Tag: Rafa Benitez

Tall Tunnicliffe’s tilt at the top fell short and he quit at 24

ONE-TIME Liverpool triallist James Tunnicliffe quit playing football at 24.

When he was only 16, a £750,000 move from Stockport County to the ‘mighty’ Reds was on the cards.

But Liverpool’s then boss, Rafa Benitez, gave the young hopeful the thumbs down and his subsequent short playing career petered out in the lower leagues.

Tunnicliffe – a Russell Slade signing for Brighton in June 2009 – was at the heart of League One Albion’s defence for Gus Poyet’s first game as Seagulls manager.

But there was plenty of competition in that area of the team and, before long, the 6ft 4in centre half struggled to hold down a place. Initially Adam Virgo, Tommy Elphick, Jake Wright and Adam El-Abd were all competing in that position and, although Wright moved on, Gordon Greer – instantly appointed captain – and homegrown Lewis Dunk steamed ahead of him in the pecking order.

Slade had signed him on a three-year deal, declaring at the time: “He’s 20 and one or two other clubs were looking at the situation higher up, Championship clubs.

“We’ve kept everything quiet and gone about the business in the right manner and we’ve got our man.”

Slade told the Argus: “He has got huge potential. He’s a decent athlete for his size, handles the ball very well and hopefully will be a threat for us in the box. There’s lots more to come from him. He’s a really good, positive signing.”

Midfielder Gary Dicker, a former Stockport teammate who made the same move, added: “He’s a good tall, strong athlete and a good player.”

The player himself admitted it was a good word put in by another former Stockport teammate, Jim McNulty, that influenced his move.

“We’re good friends and used to live a couple of doors apart in Manchester and travelled into training together at Stockport,” he told the matchday programme. “He absolutely loves it here and that helped sway my decision to come.”

Albion watcher Andy Naylor had a mainly favourable first impression although he was less sure about the tactic of using the central defender to launch long throws. In an Argus comment piece, Naylor wrote: “He looks composed, comfortable in possession and has good pace for one so tall. The jury is out, though, on just how much Albion should try to exploit Tunnicliffe’s long throw.

“It has more of a loop than Rory Delap’s torpedo-like delivery and has caused opposing defences few problems so far. Albion would arguably be better served exploiting Tunnicliffe’s 6ft 4ins frame in the goalmouth for set pieces.

“His throw remains a potentially useful weapon, for example during the closing stages of the game if the Seagulls are chasing an equaliser, but it should perhaps be used more sparingly.”

Somewhat ironically, while not starting the first four games of the season, he made his first league start at home to his old club Stockport – when Albion were on the wrong end of a 4-2 scoreline.

Tunnicliffe scored the first goal of his career in a 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers in September 2009 after captain Adam Virgo had been sent off. He said: “I am doing everything I can to keep my shirt. I don’t want to lose that and hopefully I can contribute a few more goals this season as well.”

His performance alongside Elphick drew the admiration of Richie Morris, who wrote in the matchday programme: “Tunnicliffe not only bulleted his first goal for the club with a well taken header, but diverted a Carl Rogan shot over and cleared what looked like a late winner off the line.”

Tunnicliffe scored again – this time just a consolation goal – in a 4-1 defeat at Norwich that was Poyet’s fourth game in charge. But he was cast aside after playing in the FA Cup against Torquay at the turn of the new year and, before long, was sent out on loan to MK Dons.

Any hoped-for restoration to the first team on his return was dashed when at the start of the following season he was shipped out on a season-long loan to Bristol Rovers. Eventually, with a year still left on his contract, he agreed an early end to his Seagulls deal and joined Wycombe Wanderers in the summer of 2011.

Despite it all, he told seagulls.co.uk: “It’s been frustrating for me over the last 18 months but I loved being here and I haven’t got a bad word to say about the club. I made a lot of good friends and I’m sure the team will have a very good season in the Championship.

“I’m a bit disappointed with how it worked out but I’m now focusing on working hard over the summer to try and secure first-team football with Wycombe.

