Liverpool have placed their trust in Andoni Iraola to restore their identity, just one year after the club lifted the Premier League title under Arne Slot. In May 2025, as Liverpool celebrated their 20th top-flight championship, it would have seemed unfathomable that the Dutchman would be out of a job just one season later.
Everything pointed toward Slot being a major success at the Reds, and he was for the most part. As Jurgen Klopp bid farewell to Anfield in the summer of 2024, after nine years of gloriously orchestrated chaos on the pitch, he instructed fans to take their new manager into their hearts.
"You welcome the new manager like you welcomed me. You go all-in from the first day. And you keep believing and you push the team. Change is good," said Klopp to the crowd as he stood in the centre circle. "No one tells you to stop believing. This club may be in the best position ever."
A famous chant started by Klopp - Arne Slot, la la la - even followed. And the Liverpool faithful stood up to the challenge as they took Slot into their hearts. Now, those same fans, who expressed their anger and impatience with Slot during the Dutchman's torrid second season, need to heed Klopp's advice once again and do the same for Iraola.
While Anfield did boo and jeer Slot's decision-making on occasion last term, it's a myth that Anfield didn't back him, even if they did struggle to connect to his cool approach. Slot's face was even added to a legendary banner on the Kop to mark Liverpool's Premier League title success.
The banner, which has been present since the 2009/10 season, features the faces of six Liverpool heroes: Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Rafael Benitez and Klopp, each of whom won either the league title or the European Cup during their time as Reds boss. Not just anyone is added - even the late Liverpool icon Gerard Houllier, who won a treble at the club in 2000/2001, doesn't grace the flag. But what's vital now is that fans tune into Klopp's words about backing their coach and champion Iraola, even when the chips are down, with the club in need of a period of stability.
Fans have come out in their droves to welcome the Basque and he has made a solid first impression, appealing to Anfield's passion in remarks that are closer to Klopp than of Slot. "I cannot ask them for a lot, I know how they are," Iraola said after being announced by the club. "I can only say that I want to become one more of you. I want to earn the right to be one of you, so we can enjoy it together. But it's true that when the game starts, when you have to celebrate a goal, there's something inside. This inner energy, you need it as a player, you need it as a supporter, you need it as a coach. I think there's no better place than Anfield."
It's perhaps unfair on Slot, but his calm manner and logical methods were not always what the cauldron of Anfield wanted or needed. Reds icon Jamie Carragher, writing in his column for The Telegraph, believes the Anfield hierarchy's swoop for Iraola shows how they want to recreate the excitement Klopp brought to the club and for fans to forge a feverish connection with their manager once again.
Carragher wrote: "There is sure to be a detailed analysis of how Iraola's teams play in the coming months, just as there were for Slot's Feyenoord when he moved to Anfield. All will indicate he plays exciting football, and his players work very hard. Fenway Sports Group is searching for the next Klopp. Iraola is reminiscent of the 2012 appointment of Brendan Rodgers from Swansea City. Ultimately, there is an irony: if Iraola manages to replicate Slot's first-season success rather than live up to any Klopp comparisons, hiring him will be a stroke of genius."
Whether Iraola's assumed similarities to Klopp will help the Kop bond with their manager just a little more than they did with Slot remains to be seen. But one thing is for certain and that's Klopp's words that day in the summer of 2024 will continue to echo around the club until Liverpool fans find a manager they can truly embrace as the German's long-term successor.
