Since Rafael Benitez has taken over at Anfield however, the relationship between the Academy and Melwood has improved ten-fold much to the delight of Frank Skelly.
"Rafael Benitez is fantastic," he says. "There's been a remarkable change in the attitude towards The Academy. There will be far more opportunities for our coaches to meet up and there is an acceptance that we have an important part to play.
"John Owens, our under-18 coach, now travels with the players to all the reserve games. We have a more regular exchange of players with our youngsters going to Melwood to train with the first team.
"I wouldn't say the relationship had broken down before because there were a lot of good people at Melwood, such as Sammy Lee and Hugh McAuley. But we certainly felt when decisions were made between selecting our lads and French players of the same age, they never went our way.
"John Welsh, for example - an England under-21 international - didn't seem to be getting a chance at all. We knew in our heart a player like John was at least at the same level, if not better, than certain others brought in. I'm not going to name names, but yes, we were frustrated.
"I also look at someone such as David Thompson, and I think it's sad we never saw the best of him at Liverpool. He was definitely an England player in the making.
"He's someone I look at and think we should have been patient and given him time to develop."