“Steve is a great addition to our backroom team and I’m delighted we’ve been able to bring him into the club,” the Scot told liverpoolfc.tv.

“I am looking forward to working with Steve alongside Sammy Lee (assistant manager) and our other technical staff.”`

The appointment of the well-respected Clarke will go some way to silencing the critics who claimed Dalglish, who has not managed for more than a decade, had been out for too long and was not equipped to deal with the modern-day demands of the game.

Clarke, who was at the club’s Melwood training ground this morning, was a part of the coaching set-up at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho when the Blues won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two Carling Cups over three seasons.

Mike Kelly, who Hodgson brought with him from Fulham as coach in the summer, was not involved with the team in their FA Cup defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford yesterday and his departure from Liverpool will be confirmed in due course.