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Moving from a successful Premier League side to a so-called 'big-six' club is sometimes seen as the natural next step for a manager. By the 'big six' we are referring to Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham.We do not use that term to disparage the likes of Aston Villa or Newcastle who have qualified for the Champions League in recent seasons, or indeed any other top-flight team.But those six clubs have largely dominated the top of the table over the past 15 years or so.So will Andoni Iraola, who has reached a verbal agreement with Liverpool, be able to make the step up from Bournemouth after finishing, ironically, in sixth place with the Cherries?The data suggests it is one of the toughest transitions in the game - with short tenures, mixed results and no major silverware won by a manager taking that step within the Premier League.In recent seasons, Thomas Frank, Graham Potter and Nuno Espirito Santo all struggled to make the leap.For managers who earn a move to one of the Premier League's biggest clubs, the opportunity can arrive quickly. So too can the scrutiny.The most consistent pattern is how short those spells tend to be. Of the managers BBC Sport has analysed, the majority failed to last two full seasons, with several dismissed before completing their first campaign.David Moyes' appointment at Manchester United in 2013 remains one of the clearest examples.Hand-picked from Everton by Sir Alex Ferguson - who urged supporters to "stand by your new manager" in his farewell speech - Moyes arrived with both backing and expectation. He was dismissed just 10 months into a six-year contract. The Red Devils missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time since 1995.Roy Hodgson's move to Liverpool followed a different path but ended similarly. Appointed in July 2010 after leading Fulham to the Europa League final, Hodgson said he was honoured to be taking "the biggest job in club football".But he was gone by January the following year - with the Reds 12th in the league having won just seven of their 20 matches.Other managers followed a similar trajectory. Potter lasted 22 league matches at Chelsea after joining from Brighton, while Nuno managed just 10 at Tottenham after taking Wolves from the Championship to a Europa League quarter-final.Even when managers have been afforded more time, success and stability proved elusive.Mark Hughes spent about 18 months at Manchester City before being replaced, while Brendan Rodgers, Harry Redknapp and Mauricio Pochettino all completed more than three seasons at their respective clubs but without winning silverware.The logic behind many of these appointments seems straightforward - managers who have outperformed expectations are tasked with delivering even better results with stronger squads.Points-per-game figures show a mixed picture. Rodgers improved significantly after moving from Swansea to Liverpool aged 39 in 2012.He was seen as one of the top flight's rising managerial stars - and quickly raised hopes, with Liverpool going close to the title in 2013-14. But he could not recreate that success and was sacked in October 2015.Redknapp also improved Tottenham's results after arriving from Portsmouth, guiding the club into the Champions League and establishing them in the top four.Pochettino represents another example of relative success. After impressing at Southampton, he joined Tottenham in 2014 and developed a side that regularly challenged at the top end of the table.The Argentine led Spurs to a second-placed finish in 2016-17 and their first Champions League final in 2019, where they were beaten by Liverpool. But poor results amid heightened expectations led to his dismissal later that year.Beyond those examples, progress becomes less consistent.Hughes' numbers at Manchester City were broadly in line with his record at Blackburn.Hodgson's dipped slightly after moving to Liverpool, while Frank's fell after his switch to Spurs.Elsewhere, the differences were marginal. Potter's Chelsea record showed only a slight improvement on his Brighton average, across a much smaller sample.While a few managers improved their points-per-game rate, those gains were often modest and inconsistent.In short, stepping up does not guarantee better results and - in some cases - performance declines.Perhaps the most striking point is the simplest.Since the current 'big six' took shape after City's 2008 takeover, no manager has stepped up to one of those six teams from another Premier League side and gone on to win a major trophy.There have been near-misses. Rodgers came close to a Premier League title, while Pochettino was 90 minutes away from winning the Champions League..Enzo Maresca had secured promotion when he swapped Leicester for Chelsea in 2024, but had not yet managed a game in the top flight before his move.He went on to win the Conference League