Off series. MobyGames notes, however, that short passes are not possible and that the ball bounces so heavily that scoring from closer than about 30 yards is difficult.48

Structure and Progression

The options are minimal. Before kick-off, players choose:816

  • the number of teams taking part (one to four), which turns a four-player game into a small league
  • normal or fast game speed
  • the names of the competing teams
  • a skill level (Crash gives the range as 1-9, while Amstrad Action counted ten levels on the Amstrad version)817
  • a match length of 10, 20, 40 or 90 minutes

Two players can play at once, and up to four can take part in turn.514 There are no leagues or tournaments against other clubs.118 Amstrad Action noted that fouls cannot be committed at all, since “the players run right through each other”.16

Presentation

Digitised photographs of Dalglish are the game’s main nod to its licence. He appears before each half with advice that CPC Game Reviews quoted as “We want a good result” and “I want GOALS”. When a goal is scored, he is shown celebrating, or slumped “with his face in his hands” if the goal went against the reds.1618 Crash found that “Sadly Ken’s advice is of little use”, and its summary read: “Ignore Kenny’s advice, take ours”.8

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

The game was reviewed widely on every format, and most of the scores were low.4148

PublicationPlatformScore
The Games Machine #32 (July 1990)ZX Spectrum60%819
Sinclair User #101 (July 1990)ZX Spectrum58%8
Your Sinclair #55 (July 1990), Kati HamzaZX Spectrum46%8
Crash #79 (August 1990)ZX Spectrum42%8
Amstrad Action #59, James LeachAmstrad CPC33%1617
ST Format (February 1990), Maff EvansAtari ST32%6
Amiga Format #8 (March 1990), Andy SmithAmiga31%149
Amiga Joker (February 1990), Carsten BorgmeierAmiga27%149
Génération 4 #18 (January 1990)Amiga20%14
Datormagazin #6 (March 1990), Pia WesterAmiga3/1014
ASM 1/1990 (Amiga, Bernd Zimmermann); ASM 2/1990 (Atari ST, Manfred Kleimann)Amiga, Atari STCategory ratings only. Amiga: graphics 4, sound 2, realism 2, fun 0, value 1. Atari ST: graphics 4, animation 3, realism 2, fun 2, value 2. MobyGames converts these to 15% and 22%.202122
Power Play (February 1990)Atari ST5%422

Amiga Format’s Andy Smith singled out “the appalling gameplay”. He found that in normal mode “the players all move as if they’re wading through three feet of water”, and he called it “yet another win for Anco’s Kick Off”.9 Your Sinclair’s verdict was “A turkey which just about scrapes into the GM Vauxhall Conference.”8 Amstrad Action concluded that “Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match is a disappointing game”, and The Games Machine called it “a plain and old fashioned game, whose look is more basic than the original Match Day”.816 Sinclair User’s summary was “High on frills, low on frills.”8 In Amiga Joker’s joint review with Bodo Illgner’s Super Soccer, Carsten Borgmeier said Impressions had scored “ein schlimmes Eigentor” (a bad own goal).9

The German magazine Power Play gave the game its “Biggest Failure in 1990” award in its January 1991 issue.4 On the other side, Atarimania records that ST Format placed it 9th in its “Ten Real Bananas” award for 1990.6

Modern Assessment

An archived copy of MobyGames from September 2026 shows a critic average of 32% from six ratings.23 A 2005 user review there for the Atari ST version is titled “An insult to Kenny, to the ST, and to football itself”.4 Lemon Amiga calculates an average magazine rating of 27% across four Amiga reviews.14 CPC Game Reviews rated the Amstrad version 3/10 and described it as looking “like a nightmarish Spectrum port”.18

Development

Origins

David Lester founded Impressions after training as an accountant with Arthur Young. In a later interview he recalled that “We knew that football games were really popular so we thought “let’s make our first game a football game”.” He telephoned Liverpool Football Club from a payphone and secured Dalglish’s agreement, paying him “a percentage of the revenue generated from the game”.2 Lester refers to the resulting game as “Kenny Dalglish Football Manager” and says it “was number one all summer in 1989”.2 That name points to the earlier management game rather than to Soccer Match, and the interview does not distinguish between the two.9212

Production

Hall of Light and Atarimania credit the following team on the 16-bit versions:56

  • Game design: John Ruskin
  • Code: Simon Bradbury
  • Graphics: Erik Casey, Jill Lawson, John Ruskin and Simon Bradbury
  • Music: Christopher J. Denman
  • Cover art: Paul Bebe (Atari ST)

Hall of Light notes that the Amiga version was based on the 1989 Atari ST release.5 The ZX Spectrum version credits Glenn Benson for code and Paul Johnson for graphics.47 German magazine ASM listed the publisher as “Impressions Software, Bexley, England” and priced the Atari ST version at about 65 Marks.21 Simon Bradbury later founded Firefly Studios.3

Version History

VersionDatePlatformNotes
Original1989AmigaSingle disk, OCS45
Original1989Atari STSingle-sided disk46
Original1990Commodore 64Cassette release424
Original1990ZX Spectrum48K/128K; £9.99 cassette, £14.99 disk78
Original1990Amstrad CPCReviewed in Amstrad Action #59416
DemoJuly 1990ZX SpectrumMicroHobby #201 covertape7
Budget1991AmigaReissued as Soccer Match by Energize5