“I’ve watched Wycombe a lot and I know plenty about the manager, Gary Waddock, who looks to play good football, so it’s an attractive club for me to move to.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking about what is going to be best for me and Wycombe is a good club, recently promoted to League One and on the up, so it’s hopefully going to be a good move for me.

“I’m now excited about a new challenge and I feel like I’ve got a lot of things to prove to myself and the other clubs. I want to show that I am a good player.”

Waddock pointed out: “James is a talented young centre-back with experience of playing at this level.

“He’s a footballing defender who can play out from the back. A lot of clubs were interested in him.”

And Tunnicliffe told the Bucks Free Press: “I’m more than just a defender who kicks it, I like to pass it at the right time. I’m looking forward to being in the team next year and doing well in League One.”

Born in Denton, Manchester, on 17 January 1989, Tunnicliffe went to a particularly sporty school, Audenshaw High in Manchester, and, as well as playing a lot of football, he was also good at golf and cricket as well as being a decent 100-metres hurdler.

It was at Stockport’s school of excellence that he honed his football skills: his grandad, John Bishop, was the club’s kitman at the time, and later a masseuse.

In October 2005 the young Tunnicliffe was sent on a two-week trial to European Champions Liverpool and the pound signs were already beginning to form in the eyes of his parent club: a £750,000 deal was said to have been agreed for the youngster.

Unfortunately, Benitez was unable to watch the 16-year-old because he was away with the first team for a Champions League match with Anderlecht.

Tunnicliffe was handed an extra week with the Reds to give Benitez the chance to cast his eye over the youngster, but he but did not do enough to convince the Spaniard and the proposed deal collapsed.

He returned to the League Two Hatters where manager Chris Turner reckoned the youngster’s time at Anfield had helped to develop their promising player.

“It has been a fantastic experience for him and I’m sure it’ll benefit both the player and Stockport County,” he said. “He trains with our first team at the moment and doesn’t look out of place at the age of 16 so you can imagine how highly we regard him.”

As predicted by Turner, Tunnicliffe made his first team debut as a substitute in a 2-0 defeat at Notts County and he went on to make 50 appearances for them. He also had a brief loan spell with Northwich Victoria in 2007 and, perhaps bitten by his Liverpool experience, turned down the offer of a move to Southampton because he felt he would be better served staying put.

If the move from Brighton to Wycombe was an opportunity for a fresh start, he couldn’t have wished for a better start, scoring on his debut in a 1-1 draw against Scunthorpe.

But after beginning as a regular, he was dropped after a 3-1 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat at home to Cheltenham Town in October and only made a handful of appearances after that.

His final Wanderers game was in a 6-0 tonking by Huddersfield at Adams Park in January 2012, after which he was dropped in favour of youngster Anthony Stewart.

The following month he joined League Two side Crewe Alexandra on a 30-day loan, citing homesickness as a reason for wanting away from Wycombe.

Injury curtailed his spell at Gresty Road and in the summer of 2012 he rejoined Stockport, who by then were playing in the Conference National. The following year he made eleven appearances on loan for Stalybridge Celtic before returning to County.

He took the decision to retire from football aged just 24 and, on his LinkedIn profile, says: “The experiences I endured in my eight-year professional career, filled with some highs and many lows, were a catalyst that inspired me to step into the football intermediary world.”

Indeed, he cropped up as a ‘representative’ for former teammate Glenn Murray when he was involved in negotiations with Brighton over a new contract.

Tunnicliffe says of himself: “I am a people’s person and my current role enables me to advise, support, empower and challenge clients, whilst providing opportunities where they can excel and get the best out of their abilities.

“In addition, the role has provided a platform to grow a worldwide network and converse with people from various organisations and backgrounds.”

He says that in September 2022 he enrolled onto the Masters In Sports Directorship programme at Manchester Metropolitan University.

“This course has presented me with an opportunity to enhance my self-awareness and existing knowledge, whilst developing areas of deficiency.