and the Club World Cup in what proved to be his only full season at Stamford Bridge.Frank Lampard joined Chelsea from Championship side Derby County in 2019 and secured Champions League football in his first season, but was dismissed after 18 months.Michael Carrick, who was recently appointed the permanent Manchester United head coach, managed in the Championship previously with Middlesbrough.The reasons are not always immediately obvious, but they are consistent.There are more matches, including European competition, and less time to prepare.In the 2025-26 season, the traditional 'big-six' clubs played an average of 55 matches across all competitions - eight more than other Premier League teams.Success at other top-flight clubs can come from clever transfer business and overperformance relative to resources.In many cases, simply maintaining their Premier League status is a club's primary objective, with anything beyond that considered a bonus - a contrast to an expectation of delivering trophies.Expectations shift from exceeding targets to meeting them consistently. Winning is no longer an incentive - it is a minimum requirement.A run of poor form that might be tolerated elsewhere can quickly become decisive. The pressure is greater, the scrutiny more intense, and the margin for error smaller.Even managers with strong reputations and clearly defined styles have found that adjustment difficult.That does not mean the move is destined to fail. Redknapp, Rodgers and Pochettino variously show it can work - and Maresca's trophies show success is possible.Iraola left Bournemouth after leading them to Europe for the first time, a rise that makes his next step even more significant.Would a season in Europe at Bournemouth have been beneficial to Iraola? Or can the Spaniard buck the trend and end the trophyless streak of managers making a 'big-six' move?

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Lions seek to help extend the reach of inclusive clubs78-page document is the first of its kind in footballMillwall have published a first-of-its-kind “Pride playbook” to help football clubs form stronger partnerships with LGBTQ+ teams across the country.The move comes during Pride month as the Lions seek to build on the success of their teams, Millwall Romans and Millwall Pride, and help extend the reach of LGBTQ+ inclusive football amid growing demand.The playbook encourages partnership between existing clubs and aspiring teams, creating an identity within the club for that team and ensuring there is a driven coach and an internal champion.The 78-page playbook also includes three “don’ts” when facing pushback “from people who don’t like or don’t understand change”: don’t debate endlessly; don’t wait for everyone to agree; don’t dilute the idea.The development of Millwall Romans and, subsequently, Millwall Pride (who function as a reserve team) has been led by Sean Daly, the chief executive of the Millwall community trust, who began by forging a partnership with an existing team, London Romans.Daly said club and team were asking the same question: “How do we create a safe environment where people can feel comfortable being who they are?” Daly found Romans were “very aligned with what we do. They’re very community based. They’re very much around inclusivity. I didn’t want to come in and trample over them – this was done in partnership together.”According to Jon Holmes, of the group Football v Homophobia, the past 15 years have brought a growing awareness of and support for LGBTQ+ fans, with more than 50 Premier League and EFL clubs operating supporter groups. But the situation remains challenging for male players. “One thing that’s important to note is that homophobia, transphobia, are sadly on the rise in grassroots men’s football – the statistics tell us that,” Holmes said. “The language, the behaviours, can be really difficult and make people want to pull themselves away from that environment.”LGBTQ+ teams are inclusive, meaning players of any sexual orientation are welcome. For the manager of Millwall Pride, Andy Dolan, they offer a chance to build community and individual strength.“It’s about building resilience in yourself and in others,” he said. “Clinical psychology will back this up: for these populations, where you have like-minded people with a shared experience, it measurably improves their outcomes and things like social harms and mental health disorders.”A more delicate question is whether, in the long run, LGBTQ+ teams should remain separate from the broader men’s game or join it, as Stonewall FC have done. For Dolan, it is a complicated answer.“We are hoping for a flywheel effect where the more resilient people become, maybe they will be more likely to go into ordinary or mixed leagues,” he said. “That way perhaps they will be able to contend with some of the adversity that you do run into. But I can tell you, personally, I’m not up for that.”

