Gary Ablett tells Liverpoolfc.tv about how he's settling into his role as the club's new reserve team manager.


Liverpoolfc.tv: Welcome back to Liverpool, Gary…
Gary Ablett: Thanks very much. It's a situation that has all come about very quickly really. It's only been going on for five or six weeks and I'm delighted it's come to fruition.


What will your role will be on the coaching staff?

I understand from the manager that my role will be reserve team manager. I will liase with him most days, I will sort out our fixtures and arrange the training every day. I will also be working closely with Hughie McAuley and Hughie has been invaluable over the last couple of days with the advice he has given me. He has been brilliant.


How did the opportunity to come back to Liverpool arise?
I'd heard of the unfortunate circumstances as to why Gary McAllister had turned the job down and I knew the manager was looking for someone with a background and who had played at this club and knew what the club meant. I just thought there was no harm in applying so I sent my CV in and a couple of days later Rafa called me and said 'would you like to come in?'

I was interviewed for an hour and a half and found it fascinating to be quite truthful. He grilled me on the tactics board so obviously he wanted to see I knew what I was doing. I waited for 10 days, maybe two weeks, before I got another call asking me to come in when he asked me to do a plan of the season for him, which I did for the young players. Four to five days later I was asked to come in again and was told that the job was mine.

Follow up:

I'm under no illusions. I know from the conversations I had with the manager there was some illustrious names who had applied for the job, probably players with a lot more personality, a lot more character and a lot more history with Liverpool Football Club. I think the fact the background I had come from was working with players at Everton for three or four years at under-18 level, that maybe I was the type of personality that Rafa was looking for.


How impressed were you by Rafa?
I am under no illusions and I've got a lot to learn but I'm looking forward to learning it and that's why I am here. His enthusiasm and Pako's and Hughie's and the rest of the staff shines through. I've come here to do a job and I've got to do it well, otherwise you know I'll be looking for another one!


What was your first day back at Melwood like?

It's like your first day back at school. You can't really sleep the night before and on the clock every minute takes an hour. It was great to get in and to meet everyone, especially to meet the players. The younger players are not due back in until next week but the manager brought a couple of them in to make the numbers up this week, and it's a great chance for them and it's a chance for me to have conversations with them and see how they get on. My real work starts next week when the nucleus of the younger players come in.


You were in charge of the Under-18 team at Everton so was it a difficult decision to leave the club?
I've got nothing but praise for the Academy staff at Everton, Ray Hall, Neil Dewsnip, Kevin O'Brien and Phil Hewitt just to name but four of the day to day people that I worked with. I just had an unbelievable education. I came back from America and I had nothing to do and they gave me a chance to work, and they gave me a chance to get qualified to do the work. I do owe everything to the people in the Academy. On the professional side I wasn't sure if there was anything there for me if David Moyes had his staff in place. I went into the Academy at Everton and told Ray the first day that I was very ambitious and I wanted to use the Academy as a stepping stone to further myself to see how far up the coaching ladder I could go. I didn't really think I would be using Everton as a stepping stone to coming back to Liverpool but that's just the way it worked out.


You've crossed Stanley Park both ways….

That's one of the first things I am looking forward to doing, sitting the boys down and telling them I've been through it and luckily for me I've done it and lived the dream they are hoping to live. I know the hard work that goes into fulfilling or living that dream and they've got to put the work in to achieve that. If not then forget about it and go and find something else to do. It's as simple as that, that's how I see it. If they don't come in to work and give their best every day then don't come in.
I have and I'm still unbelievably proud of having won and being the only person to have won FA Cup winners medals with both teams. I'm immensely proud of that and of the time I had at Liverpool and what we achieved, and I'm immensely proud of what I did at Everton.


Melwood has changed a lot from your days as a player..

Not half! We used to get changed at Anfield and bus it down to Melwood and we'd have biscuits and cups of tea on a Friday morning! All that's gone out of the window now but it's changed for the better.


As a player for Liverpool you lived the dream of progressing from the youth team to the first team so obviously you can pass on your experience to the young lads getting a chance at reserve team level…
That's one of the first things I am looking forward to doing, sitting the boys down and telling them I've been through it and luckily for me I've done it and lived the dream they are hoping to live. I know the hard work that goes into fulfilling or living that dream and they've got to put the work in to achieve that. If not then forget about it and go and find something else to do. It's as simple as that, that's how I see it. If they don't come in to work and give their best every day then don't come in.


I suppose at reserve team level it's a two-fold situation because winning breeds confidence but it's also about player development and seeing if they are ready to make that extra step up?

I think so and that is ultimately my role here. I want to win every single thing I do whether it's training and five-a-side games and the reserve league. Possibly the manager may have different thoughts on that and I'm sure he'd like to see us do well but I'm sure he wants the performance side to far outweigh the results side and produce the players. My job is to get those players ready to give them a basic understanding so when he calls them up into his squad they know what he's doing and he's not going to have to spend half his session explaining what he wants them to do, as the player should already have the basic knowledge of what's required.


So the hard work starts right now Gary?
It does. I don't think I've ever been afraid of hard work. I know myself I wasn't the greatest player in the world but I gave it everything I've got and I certainly intend to do that in this present role and the job I've been given to do now. The young players won't find me lacking, I'm sure they won't find Hughie lacking and I certainly hope that they are not lacking and come in every day to give it everything and if they do they'll have a chance. If they don't they won't have a chance.


You will be working with a lot of the young lads who played their part in Liverpool winning the FA Youth Cup last season, so in many ways is this a big season for them to see if they can push on from that?

Yes and a decent point for me is that maybe I won't know the majority of them to speak to but I have certainly come across their paths in recent years in games between the two clubs, so I already have a basic understanding of names and positions and what they can and can't do.


Source: Noticias/info