The first manager to face Liverpool after 'The Miracle of Istanbul' believes that the current Reds side are better than the class of 2005 he came up against.
Jurgen Klopp's team lifted the club's sixth European Cup last month – their first success in the competition since the incredible scenes against AC Milan some 14 years ago – but unlike then they are now guaranteed a place in the group stages of next season's competition.
Back in 2005, seeing as they had finished outside of the Premier League's top four, holders Liverpool were required to go through the qualifying stages of the following season's tournament and their first opponents were Welsh Premier League champions TNS, managed by Birkenhead-born Kenny McKenna.
Now assistant boss at Morecambe, where he and Jim Bentley are the longest-serving managerial team in English football, McKenna told the ECHO: “The game has got a little bit better over that period of time.
“I think that the side they've got now have been fantastic.
“They were excellent in the Premier League and were really unlucky. It was only a brilliant run of results from Manchester City that upset them.
“You've got to take your hat off to them. The game against Barcelona at home was unbelievable.
“For any side to beat them 4-0 must be a special team and they've got a really good manager.
“They deserved to win something and I'd have this team as being much better than their side of 2005.”
One factor that the 2005 team did have though was Steven Gerrard in his pomp but McKenna is just grateful that he faced the Reds early into their preparations for the new campaign.
He said: “Gerrard scored five goals against us over the two games.
“I still think we caught them at a good time though. They were only just starting their pre-season and we were probably slightly ahead of them in our preparations as we were used to being in the competition at that early stage.
“Had we played them a bit later on we might have ran the risk of having double figures against you.”
McKenna, 59, now assists another, younger Merseysider in the dugout.
Still only 43, Bentley has incredibly held the title of being English football's longest-serving manager for over a year.
He said: “There's no secret to it. I'm fortunate that I've had a fanbase that has supported me.
“This is my 18 season at the club. I had nine as a player and now nine as a manager and the fans have always got on with me from day one.
“I feel respected and liked up there. You enjoy working for certain people and it's been like that with the board of directors.
“The chairman Peter McGuigan was great to give me the job, the directors have been superb ever since and that's been ongoing.
“It feels bizarre to be the longest-serving manager among the 92 clubs.
“When I was growing up you saw Alex Ferguson at Manchester United for over 25 years and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal for over 20 years.
“Suddenly last summer after Wenger left Arsenal and then Paul Tisdale left Exeter City (after 12 years in charge) to go to MK Dons I was at number one.
“At the age of 42 I found myself as the longest-serving manager in football. It doesn't seem right.
“I've very proud of it. It doesn't play on my mind but it's something to be pleased with and the same goes for Kenny because we're the longest-serving partnership in football and long may it continue.”
McKenna reveals that Bentley's managerial style has evolved considerably during their working partnership.
He said: “Before Jim took the job he was doing a lot of coaching. He was a captain and always had those leadership qualities.
“Obviously as a manager it's different. When he first came in he probably leaned on me and asked me stuff a little bit more but as the years have gone on he's developed.
“I'm pleased that he still asks my opinion but he could work with anybody now and has become someone who could go far as a manager.
“We've got a really good working relationship. We have our moments but we've never had a serious argument.
“Jim's more placid than myself and thinks things through a bit more. It's good cop-bad cop at times.”
One of the remarkable aspects of the longevity of Bentley and McKenna's partnership is the stark reality that they are working in one of the Football League's most-challenging environments when it comes to available resources.
Bentley said: “I think it's been well-documented how we've had our problems over the years with ownership issues; transfer embargoes and late payments to players.
“We are what we are. Since we came into the Football League we're one of the smallest clubs.
“Over the last three or four years certainly we've had the lowest budget in the division and the lowest average attendances so everything is stacked against us but there's nothing I can do about that.
“All you can do is try and do your best to generate a winning side and get more bums on seats.”
He added: “We've always been built around a hard-working team. There's no 'us and them', it's a happy working environment, we give our absolute all and play with a big heart, it's not like we're booting our way to safety every year and we're quite good on the disciplinary side and one year we actually won the Fair Play prize.
“Our staff are the same. We have a hard-working team of staff who have been with us for the whole time and we've kept them together.
“Every player who has represented us as known what's expected of them. We won't take to any 'big time' players.
“Each year we're the favourites to go down but some years we've really excelled and been top of the table for a month or two here and there.
“There was only that period two years ago when we had to get a point and we stayed up on goal difference that we were close to going down but the rest of the time we've been quite comfortable.”
Bentley was still a month shy of his 35th birthday when he was appointed Morecambe manager so the decision to bring in an older, more experienced, number two was a very deliberate one.
He said: “I'd been at Morecambe for a number of years already when I was appointed manager and it would have been easy for me to bring in a team-mate or a younger person but I felt that I needed that experience alongside me who had done things at different levels.
“Kenny had actually spoken to me a few years earlier about the possibility of me joining him at TNS as player-coach but I was playing in League Two and I didn't want to leave the English system.
“The knowledge that he had from a decade in management already at the time, at TNS, managing in Europe, and then a spell at Altrincham, meant that he was highly-respected.
“He ticked a lot of boxes for me and when the opportunity came around, he was the first name that came into my mind, I asked him and that was that.
“Location-wise we live around the corner from each other so it's great for being together and travelling a lot, we spend a lot of time in the car together up and down the country going to games.”
Under his stewardship Morecambe have had League Two finishes of 15th; 16th; 18th; 11th; 21st; 18th; 22nd and 18th but Bentley believes having survived a final day of the season escape act to avoid dropping out of the Football League in 2018, he is stronger for the experience.
He said: “Last season we moved to a location at Lancaster University where we started training and that was a real shot in the arm for us.
“We got some good players in during the January and finished really strongly. Over the last 14 games we were fourth in the division in the form table and beat the likes of Forest Green and MK Dons.
“In 2017/18 when we only just stayed up there had been the knock-on affect of it being the season after the negativity and it was hard to get our recruitment right.
“The training facility wasn't right either so there was quite a lot of doom and gloom around the place.
“We had to work really hard. It was very strenuous with a lot of sleepless nights and ultimately it came down to one game of football to stay up.
“I think Kenny will agree, it was the worst week I've ever had in football. It was a long week, I wasn't sleeping much and was over-thinking things but thankfully we got the job done, stayed in the division and kicked on last season, improving in all areas. Hopefully we won't see that again.”
Bentley added: “It's an experience that makes you stronger though and makes you view things differently.
“Although it was a failure of a season, we learnt a lot, and ended up being a success as it enabled us to put things into place to make us better.
“It's no different this year. We're 100/1 to win the league with Macclesfield our nearest rivals in that respect at 80/1 but we keep upsetting people and we enjoy that.
“I do take inspiration from others. Nobody would have expected Leicester City to win the Premier League but it just goes to show you what can happen in football and we just want to try and get as high up the table as possible.
“With a little bit of luck with keeping key players fit, getting the rub of the green with officials and suspensions, who's to say you can't kick on and really achieve something?”