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Celtic have made some - albeit slow - progress towards filling their managerial vacancy this week. But it's not completely straightforward.While they have held constructive talks with Robbie Keane, the Martin O'Neill question still needs to be resolved.The club legend came in twice last season to save the Hoops and delivered a double, winning the league in the most dramatic circumstances Scottish football has ever seen.If O'Neill wants to remain as manager - and it's a big if - then the club are open to discussing a possible short-term deal. But the terms and conditions would have to suit both parties.In the event he takes the job for a year, it could allow Celtic the opportunity to have a safe pair of hands in control of the football side, while they go about sorting things behind the scenes. The club still need to appoint a permanent chairman, head of football, head of recruitment and many other staff jobs.Should he decide he does not have the appetite for a full campaign, then Celtic would still like him to stay in some capacity - possibly in the football operations side, or a consultancy and advisory role.So, does O'Neill - at 74 years of age - have the appetite to do a full season as manager of Celtic? It's a big job to take on at the best of times, but this summer is likely to include a major squad rebuild, plus the Champions League play-off so early in the season.But that remains the question that needs to be answered before principal shareholder Dermot Desmond can move on. The fact that it has taken so long could suggest that O'Neill himself isn't completely sure about what he wants to do. He hasn't ruled himself out, but he also hasn't made his stance clear that he is keen to do it.If O'Neill does rule himself out or Celtic move on, then Keane is the clear frontrunner at this stage.He has already picked his backroom team in Stephen Glass, Scott Brown and Jonny Hayes, if he were to be given the job.Keane resigned from his role at Ferencvaros last month, after missing out on retaining the Hungarian league title. He did win the domestic cup competition last season, though.He won the league in Hungary in his first season, following a successful double-winning spell in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2024/25.While Keane was loved as a player for Celtic, his decision to take that job in Israel - at the height of the conflict in the Middle East - has polarised opinion among the Hoops support.Keane defended his choice to see out the season with Maccabi Tel Aviv, stating he "had a duty to his team" and said it would've been unfair to his staff, who had moved to Israel with him. He stepped down from the job after winning the league in June 2024.Desmond is a big fan of Keane and was instrumental in bringing him to Celtic as a player. Keane, 45, has built up a decent reputation in football management early in his career, winning league titles and trophies in two countries. He was on Tottenham Hotspur's three-man shortlist to replace Thomas Frank earlier this year.Another manager still in the frame, for now, is Craig Bellamy. Celtic have admired his work as head coach of Wales for some time now.He was seriously considered in October last year when Brendan Rodgers resigned, but he wanted to lead Wales into the World Cup play-offs.At a press conference on Monday, Bellamy reiterated his commitment to Wales and is preparing to lead them to Euro 2028 despite interest from several clubs, including Burnley.But Sky Sports News understands that Celtic are still keen to speak to him to see if he is completely ruling himself out, or if he'd like to be considered for the role.Roberto Martinez is another name who has been linked with the job, and the Portugal boss has to be seen as more of an outsider due to this summer's World Cup.Celtic would ideally like to have a manager in time for pre-season, which may not be possible with Martinez.

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Manchester City are in talks with Chelsea about compensation for Enzo Maresca.A deal is in the hands of each club's respective lawyers, who are involved after Maresca left Chelsea still with three-and-a-half years left on his contract in January.City are hopeful of an agreement this week, as they look to appoint the Italian as Pep Guardiola's successor.Maresca's proposed three-year deal is not yet fully agreed. However, a contract is expected to be finalised in the coming days, as discussions centre around the timeline of his appointment, the make-up of his backroom staff, and other finer details.Chelsea were informed by Maresca last autumn that he had been the subject of interest from City about eventually replacing Guardiola when he decided to leave, having worked under him as assistant coach during the 2022/23 season when City won the treble."I liked him at Chelsea. I thought he was a good manager. He's going into Man City, he's been there before, he's worked in the Premier League before. He knows some of the players at City. I think he ticks every box."He's not coming in trying to get used to the place, he's not coming into a league that he's never been in. I think he'll go in and settle quite nicely."They'll need a few players as well. But this is the problem: Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea all need players. There's not that many players around."Who's going to be able to produce and give the most money to these players?"Guardiola has previously spoken about international management and, when quizzed on whether he would ever consider taking the England job, again did not rule it out.He said: "I don't have any absolute plan about my future. I stop to rest and go to recover the time that I missed with my kids."They are grown and there are many things I've not done I want to do. So I don't think for one second about anything related to football for the next years. I need to rest, I need to reflect."After, we'll see what happens. I don't have a plan, it's just to rest and do a lot of things I want to do I didn't do in the past - stupid things."Asked what he meant by "stupid things", he said: "Nobody cares."

