Lee's glee at Anfield return

3:20pm Friday 16th May 2008

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez put the scouse heart back into his coaching staff on Friday by appointing Sammy Lee as his new assistant manager.

Benitez has recently operated with a foreign backroom staff in Paco Ayesteran and Alex Miller but now those two have left Lee has returned to the post he held under both Graeme Souness and Gerard Houllier.

And Benitez alluded to the need for a Liverpool heart restored to the backroom by saying: "We are very pleased to have brought Sammy back to Liverpool because he is someone who knows the club really well."

He added: "He also knows about the passion of the club and about the standards that we set here so that will make it much easier for him to settle into his new role.

"He is a very experienced and very well respected coach in his own right and his reputation in football made him the outstanding candidate when we knew we were looking for a new member of our coaching staff."

Lee already has a great relationship with the Kop, having been a key figure in the glory days of the 1980s as a player, winning the European Cup, league title and league cup before moving into coaching.

He told liverpoolfc.tv: "I have been away for a while but everyone knows what this club means to me and it is a great pleasure to be back.

"When a club the size of Liverpool comes in for you, and when a manager of the magnitude of Rafael Benitez wants you, then you cannot say no. When I found out they were interested in me I was really thrilled.

"After the sabbatical I have had I just wish the season was starting tomorrow, but the players have had a long, difficult and demanding season and they need to get away and get their batteries recharged.

"I have been around the Melwood training ground this morning and seen a lot of old faces but a lot of new faces as well. I have shaken hands with everyone and introduced myself. There are some great people here and I cannot wait to get working with them. It is so nice to be back."

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