Liverpool's football director - Richard Hughes was the one who informed Arne Slot about the sacking of the Dutch coach. Later, it was also Hughes who early promoted the Andoni Iraola deal from Bournemouth. Previously, Hughes and Iraola had a period of working together at Vitality Stadium. Later, when Hughes left the team, the two still maintained contact in work with each other.
There will be many opinions that Andoni Iraola came to Liverpool based on his relationship with Richard Hughes. However, looking at what the Spanish coach has done at Bournemouth, Iraola deserves this contract. The 43-year-old coach only lacks top-level playing experience, especially having never experienced the feeling of competing for the championship and playing in the Champions League.
In the Arne Slot deal, when it failed, many viewpoints blamed and targeted the pair Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards. This time with the lightning appointment of Andoni Iraola, the powerful pair at Anfield is also under a lot of pressure.
The pressure on Hughes and Edwards comes not only from fans, it also comes from those who hold the highest power at Anfield, which are the owners of the FSG group - the owners of the team. Last summer, owners spent 487 million pounds to buy players, but Liverpool's achievement was only a ticket to the Champions League.
Owners want Liverpool to continue to defend the Premier League title, but Arne Slot has failed. That project failed with the CEO duo of The Kop and they are forced to succeed with Iraola if they do not want to be the next one to be sacked.
The contract of both people with Liverpool is only valid until 2027. There were many rumors that this CEO couple would leave together in the summer of 2026, but now those negative rumors have subsided. Everyone is focusing at the maximum on Iraola's project and no one wants to continue to fail.
Looking around the opponents in the Premier League, only Arsenal and Man City are really big obstacles if Liverpool is determined to conquer the title next season. However, other names such as Man United, Chelsea, Aston Villa, and even Tottenham may also return to the race, so it is not simple for The Kop in the journey next season. Big bosses at Anfield want to succeed immediately but it will not be as simple as that.
The biggest advantage in this deal is the close relationship between Iraola and Hughes. The two can jointly express opinions in a very constructive spirit. Iraola is also a newcomer, so he needs Hughes' support in the early stages.
The former captain of Bournemouth is famous for exploring the very good potential of unknown players. This issue may not take much longer at Liverpool as they are owning many big stars. However, Iraola's ability is not wasted because The Kop is forced to gradually shift to training young players because they spent nearly 500 million pounds in the summer of 2025. In the next few years, young stars from the training academy will be prioritized to appear.
What Richard Hughes did after Jurgen Klopp left the team was quite impressive with the Premier League title immediately with Arne Slot. However, last season was definitely a disappointment and The Kop's big bosses did not want it to be the starting point for an endless slide.