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‘Reboot Fifa’ calls for investigation into InfantinoComplaint to be sent to ethics committee after World CupA quest to deliver the “biggest complaint Fifa has ever received” is being launched by campaigners a week before the World Cup.With fans concerned over safety and the cost of tickets at the tournament, and complaints ongoing against Fifa from human rights organisations and football competitions, a class action-style complaint is calling for an investigation into the president, Gianni Infantino.The “Reboot Fifa” campaign starts on Thursday and is being led by the advocacy group FairSquare, which has pushed Fifa over its governance since before the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Led by an advisory board of football activists and writers, including the historian David Goldblatt and whistleblower Bonita Mersiades, the campaign is “encouraging people to add their name to … what we hope will be the largest single complaint Fifa will ever have received about the conduct of its senior officials”.The complaint will be submitted to Fifa’s ethics committee after the World Cup and will be an updated version of one sent to it at the end of last year, in which FairSquare claimed Infantino had on four occasions breached article 15 of the Fifa code of ethics, which requires staff to “remain politically neutral”. The complaint followed Infantino’s decision to attend a Summit for Peace held by Donald Trump and the subsequent award of the Fifa peace prize to the US president.“People are rightly angered and frustrated by a range of issues, from exorbitant World Cup ticket prices to Fifa’s offering of a peace prize to a man who then launched an illegal war on a World Cup participant,” said FairSquare’s director, Nick McGeehan. “This campaign is about harnessing that anger and redirecting it effectively to create the political pressure required to force meaningful change at Fifa.”Among the reforms proposed by FairSquare are: increased auditing of the billions of dollars Fifa shares with its member organisations; a separation between Fifa’s commercial and regulatory and governance functions; and improved transparency and public accountability, including expanded engagement with the media.FairSquare’s original complaint this week received backing from Lise Klaveness, the president of the Norwegian football federation and campaigner for Fifa reform. The NFF has written to Fifa’s ethics committee in support of the complaint and, on the eve of the Norway squad’s departure for the World Cup, Klaveness said of the letter: “We have sent it, and it is ⁠causing some political reactions. But it is sent, and that is checked off. We will follow up, push forward, request meetings, and build momentum on this as soon as the World ⁠Cup is over.”He has further defended his personal relationship with Trump, saying: “I think it is absolutely crucial for the success of a World Cup to have a close relationship with the president.”

