"It was a strange one really. I was still playing and was planning to keep playing because I thought I had a good few years left in me because I was at Bolton the season before last," Gary O'Neil told the Reds' official website.
"I had a good year and won the Player of the Year there. Then just as I was trying to find a club that summer, I ended up rupturing my Achilles tendon. I had already been in dialogue with Alex Inglethorpe about the Academy and I popped up to have a chat.
"I’ve done all my coaching badges and have known I’d wanted to go that way for a very long time. I think I’ve made no secret of the fact that I want to manage eventually, and when Liverpool speak to you about a job there’s only one answer you give generally – and that was a very quick yes!"
O'Neil has been appointed as Barry Lewtas' assistant with Liverpool's U23s.
The former Premier League midfielder enjoyed quite a saturated playing career. Most remarkably, the ex-England youth international was part of Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and West Ham.
The 37-year-old retired after 2018/19, the season that saw him win Bolton's Player of the Year award.
