Clarke: I just couldn’t turn Kenny down

NEW Liverpool coach Steve Clarke, pictured, admits the chance to link up with “football great” Kenny Dalglish was an opportunity he could not turn down.

The former Chelsea, West Ham and Newcastle assistant had been linked with a couple of managerial vacancies but leapt at the chance to join the 59-year-old’s backroom team at Anfield.

“I was sat at home doing nothing and now I’ve got the chance of working with a football great in Kenny Dalglish and also working for one of the world’s leading football clubs,” he said.

“This was something I couldn’t turn down.

“I am really looking forward to working with Kenny and the rest of the staff to help bring good times back to the club.”

The appointment of the well-respected Clarke will go some way to silencing the critics who claimed Dalglish, who has not managed for more than a decade, had been out for too long and was not equipped to deal with the modern-day demands of the game.

Clarke was a part of the coaching set-up which saw Chelsea win two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two Carling Cups over three seasons under Jose Mourinho.

Mike Kelly, whom Roy Hodgson brought with him from Fulham as coach in the summer, was not involved with the team in their FA Cup defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday and it is expected his departure from Liverpool will be confirmed in due course.