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Tunisia fans show their passion in Monday’s friendly in Austria, which they lost 1-0 in Vienna. Photograph: Jamie McDonald/Getty ImagesHaving stormed through African qualifying without conceding a goal, can Sabri Lamouchi lead the Eagles of Carthage out of the group stage for the first time?This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June.Tunisia completed their qualification campaign without conceding once in 10 matches – a record shared with Côte d’Ivoire in Africa – but the faces in the dugout were constantly changing. Three different coaches led the team on the road to this World Cup: Jalel Kadri, Montasser Louhichi and Sami Trabelsi. Kadri, now managing Al-Hazem in Saudi Arabia, was Tunisia’s head coach during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Trabelsi was later replaced by the current manager, Sabri Lamouchi, shortly after Tunisia were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations in January.“I am Tunisian, my roots are Tunisian, and I am happy to be here,” Lamouchi said during his first press conference. Why is this significant? Because in 1993, Lamouchi was close to representing Tunisia rather than France. He came, took part in the warm-up, but did not come off the bench – and never returned afterwards. The versions differ between Lamouchi and Youssef Zouaoui, the manager at that time, but the outcome remained the same: Lamouchi never wore the Tunisia shirt. It remains a painful memory that supporters have never forgotten.Tunisia’s first training camp under Lamouchi, which included two friendly matches, took place in March. His first squad selection highlighted a major shift. The message was clear: Tunisia would rebuild around young players. Another decision warmly welcomed by supporters came during Lamouchi’s first press conference in February: “For the 2026 World Cup, there will only be three goalkeepers.” It is worth remembering that Tunisia’s decision to take four goalkeepers to Qatar had sparked significant controversy. This time, Lamouchi kept his promise.From a tactical perspective, Lamouchi set Tunisia up in a 4-3-3 system for his first match against Haiti. A few days later against Canada, he experimented with a 4-2-3-1 formation. It remains to be seen how he will approach each of the World Cup games.Sabri Lamouchi’s playing career took him to France, where he won Ligue 1 titles with Monaco and Auxerre, and Italy, where he played for Parma and Inter. His first job in coaching came with the Côte d’Ivoire national team in 2012, reaching the quarter-finals of he 2013 Afcon and going out of the 2014 World Cup at the group stage. He went on to manage several clubs, notably Rennes – where he coached Wahbi Khazri, a legendary figure in Tunisian football and now a member of his coaching staff – as well as Nottingham Forest, before heading to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. After 14 years in management, Lamouchi is still waiting for his first major trophy. As for this World Cup, no specific objective has been included in his contract. For the next Afcon, however, targets have been clearly defined.Hannibal Mejbri. The midfielder who chose Tunisia in 2021 has gradually become the face of this national team. After joining Manchester United from Monaco for a reported £8m, Hannibal struggled to establish himself. Loan spells at Birmingham and Sevilla followed but his performances have consistently improved since joining Burnley permanently two years ago. Wearing Wahbi Khazri’s No 10 shirt, Hannibal embodies the role: playmaker, unofficial captain and undisputed star. Everyone wants his shirt; everyone wants a picture with him. At the last World Cup, he played only 10 minutes. Since then, everything has changed. He is the first name on the teamsheet now.Developed at Paris Saint-Germain, the 22-year-old attacking midfielder Ismaël Gharbi now has the opportunity to showcase his talent on the world stage. Born in Paris to a Tunisian father and a mother from Madrid, Gharbi idolised Cristiano Ronaldo – “I used to copy everything he did, from his haircut to his boots,” he told Fifa last year – as well as Isco and Eden Hazard. Loaned by Braga to Augsburg for the 2025-26 campaign, Gharbi’s situation became complicated after the coach who brought him to Germany, Sandro Wagner, was dismissed only weeks after his arrival. Since then, his appearances have been limited. But he has one major advantage: Sabri Lamouchi believes in him and has included him in Tunisia’s World Cup squad.Despite struggling for a while with a hernia problem, the left-back Ali Abdi has always given everything for the national team. He used to have to live in the shadow of Ali Maâloul, one of Tunisia’s greatest players in his position. As a result, Abdi spent several years as a substitute before finally earning his place in the starting lineup. Since then, he has continued to battle through pain and adversity. Generous on the pitch, he has consistently delivered both defensively and offensively. After defeats, he was often the first player to face the media, defend his teammates, explain the situation, and apologise to supporters.Tunisia are expected to be backed by strong and passionate support despite the cost of travelling to the United States and Mexico for group matches. It should also be noted that, apart from the incidents involving Tunisia and England supporters before the 1998 World Cup match in Marseille, Tunisia’s fans have not developed a reputation for violence. On the contrary, in Russia and Qatar, they acted as ambassadors for their country, even launching initiatives promoting tourism in Tunisia. Videos of their travels and the vibrant atmosphere they created in the streets remain powerful testimony to that spirit.Neither the players nor members of the Tunisian football federation have made public statements regarding Donald Trump or the policies of his administration. As for ticket prices, Tunisian supporters – like fans from many other nations – naturally voiced their dissatisfaction. However, the Tunisian federation has made lower-priced tickets available for supporters. A $15,000 visa deposit has been waived by the Trump administration for Tunisia fans travelling to the United States with valid match tickets.Written by Ahmed Adala for Radio Mosaïque FM.