“I am embracing this academic challenge and look forward to learning more about the commercial and business functions of a sporting organisation over the remaining duration of the course.”

Sammy Lee’s ugly u-turn left Hyypia in the lurch

FORMER Liverpool player and assistant manager Sammy Lee took an unpalatable u-turn after agreeing to become no.2 to Sami Hyypia at Brighton.

When in 2014 a second successive bid to reach the Premier League via the Championship play-offs had faltered at the semi-final stage, Oscar Garcia quit the Seagulls and Albion installed the inexperienced Hyypia as his successor.

The Finnish international former Liverpool centre back had earmarked Lee to bring valuable nous to his backroom team having already been turned down for the job by his first choice, Jan Moritze Lichte, from Bayer Leverkusen, where Hyypia had made his managerial bow.

Lee agreed to take on the role on 25 June 2014 and a formal announcement was made the following day. But by the morning of Monday 29 June, the bombshell news dropped that Lee was moving elsewhere on the south coast instead.

Rather than help to guide the fledgling managerial career of a player he had coached at Liverpool, Lee opted to join Dutchman Ronald Koeman at Southampton.

“I’m let down because I thought that I knew him,” Hyypia told Sky Sports, when interviewed at Lancing. “Everything was sorted and everything was agreed and he should have been here today. The way it happened was very disappointing and I couldn’t actually believe it.”

An apologetic Lee said: “I was thrilled to be offered the job at Brighton and I was excited at the prospect of working with Sami Hyypia again – but, totally unexpectedly, I have been given an opportunity to work in the Premier League.

“I fully appreciate that this is not an ideal set of circumstances and I am very sorry for the inconvenience, and any embarrassment, my change of mind, after the announcement was made, has caused.

“However, at this stage of my coaching career the opportunity to work again at the very top level of English football was not something I felt I could turn down.”

Some might argue Lee’s decision ultimately brought about the swift demise of Hyypia’s reign in the Albion hotseat: the efforts he made to implement a specific style of play have since been lauded, but a dismal set of results told a different story, and there was a parting of the ways with more than half the season still to be played.

If Albion fans hadn’t been overly impressed by Lee’s decision to leave Hyypia in the lurch that summer, they weren’t the only supporters not to be enamoured by the little man’s involvement in their club.

In a retrospective look at Lee’s brief tenure as manager of Bolton Wanderers, Marc Iles, chief football writer for the Bolton Evening News, wrote: “Lee’s frenetic 170 days in charge contained 14 games, three victories, 12 signings and the complete disintegration of the structure which had helped Wanderers secure four top-eight finishes in four years.

“The stormy period was characterised by dressing room upheaval, boardroom bitterness and the sad fall from grace of an honourable man who had the club at heart.”

Lee, previously Sam Allardyce’s assistant at the Reebok Stadium, had been handed the reins just 24 hours after Allardyce quit on 29 April 29 2007 to take over at Newcastle.

Lee was always better suited to a supporting role and, as well as at Bolton, he’s worked under Allardyce at Crystal Palace, Everton and West Brom (and during Allardyce’s brief England spell).

He rose through the coaching ranks at Liverpool after Graeme Souness took him back to Anfield at the end of his playing days.

He became a first team coach under Gerard Houllier and between 2008 and 2011 was assistant manager to Rafa Benitez.

Born in Liverpool on 7 February 1959, Lee made his way through the Reds’ youth ranks and made his first team debut in April 1978.

Sammy Lee in action for Liverpool up against Albion’s Steve Foster

As chronicled on lfchistory.net, he earned a regular spot in the 1980-81 season, pretty much taking over the midfield berth previously occupied by Jimmy Case, who, at the end of that season, Bob Paisley sold to Brighton.

Albion fans of a certain generation will surely not fail to be moved by the story of Lee’s close friendship with Michael Robinson, the former Albion striker who was the midfielder’s former team-mate at Liverpool and Osasuna.

Robinson and Lee were together in a Liverpool side that in 1983-84 did the treble of the league, the League Cup and the European Cup.

