Arne Slot was sacked by Liverpool last weekend after overseeing one of the lowest points tallies to achieve Champions League qualification in modern top-flight history.
Andoni Iraola, ex-Athletic Bilbao player turned ‘Rock n Roll’ football manager, remains in pole position to take the reins at Liverpool.
The Spaniard, who led Bournemouth to European football qualification in the 2025/26 season, will be bringing members of his coaching staff with him to Anfield, but who are they?
Andoni Iraola’s assistants at Liverpool
According to a report from Ben Jacobs, the Spaniard is set to bring two members of his coaching staff with him to Anfield ahead of the 2026/27 season.
The first is Tommy Elphick, former professional player at Brighton, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and more, who was one of Iraola’s assistant coaches at the Cherries.
Last week, the 38-year-old rejected the opportunity to manage Bristol City, opting instead to remain faithful to the Spaniard, whose Anfield arrival is all but confirmed.
Elphick began his coaching career with the Bournemouth development squad in late 2021, after retiring from professional football just a month prior.
The 38-year-old was promoted to the first team environment during the 2022/23 season, working with head coach Gary O’Neil.
His ventures this season, working alongside Iraola to secure a Cherries sixth-place finish, prompted his former team-mate, Matt Tubbs, to describe Elphick’s hand as “one of the strongest going” to BBC Radio Solent after news broke of his Bristol City rejection.
Liverpool will be the beneficiary of that decision, as well as the arrival of another first-team Bournemouth assistant coach, Shaun Cooper.
The 42-year-old, also an ex-professional who spent much of his playing days with the Cherries, was promoted alongside Elphick in 2022/23 after the sacking of Scott Parker.
Ironically, the pair’s coaching careers could come full-circle, with Parker’s departure being the direct result of a 9-0 Anfield loss — now set to become Iraola’s assistants at Liverpool.
Bournemouth almost spoiled Arsenal’s Premier League title push this season, with a 2-1 victory away at the Emirates in early March.
Years prior, they did spoil Arsenal’s title march, beating the Gunners 2-0 at home during the 2023/24 season in which Mikel Arteta’s men finished second.
Again, ironically, the Cherries prevailed on the day with set piece brilliance — which Arsenal relied heavily on in their Premier League title win this year — with Ryan Christie bagging from an ingenious corner routine.
The move was genius: a quick pass along the ground to an incoming runner, flicked back to an edge-of-the-box Christie, who lashed the ball into the top left corner.
Bournemouth inflicted Arsenal’s first away defeat of 2024 with that strike, followed later by a dagger penalty from Justin Kluivert, with Cooper being described as responsible for the set piece from the goalscorer Christie.
Liverpool fans will rest easy this summer in the knowledge that they aren’t just gaining a manager known for his heavy-metal football, which a recently departed Mohamed Salah begged to see back at the club, but two of the finest assistant coaches around.