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As a player Popovic was relentless in being his best. But behind his ruthless reputation is a focused leader deeply committed to his playersWhere Tony Popovic goes, a culture follows. It’s been one of the most consistent themes of his time in dugouts across Australia. It was there at Western Sydney, when he was entrusted with the newly created side and turned them into Asian champions within two seasons. It was there when he was brought into Perth Glory and led them to their first piece of silverware in the A-League era. And it was there after he arrived at Melbourne Victory, who were reeling from their first wooden spoon, and delivered an Australia Cup and grand final appearance.It was visible, too, when he was parachuted into the Socceroos role in 2024, just days after Graham Arnold’s resignation and with only weeks to prepare before crucial qualifiers against China and Japan. The initial change wasn’t perhaps as wholesale as some might have expected. Popovic needed time to get his feet under him, observe what was taking place, and plan changes (lollies definitely did disappear from meetings, though). But a well-established reputation preceded him and a change of mood in the halls began as players adjusted to new expectations and demands – both stated and presumed.In a Victory-produced documentary made during his first year at the club, Popovic recounted a story from his teenage years, when his mother volunteered his family to clean a nearby bakery. He did a good job, but the next week, when then 16-year-old Popovic suggested staying home to rest before a game the next day, his father responded: “If you decide not to go [to clean], you will never make it in football, because you are satisfied with your level. At the moment, you are content with just being good. You don’t want to be the best.” He returned to the bakery and, in his recollection, did an even better job cleaning it than the week prior; imbued with a lesson not just about working hard once, but repeating that effort to be even better.Popovic went on to play 58 times for the Socceroos, including being part of the golden generation side that qualified for the 2006 World Cup. He earned an esteem not just for his fierce nature on the field – named “the Enforcer” by teammates – but also for an obsession with details and doing everything he could off the field to extract every ounce of potential from his body.While at Sanfrecce Hiroshima, he suffered what a specialist told him was a career-ending toe injury, only to completely change the way he played and prepared, and keep going for another 12 years, including a stint in the Premier League with Crystal Palace. This attitude transferred to his coaching too. “He used to look at things I didn’t even think of looking at,” says Brendan Hamill, who played under Popovic at Wanderers and Victory. When asked what some of these small details are, he laughs. “A gram of bodyweight! It’s details that make the big difference for him.”Indeed, a proper diet is a big focus for Popovic: the best athletes are the ones who are fuelling their bodies in the right way. But you don’t need talent to eat the right things, the coach observes, especially when you’ve got a legion of staff there to support you. Sports dietician Julie Meek was one of his first appointments upon his ascension to national team coach. Adequate sleep and recovery is another, with detailed instructions for when to get shut-eye on long flights across multiple time zones and new pillows distributed during the March camp. “You could almost say he’s part machine,” assistant coach Hayden Foxe once said of his boss.There is, of course, a focus on the games, too. The smallest of details, right down to where you step or how you move, are identified and communicated in case that’s the difference between victory and defeat. So is doing the right things in training. You don’t have to train well, but you damn well better be doing your utmost.“I can’t handle poor training attitude because that leads to bad performance,” he told players in the Victory documentary. “You can train shit, I can accept that, and me and the staff will work hard to help you get better. When I see in someone’s eyes, ‘I want to get better every day,’ I’ll do anything for you, anything. On the park, off the park, for your family, whatever your kids need, I’ll fucking do it. But give me the wrong attitude, you’re gone for me.”Invariably, ruthlessness accompanies this approach. But if you don’t meet his expectations? Plenty have been cast aside, sometimes unceremoniously. His arrival in the national team was no different, bringing significant turnover for the squad, coaches and support staff. At the same time, however, his reputation as an austere disciplinarian isn’t wholly reflective of reality, either. The inner sanctum has been closely guarded during his tenure, but it’s easy to observe the coach joking around with his players, playing keepy-uppy, and relaxing at training before it’s time to lock in.Few would argue Popovic’s arrival wasn’t what the team needed. After a World Cup qualifying defeat against Bahrain on the Gold Coast in September 2024, the spirit of the Socceroos family that underpinned so much of their success under Arnold had frayed. Arnold clearly had more to give – observe his elevation to hero status in Iraq after leading them to a first World Cup in 40 years – but he and the Socceroos had come as far as they could. Players, professionals who were ready to be pushed, were up for a vibe shift. And they got one.Now, with a World Cup looming, Popovic has become visibly more comfortable as he’s adjusted to the post, and it is apparent he and his staff have a better handle on what’s worth sweating and what is not. He now faces his biggest test of all: a World Cup. The realisation of nearly 40 years of dedication and learning, distilled into four weeks when he leads his country on the world’s biggest stage.

