{"id":377004,"date":"2026-01-18T14:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/377004\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T14:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T14:32:09","slug":"slot-no-clue-if-its-the-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/377004\/","title":{"rendered":"Slot \u201cNo Clue\u201d If It\u2019s the ‘New Normal’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arne Slot<\/a> has reacted to Xabi Alonso\u2019s shock exit from Real Madrid<\/a>, admitting he has \u201cno clue\u201d if a sporting director model makes early sackings the new normal.<\/p>\n

Alonso departed Real Madrid<\/a> on Monday evening just seven months after being appointed as head coach, having led his side to 20 wins in his 28 games in charge.<\/p>\n

That it comes at a time when Slot\u2019s own position at Liverpool is under scrutiny makes the situation all the more interesting, particularly as Alonso was viewed as the club\u2019s first choice to replace Jurgen Klopp<\/a> back in 2024.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Friday, Slot was asked about the decision to sack Alonso and whether he believes it is a growing trend within the head coach-sporting director dynamic.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s Longest-Serving Coaches<\/p>\n

Manager
\nClub (League)
\nTenure<\/p>\n

Frank Schmidt
\nHeidenheim (Bundesliga)
\n18 years, 123 days<\/p>\n

Diego Simeone
\nAtletico Madrid (LaLiga)
\n14 years, 26 days<\/p>\n

Pep Guardiola
\nMan City (Premier League)
\n9 years, 201 days<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta
\nArsenal (Premier League)
\n6 years, 27 days<\/p>\n

Manuel Pellegrini
\nReal Betis (LaLiga)
\n5 years, 162 days<\/p>\n

\n * Tenures as of Sunday, January 18, 2026.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it a change compared to three, four, five, six years ago? I don\u2019t actually know, I can only speak for myself,\u201d he told reporters including the Liverpool Echo<\/a>\u2018s Paul Gorst.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have worked for three years at my first club, should have worked four years at my second club, worked three years at my third club and now here for one-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe clubs you are mentioning (Chelsea<\/a>, Man United<\/a> and Real Madrid<\/a>), we know with one of these clubs what kind of history they have. So I don\u2019t know if it has changed.<\/p>\n

\"MANCHESTER,<\/p>\n

\u201cI see some managers working a long time at a club and one of our rivals has a manager [in Pep Guardiola] who has been working for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMikel Arteta has been working for a long time at Arsenal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there will always be examples of managers who work a long time at a club and clubs where managers don\u2019t work for a long time. But Carlo Ancelotti was a long time at Real Madrid<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no clue [if it is because of the sporting director model]. I simply have no clue as to whether that has anything to do with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might, but you surprised me with this question. I haven\u2019t thought about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arne Slot is Liverpool\u2019s first-ever head coach<\/p>\n

\"KIRKBY,<\/p>\n

Liverpool made a distinction when appointing Slot that the Dutchman would be their first-ever head coach, with his predecessors all holding the more traditional role of manager.<\/p>\n

In theory that places less responsibility on his shoulders, with sporting director Richard Hughes<\/a> overseeing transfers and shaping the squad with his input, but it could also mean a decision to sack him would be more straightforward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn England there is a manager and head coach and in other countries it is usually a head coach,\u201d Slot continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said Ancelotti worked for a long time at Madrid and other managers did as well.<\/p>\n

\"ALMATY,<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not common for Real Madrid<\/a> that a manager is sacked \u2013 or whatever word you want to use \u2013 that a manager is sacked so early in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s see if this is constantly going to happen but I think there are other examples as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alonso is already viewed as the resounding favourite to take over at Liverpool if Slot were to be dismissed, as despite an 12-game unbeaten run there are clear issues with both results and performances over an extended period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arne Slot has reacted to Xabi Alonso\u2019s shock exit from Real Madrid, admitting he has \u201cno clue\u201d if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1969,218,101,56,54,55,40765],"class_list":["post-377004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-arne-slot","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-xabi-alonso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}