Legacy

The game’s main historical interest is its place at the very start of Impressions’ history: it heads the company’s development catalogue on Wikipedia.3 Its coder, Simon Bradbury, is listed among the company’s notable former employees.53 Lester recalled that the early Dalglish success “gave us a lot of cash to build the business from”, after which Impressions “rapidly saw that our interest and strength lay in strategy games”.2

The Spectrum version was later released by other labels, including EDOS, Energize, and the Spanish publishers IBSA and System 4.7 Atarimania records that the Atari ST budget release reached number 19 in the UK ST charts in March 1992.6 Impressions returned to football with Ultimate Soccer Manager in 1995, the year Sierra acquired the company.3

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

  • Not currently available; no GOG listing was found when this page was written.

Download / Preservation

Manuals & Extras

See Also

References

Footnotes

  1. Wikipedia – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match – Dalglish licence, Impressions developer, red vs blue side-scroller, no leagues or tournaments ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Companies Made Simple – Real Business Case Study: David Lester – Lester interview: Arthur Young, first game a football game, Dalglish licence deal, “number one all summer in 1989”, shift to strategy games, 1995 sale to Sierra On-Line ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Wikipedia – Impressions Games – founded by David Lester, sold to Sierra On-Line in 1995, catalogue listing Soccer Match (1989) and Ultimate Soccer Manager (1995), Simon Bradbury founded Firefly Studios ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. MobyGames – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match – release years by platform, Impressions publisher, “second licensed game”, gameplay description, Spectrum credits, critic scores (ASM, Power Play), critic average 32%, Power Play “Biggest Failure in 1990” award, user review ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17

  5. Hall of Light – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match (Wayback, May 2023) – 1989 first release, Impressions publisher, Energize 1991 budget reissue as Soccer Match, John Ruskin design, Amiga credits, 4 max / 2 simultaneous players, conversions based on the 1989 Atari ST release ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  6. Atarimania – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match (Atari ST) – 1989 ST release, programmer, artists, John Ruskin game design, Denman music, Paul Bebe cover art, ST Format 32% (Maff Evans, February 1990), Ten Real Bananas 9th place, budget chart position 19 (3/1992) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  7. Spectrum Computing – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match – 1990 Spectrum release, Impressions Ltd, Glenn Benson and Paul Johnson, 48K/128K, re-release labels (EDOS, Energize, IBSA, System 4), MicroHobby #201 covertape demo, review index ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  8. Spectrum Computing (ZXSR) – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match review transcripts – Your Sinclair #55 (Kati Hamza, 46%), Sinclair User #101 (58%), The Games Machine #32 (60%, “on Impression’s Cognito label”), Crash #79 (42%), game options, prices ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17

  9. Amiga Reviews – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match – Amiga Format #8 review by Andy Smith (31%, “second in the planned trilogy”, control and speed criticism), Amiga Joker 02/90 review by Carsten Borgmeier (27%) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  10. Spectrum Computing (ZXSR) – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager review transcripts – Sinclair User #88 (July 1989): “Label: Cognito Author: In-house”; Your Sinclair #67 (July 1991): Zeppelin £2.99 reissue ↩

  11. Spectrum Computing – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager – original publisher Cognito Software (1989), re-release by Zeppelin Games Ltd (1991, £2.99), Derek Brewster (Impressions Ltd) ↩

  12. MobyGames – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager – 1989 management game, developer Cognito, publishers Cognito, Impressions and Zeppelin Games ↩ ↩2

  13. Wikipedia – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Manager – 1989 management game, Zeppelin Games, Ian Copeland ↩

  14. Lemon Amiga – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match – Amiga credits (Bradbury, Casey, Lawson, Ruskin, Denman), magazine scores (Amiga Format 31%, Amiga Joker 27%, Datormagazin 3/10, Génération 4 20%), 27% average ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  15. Spectrum Computing – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match instructions – original instructions: “The arrow shows which player you control (the closest to the ball)” ↩

  16. Everygamegoing – Amstrad Action #59 review – review transcript (credited there to Trenton Webb; the printed page is signed James Leach), options, no fouls, Dalglish pictures, 33% overall ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  17. Internet Archive – Amstrad Action #59 – page 46 review signed James Leach: “There are 10 levels”, AA rating 33% ↩ ↩2

  18. CPC Game Reviews – K – Amstrad review, Dalglish quotes, no tournaments or leagues, 3/10 ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. Internet Archive – The Games Machine #32 (July 1990) – original Spectrum review scan ↩

  20. Internet Archive – ASM 1/1990 – Amiga review scan, Impressions publisher, price about 65 Marks ↩

  21. Internet Archive – ASM 2/1990 – Atari ST review scan, “Impressions Software, Bexley, England”, one to four players ↩ ↩2

  22. MobyGames – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match MobyRank (Wayback, April 2016) – ASM Atari ST 22, ASM Amiga 15, Power Play (Feb, 1990) Atari ST 5 ↩ ↩2

  23. MobyGames – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match (Wayback, September 22, 2026) – “Critics Average score: 32% (based on 6 ratings)” ↩

  24. Centre for Computing History – Kenny Dalglish Soccer Match – Commodore 64 cassette, Impressions, 1990 ↩

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