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Andoni Iraola will face a "completely different" challenge at Liverpool - but after his "small scale" success on the south coast he is primed to bring his "magic" with him to Anfield.That's the verdict of Sky Sports News reporter Mark McAdam, who has covered Iraola's rapid rise at Bournemouth first-hand.Iraola has now verbally agreed to become the next Liverpool head coach, following Arne Slot's sacking, and in the Liverpool's Big Summer podcast special, McAdam outlined the enormity of the step-up the Spaniard is facing.He also explained why he believes Iraola is well prepared for the demands of the role..."I think he's ready but ultimately we don't we don't know how ready he is because everything is completely different," said McAdam."I walk into a Bournemouth press conference on a Friday and there will be four or five journalists there. He's going to walk into a Liverpool press conference and suddenly he's going to be faced with 25, 30, 40 journalists maybe even more on a Champions League night."The intensity, the scrutiny… he can drive in and out of the Bournemouth training ground and there's no one there that wants a signature. He goes into the Vitality Stadium and he'll do a couple of selfies. This isn't the case with Liverpool. There will be hundreds of fans that are clamouring to get that moment, to get that selfie, to get that autograph and the journalists will be asking the questions."He's going to feel like he is the central cog of that whole city whilst he's the head coach at the football club."It's going to be completely different. He's very down to earth, he's very humble he's quite a quiet, shy guy but is he ready and right for it? Yeah!"I've been lucky enough to watch him at close quarters and be hugely impressed with what he's done on a small scale. The big question is can he translate that to one of the biggest challenges in world football."As well as the enormity of the club, Iraola will also be working with high-profile players with different demands to some he may have experienced at Bournemouth. It will be a test of Iraola's man-management technique he has used so far."The personalities are going to be very different, the egos are going to be very different," said McAdam. "You're not walking into a dressing room filled with young players that have ambitions to play Champions League football or to get to bigger clubs - and that's the philosophy and the model of Bournemouth: buy young, buy as cheap as possible and then say, 'We'll give you the platform to develop you, improve you and then send you on to Liverpool, PSG, Real Madrid' as they have done recently."Now you're at a destination club. It doesn't really get much better than when you're at those big clubs because they're the ones that are expected to challenge in every single competition."So Iraola now has a very different mindset that he has to have."Interestingly with Iraola, he doesn't have individual relationships with players. He lets his coaching staff speak to players. He obviously speaks to them on the training pitch, he does his presentations but at Bournemouth Tommy Elphick, Shaun Cooper and Pablo de la Torre have the relationships with the players. They know what's going on with the players' wives, girlfriends, kids, families, what's happening off the pitch."They do all of that work and then feed into Iraola, he will assimilate that and work out what he wants to do but he doesn't have that relationship perhaps like Jurgen Klopp would. So he's a very different style of man manager and obviously it's completely worked at Bournemouth but again it's one of the many questions that will now be posed - can that style of management translate into a club like Liverpool where you've got players that have won the Premier League, you've got players that have competed in the Champions League, competed at the highest level for their national side?"[The Liverpool players] are not someone that is on a little bit of money that's desperate for the chance to improve and develop. You've got someone that's already been there done it."Iraola's style of play could also have an important impact off the pitch, too, rebuilding the connection between Liverpool supporters and their team.By ramping up the excitement levels for supporters, Iraola can build a winning formula fuelled by passion in the Anfield stands and on the famous pitch."The biggest compliment I can pay Andoni Iraola is he made Bournemouth fans fall in love with the team," said McAdam. "They loved going to watch games at the Vitality Stadium. They saw the identity, they saw the philosophy and even at the beginning where things weren't going so well and results weren't there, they could see what was happening and they knew it just needed time."If Liverpool fans love going to Anfield, they are in love with their team, they love the style of football, they love what they're seeing, then they will go, 'OK, we can see what's going on here. We might need to give a little bit of time to go where we want to go in terms of winning nine out of 10 games and challenging for the Premier League, but I am starting to fall in love with this group of players and this philosophy'.

