Liverpool always thought of themselves as different to other clubs and the club they once considered themselves most different from was Chelsea.
They had The Kop, Chelsea had hospitality packages. Liverpool had Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, boys from Bootle and Huyton. Chelsea fielded a team derided as “mercenaries”. In the 2005 Champions League semi-finals, Chelsea handed out plastic flags to their fans. Liverpool had no need. Anfield roared so loud the stands shook and a team led by Jose Mourinho, who would win the Premier League by a dozen points, were fatally unnerved.
Liverpool have become Chelsea. One in five who goes to Anfield does so on a hospitality ticket. Whether England win the World Cup will have no bearing on Liverpool because they did not contribute a single player to Thomas Tuchel’s squad. In May, they sacked Arne Slot, the manager who 12 months before had won them the title, which seems a very Chelsea thing to do.
On the same day, Chelsea and Liverpool unveiled their new managers, who might almost be interchangeable. It is a little over a 20-minute drive between where Xabi Alonso and Andoni Iraola grew up in the Basque Country. Like another boy, Mikel Arteta, they learned their football as eight-year-olds on the gravel pitches of Antiguoko in San Sebastian. They are represented by the same agency, Idub Global.
Alonso, who won that Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, was hankered after on Merseyside but while Iraola may not have overcome Bayern Munich to win the Bundesliga as Alonso did, his achievement of bringing European football to Bournemouth is also deeply impressive.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 03: Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool looks dejected following the Premier League match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford on May 03, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Iraola inherits an ageing squad (Photo: Getty)
His arrival at Liverpool’s training ground in Kirkby was astonishingly low key. Slot had been introduced by Richard Hughes, Liverpool’s sporting director. Given that Hughes had worked with Iraola at Bournemouth and pushed for him to succeed Slot, it might have been appropriate now.
But, had he been available, Hughes would have had to face questions as to whether he plans to decamp to Saudi Arabia next year. Michael Edwards, the chief executive who worked closely with former boss Jürgen Klopp, has already gone. Instead, Iraola simply sat down and spoke. He smiled a lot. He appeared relaxed and also realistic.
He said he had signed a two-year contract because that is how he likes to work. “As a manager, you have to earn the right to continue.” He added: “The owners told me everything is not perfect. They said we would have some challenges, we would have to replace important players, we have some injuries but we are here to solve these kinds of problems.”
Perhaps the biggest problem anyone coaching an elite club can face is how to manage a great player in decline. Slot did not succeed with Mohamed Salah. Virgil van Dijk is 35. He is also the captain, main post-match spokesman and no longer automatically described as the best centre-half in the world.
But the greater challenge is Anfield itself. It long ago stopped dealing in unconditional loyalty and as Slot’s grip on the title loosened, as the football became more meandering and less direct and the results worse, it became quite straightforward to buy a ticket to watch Liverpool at home. There were plenty of returns.
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This disconnect is something Iraola looks well equipped to mend. Like Mauricio Pochettino, he played for Marcelo Bielsa and understands the value of aggressive, hard-running football. Iraola says he likes the idea of his players being in the opposition half. Three years ago, Leeds tried to bring him in as Bielsa’s successor.
“I always talk about energy,” Iraola said. “I want my team to be energetic, I want to be dynamic, to play in the opposition half as much as we can. We have to make Anfield a very uncomfortable place to come.
“I’ve come here and it’s a lovely stadium with a lovely atmosphere and you try to enjoy it. No. We have to make sure it’s going to be nice for us because, you, the opposition, are going to have a hard time. We have to get this connection. It is something that has to come from the team.”