When Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp praised the "25 hours a day" commitment of goalkeeper coach John Achterberg the other day, no-one around Prenton Park will have been surprised by the German's sentiments.
Staff and supporters at Tranmere saw for themselves, over the course of a decade, how Achterberg's passion for his work is all-consuming, whether as a player or as a coach.
And no-one who watched Achterberg play more than 300 games for Rovers between 1998 and 2009, then convert to coaching and set up coaching schools for young goalkeepers across Merseyside will begrudge the Dutchman's success on the staff of a powerful Premier League club.
Achterberg has earned it.
Since leaving Tranmere and joining Liverpool in the summer of 2009, Achterberg has worked under five different managers at Melwood – Rafael Benitez, Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish, Brendan Rodgers and Klopp. Achterberg initially worked with Liverpool's youngsters but was promoted to first team duties in 2011.
Klopp said: “I'm fine with our goalies and I really trust in John Achterberg because he does a brilliant job here.
“He's one of the hardest-working people I've ever met, he works as a coach 25 hours a day."
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Achterberg is one of only three Tranmere footballers who came out of the first decade of the 21st century with a record of more than 300 games for the club.
Gareth Roberts and Ian Goodison were the others.
Achterberg earned a place so close to the hearts of Rovers fans that thousands of them once signed an on-line petition to persuade the club to grant him a testimonial.
That game, between Tranmere and Everton in the spring of 2009, was effectively Achterberg’s farewell from Prenton Park.
He worked under five different managers: John Aldridge, Dave Watson, Ray Mathias, Brian Little and Ronnie Moore and should now be able to look back on those memories with fondness.
But during his playing days, it was sometimes difficult to persuade Achterberg to look on the bright side at the time events unfolded. The perfectionist in the man could get in the way when it came to enjoying the moment.
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Achterberg’s constant search for improvement often drove him to focus on one small negative aspect of an otherwise positive situation.
A good example was Tranmere’s giant-killing 2-1 victory over Premier League club Middlesbrough during the run to the 2000 Worthington Cup final.
Achterberg set up Rovers’ winner with a long, accurate throw from his area which sent winger Andy Parkinson galloping clear of the visitors’ defence to score a memorable goal. But when asked about the assist by reporters, he wanted to talk only about an error he believed he had made in allowing Middlesbrough to score.
Achterberg, then and now, always sought to focus on where he could do better.
It is a trait that helped him to change the direction of his playing career and then build a successful second career as a goalkeeping coach.
Achterberg’s playing career in his native Holland was slow to take off. He saw more action in the reserves than in the first team with home town club Utrecht and NAC Breda. He enjoyed regular senior football with FC Eindhoven, then decided to take a chance on pursuing a career in the United Kingdom.
Tranmere manager John Aldridge initially signed him in 1998 as a short-term measure, but Achterberg quickly demonstrated he could have long-term value to the Wirral club.
He made more than two dozen first-team appearances in his first season and close to 40 the next, including many of the giant-killing victories in the knockout competitions and the two Worthington Cup semi-final games against Bolton Wanderers.
His performance in the first leg was particularly important, helping Tranmere to secure a 1-0 win at the Reebok Stadium.
Even so, he continued to share the first-team goalkeeping duties with Joe Murphy, a young Irishman who graduated through Tranmere’s youth development set-up.
Achterberg’s omission from the side that contested the Wembley final against Leicester City in February 2000 opened a wound that was slow to heal.
Achterberg featured in the majority of Tranmere games the following season, when more spectacular results in the cup competitions went hand-in-hand with a slide to relegation from the division now known as the Championship.
The Dutchman became Tranmere’s undisputed number one over the next five years, establishing a reputation as one of the most consistent goalkeepers in League One.
His few spells out of the side were caused by fitness issues. Achterberg disliked being injured – and being unable to play – more than anything in the game and was prepared to push himself to extremes to cut down the time on the sidelines.
That sometimes caused friction with Tranmere’s long-serving physiotherapist Les Parry, who later went on to become manager at Prenton Park.
Not known for going easy on players with knocks, Parry found himself trying to hold back Achterberg from pushing so hard that he risked aggravating the injury or causing a new one.
Those arguments fostered a friendship and deep mutual respect between the two men, as their careers developed in new directions.
Parry, who now works in a medical/player development role in the Manchester United Academy, said: "John does everything properly. He is organised, he is enthusiastic and highly-skilled."
Achterberg's iconic moment
Most players can point to an iconic moment in their career and John Achterberg’s occurred in and FA Cup quarter-final against Millwall at the New Den in March 2004, when he saved a penalty from Kevin Muscat to earn Rovers a goalless draw and replay.
Tranmere lost the return at Prenton Park but Achterberg was voted player of the season for the second year in succession by his teammates. Vastly experienced manager Brian Little described the man in the number one shirt as “among the most professional players I have ever worked with.”
A serious injury then forced Achterberg out of action as a player for more than a year.
But by that time he was already laying the building blocks of the next phase of his career.
Achterberg, enthused by his work with Tranmere’s centre of excellence goalkeepers, organised his own goalkeeping schools.
He gave himself the mission of raising the standard of goalkeeping in the parks and playing fields across Wirral and beyond and also to seek out and nurture young prospects who might have a chance of developing a career with Tranmere.
Achterberg recovered from injury to understudy Danny Coyne in his final two seasons at Prenton Park. He played six games in the 2008-09 campaign and made the last of his 312 Tranmere appearances in a 1-1 draw at Northampton Town on March 7, 2009.
It was a measure of the respect Achterberg commanded among those who had worked alongside him that more than 30 former players and managers returned to play a part in a ‘Legends Match’ that preceded his testimonial game.
“It was a tremendous night and the one I will remember it forever,” Achterberg said.