Arne Slot has revealed that his first time visiting Anfield was as a spectator back in 2017, doing so alongside Liverpool’s then sporting director, Michael Edwards.
The match in question was a 2-0 win over Tottenham that saw Sadio Mane hit a quickfire double to win the match for Jurgen Klopp‘s side.
Slot was then the manager of Dutch side SC Cambuur, his first job in management, and had been invited by compatriot Pepijn Lijnders, then the Reds’ then assistant manager. Interestingly, though, he sat alongside Edwards, who is now FSG’s chief executive of football.
Edwards was then Liverpool’s sporting director, but Slot could not envisage that seven years later he would be returning to Anfield after being appointed as the club’s head coach – with Edwards involved in the appointment.
“We were like two fans going to the game,” Slot told reporters after his first press conference on Friday, having revealed earlier that he’d twice been to Anfield so far, once as a fan and once when the club showed him around [at the end of May].
Explaining the 2017 visit, Slot said of his meeting with Edwards: “We spoke a bit and I had a look and feel for the club, but not in such a way that I would assume that seven years later I would be in this position.
“It was before they (Liverpool) won the league and Champions League. You know better than anyone that people liked what Jurgen did here. He changed the style of play and the amount of times the team won. Everyone was positive even back then without the team at that stage winning trophies.”
“At that moment I was at Cambuur Leeuwarden and we didn’t play at the highest level in Holland, so there was a big difference between where I was then and now,” he added.
“Of course, the league here and facilities were bigger, and there were a lot more people, but at Feyenoord I was at a club which was in the Champions League and outplaying some clubs in the Champions League so, of course, there is a difference, but not as much as there was six or seven years ago when I was at Cambuur.”
Slot was officially unveiled as Liverpool’s new head coach at the AXA Training Centre on Friday, the first Liverpool manager not to be unveiled to the media at Anfield in modern times.
Slot’s unveiling alongside new sporting director Richard Hughes underlining the Reds’ new approach and strategy, led by Edwards.
In his press conference, Slot revealed that Hughes had travelled to the Netherlands for talks before his appointment, despite Hughes officially not starting at Liverpool until June 1.
