Ex-Valencia manager Pako Ayestaran has revealed that he rejected an offer to join Chelsea's coaching staff after Jose Mourinho was fired in 2007.
Ayestaran, who was Gary Neville's assistant at Valencia, took over after the Englishman was axed, but found himself fired as well, just six months into the job.
The 53-year-old served as Rafa Benitez' trusty assistant at five different clubs, spending 11 years as the Spaniard's right-hand man. The pair worked together atOsasuna, Extremadura, Tenerife, Valencia and Liverpool, parting ways -rather acrimoniously - in 2007.
Speaking with theDaily Mail, Ayestaran revealed that he got an incredible offer to coach at Chelsea, but turned it down because he did not want to join one of Liverpool'sdirect rivals.
"After I left Liverpool, one of the things I said was that I would not go to direct rivals," he explained.
"When Jose Mourinho was sacked, Avram Grant called me while at Chelsea and asked me to join his technical team. It was a great opportunity but I felt it would be wrong."
LivEchoLFC: Pako Ayestaran: How Rafa and I changed English football while at #LFChttps://t.co/PX1IsWDiPP
He chose to take up a role as sporting director at Real Sociedad instead, but left in short order, getting his next job as a fitness coach at Benfica.
He has made the rounds after that, but describes England as one of his favourite places to work, also noting that British fans - particularly Reds supporters -are quite different from the rest.
"At Liverpool, I loved it from day one. It's the feeling of belonging to a club, to a community. I was in Liverpool Lime Street and people were coming up to me, saying thank you, thank you for coming. I'm thinking 'f***!"
Former #LFC assistant manager Pako #Ayestaran has said he loved #LFC since the first day he joined. #Mail pic.twitter.com/BtUyhY1BzA
'I was in Valencia for many years and I'm only stopped in the street to be criticised and then I come here and they are saying thank you before I have even started.
'I went to Milan to visit Carlo Ancelotti and I remember him talking the same way about English fans to me.'
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