Anthony Johnson described Liverpool as 'class acts' and admitted it was 'a pleasure' to share the touchline with Jurgen Klopp.

The German manager – who led Liverpool to last season’s Champions League final – fielded two strong Reds XIs in their 7-0 pre-season victory at Chester on Saturday, in-front of a sold-out Swansway Chester Stadium, with goals from Harry Wilson (2), Daniel Sturridge (2), James Milner, Ryan Kent and Danny Ings settling the contest.

For Chester’s joint-bosses Johnson and Bernard Morley, it was a day to remember stood alongside one of Europe’s most well-respected coaches, and Johnson described the entire Liverpool squad as a ‘fantastic group of people’ after several of their players stayed behind to swap shirts with the Blues’ part-time performers.

“Jurgen thanked us for being good hosts as a football club,” Johnson said.

“It would’ve been nice to start pinching a few ideas off him, but you see out there, he’s got the world news around him. I’m just stood there with Albert (Davies, press officer) and no one is bothered!

“He was a pleasure. He was stood there watching our lads do their warm-up. James Milner has stood there and waited to give Scott Burton his shirt. Class acts, what a fantastic group of people.

“I genuinely absolutely loved the day, it’s been great. The scoreline never felt like it was going to be a 7-0 but we can’t be critical of our lads.

“If the performance on Tuesday (at Ramsbottom) isn’t where we want it to be, then we won’t be critical either, because it’s a process and we’re building for the next four years.”

Morley and Johnson now take Chester to Ramsbottom United on Tuesday night (7.45pm) for their second pre-season outing, and the Blues bosses admit the feeling of positivity surrounding Chester has been unexpected.

“There’s a lot more excitement than we anticipated,” he said. “The Liverpool friendly, season ticket sales, Stuart Murphy, me and Bernard coming in, new signings, it’s all clicked at once really.

“There’s a lot of excitement. The amount of hard work that goes on behind the scenes from the volunteers is absolutely staggering. I’ve never seen anything like it before.

“They’ve always got smiles on their faces. Fantastic people and the committee have been brilliant to work with.

“Their diligence to help get Ross and Kingsley out of the football club, their efforts to do that, everyone is doing their jobs that a lot of people take for granted.

“We’re loving it, absolutely loving it. People are going above and beyond.”

Johnson believes Chester must use pre-season as the opportunity to put down a marker ahead of the new National League North campaign, which kicks off on August 4 with a home clash against Spennymoor Town.

“What do we look like with the ball and what do we look like without it,” he added.

“It’s about putting down markers, getting your squad right and getting our values across.

“You’ve seen when we didn’t have the ball, we’ve got the type of players at the club who will work the absolute maximum that they’ve got to give without possession.

“I’m sure you could tell us what sort of identity the team had last season, but we want to mould the way we can play this season.”