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Liverpool FC will go into the 2015/16 Premier League season with a new assistant manager in Sean O’Driscoll.

The 58-year-old has plenty of experience as a manager in the English lower divisions and enjoyed promotion success at Bournemouth and Doncaster Rovers.

More recently he has been in charge of the England under 19 squad.

As O’Driscoll starts his new role and begins building a working relationship with Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, we turned to Phil Thompson for an informed assessment of the job requirements of a number two at a leading Premier League club.

Thompson, the winner of seven league titles, three European Cups, two League Cups, two UEFA Cups and the FA Cup as a player with Liverpool during the 1970s and 1980s, later served the club as an assistant manager.

Thompson, 61, spent six years as No 2 to Gerard Houllier between 1998 and 2004.

The pair piloted the Reds to the treble of knockout triumphs in 2000/01 when the FA Cup, the League Cup and the UEFA Cup were famously won.

A relationship built on trust

“The big important issue about the relationship between the manager and his assistant is trust,” Thompson says. “It has to be 100%.

“The assistant can have different ideas and can voice his own opinion - but that has to be kept to the confines of the manager’s office or somewhere private where they can talk openly and frankly.

“It is most important the players see the manager and assistant are together and of one voice when they are in front of them.”

Thompson insists: “They don’t have to agree about the best way of doing things and they can argue in the boot room or the bunker. But they have to be united in front of the players.”

The good-cop-bad-cop routine

“Sometimes a No 2 can be unpopular because that’s the role he has to play,” Thompson says.

“It is sometimes a job of the No 2 to say the hard words to the players when they are needed. It’s the good-cop-bad-cop routine but the essentials coming from each man have to be the same.

“Again they must be united and give each other the utmost backing.”

A different voice on the training ground

Managers are always looking for ways to make training fresh and stimulating for the players. The No 2 can play a big part in that, even with a hands-on manager such as Brendan Rodgers, who is known for doing a lot of coaching work with the players himself.

Thompson says: “A different voice on the training ground can be vital when you’re looking to get through to the players in different ways.

“Variety is useful.”

When the No 2 takes centre stage

“Sometimes a manager will ask a No 2 to take a team meeting or a press conference,” Thompson says. Those occasions have the potential to expose any differences of opinion between the manager and his assistant and discipline is required, Thompson argues.

“Once you are in front of the players or the media you are being tested,” he says. “It’s difficult. You have to walk in there and stick to the script.”

Do opposites attract?

The chemistry of the working relationship between a No 1 and No 2 is different in every instance. Thompson, a multi-decorated ex-professional from a working-class upbringing in Kirkby, dovetailed effectively with the scholarly Frenchman Houllier, whose background was in teaching as well as coaching.

Thompson says: “Sean O’Driscoll and Brendan Rodgers know each other but they have not worked together before and that is different. They will have to build a relationship.”

The two men share similar views about the way the game should be played and will have come into frequent contact when Rogers was working lower down the football ladder.

Thompson added: “You could not have had two more different people the Gerard Houllier and myself.

“But we were both committed to the same cause and we knew we had to work at our relationship with the benefit of the club.”

IN PICS: Liverpool's new no.2 Sean O'Driscoll

The challenge - handling multi-millionaires

“Sean O’Driscoll is going to bring something different to the training ground,” Thompson says. “He has got a lot of experience at lower levels of the English game.

“This will be a new challenge because he will be working with Premier League players. It is a different game in the top flight.

“He will be dealing with a group of multi-millionaires. You have to make sure they know you are in charge and you must show you have confidence in your ability.

“That’s how Sean O’Driscoll is going to win them over.”

Houllier & Thompson - the Roll of Honour and record

Honours won: FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup treble in 2000/01. League Cup in 2003.

Liverpool Premier League placings under Houllier and Thompson: 1998/99 7th; 99/2000: 4th; 2000/01 3rd; 2001/02 2nd; 2002/03 5th; 2003/04 4th.

Sean O’Driscoll honours:

Football League third division play-off winner (with Bournemouth) 2003

Football League League One play-off winner (with Doncaster Rovers) 2007

Football League Trophy winner (with Doncaster Rovers) 2007.