Ahead of an August 2021 friendly match between the two sides to honour Robinson after his untimely death from cancer aged 61 in April 2020, Lee told The Athletic: “It is a fitting tribute and a fitting venue to have the game at, in front of the Kop.

“Michael did fantastic for Liverpool while he was there. It will be a very emotional night for everybody, particularly for Michael’s wife Chris and their children.

“He was not only a fantastic guy, a great colleague, but I consider him a brother, to be honest, I can’t put it any higher than that.”

Lee told reporter Dermot Corrigan: “Michael was very important for my professional life after Liverpool.

“You tend to think you will stay at Liverpool forever, you know, but it doesn’t happen. Michael had gone to Queens Park Rangers and he helped me to go there, and I had a nice time there. Subsequently he moved on to Osasuna, and he got me to go there. So he had a massive influence on my professional career.”

Injury eventually brought Lee’s Spanish playing days to an end and although he managed three games for Southampton and four for Third Division Bolton, it was coaching where his future lay.

In 2001, Lee became a part-time coach to the England national side under Sven-Goran Eriksson and three years later left Liverpool to join the national set up full time.

Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry said at the time: “We are very sorry that Sammy has decided to leave, but he goes with all our very best wishes for the future.

“Sammy’s been a wonderful servant to Liverpool as both player and coach. He should be proud of his contribution to the successes achieved at the club in recent years.”

Krul luck as Ryan kept Dutch penalty ‘master’ at bay

AN international goalkeeper whose prowess at saving penalties took his country through to the World Cup semi-finals barely got a look-in between the sticks for Brighton.

Experienced Dutchman Tim Krul, who played 184 games for Newcastle United over 12 years, kept goal for the Seagulls on only five occasions during the 2017-18 season.

The form of Mat Ryan, himself an Australian international, meant Krul’s involvement was restricted to cup matches and a watching brief from the substitute’s bench.

Krul initially signed on a season-long loan deal on deadline day in August 2017 but the move was made permanent the day after he made his Albion first team debut in a 1-0 League Cup defeat at Bournemouth.

Manager Chris Hughton said: “I know Tim from my time at Newcastle and he is an excellent professional that has a vast amount of experience at both club and international level.

“He’s played an extensive amount of games in the Premier League, as well as playing in the Europa League and his experience will also help benefit the other keepers in the squad.”

Having experienced some in and out spells during his time on Tyneside, Krul understood the situation when interviewed by The Argus in November 2017.

“I’m working hard every day to push Mat Ryan. He’s done great so far and we’re picking up points, that’s what it’s all about.

“If the gaffer needs us or Mat got injured, I need to be ready and literally it can happen any second.”

Krul admitted: “It’s a different position for myself, because I’m used to playing week in, week out.”

The move to Albion had been the chance to reignite his career after a long spell on the sidelines having suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury on international duty in 2015.

Krul is powerless to stop Romelu Lukaku’s winning goal for Manchester United in Brighton’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Old Trafford

Before he made the move, he consulted Steve Harper, who’d been on loan at Brighton during the Gus Poyet era. Harper told the matchday programme: “I told him it woud be a great move for him and it will also be a great signing for the club. He was outstanding in the season Newcastle finished fifth in the Premier League and he’s an international ‘keeper for the Netherlands who has played at the World Cup.”

After he’d played in Albion’s FA Cup fifth round defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford, Krul told The Argus: “Obviously when I came, I was hoping to get a bit more (game time) maybe, but at the time I walked through the door Maty’s performances went up a level, so that is testament to him.

“The level we are training at with Ben Roberts every day is really high. He has been showing that in the games. I’ve been around long enough to see when a goalkeeper is playing well you take that. I’m 29, I’m back fit, I’m feeling better than I’ve ever done so I’m ready to play. I just have to be patient again.

“I had to be patient at the start of my career and you have to do that again now. But my chance will come. There’s a lot of years left.”

