Liverpool boss Arne Slot on Premier League Title win feeling unreal
27/04/2025
Anfield, Liverpool, UK
27/04/2025
Anfield, Liverpool, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00If you're in the league, you're doing my media.
00:08Do it. Are you happy?
00:10Yeah.
00:20Thanks, Dave.
00:23Richard.
00:24Congratulations. What was it like for you in the league camp?
00:31Very, very happy of course, but to a certain extent also quite unreal.
00:38Because you've worked so hard for this moment to happen and when it does happen,
00:43it needs some time for you to truly feel it.
00:48But the fans were so happy that it didn't take me long to understand what we've achieved together this season.
00:59Chris?
01:02Yeah, that is so, so, so special.
01:16The moment I knew I would become the new head coach over here,
01:22that's already a moment where you're so proud of.
01:25To be part of such a great football club, then now to be part of the history of this football club
01:31is something I think I could have only dreamt of two, three or four years ago.
01:37I don't know if it's funny or not, but I think it was four, five or six years ago.
01:42It was the first time when I was here, when Pep Leinders invited me, that was against Tottenham.
01:48I think they won that game 4-0, it was somewhere around Christmas time.
01:54And we all know what happened around Tottenham one or two years ago,
01:59so now to win it against them is quite special.
02:03And this week the one I was with was my sports director, Cam Williou, where I worked back then.
02:10He showed me that we were also visiting a match from the under-21s
02:14where Joe and Trent were involved in that game.
02:17I don't know where they played, but it was in a small stadium.
02:21So yeah, special day and not the first time I was here when we played Tottenham.
02:31James?
02:32Can you describe what it was like first riding at the stadium,
02:37seeing the scenes outside, all the fans, and then the final whistle and that relief,
02:44your own pitch, the sick fans, what was that like?
02:49The only moment I was emotional today was when we arrived at the stadium,
02:54to see what it meant for the fans, what it meant for these people.
02:59For us to have a chance of winning it felt really special,
03:04but immediately it also felt like, oh, we still have to do it.
03:07But I think everybody who was inside that bus felt,
03:10if the fans are with us like they are,
03:13then it's impossible for us to lose this game of football.
03:17And then during the game, after the game, it's been incredible,
03:23how the support of the fans were and how our players played.
03:27And special, special to be part of this day.
03:32Andy?
03:34How will you celebrate tonight?
03:37Probably with a glass of beer or two, or maybe three.
03:42If I'm correct, then there will be a little party over here with friends, family.
03:50Sorry, maybe.
03:51Maybe, yeah, maybe not.
03:53So yeah, the moment I leave this room,
03:57probably they're going to inform me what are the plans.
03:59But I definitely know it's going to be special,
04:02but I think there's one more special moment to come, somewhere around the 26th.
04:08Will?
04:10Did Johan take you up to the title?
04:14Probably congratulations.
04:17I don't remember exactly what he said,
04:20but it was special for them as well, I think, to be part of this moment.
04:26For them to trust me in this position.
04:31Maybe now everybody says, ah, that's made complete sense.
04:37But the moment they signed me, is that the way you say it?
04:43Maybe not everyone was as convinced as everyone is now.
04:49So that tells you also what a special club this is
04:53and that they don't always go for the most simple or obvious choice,
04:57but they make the choice that they think is best for the club.
05:02So it must be a special moment for them as well,
05:05second time in five years, that they win the league also.
05:08And now to do this in front of our fans is special for everyone, including for them.
05:12Lewis?
05:13How proud does that make you of your own achievement?
05:18Very proud, very proud, but it's special to have them with me.
05:24Because my family, all of the families of the players,
05:28have to make certain sacrifices if you do this job.
05:30Not only this season, throughout your whole career.
05:33Me, like you, everyone works really hard, but we're not always home.
05:37Of course, for me, my family was still in Holland,
05:40so it was in moments hard for me, but definitely for them as well.