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It was only a matter of time before one of football’s big clubs placed their future in the hands of AI. Happily for Liverpool, they’ve plumped for a man with those initials rather than a rapidly growing technology that has been expertly designed to fill billionaires’ pockets. Yep, Andoni Iraola has verbally agreed to replace Arne Slot as Liverpool head coach and will go from walking on water at Bournemouth to hearing – maybe even singing, though he doesn’t look like a touchline lungs man – You’ll Never Walk Alone before every home game. The last time Liverpool appointed a Spanish manager, they were champions of Europe within a year. And Iraola will inherit a stronger squad than Rafa Benítez did in 2004 – albeit one that was put together by a manager whose style of play is very different to Iraola’s.Slot prioritised possession, arguably to a fault, and only Manchester City had a higher average than Liverpool’s 59.3% in the Premier League. Iraola’s Bournemouth team (50.1%, since you asked, 11th out of 20) are much closer in spirit to Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool. You’ll be reading a lot about heavy metal in the next few days, mainly regurgitations of Mohamed Salah’s recent quotes. “I want to see Liverpool go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear and back to being a team that wins trophies,” spaffed Salah on Instachat after Liverpool were hammered at Aston Villa. “That is the football I know how to play and that is the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good. It cannot be negotiable and everyone that joins this club should adapt to it.”Iraola won’t need to adapt tactically, and all the available evidence suggests he is a top-class coach. The success or failure of his appointment will probably depend on how well he adapts to the scrutiny and pressure of such a huge job. The imminent appointment of Iraola continues a dizzying managerial merry-go-round, with teams keen to get their business done before the Geopolitics World Cup consumes us all for 39 days and 39 nights. Marco Silva is expected to replace José Mourinho at Benfica, which means Fulham, Manchester City and Crystal Palace are looking for new gaffers. So are Salford City, who have given Karl Robinson the boot after losing in the League Two playoff final. Salford have been through five full-time managers in the 2020s. Maybe it’s time to give Claude a go, and we don’t mean Puel.“One hundred per cent! I feel like everyone in the squad and the staff believes we can win it” – Kobbie Mainoo veers dangerously close to roaring “it’s coming home!!!” when chatting to reporters at England’s first GWC training session in Miami.double quotation markTonda Eckert’s ‘For everything that has happened I want to apologise’ non-apology manages to completely miss the point. Things didn’t ‘happen’, Tonda, you and your staff ‘did things’ and you should be apologising for ‘everything that we did’. I am reminded of Ronald Reagan’s infamous ‘mistakes were made’. Of course, one should always make allowances for people with limited English skills, but what is Eckert’s excuse?” – Carl Zetie.double quotation markInteresting riff on the ‘You’re Tim Payne’ song. Personally, I wouldn’t classify Carly Simon as either ‘soft rock’ or album oriented rock (Football Daily letters passim). She’s more in the singer-songwriter genre for me. By the way, her sister Joanna was an acclaimed opera singer. Nessun Dorma, anyone?” – Mike Wilner.If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day is … Carl Zetie. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.