Former Liverpool Star Sammy Lee Reflects on Coaching Journey and Redemption in Spain

In November 2025, former Liverpool and Osasuna player Sammy Lee reflects on his coaching career, which he says began in Spain in the 1980s. Lee, who won five league titles and two European Cups with Liverpool as a player, left the club in 1986 and joined Osasuna in Pamplona, where he says he found a "new purpose."

Lee's time at Osasuna was facilitated by his friend, the late Michael Robinson, who Lee describes as "loyal, loyal, loyal to the day's end." Lee says going to Spain with Robinson was "the best thing that happened" to him after leaving Liverpool, where he had lost focus and struggled to adapt.

After his playing career, Lee went on to work as a coach, including stints with England under Peter Taylor and Sven-Göran Eriksson. In a surprising revelation, Lee says Eriksson had suggested he could have been his successor as England manager, a fact that Lee calls "humbling." Eriksson, Lee says, was "so warm" and the players "loved him," despite the team's exits from major tournaments.

Lee's coaching journey has also taken him to clubs like Bolton, Everton, and Crystal Palace, where he worked under Sam Allardyce, whom he describes as "brilliant." He also had a spell at Southampton, where he encountered a young Virgil van Dijk, whom he says "led with a velvet glove."

As Lee reflects on his career, he expresses a deep appreciation for the coaching he received at Liverpool, particularly from figures like Bob Paisley, Ronnie Moran, and Roy Evans, whom he says were "so astute" and understood the importance of not over-coaching.