05:45And now to win it, I think everybody feels that all the sacrifices were all,
05:51but the few sacrifices we've made were definitely worth it.
05:54And then it's special that they can experience this moment as well.
05:59Oli?
06:00It felt like a very classy gesture for you to thank Klopp when you got on the microphone.
06:09Not a lot of managers would have done that, I don't think.
06:12Why did you feel the need to do that?
06:15Because of what he did when I arrived here, before I even arrived here.
06:19I think that is something not one manager ever did before.
06:23So that is what definitely helped me.
06:27But apart from that, he helped me even more by the team he left behind
06:32and the culture he left behind in that team.
06:34The quality the players have was, I think, obvious for everyone.
06:37But the culture of hard work, the culture of not only from the players,
06:43but also from the staff members, have been incredible.
06:46And that is one of the reasons why we could achieve what we've achieved this season.
06:51So, yeah, for obvious reasons, I think it was a nice moment to thank him as well.
06:57Matt?
06:58Bill Shankly once said that this winning the league was a couple of bread and butter.
07:04Would you agree with that statement?
07:06He was probably longer in his job than I was,
07:11he knew the club even better than I know it at the moment,
07:14but what I noticed from the first day I came in was that winning the league
07:20would be the most special trophy we could win.
07:24And, yeah, I think I felt that throughout the whole season.
07:30Although we were all very disappointed when we were knocked out by Paris and Germain,
07:34but we always felt there was a bigger goal to achieve.
07:37And to do that in the most difficult league in the world,
07:42in a period of time where it gets harder and harder and harder,
07:47probably to win it, is very special.
07:51James?
07:52Ali, you've been talking to the league since November,
07:55was there a particular point along that journey
07:58where you really started to believe yourself this day as possible?
08:01Yeah, it wasn't today that I felt like it's possible.
08:06I think we felt it is possible for quite a long period,
08:09but if it's possible there's something else that you will achieve it.
08:14So we knew and we still know how hard it is to win a game of football in this league,
08:20so that we were one of the teams that could win it,
08:22I think that was quite clear from pre-season onwards.
08:27But then you need to have consistency, and that's difficult, but we had that,
08:33and that's the reason why we probably deserved to win it.
08:37If you have a margin like we have, I think it's fair to say
08:40that we deserved to win this league this season.
08:43Last couple here and then here.
08:45I think you're the first coach manager to win the Premier League out of the two,
08:48how does that feel?
08:49Special, because the country I'm from has a lot of great football players,
08:55a lot of great managers as well, not all of them worked in England,
09:00so then it's also hard to win the Premier League if you didn't work here.
09:04But to be the first one is so special because that will always stay the same.
09:10And especially then to win it at this club.
09:13What I mean with that is, with the history of the club of course,
09:16but also if I would have taken over at a club that won from the last five seasons,
09:21one of five times in a row, people might maybe say,
09:24that's not such a difficult job to win it then.
09:27But that's not, although we won it twice in five seasons,
09:32but City won it of course the last few seasons.
09:35So it's special to be the number one and it's special to win it over here.
09:39After such an amazing first season,
09:42how do you sort of reset expectations for next season?
09:45I mean, obviously I haven't even seen some in yet,
09:48but how do you sort of build on this?
09:50Are plans already in place for the summer?
09:52Yeah, definitely.
09:54But I don't have to manage expectations,
09:56because the expectations at this club are always the same.
09:59We have to compete for every trophy,
10:01and that didn't change when I came in, and that doesn't change next season.
10:06We have a group of players that are able to win things,
10:10but we're not the only one.
10:11There are so many great teams in this league and in the Champions League,
10:14so it's never going to be easy,
10:16but that we have to compete.
10:17I'm not trying to lower down the expectations.
10:20Next season again we have to compete for every single trophy,
10:23and that's also definitely what we are trying to do.
10:26Paul Vergassohn.
10:28Are you trying to follow up?
10:30I don't think we are, no.
10:34Thank you everyone.
10:36You're welcome.