Phil Thompson
FameRank: 6

"Philip Bernard Thompson" is a retired English Association football/footballer, who played as a defender for Liverpool F.C./Liverpool team of the 1970s and 1980s. During this time, he also represented the England national football team on 42 occasions. After retiring as a player, he later served Liverpool as assistant manager and, during the 2001–02 in English football/2001–02 season, acted as caretaker for 6 months while manager Gérard Houllier was ill. He is currently a pundit on Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports, does on and off work as a pundit for TV 2 (Norway), and is a regular Visiting Fellow at the University of Liverpool where he teaches on their Football Industries MBA.

More Phil Thompson on Wikipedia.

But just to be able to defend the trophy is fantastic.

If it is that or playing in the Uefa Cup, I know what every player would take.

I suppose that's a downside but Liverpool wanted to defend the title, and if that has to be the case then so be it.