Both are fans of the Reds, but they also worked in the club's medical department earlier this decade.

Nowadays, Coles lives in Hamilton South and Nealon at Holgate on the Central Coast.

Coles was head of medical services at Liverpool from 2010 to 2013. Nealon was a senior first-team physiotherapist with Liverpool from 2010 to 2012.

Liverpool recruited Coles after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where he was working with the Socceroos, including the likes of Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill.

Coles is now back with the Socceroos as high performance co-ordinator. This followed a four-year stint with NBA basketball side San Antonio Spurs in the US and two seasons at the Newcastle Knights.

"I am on the road a lot. When I'm at home I'm in Newcastle and I'm down watching the Jets or Knights play," he said.

He'll be in South Korea preparing for a Socceroos match when the Champions League final is played.

"I imagine they'll be a crowd of us watching it. They'll be a lot of pride about where Liverpool is now," Coles said.

When Nealon joined Liverpool, he was in England working at Hampshire County Cricket Club.

The magnitude of the Liverpool job first struck him in an office elevator.

"I remember going for a job interview at the club's head offices in the city. I got in the lift and [club legend] Kenny Dalglish got in at the same time," he said.

"He said a polite pleasantry but I didn't quite understand it [Dalglish is Scottish]. That was when it dawned on me that this was real."

Nealon said his experience of working with cricketers like Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen stood him in good stead for the challenge to come.

"You can't be feeling like a fan when you're trying to do your job. But there are occasions where outside of that professional environment, you've got to enjoy the moment," he said.

Nealon said he'd be watching the final "like anybody else, desperately hoping the club wins a trophy".

"It would feel like an anti-climax to finish the season without something to show for it, despite obvious progress," he said.

"The last time they won a trophy [the 2012 League Cup] was when we were there. That was too long ago."

Nealon and Coles became Liverpool fans as kids because of Craig Johnston.

"Craig's book, Walk Alone, was one of the first biographies I read," Nealon said.

"I still have it at home. I've read it over and over. His goal in the 1986 FA Cup final versus Everton is one of my first memories. He inspired a generation of Aussie kids. Liverpool owe much of their support in Australia to him.

"Craig should be entitled to a cut of every Liverpool shirt sold in Australia."

Coles added that "most people my age" supported Liverpool because of Craig Johnston.

Reflecting on his time working at Liverpool many years later, Coles said it was an incredible experience to have worked at such a historic club.

"Liverpool was a great city to live in. The city lives and breathes football. To be part of that was something special," he said.

"The fan support they get is second to none."

Coles and Nealon were at Liverpool during a period of great change.

"There was a lot of support from within the club to modernise it and bring it forward," Coles said.

Nealon said his time at Liverpool had some particularly special moments.

"It didn't get any better than the traditional annual players' lap of Anfield with their kids, following the last home game of the season," he said.

"Staff that worked with the squad were invited to join in."

He recalled carrying his then toddler Lachie "up the steps of the tunnel onto Anfield and him running around on the pitch past the Kop".

Photos of players, staff and their children are now cherished memories. Some memories, though, are touched with sadness.

The Hillsborough disaster, which involved a crush of fans against a stadium fence in an FA Cup semi-final in 1989, took the lives of 96 Liverpool fans.

"Hillsborough memorial services were very poignant and moving. They were held on the Kop each year," Nealon said.

During Nealon and Coles' time at Liverpool, there was an "Aussie connection".

Australian goalkeeper Brad Jones was at the club. Other Aussies included the club's then head doctor Peter Brukner and sports scientist Darren Burgess. Burgess now works at Arsenal.

"I spent a fair bit of time working with Brad Jones. We became good friends with him," Nealon said.

"Jonesy played in the FA Cup semi-final we won versus Everton."

Coles said they were "lucky enough to work with some great players".

"Steven Gerrard was there through that period. He's an incredible guy to work with day-to-day," he said.

"I was part of the process of signing Luis Suarez and doing his medical. He was a fantastic guy to work with and a fantastic presence around the club. He was an absolute world-class player.

"I was intimately involved in the transfers in of Andy Carroll and out of Fernando Torres."

He recalled the time the club organised a game between staff and Liverpool Legends.

"This team of legends turned up and we got to play against them. Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush and John Barnes played. To play against the people who were in those games when I was a kid was pretty cool," he said.

Nealon recalled treating Gerrard a few times.

"Nobody treated Suarez. He was as tough as nails and never had an injury in the time I was there," he said.

"I spent a fair bit of time with Jordan Henderson early on. He was a young kid. He'd just come to the club."

Henderson is now Liverpool captain.

"He was a fantastic worker. A complete professional. He'd been signed for pretty big money. He was a great patient," he said.

He said his time at Liverpool was a tumultuous period.

"The previous American ownership went out. Fenway Sports came in. Roy Hodgson was manager when I started. Brendan Rogers was manager when I left. And we had Kenny Dalglish in between," he said.

"Torres left, Suarez arrived. Javier Mascherano left, Andy Carroll arrived. There were big money signings in and out," he said.

"We won a League Cup and lost an FA Cup final to Chelsea."

Nealon said his role included working with injured players at Liverpool's Melwood training complex.

He recalled that working with one or two injured players on match days could be a lonely time.

"Everybody else is away at a game and we're running fitness sessions in the snow in the middle of winter," he said.

He did travel to some games.

"I remember a Europa League game we played against Braga in Portugal," he said.

"Kenny Dalglish had not long taken over as manager. There was definitely an increase in the quantity of golf we played once he started," he said.

"The weather in the south of Portugal was pretty good. We played this game and flew down to the Algarve for a couple of games of golf that the club organised and paid for. It was a couple of nights out and a couple of rounds of golf.

"That was when the Central Coast Mariners lost the grand final to Brisbane. A couple of us were keeping an eye on that while playing golf," he said.

When Nealon returned home, he joined the Mariners for four seasons.

"In my first season in 2012-13 we won the championship," he said.

His connections with Liverpool played a pivotal role in the signing of Spanish international Luis Garcia in 2016.

He left the Mariners to start his own physiotherapy business.