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Andoni Iraola left his role at Bournemouth at the end of the season and takes over at Liverpool in place of Arne Slot.

Liverpool has named Andoni Iraola as their new manager after sacking Arne Slot following a calamitous Premier League title defence.

Iraola quickly emerged as Liverpool’s top target to replace Slot, whose two-year reign came to a shock end when he was dismissed last Saturday.

Liverpool gave no indication as to the length of the 43-year-old Spaniard’s contract, but British media have reported that he has signed a two-year deal.

“Really excited, really excited, because obviously you know about Liverpool, you know that it’s a big club, a massive club, one of the biggest in the world,” Iraola, who called time on his impressive spell with Bournemouth at the end of this season, said on Liverpool’s official website on Thursday.

“But feeling inside and understanding a little bit more of this club, I always thought it’s a special club.

“You don’t need a lot of things to get attracted by Liverpool. Liverpool is Liverpool.”

After criticism of Liverpool’s lacklustre performances in Slot’s second season at Anfield, Iraola is expected to deliver a more urgent, aggressive style of football, which characterised the team under beloved former manager Jurgen Klopp.

Iraola earned rave reviews for Bournemouth’s sixth-place finish in England’s Premier League this season, which secured the club’s first qualification for Europe, in the Europa League.

He arrived at the south coast club from Raya Vallecano in 2023, having previously managed Mirandes and AEK Larnaca in Cyprus.

Bournemouth improved each year under Iraola, finishing 12th, ninth and sixth.

The former defender was praised for his astute tactics and development of youngsters including Eli Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott.

Prior to leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, Egypt star Mohamed Salah recently called for a return to the “heavy metal football” that led to so much success under Klopp, heaping pressure on the beleaguered Slot.

Iraola has previously talked about his desire for his teams to play with an attacking, high-pressing style, in contrast to Slot’s more controlled approach.

Born in Spain’s Basque Country, Iraola played more than 500 games for Athletic Bilbao before a stint in Major League Soccer with New York City, where he teamed up with Frank Lampard and Andrea Pirlo.

He will arrive on Merseyside with Liverpool at a crossroads after Slot’s failure to maintain the club’s position at the summit of English football.

Slot had the tough task of replacing Klopp, who left in 2024 after winning the Premier League and Champions League during a golden nine-year spell at Anfield.

The former Feyenoord boss made a strong start, leading Liverpool to a record-equalling 20th English league title in his debut season, spearheaded by Salah’s 29 goals.

But Slot was unable to halt Liverpool’s slide in the 2025-26 season as the Reds collapsed from late September onward, finishing a turbulent season without a trophy.

The death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota in a car crash last July had an immeasurable impact on the squad, while the club’s  450-million-pound ($605m) splurge on new signings failed to pay off.

Slot’s relationship with Salah also deteriorated, while Liverpool fans turned on the manager due to his team’s lifeless displays and poor results.

The club limped to a fifth-place finish, 25 points behind champions Arsenal, which at least guaranteed qualification for next season’s Champions League.

Walsall have appointed former Huddersfield Town boss Lee Grant as the club’s new head coach.

Grant, 43, has signed a three-year contract at the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium.

He replaces former Saddlers striker Darren Byfield, who had been given the interim job until the end of the season following the sacking of Mat Sadler in March.

Walsall finished the League Two season in 13th place, 13 points outside the play-offs, having been top of the table at Christmas.

“I’m super delighted and proud to be the new head coach,” said Grant, who was sacked by the Terriers in January after eight months in charge.

“The teams I’ve been involved in have scored lots of goals and there’s been a good development of players and my ideas around that are strong – it’s going to be a busy period for myself and the club but I’m really excited to get going, help the football club progress and I very much look forward to getting to work.”

After three years on the coaching staff at Ipswich Town, former goalkeeper Grant was appointed Huddersfield boss in May 2025, his first senior management job.

But he left just eight months into a three-year deal, despite the club sitting sixth in League One at the time.

Former captain Michael Vaughan says it is “ridiculous” England are yet to appoint their new national selector.

The process to name the successor to Luke Wright, who announced he was stepping down on 22 January and left after the T20 World Cup concluded in March, has reached the final stages, with interviews for the position held this week.

There have already been four rounds of action in the County Championship and England are set to name their squad for the first Test against New Zealand in two weeks’ time.

“It’s ridiculous how they’re announcing a selector so late,” Vaughan said on the Stick to Cricket podcast.

“I wanted the selector there on 1 April, going out, having a look, gathering information.

“Luke Wright quit at the back end of Australia. We knew didn’t we?

“It’s a long time, four months, to find someone.”

Earlier, Sir Philip Barton, the top civil servant at the Foreign Office at the time, told the committee Downing Street had been “uninterested” in the vetting process and the focus was on making sure Lord Mandelson was able to start his job by the time of Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Even without the obvious emotional attachment, Steve McNamara feels like an excellent appointment for Hull FC; after all there are few coaches on the market who have his calibre, his experience, his list of achievements.

Hull is a notoriously intense place to be involved in rugby league, a goldfish bowl of passion and expectation that McNamara as much as anyone will be aware of and ready for, but also who understands and feels that passion himself.

It is an acquisition for the Black and Whites that makes total sense. John Cartwright has established a good culture at Hull since taking over, but you sense McNamara can take them even further.

He went into Catalans and changed the club from a stop-off point for expensively recruited flawed yet gifted imports into a proper ‘team’. The Dragons won a Challenge Cup and made two Grand Finals, despite all of the trials and tribulations faced by the Perpignan club in terms of travel and financial costs.

After being thrust into the Bradford job as a young coach, taking on England equally in the relative infancy of his career and having developed his coaching as a highly-rated assistant in the NRL with Sydney Roosters and New Zealand Warriors before his Catalans adventure, McNamara has armed himself with a variety of skills and experiences.

McNamara is likely to be backed by co-owner Andrew Thirkill and director of rugby Richie Myler, overhauling the squad in his own manner, but he is also a coach that should instill confidence in Hull’s homegrown talent – Lewis Martin, Davy Litten, Harvey Barron – all players who would find themselves a key part of the future vision.

You only have to look at the improvement at Warrington in 2026, McNamara has bolstered Sam Burgess’ staff, his fingerprints are all over the upturn in fortunes, and the results are tangible.

Importantly, you feel McNamara will have time and tremendous goodwill from the fanbase. Time to build, time to implement and time to get it right.

Of course, that brings extra pressure, being that ‘hometown’ appointment with the expectation he can drive Hull towards becoming a genuine force. McNamara is in the career arc you feel will give him the ability to cope.