Last week, both the Irish Independent and the Irish Times reported that Steve Staunton was on the verge of being appointed as Kenny Dalglish's assistant at Liverpool. The Independent added that the appointment was expected to be announced last night when a Liverpool XI visited Bray Wanderers. The visit has come and gone and Stan is still on the outside looking in. What gives?
As Extratime.ie report, Dalglish personally put the bed any rumours of Stan having a role in the Anfield management: “I think you yourselves manufactured that in your own minds. I don’t think Steve Staunton ever mentioned Liverpool football club, did he?”
Kenny might be technically correct, he's also generally wrong. It was Steve Staunton who described the deal as 'done and dusted'. He leaked the information while touting the up-coming Dundalk United Legends Vs Liverpool Legends charity match. Stan didn't want to give away too much - or name Liverpool outright - but he clearly seems to have expected something from Dalglish (who was in Asia at the time with Liverpool):
“When they come back, we will discuss it further but it’s more or less done and dusted. Since the Ireland job, I’ve been involved at the lower levels. It would be nice to get back into the Premiership.”
And when asked Dalglish was going to be in Ireland for the Bray match, he answered "Possibly."
Now perhaps the papers went a bit overboard with the coverage, but the blame here seems to fall entirely on Stan's shoulders for planting the seed of rumour. As far as we can tell, there's no chance of Steve Staunton returning to Liverpool except in his own dreams.
