The assistant coaches who went on to take the top job

B ill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Ronnie Moran have all been head coaches of Liverpool, while they've also all held other positions within the club's staff at some point.

Liverpool have had barely more than 20 head coaches over their almost 130-year history, and Shankly, Paisley, Fagan and Moran 's tenures - each taking over from another - count for well over a quarter of a century.

In the modern era, assistants appear more willing to step up and try their luck as head coaches, with recent notable examples being Juan Carlos Carcedo (the long-time number two to Unai Emery ) and German Burgos (assistant to Diego Simeone ), both of whom have expressed a desire to do so in the near future.

Recent success stories include the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Ronald Koeman, Fabio Capello and Tito Vilanova, with Zizou having been Carlo Ancelotti 's assistant in the dugout during Real Madrid 's 2013/14 Champions League win, before taking the reins for Los Blancos' subsequent triumphs in 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18.

The Frenchman has never hidden his admiration for the Italian coach.

" Carlo told me that it was much more beautiful and difficult to win as a head coach and he was right," Zidane has stated.

Real Madrid 's other forays into hiring coaches who made their name as assistants have not always been successful and the brief tenure of former Manchester United deputy Carlos Queiroz in 2003 proved to be disappointing.

Jose Mourinho is another high-profile success story.

He had experience in working under Bobby Robson at Barcelona, although his exact role with the Blaugrana has never been completely clear, as many speculate that he was a translator while others say he had more of a tactical imput.

When Mourinho won the Champions League in 2003/04 with Porto, a young Andre Villas-Boas was among his technical staff.

Villas-Boas went on to enjoy success, like Mourinho, with the Portuguese outfit, before enduring difficult spells in England with both Chelsea and Tottenham.

He is currently at Marseille in Ligue 1 and recently spoke to the press about his experiences as a number two.

"It was the best moment of my career," he said.

"I was able to learn many things and working with Mourinho takes you to another level.

"He becomes your idol.

"I wanted to be like him and know everything he knew, but then you fall on the wrong side of Jose and things change.

"You realise that you have been blinded.

"After an argument, I decided to start my solo career.

"I don't talk to him anymore, I don't even have his phone number."

Pep Guardiola 's relationship also Vilanova ended up losing its sparkle and there was surprise when Guardiola wasn't more present as his former colleague battled cancer.

"If I did not see him that much during his treatment for cancer, it was not my fault," Guardiola later said.

"But to say that I did not want things to go well for someone who had been my partner is in bad taste and I did not expect it."

Vilanova also had his say on the coldness of that relationship.

"During the two months of treatment, after the operation, we did not see each other," Vilanova said at the time.

"He is my friend, at the time I needed him, but he felt that he did not have to see me.

"I would not have acted like this."

A very recent example is that of Spain head coach Luis Enrique, who clashed with his assistant Robert Moreno during the qualifying campaign for Euro 2020.

It is rumoured that Moreno was hoping to be appointed as permanent Spain coach after he took over as caretaker while Luis Enrique took time out to care for his dying daughter, but this did not transpire and the pair have since fallen out.

The dynamics of successful coaching duos can be best summed up by a quote from Brian Clough, the former Nottingham Forest head coach.

"I'm not equipped to manage successfully without Peter Taylor, I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back," Clough said.

Carcedo, Burgos and others looking to step up and become head coaches already know this and they're now looking forward to their time in the shop window.