Neal To Return To Liverpool?

By Mark Heys
May 16 2007

Former Bolton Wanderers manager Phil Neal could roll back the years and make an emotional return to Liverpool to replace the long serving Steve Heighway as the Reds chief Academy coach.

Heighway stepped down from his post after Liverpool won this years FA Youth Cup final owing to a difference of opinion with manager Rafa Benitez and the Liverpool Echo has suggested that Neal and another ex-Red in the shape of Gary McAllister be favourites for the post.

Neal took over as Bolton player/manager in December 1985 after a glittering career in football which had seen him win every domestic honour in English football barring the FA Cup.

In seven years as Wanderers manager he took the club to three Wembley finals including the 1989 Sherpa Van Trophy final where the Trotters overcame Torquay United by a 4-1 scoreline.

He left Bolton in the summer of 1992 after the club once again missed out on the Play Offs and he later went on to manage Coventry City, Manchester City and Cardiff City as well as brief coaching stints with the England national team and Peterborough United.

In 2000, Neal sold his collection of silverware to help pay for the medical treatment of a sick family member. He has since been a pundit around the North West and speaks highly of his time at Wanderers.