“If you had asked Liverpool fans back in August would their team win the Premier League, most would have said no,” says former Reds goalkeeper Sander Westerveld.
Jurgen Klopp was always going to be the hardest of acts to follow as manager.
Liverpool supporters were understandably worried about the future when the charismatic German, whose force of personality and success gave him iconic status, announced in January 2024 he was leaving at the end of that season.
“Klopp was a sort of god who changed the club – not just on the pitch but the whole atmosphere,” says Westerveld.
Former Reds midfielder Xabi Alonso, who had taken Bayer Leverkusen to the brink of a first Bundesliga title, was strongly linked with a return before announcing he was staying in Germany. That paved the way for Arne Slot’s appointment.
“At that moment I didn’t even think about Arne,” says his fellow Dutchman Westerveld, who has remained friends with Slot since their playing days at Sparta Rotterdam in 2007-08.
“Nobody in England knew an awful lot about him. Everybody who knows football said it was going to be a huge task and that this was an unknown coach who comes from the Netherlands.”
Yet the transition from Klopp to Slot has been seamless, culminating in Liverpool winning the title for a record-equalling 20th time.
With 25 wins in 34 games and just two defeats, Slot’s side have made top spot their own and have looked down on the rest of the Premier League since 2 November.
And now they are champions – with four games to spare – for just the second time since 1989-90.
Slot, who ruled himself out of the running to become the next Spurs boss while at Feyenoord in May 2023, has joined an elite band of bosses in the Premier League era to have delivered the title in their first season in charge.
Jose Mourinho (2004-05) and Carlo Ancelotti (2009-10) both managed it at Chelsea before Manuel Pellegrini (2013-14) accomplished the feat at Manchester City. The last boss to do so before Slot was Antonio Conte – also at Chelsea – in 2016-17.
“Nobody expected this,” says Ian Doyle – chief Liverpool writer for the Liverpool Echo. “In terms of an achievement for a manager in his first season at Liverpool, it has to be right up there.”
Neil Atkinson, presenter and CEO of Liverpool fans’ podcast and website The Anfield Wrap, says: “I don’t think anyone wanted the new manager to come in and try to be a Jurgen Klopp tribute act.
“All Liverpool fans wanted was Slot to be himself – and that’s what he has been.”
