InterviewAndoni Iraola Q&A: Leadership style, LFC squad, pre-season and more

It was announced on Thursday that the next chapter of the 43-year-old's impressive coaching career will be with the Reds, remaining in the Premier League after three seasons at AFC Bournemouth.

Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com shortly after arriving at the AXA Training Centre, Iraola offered insight into his leadership style, impressions of the current squad and preparations for 2026-27.

You can find the first part of the chat here, and then see a transcript of the remainder below.

What about your style of management? Off the pitch, how do you lead the team?

For me, we are a lot of things as a manager but especially we are here to help the players. We have to provide, I always say, like a collective platform so everyone can do their job properly and we can find the best roles for every player, we can make them think that they will improve individually also with us, we can give them a culture, an atmosphere, so everyone kind of works as happy as possible.

I always say: if everyone is happy, there is a good mood around the team, this gives you points. I have no doubt about this. As a manager, it's always impossible to have everyone happy, but I think we have to establish a culture where everyone can feel comfortable doing their job, because at the end we are here to do our job in different places, different areas. But we need to do our job and in the best atmosphere we can create.

• Watch part two of Iraola's first interview free on All Red Video

Arne Slot helped secure Champions League football that you'll be ever so excited about – the experience to lead Liverpool in that competition – I imagine...

Yes, massive respect for Arne, massive respect. He's been a Premier League champion and this is something that is massive, especially for a club like Liverpool. The Champions League, I had the chance to play it just once as a player. We used to qualify a lot for the Europa League [as a player at Athletic Club] but the Champions League, I've only played it once and I'm looking forward to play [it for the] first time as a coach. Big demands, also big chances to face the best teams in Europe and see where we are.

You mentioned before about the three years in the Premier League, you see that as an advantage that not only have you managed the likes of Milos Kerkez but analysed the Liverpool players as well. That goes in your favour coming into this job...

Yes, definitely. For me, it's much easier to continue in the Premier League in terms of knowing the squad. We've analysed Liverpool a lot – possible weaknesses, the strengths. I think we have a very good squad. I think there is still work to do, like normally in every club in this moment of the season. But right now, for me the thing is to value especially the players that we have right now in the squad.

For me, and I will tell them, [they] are all new signings. For me, you are all new signings and I think we have a lot of quality in our squad, and [I'm] really looking forward to working with them. I only had, I think, Milos in the squad before – I know a couple, I've been talking to a couple before – but it will be lovely also to play again with Milos, try to improve him, try to help him in his development. Yeah, definitely looking forward to it.

What is your plan to speak to the players? It's a difficult period when they're away with World Cup squads, but do you plan to have conversations with them on the phone?

For me right now, I think it's more than talk to the players. Some of them will be on deserved holidays, some of them will be with their national teams. I want to talk to the staff, to the people that were here every day, that know very well the players, to arrive as ready as possible to that first day of pre-season. I think especially with a lot of those young players that will do the pre-season with us, a lot of things about the organisation, about the staff, about how we can create the best atmosphere, the best environment so when they arrive [on] day one, everyone feels everything is in place and we can do this process of adaptation, that it will take some time as soon as possible.

We are in this process of building the best staff we can. Now for me, the most important thing is to also know and get into a rhythm with the people that were already here working. Sometimes they don't appear on TV; with all the analysts, the performance guys, all the people that really are in touch with the players every day. I think they are going to be very, very valuable for us. It's true that it's going to be new staff, new people coming in, but I would like also to value a lot the ones that have been here working for the club with these players, that are really the ones that will help us more at the beginning.

Do you have an idea in your mind when the players will return for pre-season?

Yes, there was already a lot of work done even before we arrived, and we are trying to change as little as possible for the beginning. Obviously there will be different timetables, some of them depending how far they arrive with the national teams [at the World Cup], they will incorporate later or sooner. I think everything is in place so everything is quite smooth and there are no problems.

One of the first jobs you have is to take the squad on pre-season tour to the USA and three games over there. Are you really looking forward to seeing how big the club is worldwide?

Yes. I was also in pre-season with Bournemouth in the US, based also in Chicago. It's a very good chance to see the first games of the team. And for me personally, I'm sure I will also realise – I already know but I also will realise – how big this club is, how global this club has become, that we have supporters everywhere around the world. And I hope we can give them also good games.

• Buy tickets for the Reds' three USA pre-season matches here

It's a place that's really dear to you as well, the US. You transitioned from a player into a coach and it was a part of the world that was really important for one-and-a-half years…

I had the luck to finish my career there. I played 16 years for Athletic Club and I honestly didn't want to play anywhere else. I was so identified with this that when the moment to retire arrived, I thought, 'OK, it has to be something completely different, probably out of Europe.' I think I took the right decision to go to the MLS to play for New York City and it was a great experience for me.

I started thinking of, 'OK, what am I going to do once I retire?' You start to get older, you start to lose your legs, you start to understand better the game. I think it was a part of my career that probably was not the best one in terms of what happened inside the pitch, but important for the next stage of my career.

Do you sit here now and think of the coaches you had as a player and influenced you in the early part of your career and that they had a big part to play in this?

At the end, we have to thank everyone we have met in our careers. I have had very good coaches and I have tried to take everything from the ones I especially liked, or some exercises or ideas in different phases of the game. I think you learn from every coach. I'm very thankful. I sometimes have the chance to tell them personally.

We are what we absorb, and as a player I think you have to absorb everything you can from everyone. And even now that we are coaches, I use every chance we have when sometimes coaches come to see training – to get new things, to learn new things, because football evolves, it doesn't stop. And if you stop, you become worse. So, you have to continue evolving. I think it's one of our challenges.

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