Liverpool hire O'Driscoll as Rodgers' No. 2 
Sean O’Driscoll had been in charge of the England under-19s for the past nine months.
Sean O’Driscoll’s appointment as Liverpool’s new assistant manager and Pepijn Lijnders’ promotion to a role with the first-team squad have been confirmed by the club.
O’Driscoll, 58, takes up his new role at Anfield after negotiating with the Football Association to leave his role as England under-19 coach.
He replaces Colin Pascoe, who was sacked on June 6 following an end-of-season review by Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s Boston-based owners.
Lijnders, who worked with the club’s under-16 setup last season, takes on the newly created role of first team development coach.
Lijnders takes on the role of first team development coach after a successful 12 months working at the Academy #LFC pic.twitter.com/TTpWm8dnWO
– Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 6, 2015
The appointments suggest that, despite the departures of both Pascoe and first-team coach Mike Marsh during the close season, FSG remains supportive of Brendan Rodgers.
Rodgers told the club’s official website: “I have made these appointments because I want to take us in a new technical direction, in terms of coaching.
“I believe the entire first-team set-up will benefit and I am extremely positive and excited about what we can achieve, as a group, going forward.”
O’Driscoll developed a reputation for building attractive football teams on relatively small budgets outside the Premier League during his spells in charge at Bournemouth and Doncaster.
He took Doncaster into the Championship for the first time in 50 years when getting them promoted from League One in 2008.
He was relegated from the Championship with Bristol City in 2013 after a short spell in charge at Nottingham Forest.
O’Driscoll, who had led the England U19 side for the past nine months, has never played, coached or managed in the Premier League.
He was, though, interviewed for the manager’s job at Burnley in January 2010, when they were a top-flight club — with the position instead going to Brian Laws.
Rodgers has long been a fan of O’Driscoll, and added following the appointment: “My admiration for Sean, as a professional, is well documented.
“He is someone with a clear vision and philosophy and has proved he has the ability to transfer that knowledge, through his coaching, to the players.
“I am looking forward to working with him and also learning from his experiences and gaining valuable knowledge from his expertise.”
O’Driscoll added: “I am excited to be joining one of the world’s most iconic football clubs. The hallmark of any successful club is its culture and that comes from the people who work there, from the chief executive and first-team manager to those people behind the scenes whose faces may not be known but who are the lifeblood of the club.
“From the moment I drove into Melwood last week and was greeted by Kenny the gateman, I could not have been made to feel more welcome. If you are going to have any level of success these people are as crucial as the players; from my experiences so far it is clear everyone wants to help this club succeed.”
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