Krul finally got regular playing time again when he moved to Norwich City

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen with the Albion but Krul certainly resurrected his career with Norwich City and, after signing an initial two-and-a-half-year deal in the summer of 2018, earned a further three-and-a-half-year contract in December 2020.

He then contracted Covid-19, announcing it on Twitter, where he has a huge following of more than 349,000. “I feel under the weather and fatigued,” he wrote. “It’s an important reminder to stay safe, this virus is not a hoax.”

Thankfully, by the end of January, he had recovered and returned to the side to clock up 100 appearances for the Canaries.

Born in The Hague, Holland, on 3 April 1988, from a young age Krul played for his hometown club RAS and was with ADO Den Haag between the ages of 12 and 17. Graeme Souness was still boss when Krul joined Newcastle in the summer of 2005. Shay Given and Steve Harper were the established ‘keepers in those days.

Shortly after making his debut in a UEFA Cup match in November 2006, he suffered injuries which ruled him out of action for six months. After returning to playing in the spring of 2007, he earned a new four-year deal with Newcastle.

An eventful loan spell in Scotland followed as Krul sought to gain league experience at Falkirk. He conceded 11 goals in two games early on (four to Celtic, seven to Rangers), he was sent off in a game on 2 January 2008, and then dislocated a shoulder in a cup match against Aberdeen, bringing the loan to a premature end.

When Given left St James’ Park for Manchester City, Krul was no.2 behind Harper in Newcastle’s 2009-10 season in the Championship. He deputised if Harper was injured and was given starts in cup matches. By the season’s end, when the Toon had won promotion back to the Premier League, Krul was awarded a new four-year deal and made his debut at that level when replacing the injured Harper in a 1-0 win away at Everton in September 2010.

He ended that campaign having played 25 first team matches, and the following season, established himself as the no.1, with Rob Elliot as his deputy. Out-in-the-cold Harper was allowed to spend a month on loan with the Albion.

Under Alan Pardew, Krul was the preferred first choice ‘keeper, and he signed a five-year contract with the Magpies in 2012. Several different injuries in 2012-13 restricted him to 30 appearances.

Another six-week injury lay-off over Christmas 2014 interrupted a period when there was yet another managerial change on Tyneside and the 2015-16 season under Steve McLaren was only a couple of months old before Krul was ruled out for the remainder of the season when he ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee playing in the Netherlands’ 2-1 European Qualifiers win in Kazakhstan.

McLaren was sacked in March 2016 and his replacement Rafa Benitez couldn’t prevent them from being relegated. Krul signed a one-year contract extension in the summer of 2016 but, with Elliot and Karl Darlow ahead of him, he was sent on loan to Ajax as Newcastle successfully bounced back to the elite, pipping Albion to the Championship title.

Meanwhile, things didn’t work out as planned for Krul. He only got a handful of games for the Ajax reserve side and he spent the second half of the season at AZ Alkmaar instead.

Krul has played for his country at every age level and made his full international debut in a friendly against Brazil in 2011. Maarten Stekelenburg and Jasper Cillessen have normally been ahead of him but he has won 11 caps, including three in 2020 after a five-year absence from the side. However, it was what happened at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil that most fans will remember.

Head coach Louis van Gaal took off Cillessen in the final seconds of extra time with the Dutch still drawing 0-0 with Costa Rica and sent Krul on because of his reputation for saving penalties. Sure enough, he made two saves in the subsequent shoot-out and Holland went through to the semi-finals (where they went out 4-2 on penalties to Argentina).

The story behind the decision emerged in an article by Michael Bailey for The Athletic on 5 March 2020. The Dutch goalkeeping coach at the tournament, Frans Hoek, explained how Krul had responded best of the three ‘keepers to special training he put them through.

“When we came together with the national team, the three goalkeepers were more or less at the same level in stopping penalties. And that level was low,” Hoek told The Athletic. “We decided to do things in a different way and when you do that you have to believe in it, practice it and then show it. Basically, Tim responded best to that.

