He also maintained a long lasting friendship with Barnes, who, like McAteer, chose to keep his home on the Wirral after finishing his playing days with Liverpool.

McAteer said: “John and I remain good friends after leaving Anfield and for a long time we spoke about working together if the right job came up.

“When the Tranmere job became available this summer we decided to apply for it. John was working with the Jamaican national team by then but was prepared to give it up and I was ready to take my career in a new direction.

“We sat down with (chairman) Peter Johnson, put our thoughts to him, gave him an idea of how we felt the club should go forward. It helped me that I’d been here before. Peter Johnson must have liked what we said because he offered us the job.”

Barnes and McAteer could hardly be accused of picking their moment for an easy lift off.

They are following a popular manager, Ronnie Moore, who finished his three-year term on the relative high of guiding the team to a seventh-place finish in League One last May.

Barely a dozen players were left under contract at the end of last season and Barnes and McAteer will have less money than their predecessor to spend on putting together a squad for the 2009/10 campaign.

McAteer adds: “We are probably coming into the club at the most difficult time in the last 10 years in terms of the budget for players.

“It’s been slashed from the one Ronnie Moore was working with. We are £250,000 down on what the previous manager had to spend.”

The constraints on the kind of contract terms Tranmere can offer is one of the reasons why a clutch of senior players including goalkeeper Danny Coyne, defender Ben Chorley and midfielders Steve Jennings and Antony Kay have moved on.

“This is an exciting challenge and we are grabbing it with both hands. It’s going to be difficult but I have enjoyed every moment so far,” McAteer finished.