Arne Slot will be Liverpool head coach, not managerDutchman will focus on coaching and preparing first team at the club while reporting to sporting director in move away from Jürgen Klopp model
Jonathan NorthcroftSaturday April 27 2024, 6.45pm, The Times
Arne Slot will be appointed as Liverpool’s new head coach rather than manager as Anfield prepares for a shift away from the traditional British football club structure.
The Dutchman, 45, is expected to be happy with that status, having spent his coaching career working in the same head coach/sporting director model that Liverpool are poised to adopt.
Like all the candidates Liverpool spoke to during their process of recruiting Jürgen Klopp’s successor, Slot is presently a head coach rather than a manager. The plan is for him to focus on coaching and preparing Liverpool’s first team while reporting to a sporting director, Richard Hughes, who will oversee recruitment and other aspects of the football department.
Above them both will sit Michael Edwards, the former Liverpool sporting director who returned to the club last month as chief executive of football. Liverpool believe the new structure is more appropriate to the complexities and demands of the modern game and that it will give the man in charge of their first team — the head coach — more support to do his job, not less.
Liverpool agreed a compensation deal worth up to £9.4million with Feyenoord for Slot on Friday and his appointment could be finalised in the next two or three days, with personal terms still to be agreed.
In their process of identifying Slot as the right person to succeed Klopp, who is departing at the end of the season, Liverpool took a data-led approach. The Dutchman stood out thanks to his intense and attacking style of play, his ability to develop talent and add value to signings, and his teams’ propensity to outperform their expected levels.
Another aspect that may have caught the eye of Edwards and his team is Feyenoord’s outstanding recent record of player availability. Slot’s connection with supporters and communication skills were also noted.
A close observer of Dutch football told The Sunday Times: “Arne has the best English of any Dutch manager who has ever tried coming to England and an incredible way of using his words.”
The move to the head coach model is significant in terms of Liverpool history. They have been a club with a tradition of dugout figures — the epitome being Bill Shankly — who shaped more than just their football teams while embodying the title of ‘manager’.
However, Slot is seen as a collective-minded character who is relaxed about authority and status, and will be enthused by the idea of being the leader of a team of coaches. Many clubs in the Premier League now use the head coach model — and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, having taken control of Manchester United’s football operation, is thought to be inclined to move United towards it too.
Slot, who won the Eredivisie with Feyenoord in 2022-23, is expected to bring a number of staff with him from his present club. They will include his assistant Sipke Hulshoff, the head of performance Ruben Peeters and a key analyst, Etienne Reijnen, subject to work permits.
During Klopp’s nine seasons as Liverpool manager, his influence and remit have been in the traditional mould. “He’s been immense for Liverpool, he’s been the daddy there. He’s been able to control a big football club,” David Moyes said after Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with West Ham.
Moyes joked he will be happy to see the back of his rival, despite the considerable mutual respect they share. “I’ll be glad he’s gone. Too big. Teeth are too bright,” Moyes said. “I hate to say it but he has been really good for Liverpool.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/sport/football/article/arne-slot-jurgen-klopp-liverpool-head-coach-xdsbgh8gz