“He had some advantages. He’s very big, he has an enormous reach. He is impressive when you’re standing the other side of him and maybe because he’s from Den Haag area, he can be a little bit provocative. Michel Vorm is too nice a guy, so is Cillessen. But Tim can get away with it. It’s just something he has.”

A look back through the archives reveals Krul was displaying his prowess saving penalties as far back as his youth playing days. In an FA Youth Cup match for Newcastle against Brighton, he made saves from Tommy Fraser and Scott Chamberlain as Toon edged it 3-2 on penalties.

Albion goalkeeper coach Roberts was full of praise when asked about the big Dutch ‘keeper. “He has an aura about him and the self-belief to think he will save everything,” said Roberts. “I’m delighted for him as lots wrote him off when he had his bad knee injury. He’s since shown how much his hard work and dedication has paid off.”

After putting pen to paper on his new Norwich contract, Krul told the club website: “Proud is the big word. I’m excited to commit my future to Norwich and have had an amazing two and a half years already at this club, so I’m excited to add another three and a half years to that.

“The plan the club has got for the next few years is exciting and there’s some young, exciting talent coming through the ranks as well. From top to bottom, it’s a club I want to be at; one that’s run really well from Michael and Delia to the kitman. It’s an exciting time for the club, for sure.

“As a player, you want to be loved and I’ve got a great relationship with the fans. The club giving me this three-and-a-half-year contract shows the belief they’ve still got in me.”

Manager Daniel Farke added: “It’s fantastic news for us to have a player of Tim’s quality and personality. He’s by far the best goalkeeper in this league and was impressive in the Premier League.

“He’s still in a really good age for a goalkeeper and can play many more years. It’s good news he was willing to sign a long-term contract because there is lots of interest in a player of his quality and experience.”

Krul was a key part of Norwich’s Championship-winning sides of 2018-19 (when he was ever-present) and 2020-21. But in August 2023 he returned to the Premier League when he was signed by newly-promoted Luton Town.

Town boss Rob Edwards said: “Tim’s a leader and a top goalkeeper who is still very and ambitious and very hungry. He wants to play.

“It’s great to have someone of his level in the group with that ambition and to be that driven, and it’s going to add great competition to the goalkeeper department, which is what we’ve wanted.”

Pictures from online sources and matchday programmes.

Let down by ‘little’ Sammy, ‘big’ Sami struggled from the start…

HINDSIGHT is a wonderful thing but few would disagree that Sami Hyypia’s reign as Albion manager was doomed almost from the start.

Inexperienced boss Hyypia had barely got his feet under the table at the Amex before former Liverpool assistant manager, Sammy Lee, pulled the rug from under his proposed new regime.

Hyypia, not unreasonably, had thought the former no.2 to Rafa Benitez would bring vital experience to his backroom team because the Albion position was only the former Reds central defender’s second managerial job.

Lee, despite accepting the position on 27 June 2014, decided two days later to reject the deal because he’d agreed to become Ronald Koeman’s deputy at Southampton instead.

Hyypia had only been in post three weeks, so, it would be fair to say, Lee’s decision must have been a hammer blow – especially as his first choice for no.2 said ‘no’ too! Jan Moritze Lichte, who’d been at Bayer Leverkusen when Hyypia made his managerial bow – which lasted only nine months – had already declined to join him in the UK for “personal reasons”.

Thus, Hyypia had to rely on two of previous boss Oscar Garcia’s coaching staff, Nathan Jones and Joaquin Gomez, to assist on the coaching side, although his fellow countryman, Antti Niemi, did accept the offer to become goalkeeping coach.

On the playing side, there had been a large turnover of personnel in the wake of Garcia’s departure – and, it emerged, the players coming in weren’t being signed by Hyypia but were the picks of head of football operations, David Burke.

It was always going to be a tough ask to replace Leonardo Ulloa up front – and journeyman Chris O’Grady certainly didn’t provide an answer.

There was a sense of excitement when Hyypia’s Liverpool links saw the arrival on loan of Joao Teixeira, but the number of players only at the club on a temporary basis should have been something of a wake-up call.

