Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has paid tribute to club stalwart Ronnie Moran as "the perfect role model".
Moran, who enjoyed an incredible 49-year association with Liverpool as a player, coach, physio and caretaker manager, died on Wednesday, aged 83.
He played as a left-back during Liverpool's First Division title wins under the great Bill Shankly in 1963-64 and 1965-66 before taking on coaching duties.
In 1998, he retired as Liverpool's longest-serving employee and an iconic figure of the fabled Anfield Boot Room.
Klopp met Moran at the club's Melwood training ground last year having been left in no doubt as to his stature within Liverpool's rich history.
"It's a sad day. I had the honour of meeting him last year around the League Cup final," Klopp told Liverpool's official website after observing a minute's silence in Moran's honour with his players at their warm-weather training camp in Tenerife.
"Obviously I am not from Liverpool, I am not from England, and so I needed a little bit of help but when I heard about this very special story then it was really nice to meet him. It was a big honour for me.
"Today is a very sad day for all of us. All of our thoughts and all of our love are with the family.
"We tried to pay our respects like a football club should do for a real member of the club, a real figure of the club, with a minute of silence.
"It was impressive because the players were immediately in the mood; all of them have heard about him and that shows how special his relationship with this great club was."
Klopp added: "You will not have this a lot of times. It's nice and it shows what a big value this is because it's so rare. Maybe more of us should try to be like him – and in him we had the perfect role model.
"I am sure nobody can, or will, forget him. It's a sad day, but on the other hand it is a day where everybody thinks about him and thinks about his very, very special story."