The permanent signing of one-time West Ham forward Sam Baldock looked like a sound investment – he’d hit the net regularly enough at Bristol City in the division below – but he found goals hard to come by at the higher level.

As if to highlight the player upheaval and shaky managerial team foundations, Albion lost the first two games of the season, single goal defeats at home to Sheffield Wednesday and away to Birmingham City.

If a 2-0 win away to Leeds United followed by a 2-1 home win over Bolton suggested a corner had been turned, Albion then went on an 11-game winless run.

If he hadn’t been aware beforehand, Hyypia would have quickly realised the calibre of player Burke provided him with fell way short of what was required if the side were going to repeat the previous two seasons’ achievement of finishing in the play-off positions.

Not only was there a lack of consistency in personnel on the pitch, those who were selected appeared to be confused as to exactly how Hyypia wanted them to play.

Andy Naylor tried to analyse Hyypia’s philosophy early on in the season, reporting: “We have already seen 4-1-2-3, 4-1-2-2-1, 4-4-1-1. Hyypia is combining Southern European technical accomplishment in possession and mobility with a more Northern European tempo and directness.

“The width is provided by advanced full-backs, the chances for a narrower strike force by the players who like to operate, in modern coaching speak, ‘between the lines’, exploiting pockets of space in the area dividing the opposition defence and midfield.”

The theory might well have been sound but the practice was found wanting.

Having won only one game in 18 matches, and after only six months in charge, Hyypia resigned shortly before Christmas.

At his last home game in charge – a 1-0 defeat to Millwall – the Albion faithful demonstrated they’d had enough, calling for him to go and, in the North Stand, unfurling a banner making that message loud and clear.

Hyypia himself admitted the atmosphere had been tough to handle but, in an interview with the Argus, had vowed to turn things round.

It was an unseemly end for someone who as a player had been rated one of the best defenders ever to pull on a Liverpool shirt. But Hyypia was by no means alone in not being able to continue the prowess he’d shown on the playing side into management.

Liverpoolway.co.uk charts the player’s career succinctly; a Gerard Houllier signing in 1999, over the course of a decade he collected winners medals across several competitions: the Champions League, the FA Cup (twice), the UEFA Cup, the UEFA Super Cup (twice), the League Cup (twice) and the Charity Shield.

Born on 7 October 1973 in Porvoo, Finland, Hyypia’s football career blossomed with now dissolved Kuusankosken Kumu before switching to MyPa, where he stayed four years, helping them to win the Finnish Cup in 1992 and 1995. He moved to Holland to play for Willem II for four years where for a time his defensive partner was Jaap Staam, who subsequently played for Manchester United. Liverpool signed Hyypia for £2.6m in 1999, ironically following up a tip from a TV cameraman!

After being capped 27 times by Finland under 21s, he earned his first full cap in 1992 and, with 105 caps for Finland, he is second only to Jari Litmanen as his country’s highest capped player.

After his Liverpool playing days came to an end, Hyypia went to play in the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen and two years later joined the club’s coaching staff.

In a rather unusual arrangement, Hyypia and former under19s coach Sascha Lewandoski jointly replaced Robin Dutt as head coach but Hyypia took sole charge in June 2013. He was sacked in April 2014.

After his brief time in charge of Brighton, it was another eight months before he found another head coach role, this time taking charge of FC Zurich in August 2015. But with the club heading for relegation in May 2016, he was sacked.

The Finn has yet to re-appear in the dugout, although he has pulled on his boots again to play for a Liverpool Legends side. It remains to be seen whether he’ll give coaching or management another go, although he told BT Sport in February 2019: “I will coach and manage again one day but not yet. I get some enquiries quite regularly, but nothing has yet been that interesting I would jump into it.”

He added: “I wouldn’t change any decision to go so quickly into coaching. A lot of people said I made a mistake going into it so early, but I learned a lot.

“You learn a lot more from the bad moments than the good moments. Those years when things were not going my way, I learned so much and I am much better and more ready now.”